Bamboo

The early part of the day was alloted to study, mostly of hiragana and their writing. I went out in the afternoon to first visit the largest department store in the area (whose name escapes me right now). I was looking for a teapot and slippers, but ended up purchasing neither. The store was much like any other, though it was very crowded and compact, also instead of a car parking lot there was a large bicycle parking lot. 1st floor groceries, second was clothes, third was household goods. I soon left and went past the same area with cherry blossoms, this time in the daytime.

On a little tourist map I was given, theres a large area marked with drawings of bamboo, and thats where I was headed. Kansai region is known for its bamboo shoots. It was very peaceful, clear sky day and walking through the bamboo path was just what I wanted. This was obviously an agriculture area, I hope to see wild bamboo areas some other time.

I continued north along the outskirts of town to one of the main temples in the area, but could not go in as it was late in the day. From there I headed east back into more populated areas and stopped at a store to get some saki. I had wanted to get umeboshi, pickled plum, to go with this, but either through mis-communication, or the store not having any, I was not able to.

On my way, I passed a ramen shop and stopped for dinner. This was authentic ramen and very good. I think the slabs of meat laid on top of the noodles were chicken (as I had said the word for poultry), but who knows. I did my best to slurp the noodles as is expected of me (some say slurping the noodles enhances the flavor), then paid and left. I wandered my way home, going down different streets than I had already been, poured myself some saki and had an evening bath.