JT15- Day 14

It's Sunday morning at the Anami residence. Yoichi and Mami are here and the kids are at sports- Saito- badminton practise and Leia- netball practise. S for 3 hours/ L the whole day until 6pm!!!
Anyway back to yesterday. 
Got up about 8 am had my final soba and dipping sauce breakfast followed by the last of the bananas & washed down with tea. 
Checked out of the ryokan and they very kindly let me leave my case there for the day so I didn't have to schlep it around. 
Headed to Kujo station and caught the subway to Karasumaoike where I transferred to the Tozei Subway line and went to Keage station and then walked to a couple of local temples before heading to my main objective- Nanzen-ji another large Zen temple founded in the 1200's. On the way I passed the Keage Incline which uses the same principle as the Hays Incline Plane in Coalport England to move product from a factory on to a barge and then winched down to a canal to be transported wherever. Funny to see the same principle on the other side of the world. 
Climbed the VERY steep stairs of the Sanmon (main gate) which I'm sure was nearly as large as the one at Tofukuji. Worth it for the stunning 360° view from the top. Could spot a couple of landmarks including Heian Jingu a couple of clicks away. 
Another glorious pair of gardens and I sat on the step of the Sanmon to eat my onigiri that I had brought with me. A very nice probably in his 60's University of Tokyo Professor of Agriculture then engaged me in conversation about all things Aussie and my general love affair with all things Japonnaise. He made the comment that he had never seen a foreigner eating an onigiri I think he needs to get out more. I was intrigued that he had begged off touring the gardens "too hot" and let his wife do the walking alone. He like just about everybody else made the comment that I know more Japanese history than most Japanese and I could be his teacher!
Then on my way back to the station I made one last stop at Konchi-in which is a sub temple of Nanzen-ji and walked my final beautiful garden that includes a Toshogu mausoleum in tribute of my main man Tokugawa Ieyasu. I felt it was very apt that pretty much my last thing to see this trip was in honour of the man I want to honour on my next trip in June next year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death. 
Back to Keage station and then retaraced my steps back to the ryokan and pick up my luggage. Then caught the train all the way from Kujo to Kyoto (1 stop) and then waited in a very long queue in the JR West Ticket Office to again do something I have not done before (mainly because I am usually using a Japan Rail Pass) and book a ticket for Osaka and a reserved seat at that. Cost was ¥1370. Originally Yoichi had said to meet him at a JR station somewhere in his area at 6pm but he messaged and asked if I could meet at Kyobashi Station at 5pm. Fortunately I was already on my way from Kyoto to Osaka on the Thunderbird Limited Express and so I said ok. 
We met amid great joy at catching up then we caught a train to go to the new office of a friend to watch Tenjin Matsuri festivities on the river and fireworks. His friend Eguchi runs a design company and Yoichi met him playing rugby and now they play together and also do business together. The way the world should be. 
His office space is simply spectacular with objets d'arts and whatnot scattered around in true artistic fashion. He is a fan of Gilbert an George among I'm sure many things and was intrigued that I had seen them perform "Underneath the Arches" live at the NGV way back when. 
Probably 20-30 people in total turned up for the festivities. Food, including Yoichi being co-opted into making takoyaki (so it was a little like being at his place for the usual last Saturday dinner) and drink in great abundance. The most intriguing dish was a box of individual single bite ice creams inc maccha (green tea), chocolate and caramel flavours. Very moreish. 
During the evening I had an interesting conversation with a 57 year old man whose family company made children's clothes and went bankrupt about 6 years ago. He and his brother had already started another company doing the same thing and all the employees decided to stay with them in the new company and he has spent the last 5 years building a viable business. 
Also Eguch san said that a young lady wanted to practise English and so I spent the most delightful time talking to a graphic designer who works for him in his office. Her name is Eri and she said she met Eguchi when she was 16 and he was her drawing teacher at art school. She recently spent 2 weeks in England on holiday. I told her she must visit Australia next. Her friend Mereni designs umbrellas and I showed her my really light Warefront umbrella and explained how we had bought some Waterfront umbrellas on our trip in 2008. 
It was a really entertaining night and it seems Tenjin MTsuri is one of the biggest in Japan. The barges, boats and every other imaginable type of floating device thronged the water including special barges to carry Mikoshi (in this case a number of giant ones) on a trip around the city on the river. Spectacular and the office was the perfect spot to watch the goings on. Up and away from the thronging masses on the riverside and bridges. 
Then a last minute dash to catch the last trains back to Konoikeshinden Station which is fairly near Yoichi's. There were no cabs at the station so we walked at about 12:15am with Yoichi dragging my suitcase and it was still probably 30° or thereabouts. Took about 10 minutes to get there and of course the kids were asleep. Mami got up and said hello. Yoichi had made the comment earlier that everything is good with her now and she definitely looks well. He had also commented that it seems his father has lung cancer and will have further tests on Aug 6th to see what is happening. Seems he has had a small lump for some time but it has recently got larger. 
And so to bed. Same deal as last time. Mami is sleeping in the kids room so I slept in the 'adult' bedroom with Yoichi. 

I will update the rest of today probably on the plane tonight. Suffice to say we have been watching Star Wars Episode 4 (the first one) and drinking iced coffee. Yoichi felt too hung over to go to rugby practise this morning so it is a very lazy Sunday at the Anami's. I have already been given my presentto. It is a cotton top and three quarter shorts that doesn't apparently have a name. Very snazzy and a perfect fit. Also a bag of lollies I think might be fruit based. 

More later,

Lotsalove,

Tim