Kyoto is...

...friggin' amazing! Biggest surprises: how few other gaijin (foreigners) we've seen and how little English is spoken here. That's not a complaint, mind you (we're Americans, dammit, why can't everyone talk like us!). It's just amazing how disorienting and confusing it can be to be someplace where none of the spoken language and 95% of what's written is utterly comprehensible--and yet it's still fantastic. I pretty much just walk around nodding and bowing and saying "domo arigoto" (thank you very much) constantly. And of course fight the urge to say "Mr. Roboto" every time.

Added bonus: at least two real geisha sightings last night while walking the streets of Gion. No pictures of either one, though.

One more day in Kyoto, then off to Tokyo tomorrow night, where we will go to dinner on Saturday with our friends Jun and Lunako and presumably eat lots of mysterious and yummy things.