Izakaya...
Kyoto,
Japan
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I only decided to pop down to Kyoto at the last minute, and as a result, K's House was fully booked. Not to worry, as I stayed at the highly rated Tour Club hostel instead, and it turned into something of a spying mission! Chika, from K's House Tokyo, had once been refused entry due to the Tour Club's 'no Japanese' policy...despite her best efforts to speak with a foreign accent! So I took some videoclips so that she could weigh up the opposition...
The main drawback with the Tour Club was the 11pm curfew, something that always causes alarm bells to ring in my mind! I wasn't that bothered on this occasion though as I'd had plenty of nights out in Tokyo, and my wallet needed a breather before I headed up to Hokkaido. Besides, there were ways around so-called curfews, as I soon demonstrated...
It was easy to meet people at this particular abode as it was so small and cosy, and I went to an izakaya (Japanese style bar/restaurant) one night with an American girl. As luck would have it, we got sat next to a couple of Japanese guys who spoke perfect English as they taught at Kyoto University, and they were great for recommending sake for us to try. I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to get totally out of it, as was the American girl (whose name escapes me), so we did just that on a combination of beer, sake and plum liqueuer!
It was annoying that we had to return to the hostel at 11pm, but as soon as the place had been locked up, we gathered in the Japanese style lounge area and continued where we'd left off. There was an enormous carton of sake in the kitchen that was for guests to sample...and sample we most definitely did! It wasn't until the next morning that I realised just how much of it we'd drunk, and I contemplated topping the carton up with water so that it didn't feel as empty, but I figured that sake is pretty cheap so noone would mind...
We went back to the same izakaya the next night with Rich, an English lad who was in Japan for five weeks. He was a vegetarian and had basically been living on Doritos, and he got a surprise after ordering noodles as unbenownst to us, there were various pieces of octopus mixed in! No indication of that on the menu, but I just think that the Japanese expect some kind of meat/seafood with most dishes...it goes without saying!
We had a karaoke session afterwards with an Australian couple, though it wasn't one of my favourite evenings as our musical tastes were quite different. I don't understand why some people choose cheesey '80s ballads or boring slow songs - I always choose upbeat numbers that are more appropriate for a night out. I went along with their choices though as I knew that this might be their only karaoke experience in Japan, so I just sat back and went with the flow...
It was freezing in Kyoto at this time and it pretty much snowed every day, so I was always glad to get back to the hostel at 4pm each afternoon for a feast (and a warm) in front of the TV. The sumo tournament was reaching its climax, and with Asashoryu and Hakuho both having identical win/loss records going into the final day (13-1), it came down to a single bout between the two to decide who won the incredible trophy. I was quite nervous, an indication of how much I'd got into it (or how sad I was, one or the other!), and I was disappointed when Hakuho won after a topsy-turvy contest. Admittedly, he'd been the more consistent throughout the fifteen days, winning his bouts efficiently while Asashoryu had experienced plenty of close shaves, but regardless, it had been a fantastic occasion and I'll definitely be watching on the internet when the next basho comes around in March...
