Nagoya Craft Show

Today we went to a craft show.  Not sure where it fits into the scheme of craft shows in Japan, but it was billed as a big one.

Lots of locals......

And inside.... 

We commented to each other that it was just like home - stalls, workshops etc.  Different exhibitors though. They had fabrics, both Japanese and everything else, braids, threads, a Clover stall, kits, small craft items, jewellery, knick-knacks, sewing machines, notions etc et etc etc.  Here they also had live music - classical and very relaxing.

Food on sale was coffee and bento boxes. Was hungry and forgot photo.  But the only thing I really recognised was the rice.  However, I wasn't hungry afterwards.

Shibori Dyeing

We went to a Shibori Museum in Kyoto.

Before dyeing, we had to choose a design

and choose two colours.

The fabric is clamped, dipped in the first colour, re-clamped with different shaped press and dipped in the second colour.  The museum folk supervised this dipping closely - it is hot water.

Then the big reveal!

There were thirteen different very different results.  Even those of us who had chosen the same design had very different results.  When we were looking at the museum and the shop, they dried our efforts and wrapped them beautifully in cellophane.  This is mine.  You would almost pay money for it!

 

Nagoya

 Another Shinkansen from Kyoto to Nagoya - only half an hour.

How is this for frequency!  A train every 9 minutes to Nagoya and on to Tokyo.

Getting ready 

And Kumie keeping an eye on us.

I spent today by myself. My approach to travel these days is that an itinerary is a menu. I figure out what I really want to see, and what I am prepared to skip, and then I can see how my stamina goes.  I am not prepared to become over-tired.

I couldn't check in until 3pm, so spent the next hours having morning tea, lunch, buying a blouse, and the best of all - the bookshop had a craft section and prices are so much better than in Aus.  I couldn't believe it. Google Translate has almost flattened my phone, but now I have 5 new books.  And I didn't even leave the station complex!

One of my pauses was to have a "mixed fruit parfait".  One thing about Japan, desserts can be quite healthy! This was fresh mixed fruit with something crunchy in the middle topped by a beautifully applied soft serve ice-cream with red dusting.

The hotel is in the station complex itself.  It is smaller than other rooms on this trip, but looks newly built.  This is the first time I have seen provision for hard-shell suitcases.

And the room and the view

And lastly - how you cope with police labour shortage! This fellow (not the human) patrols the foyer outside the lifts on floor 15.

 I wasn't sure if the electronic voice was telling me "no photos".  But I got this anyway.

Sewing and shopping

We then went to the famous Kyoto's notions store.

We had a sashiko workshop - pics are in another format.  And shopped.  Nothing like good prices and knowing you won't be coming back to loosen the purse strings.  As another lady said  - "I'm in heaven".  She had discovered velcro in all colours that she can use for her toy making.  All we get in Aus is black and white.

Lunch

 Lunch was in a cafe on a temple site - sorry, I don't know the name and haven't looked it up yet.  But it wa a very calm and peaceful place.

We had to take our shoes off for the cafe - the floor was a tatami mat, but we were spared the full-cross-legged pose.

Tokyo to Kyoto

This morning was the earliest morning of the tour.  We had to catch the 8am Nozomi Shinkansen to Kyoto.  We were shepherded through the whole process by Dai - sorting all this out ourselves would have been difficult!

It was such an early morning that there wasn't time for the hotel breakfast.  Dai had reassured us there would be a bento box stall at the station - and there was.  He was helping us choose.  I ended up with sandwiches which were amazingly fresh - the freshest pre-packed sandwiches I have ever seen.

You could even get coffee!  It came in a tin container, and it was hot.  It mentioned coffee and milk, but not the sugar. Another Aussie told me it wasn't very good - but we had been warned, especially the Melburnians,  that Japan doesn't do coffee.  Weak bargaining position.

Each of us was told what the numbers next to the Japanese characters on our tickets meant - carriage number, door number and seat number.  So we lined up accordingly.

I studied the seat map so I would know exactly where to go once inside.

In Kyoto, hotel check-in took the usual time.  The hotel cleverly has employed a man to entertain us while we waited (a brilliant idea!)  He had all sorts of Aussie knick-nacks with him - koalas, kangaroo, banknotes, a boomerang.....  

I felt sorry for the two kiwis in our group.  he said he was wearing a NZ flag, but it did look like the Aussie one - an even further insult!

Hotel rooms have been better than expected this trip - as far as space goes I mean. As usual in Japan, everything works beautifully.  And the wifi is very good.

Dinner

 Tonight was dinner at a tempura restaurant.  There were prawns, fish and vegetables.

Because I don't eat prawns, a chicken dish was ordered for me.  The chicken was very good - but I could have eaten the fish and the veg and traded the prawns!

Toilets

 Japanese toilets are an ongoing source of interest.

Our guide realises she has to check that we know how to flush the toilet.  The flush could be anywhere!

Today, the toilet had a child's urinal.

plus a safety seat to hold another baby.

They must be optimistic about the birth rate!

Nippori

Then we went to Nippori.  I managed to have a snooze on the train (one of two trains) and it saved the day for me.  This is my second visit to Nippori, having been there with three Strausses in 2017.  Today, Dai chose three stores to visit.  This is the first one.

Absolutely chock-a-block.

And I was too busy looking to get photos of the other two.  One of them was Tomato.

Noriko Endo confetti patchwork

Today we attended a workshop run by Noriko Endo. She is, apparently, famous for her confetti impressionist patchwork.  It was lots of fun, although I probably won't be taking it up.  But it did force me to have my first try at free-motion quilting!  I can see why they have programmes to do this!

The master herself.

An example of her work

And Noriko with Dai, our tour leader

The learner!

Pachinko

Our tour began this afternoon - 10 ladies of similar ages!  We went to a dumpling restaurant at a neighbouring hotel, and on the way back to our hotel, Dai got us to walk through a pachinko parlour.  Gambling is illegal in Japan, but pachinko is a "grey" area.  You can google it - but apparently you win lots of little silver balls, which through mysterious methods, can get converted to cash.  It seems to be a pinball type machine.  I grabbed a couple of pics before being asked to put away my camera.

,This lady had quite a load of silver balls, and was creating another.

It was noisy!.