P-1 Granprin

So yeah, now I have a phone.

It really surprised me that even the 0 yen phones like mine come with TV as standard, but this is Japan. Also, the worst camera you can get is 3.2 megapixels, which is better than any Western camera I've ever had.

But you know what that means: the wait is over! It's photo time!

Unfortunately, without a specific goal in mind the best I could do for today was 'Things that took my interest on the way home from the phone shop'.


This is the view to the north and south (respectively) of the bridge that connects Shimogamo with the rest of Kyoto, seperated by the Kamogawa river. The river is a great landmark for people like myself who live just off its banks, as in a worst-case scenario I can just walk upstream as far as is needed. It's a great walk, usually populated by many doing the same thing as well as having some superb views, but it can get really far too long. It's very odd having such a natural overgrowth in the middle of the city, but the neighbours don't seem to think so, often congregating in large numbers on the banks on Sunday afternoons.


This isn't really anything special. This is the view from a bench a few metres into the south gate of Doshisha's Imadegawa campus. That's the way I'll be getting to class pretty much every day from Monday on. There's an ace-smelling curry house just to the right of the gate, but Japanese curries have a tendancy to be anti-Pete so I've not tried it yet. There's also one of hundreds upon thousands of bikes that litter the streets of Kyoto, but that one has no special significance.



Now here's a sight I love to see. This is the 'almost home' part of the trip, with the Shugakukan just a little to the right at the end of the road. That's a stream running alongside to the right, and one of the many neighbourhood event boards in this area that demand that we Beware of Children that 'Fly Out' at Unexpected Moments.


And here we are, the Shugakukan. That door rattles loads when you open it, the glass panes are in a bit loose. A rule to be remembered: you have to take your shoes off inside. Under pain of death. And that's the stream now that it's a bit bigger. I saw a stork there a few times. Fantastic birds, them.


And that's my room. It will never get any cleaner than that. Beds are futons on wood, curtains are paper sheets set in frames of wood. Yes, though the laptop is abnormally small that is a very big can of Coke, the size of a can of lager in fact. This is one of the things I am really glad I came to Japan for: 500ml of Coke for 120 yen (about 70p). Is that disbelief I sense? Disbelieve not, reader, for that really is a gargantuan can of Coke on my desk. Here, look:

Like the Tower of Isengard, so it is. "Refreshing and Uplifting" doesn't begin to cover it.

So yeah, those are the first pictures. Tune in next time to see Gundams and cafes with names above their rank.

Thanks for reading. Or looking, I guess.