Kim gets friendly with the canine statues that guard the shrine.
And pays for it.

Mom and Kim bought enough pottery to set the table of a small army.
Frozen ice cream treats: melon and green tea

As if he wasn't charming enough already, I just found this on the internet...

Who/What is Domo-kun?

DOMO is a strange creature born from an egg. One day he fell into Usajii's house, the old rabbit likes TV. After that he began to love watching TV. He is gentle and strong. When he is in a bad mood, he breaks wind.

Favorite food: Seasoned beef with potatoes
Disliked food: Apple (There seems a deep mystery in his DNA)
Favorite talent [band]: MAX and The guitar wolf

Kyoto by night

Hello my friends! Mom and Kim just descended upon Japan, so again, I'm going to be a terrible emailer this week. Today though, since I have to be at work anyway, I'm going to be a posting fool and throw down the rest of Hannah and Phil's visit.

Tojimbo

Oshima

Hiking up to the haunted island near Tojimbo. We didn't see any ghosts, but I did fall down once. Maybe they tripped me. Or maybe it was really muddy.
Safe and sound back in the car.

Softo creamu

Besides taking excellent photos of Domo-kun, the goal of our trip became finding new and tasty flavors of soft cream. Winner: sweet potato. Mmmmm.
Loser: squid ink. No joke.

Storming the castle

Meet Domo-kun

Domo-kun is the mascot for NHK, the major TV station here. Can you guess what he is? That's right, he's a TV! With fangs! Best. Character. Ever.So from here on out, the trip pretty much turns into a big Domo-kun photo shoot. I predict already that you will get tired of his sweet brown face in all my pictures, but I don't care, because I love him.
Snow at Eiheiji temple.

"That's a lot of snow, isn't it Domo-kun?"

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh." (This is how I imagine he responds to everything.)

Domo-kun-o-rama

Bamboo doll at the bamboo village.
Bamboo Domo-kun. So photogenic.
Domo-kun likes pizza.
And hamsters.

Mr.Roboto, featuring Domo-kun and the Domettes

I have no idea who these people are, or how they got into my apartment.

Dino-rama

Did you know that 80% of Japan's dinosaurs were found in Fukui? You probably did, because this is the first thing I told everyone about my prefecture when I found out where I was going. I like dinosaurs. A lot.
The Fukuisaurus!
When the security guards weren't looking, we decided to examine Hannah's wedding ring under this snazzy camera meant for examining rocks and fossils. We discovered it was made of fiberglass. Just kidding.
Escalated entrance to the museum.

Big Buddha

Echizen Daibutsu. Largest buddha in Japan. Or third largest. Or largest seated buddha. Or was largest buddha for a week until they built a bigger one somewhere else. Or something. I really can't remember.

I'll soon be there with snow
I'll wash my hair with snow
And with a spade of snow
I'll built a man that's made of snow

(quick, name that movie)

That's right. It's snowing again. On March 29th. A lot.

Hannah's first udon.
Check this out. This is the EXACT yellow polyester suit that I purchased from the Olympia Goodwill store in 9th grade. The one that Hannah and Elisha and I fought over when we saw it (we were thrift store style pioneers). Imagine my shock when I found it in this trendy second hand goods boutique in Kyoto. For all I know this could actually be MY yellow suit, since I'm pretty sure it made it back to the thrift store after high school.
This hat surprisingly not from the second hand store. Was in the clearance pile though. I think this should be Phil's head shot if he ever decides to go into theater.

Yuhara Ryokan

We managed to do an admirable amount of sightseeing our first day, but by dinner time we were starving, tired, and probably still traumatized by the encounter with Pervy on the bus, so we headed to our ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse) to reload.

After getting off at the appropriate bus stop, our place was nowhere to be seen. No problem, I had the phone number. Unfortunately the kind woman who answered refused to speak Japanese, and instead preferred a garbled mashing of syllables that was most definitely not English either.

"Smoru reebah [small river]? Sjooowlbulssuhfhwlsigaba smoru reebah? Bajiwjoslaiiebne there is smoru reebah. Parking lot? Jiwasobkwivoaoooowiiba smoru reebah you see?"

After about 8 minutes of this I was ready to drown myself in the "smoru reebah," if only I could find it.

Maybe sensing this, she finally said "Shiwaoslbbbooosowalarabu you stay I come." When at last the tiny lady came hobbling down the street, I think we all had thoughts that maybe she was taking us to her living room to sleep on the floor with her 17 cats, but after leading us through a maze of small back streets (pointing: "See? Smoru reebah..." Oh, of course...) we found our nice, spacious, lovely ryokan.

Phil traverses the smoru reebah.
Our huge room, with complimentary tea and cake snacks.Again with the tallness.
Freaky photo of me in my pj's.
"Shobuorlorrrossienbeiwasahai goodbye!"