Kyoto photo comments, questions, replies & answers

First of all thank you all so much for your comments and questions to the Kyoto photo section, they are very much appreciated. I will do my best to help you with an answer or at least my idea of an answer!

Rosi the photo of the bicycle and the umbrella seems to have got a lot of attention!
Actually I have never used this system but I guess it must work as you can see it quite often around town.
Ahhhh the Coromandel nice!
I too like walking in my bare feet it is so cool on the grass for my toes I love it.
As you can see we don’t have ‘naked’ feet but ‘bare’ and we usually need more than one shoe or sock! The next sentence is also interesting,
‘This is one of the strangest thing I have never seen’.
I’d change that to ‘This is one of the strangest things I have ever seen’.
I also LOVE ‘…you nosed out me!!!!’ nosey (nosy) means TOO interested in other people’s business that is in a bad way as we say in Britain a ‘nosy parker’. I think you meant to say ‘…you found me out!!!!’
But the funniest of all was ‘I work about 40 hours a day and so far I enjoy working here because I'm improving my English very fast.’ I’m not surprised that you are improving your English if NZ has over 40 hours in every day! Sorry about that. I have to agree with you about the distance that our countries of residence are from our home countries. It is a long haul for sure and my family would be much happier. They might even phone at the correct time of day!

Leila I think some of the ‘mystery’ comes from the way things in Japan look ‘private’ and not for outsiders (this is true for Japanese as well as foreigners). However, if you have an interest in anything Japanese there are a lot of people who want to help you enjoy and understand more about it that’s so great.
Habooba the no smoking sign is actually printed onto four very hard wearing ceramic tiles set into the ground. I like that stadium shot too thank you.
Maryam I think that Japan is changing quite a bit but there is even now a very clear cut split in Japanese families that shows how traditional they still are, men go to work and women stay at home and look after the family. There isn’t anything wrong with this but as Japan has a falling population there needs to be more flexibility in the workforce then I can see at the present. By the way, good luck to Iran for your qualifying group in the World Cup.
Guzin thanks for your post. I agree with your idea that small things with no famous inventor are often things that shape our lives the most.
Silwal I’m not sure how strong the umbrellas are in Japan! I think that when it is REALLY raining hard (cats and dogs you might say) then people tend to wait for it to ease off. The only time when the streets are empty is when there has been a typhoon warning.
Maione that is an interesting question. I’m not sure that any historic city can live comfortably with the modern part of itself. Unfortunately (as so often around the World) people in Japan are only now seeing the good things in their traditional homes and architecture.
Ana Paula the old houses are considered dark, small and inconvenient for modern living.
Marianna you are right it WAS one of the main reasons why a chose to come to live in Kyoto. I am interested in the problems that traditional cities (less so towns) have, the need to modernize, preserve and conserve.
Mariusz you’ll be interested to hear that sake is 20% so not as strong as Polish vodka. However, you should be a little careful drinking warm sake, as it seems to get into your blood much quicker than regular alcohol!
BanK, Jorge, Toni and Cristina thank you for your comments too.

Finally I have now finished term here at university in Kyoto. All the papers are marked and all the grades have been finalized and handed in to the administration department.
How did the students do? Well it shouldn’t be a surprise but the students who didn’t come to class usually failed the class. Nothing shocking there! There were only a few students who failed and it is always a difficult thing to do but there must be a standard.
Overall this term (called the Spring term in Japan) has been very rewarding and I (at least) enjoyed it very much. I am looking forward to a holiday now and then back to work in September. So on Sunday night I will be flying back to the UK to see Sophie, which I am REALLY looking forward to. I’ll also have time to see my family and I hope catch up with a few of my friends. Now I have to pack…never much fun!
As for the blog I will try and blog a couple of more times next week to let you know about how it feels to be back in Britain. I am looking forward to some cool weather, though I shall probably catch a cold knowing my luck!

Best wishes and I’ll post again next week from England!

Simon.

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