Day 7 - On the road - again. A step back into the Japan of the past

We departed Hiroshima, for me, somewhat sadly as it was the first place in Japan that I felt I connected with. But still, I was excited to move on to Kyoto and find out what the old capital of Japan would be like.  After negotiating Kyoto Station taxi queue and listening to the cab driver huff and puff (well that's what it sounded like and I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking to me...) we found ourselves at the Kanra hotel. Boutique is a word. Comfortable and clean and achingly modern. We settled in for a bit, then decided to be big brave soldiers and brave the mean streets of Kyoto.  We had a map (quite what use that is, I have to say) and we knew where the main drag of shops was, so off we set.  I was quite happy to walk up the street we were on for maybe four intersections, but my companion deemed that the subway was the only way. One stop later - it taking longer to go up and down stairs at each end than it would have done just walking but I shall keep my counsel, knowing nothing - we emerged onto shopping street central! Suddenly we happened upon a little shop whose

reputation preceded it - Tokyu Hands. Carlos did not know what he was letting himself in for when I oh so casually suggested we took a look inside. Four floors (FOUR! Count them!) of tech, craft, bags, kitchen gizmos......It took a very very long time and a great deal of effort to get me out. And no, I'm not sharing what I bought, some of it will be found inside stockings at C-word time :)  One  little point of note here is that he and I have been enjoying the frankly ludicrous use of English like wot she shouldn't be spoken on t-shirts, bags and so on. This label on rather a nice bag in Tokyu Hands is a case in point if you read it carefully it's smutty enough to get me giggling, and everyone in Japan has a ridiculous label like this on their clothes and accessories. It's akin to the couple we saw walking through Temaguchi with the tiniest pram in the world designed for.....their dog who ws being carried by daddy. I just didn't have the cojones to take a pic of them, but you'll get my drift of all the insanity that is both making me despair but making me glad too....

We marched onwards, via Starbucks and a macha frappuccino (no, not me, don't be ridiculous - Carlos) until we happened upon a covered shopping arcade called Temaguchi. Now this has been there since Shogun times and used to be the city's enterainment quarter.  Now it's packed chock full of everything from bars to bookshops to antique woodblock print shops to quirky clothing and shoe shops, Including a Clarks which couldn't be more out of place... Several woodblock prints and a Lenin cap later we happened upon the very personage of the crab above.  Upon checking the menu outside the venerable establishment, it appeared that they did indeed specialise just in crab.  We walked for a little while longer and then decided that the hail of the waving spider crab could not be ignored and in we went.  I won't bore you with the fine details of the 'premium crab set' that we ordered suffice to say it was truly exquisite.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.  Sated on crab with exrta crab in a crab jus we piled into a cab, back to our boutique hotel room and had yet another early night. This Japan lark is exhausting....

Second phase of spider crab attack

Soup. DIY Soup

Charlie horrified at cooking his own dinner. Orange improbableness is clearly visible bottom centre

The ribbish pot at each end of the table...

Sushi course and the gunkan at the top is filled with crab willy

Eyeball. This is the point at which my liking of Japanese food started to falter. It's definitely an eyeball or two...

NB We did not eat the eyeballs. I'm not sure they ARE eyeballs, but they had an eyeball quality to them when picked up/speared with a chopstick. These, the raw crab willies and the orange strangeness on the starter platter were not acceptable. I should point out in hindsight that at this point personally speaking my tolerance of weird food is starting to diminish at an almost vertical rate...