zusi Additions: J-Plus Travelog – Part II covering Kyoto and Kobe

J-Plus continues with Kobe and Kyoto, but because there’s a story to go with my trip to Kobe, let’s go to Kyoto first.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been to Japan, Osaka, Tokyo or Kyoto – I visited when I was in elementary school on an exchange trip between elderly Americans and Japanese families.

You might wonder how I, not an elderly American, became part of the trip. Well, my grandparents went, and brought me with them to Yamaguchi Prefecture, among other sights. I remember well waking up to a hotel breakfast in Tokyo and seeing the news ticker lined with Kanji, or Chinese characters – easy reading for having grown up learning Mandarin in Taiwan; it felt familiar.

Kyoto was about the same as I remembered it, just with a lot more Chinese tourists this time. I will let the photos do the talking.

At one point I found myself at the foot of a hill, and started walking up through the mosquito-laden area to a view of the city.

Kobe began with style in the harbor, fancy restaurants and bars, scoring a picture of me when I was 25 years old.

Also impressive were the Japanese wrestling posters and other ads. But the return journey featured a highly inebriated man, who almost lost his phone were it not for the timely intervention of a good samaritan – myself.

He writhed and wrangled his way across the train car to the disgust of many, but I knew the feeling.

Next time, the castles, gardens and paths of Kanazawa…And now, your J-Plus tape, which apparently was released along with a magazine covering Japanese music of the same Sounds of Japan name:

https://c.mail.com/@649543521753114149/QNrRdZf_QNyvDkQyzCXTFg