I had a visitor for the weekend - Shioli my friend from Hikone. On Saturday I met her in Nagoya and we went to the science museum. I hadn't been yet and was saving it for a time when a visitor would like to go with me. I have to say I was a little disappointed. I think partly because it's much more fun with a child... (Peter used to really enjoy the science museum in Boston) and partly because everything was written in Japanese. Which I found very strange in a place like that. And I though it was even stranger that all the workers, ticket sellers, people who showed you where to line up or sit etc. spoke English. Which to me means that they have a lot of foreign visitors. Even some of the Japanese was not clear because Shoili had trouble figuring some of the exhibits out. We went to the planetarium show as well. She slept through part of it. I stayed awake but it was hard... The last planetarium I'd been to was so exciting. At least it wasn't crowded so that was nice.
These were cool. They are coin lockers for your bags and they are labeled with the Periodic Table. Cute!
This is the planetarium.
We walked over to Osu Kannon for lunch. There was a festival going on throughout the city with performers here and there. This guy was in a shopping area. He is supposed to be a kappa.
A drawing of a kappa.—From an 1836 copy of Koga Tōan's Suiko Kōryaku (1820).
| |
| Grouping | Yōkai |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Gatarō, Kawako |
| Country | Japan |
| Habitat | Rivers |
A kappa (河童 , river-child), also known as kawatarō (川太郎 , "river-boy"), komahiki (駒引 , horse-puller), or kawatora (川虎 , river-tiger) is an amphibious yōkai demon or imp found in traditional Japanese folklore. They are typically depicted as green, human-like beings with webbed hands and feet, with a turtle-like carapace on its back. A depression on its head called its "dish" (sara) retains water, and if this is damaged or its liquid is spilled the kappa is severely weakened.
The kappa are known to favor cucumbers and love to engage in sumo wrestling. They are often accused of assaulting humans in water and removing a mythical organ called the shirikodama from their victim's anus.
We had lunch in the tiniest 'restaurant' - if you can call it that - that I've ever been in. It was a counter with 5 or 6 seats and the server had a hard time walking behind our stools. Not spectacular.
The snacks on the shopping street were really good though!
This is sticky rice balls (mochi) with green tea powder. Messy to eat but yummy.
We walked around the shopping area and festival areas. This is a bounce house shaped like a tanuki (raccoon dog).
Found a quiet place for a few minutes.
On Sunday we went back into the city to go to a garden I hadn't been to yet, and then back to the Osu Kannon area so Shioli could have the fried chicken she had seen and smelled the day before.
We passed a nice temples on the way.
Shirotori Garden
There was a nice little cafe where we stopped for some sweets.
This little maple tree is a tease for what will come... Probably at the end of November. There were many well placed Japanese maples around this garden. It's on my list for fall color spots!
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