KYOTO

in fabulous kyoto, in the tiniest room imaginable: my bed touches 3 walls; i can sit on it & type on the laptop squeezed onto the narrow desk against the 4th. wall.  i must walk sideways to get to the window.  the bathroom is the size of a phone booth.  i thought it was a joke.  yet, it's a beautiful modern hotel, impeccably clean & well appointed, near the station.... and the most expensive hotel room i've had so far!  

last night masa & i enjoyed an 8 course ryotei farewell dinner that was out of this world, in the old part of town, in a private room in a traditional restaurant with beautiful music, decor & zen gardens.  in the morning we walked everywhere in the historic west side and in the evening we wandered around the ancient east side sections of kyoto, admiring the antique wooden houses and magnificent temples with zen gardens.   

i've got blisters on both pinkie toes that are so bad i don't know how i'll be able to do all the walking i planned in tokyo.  what a drag!  while i've still got masa for a few more hours i'm  going to get him to take me to a pharmacy to see what we can find to help me.  that'll teach me not to wear my pretty kashmiri slippers when i go walking in the city.  

so much to see & do it would take weeks to see everything on my list and also find the energy to go out to night spots, so i can admire the young japanese fashions styles & attitudes.  i saw a bit of that in hiroshima and himeji & hope to see more in tokyo.   yet whatever we've seen & done fulfills me so. 

i've got a seat reserved on the left side of the bullet train to tokyo this afternoon & hope i can see mount fuji, which was shrouded in clouds when we pased it last week.  

i also hope my hotel room in tokyo is a little bit bigger than this one so i can bend over to tie my shoes!

masa & i part ways today.  he's given me the trip of a lifetime which i'll never forget.  no one who doesn't speak japanese could do the countryside & mountain visits we did.  i'm forever grateful to him, my dear, talented, beautiful composer friend.  may he thrive & continue to do great work!  and, as i've taught him to say: zei gezunt!

don't know if i'll get on internet in tokyo, so this will probably be my last missive from japan.

sayonara!