Billiards at MK Taxi

After the market I walked north to a Umekoji Park. I see this park everytime I ride the JR train into Kyoto station, so a closer look was in order. It was a busy day, lots of children and family out, wading in a little stream, having picnics, running around on the field. There was a bell choir, and other out musicians practicing. I stopped here for a short nap in the shade, then some food on my way to the train.

My destination was north, some building called MK Taxi where I was meeting a guy to play pool. It was a bit of a hike after getting off the train, but it was a nice day going along the river side. Again, there were a lot of people out enjoying the day, biking, walking, playing in the sun. I eventually saw the building with the big logo and went up to the 4th floor. There was an arcade, various other games (a lot of those claw-games), a little seating area, an indoor soccer area, ping-pong, bowling on the 3rd floor, and pool tables. I greeted Joe and used his membership to get a table, it was very cheap, you can play all day until 6pm for about ¥600/person (not by table) and bring drinks in with you. This was the first time I met Joe, who has been a teacher in Japan for almost 20 years now and decided to put up a post looking for new people to play pool with. I responded and we had a good time playing and talking about Japan and such. We played for a few hours, and while I don't play often, I did have a table growing up, and it showed, I was dominating. Joe is very fluent in spoken Japanese, obviously after 20 years, but at some point had given up on the Kanji and does not read much. I don't intend to do that.

On the way back, I stopped by the river and listened to the water a bit. This is a fast river coming down from the mountains, but it's been tamed for ages and has little waterfalls at set distances. Most rivers in Japan have been tamed, I've heard there are only about 4 or 5 natural rivers remaining without dams, shored up banks, or elevation control. Sad in many ways, but at the same time, nature takes over, even a cement barrier overgrown with moss and vines has beauty.

Back on the Hankyu, I was listening to music and not paying attention when I got off at the wrong stop. I was on a Limited Express train, meaning I thought it was skipping every stop until mine, but I guess not that one. Hungry, I looked around and gave into temptation by going to KFC for some extra spicy chicken. Japan is really missing out as far as spices are concerned, they have things that may be 'hot' like wasabi, and a few indian restaurants here and there, but nowhere have I see anything even remotely mexican. Anna's Taqueria would make a killing here, give me that burrito with jalepaneos and extra hot sauce, mmmm...