"Are You a Traveller?"

I arrived yesterday in Kyoto.

I walked into a bonesetter's clinic and this was his question this evening. He looked like a physical therapist to me, with a foot stencilled on the glass of his clinic. I figured he was a reflexologist, or a PT, he insisted he was a bonesetter. I suppose he was like orthopedic surgeons who cast broken bones. But without the casts. Anyway, too much of a language barrier but my feet were crying out to the stencilled sign for a massage. He agreed to 'set my foot'. The price agreed on, I lay down and he went to work. I was asleep in minutes. It was very nice. At the end of it, he asked me if I had a website, so we sat there making gestures about shashin (photography) while looking at the gallery website.

Last night, I watched Bunraku at the National Bunraku Theater in Osaka (which is 29 minutes away from Kyoto by train). Bunraku is four century old puppet theater that makes the muppets look really kawawa. They played Shakespeare's The Tempest-- the narrator who speaks and emotes all the parts, the three puppeteers to each puppet who are all hooded and in black, and the shimasen player who acts as conductor but is not allowed to have any facial expressions. The audience had a median age of 70. I was one of the few who was not in a kimono. The shimasen players were all National Living Treasures and the Bunraku is one of Unesco's protected Intangible Cultural Heritage. It was finely done, iba talaga.

In the last three days, I have slept in these three beds.
Last night at the Hyatt Regency

I was so happy to final be in a room with a television after one month of no TV. Only to find out that the two English language channels, CNN and BBC, are dubbed in Japanese. Christian Amanpour in Nihonggo not a good match. Here talaga, no space for outsiders.

The night before, at the attic of the Yoshimizu Ryokan in Mayamura Park, Kyoto.

There is a picture that accompanies this. It is of the view of the bamboo grove the room looks into. I took it with a polaroid. The photo is filled with hundreds of orbs. I stayed in this room one night, and don't think I'm going back there again. Too many things going on that I could not see.

And the night before that, at the Benesse House Park, Naoshima.


The rests have been good, but my dreams in the middle room were very disturbing. Won't go into the details as I would really rather forget.

Here, have some matcha ice cream.