Back to Kyoto

Yet another overnight bus ride. Jesus, I'm so exhausted. After three and a half months of hard travel in Southeast Asia and the past week of sleeplessness in Japan I can't wait to get home.

But first, the Gion Festival in Kyoto. From what I've read, this is the biggest festival in all of Japan, so we're quite lucky to be here to see it. I can't say I know much about it, but from the pictures I've seen posted in my hostel it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.

Here's an interesting thing I learned the other day that says a lot about this country. I asked a girl working at the hostel how to say "yes" in Japanese and she said "Hai". Then I asked her how to say "no" and she replied, "We don't really say that in Japanese." This really appeals to me on a variety of levels (too bad I'm not single anymore). Of course, this doesn't mean they don't express the negative, but they do it by saying things like, "you've got the right idea but..."

A land of square watermelons and people who can't say no. My kind of place.

Posted by flow Frazao on July 14, 2005 at 06:54 PM in Japan | Permalink