We are off to a museum again today.  Weirdly (or rather stupidly) it is in the same complex as the Art Museums that we visited yesterday.  We just didn’t make the connection!  Our host, Takashi had recommended we visit the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design, which is right up our alley anyway.  Perfect plan!

We are up and out fairly early because we are taking the subway today – need to spend that Suica money if we want to get our deposit back, plus, we can get there rather easily on the subway – as opposed to most every other tourist site in this city.  We still refuse to use the bus on a strictly local vs. tourist basis.  Locals need to get around and we don’t need to be messing up the works (as mentioned, those buses are packed to the gills!!!).  So, off we go on our walk to the To-ji train station, then transfer (with a little confusion) to the subway at Kyoto station and we end up at the Crafts and Design museum right after opening time. Perfect.

And what a great experience!  OMG – exhibit after exhibit detailing Kyoto traditional crafts.  From dolls (ceramic mostly) to weaving to braiding to lacquer to woodworking to – well you name it, there is an exhibit for it. 

There are gorgeous kimonos, hands on exhibits where you can test your ability to tie a Sanadahimo cord – the cords and nots used to tie up packages – yeah – way beyond me!  A fantastic step by step guide on making a fan – no wonder those things cost so much!  The steps and tools and expertise needed to make a single fan is way more than you could imagine!

There are also representations of the vehicles used for Gods in festivals, a fabulous six panel folding screen depicting a poem and its poet, with 50 hand drawn sheets depicting the scenes.  Then one of my absolute favorites – stenciled wood plates using katazome, the traditional dyeing technique usually used for kimonos.  Gorgeous.

Fans (did you know folding fans were invented in Japan in the 9^th century? Before then it was only round fans – which still are viewed as lucky talismans and stylish for everyday use), dyeing techniques (fascinating to us, not boring you with them here), woven textiles, aforementioned braiding – and the contraptions used to do it!  A sake display that has miniature workers brewing the sake, even a whole display about sweets – and how Kyoto residents love their sweets!  Even a cherry blossom tree that is actually a cake. Really – that is a cake!

Of course there is pottery – and also the block printing that is so famous to Japanese arts.  Really – an amazing place. We ended up spending a couple of hours here in a little space, just wandering and looking and getting ideas for crafts when we get home.  NOT!

Completing our explorations we wander through the Design museum, which is just a series of paintings and kimonos in glass – and free to view.  One of the exhibits though focuses on the “Autumnal hues” with lovely pieces depicting the fall leaf colors – of which we are sadly, a bit too early to see.  Nice way to spend a morning!

Then – bonus – there is a shrine right across the street – the Heian Shrine – a replica of the innermost sections of Heiankyo, the capital of Japan (Kyoto now) for more than 1,000 years before being moved to Tokyo.  The shrine is being renovated, but the grounds are pretty, with interesting statues and lovely outer buildings.  Also, what is calling to us, is a fabulous garden that we can explore. And of course we do!

It is a beautiful day – sun mixed with clouds, a nice cool breeze that helps when the sun is out at full strength (it gets really hot!).  We meander through the pretty different garden areas – each including design features from different periods of history.  Including one of the earliest electric trams in the city, circa 1895. It was powered by Hydroelectricity!  Wild. Then there is the strolling garden from the Heian period, with weeping cherry trees.

An Edo period garden with chiseled rock structures around a large pond. 

Not to mention the huge lake that we circle, with fabulous views of the rocks and the trees and the stepping stones called Garyukyo, which means hidden dragon bridge,” from the wandering path the stepping stones take across the pond.

Then it is onto the gorgeous traditional bridge that spans the width of the pond with different shrine buildings on either side. Serene and beautiful. A wonderful way to end our explorations of Kyoto!

Back to the subway we go – this time stopping at Kyoto station for lunch. We hit the huge crazy 11 floor station structure and find a wonderful little Ramen place, Ramen Iroha, where we order on the kiosk machine, then sit down to a great meal of Black ramen (black soup – sort of fish stock based maybe?) and gyoza.  Perfect in everyway.

On our way out of the station we stop at the 7-11 to use up all the money left on our Suica cards.  Supposedly if we take it down to 0, we will get our entire deposit back and not be charged the handling fee.  Which we do – after some translation errors – and end up with a “banana foiling bread” – think twinkie with banana cream – and some chocolate.  Unfortunately we can’t find any place to turn our cards into, after some research figuring out it can only be in Tokyo at JR East stations.  Bummer.  But whatever, the convenience is totally worth it.

Then it is onto Don Quixote to stock up on more drip coffee and falling prey to Hershey’s cookies and cream candies – filled with freeze dried strawberries.  Oh!  The sweets here!  It is totally diet time when we get home!

Of course tonight’s dinner doesn’t help!  We are back at Lawson’s, only this time with Karage (Japanese fried chicken), a spring roll, more gyoza and Takoyaki!  Seriously!  It is just so convenient and so cheap – and everything tastes amazing.  Even the Takoyaki is great – and it is just microwaved.  But it has big pieces of octopus and the right textures and sauces.  You really can’t ask for anything more.  Happy little campers, hanging out in the house, doing laundry, drying in the “room” dryer (which still just fascinates us), taking pictures of the toilet controls with translation because it is so funny (and these toilets are all like this!  Tons of options and controls and almost scary!) and in general enjoying our last night in Kyoto.