..............................................................................Or shrine! The site seeing kind of got to me I have to admit. Would have loved to just hang out at one peaceful temple, meditate or do a water color, but damn it was COLD! So, what really characterized my Kyoto experience, other than getting to know the bus system like the back of my hand, was the people I met at the venerable Tojian Guesthouse, quite possibly and simultaneously the most derelict and lovely place to stay in the world.
It consisted of a broken down old home next to the highway overpass with holes everywhere, so lets call it semi-enclosed accommodation. The front door didn`t lock, nor any other door in the place, I was in the 8 bed dorm, peachy. After crawling past the tea table and mat that the owner sleeps on!, you find yourself in a 8 foot by 8 foot room that serves as the living room for guests. There is a small table, free coffee and tea, and EVERY night the owner and/or staff force feed you free beer, sake, and the most potent, nasty booze they could find on the planet, my favorite being korean rice whisky, or as I call it, rubbing alcohol without the `smooth aftertaste`. I think it`s no secret the strategy that was going on, get the guest pissed so they forget the environment their in, better yet the name of the place, the city, and their own names for that matter. It gets even BETTER! You will notice on the slideshow below a couple of pics of what seems to be shipping containers stacked in a vacant lot. Well, those ARE shipping containers, and that is the addition, or as architects like to call it, the modernization of Tojian Guesthouse. How this novel and sustainable design escaped the folks at Arch Record I will never know. The experience is as follows: You exit the main building though a paper sliding door, where you find the restroom and sink. Then you see a ladder going up into the shadows, its scary. If you have the nerve and lack the wisdom of self preservation instinct, as I do, you may actually decide to ascend said ladder, between buildings as it were, to satisfy some insane feeling of curiosity. On the next platform you find, you guessed it, storage. Complete with a missing wall so you can throw even more `junk` onto the roof of the original house. Fire hazard anyone? Then you climb another ladder to the third level. Here you realize that instead of wood, there is cold hard steel under your feet. This is of course, the laundry room. Makes perfect sense, if fact, it really should be higher, preferable perched out on the edge of some narrow gang plank, exposed to the elements. But your attention is quickly drawn past this machine, to the glow emanating from a paper door to the highest storage container, yes, its the penthouse. Now some people say they are curious, but then there is the diabolical sort that tend to make fools of themselves, like yours truely. I had to, just slowly, peak into this room! I tip toed the screen, and slowly inched it to the right, until it made a nice screech like fingernails on the chalkboard. Through the 6 inch crack, on his tatami mat, was the most gruesome sight I have ever beheld! On the 3rd floor of the Tojian Guesthouse, in secret, dwells the TROLL man! It, I mean he, turned and scowled at my intrusion, as if to say, `Don`t you knock!`, and I fled.
The End.
Also included are the Osaka and Nara pics, blog to follow.
