“Stasia, where’s the coffee?” 
“I thought you were going to pack it!”
Our second day in Kyoto began the way they all have this whole trip – Stasia and I greeting the new day with copious cups of coffee, courtesy of Starbucks instant French Roast. Those little Via packs are a lifesaver! Coffee was the one compromise we didn’t want to make this vacation. We’ll eat roasted frog (back in Thailand) and bbq sparrow (that story coming up) but don’t get cute with the caffeine. We likes the stuff stiff – and plenty of it.
The Toshi with the Moshi
Of all the sights we saw today, the most memorable experience was our driver and guide, Toshio Nakamura, or Toshi for short… well the grilled sparrow was a close second (be patient, we’re getting there). From the very start, he entertained us with details about our surrounds, weaving in stories and fascinating anecdotes. One of the first things he told us as we pulled out into the main thoroughfare set the tone for conversations to come.
The modestly wide avenue we were on was the widest road in Kyoto, but used to be a small road before WWII. Bracing for war, Hirohito had all the houses on each side demolished and the road widened to create a firebreak from all the allied bombing. Later that day I learned that Kyoto was a prime candidate for the atom bomb until an American cultural ambassador pleaded the government to preserve Japan’s cultural capital.
The Americans and Japanese were enemies he reminded me, but not any longer. “Now we have the MakaDō (McDonalds) and the Starbucks-a!” – which I assumed was said in sarcasm but in fact was a point of pride. According to Toshi, the Japanese welcome and embrace the American culture.
He said despite the fact that during WWII learning English was illegal by Royal decree, his mother secretly learned 2 phrases. “Good morning” and “May I have some chocolate?”. When possible she would say these things to the occupying American GIs – who were always nice to her and did give her chocolate. That recollection was a powerful memory for Toshi, and the soft inflection in his voice spoke of deep gratitude.
Our friend learned English from American movies, and said that while he loves Eddie Murphy, the comedian is a poor English teacher. Our time together was peppered with movie-trivia factoids relevant to our immediate locale.
He was also a walking encyclopedia of knowledge – everything from imperial to metric conversions (and did you know there are only 3 countries still on the imperial system) – to the number of 7/11’s in Japan vs Thailand – to marriage, “My wife is the Emperor and I am the Prime Minister”. There is only 1 thing we said that he wasn’t familiar with – the word ‘Chivalry’. He knew all about the knights code, but had never heard that word and said he would research it later. I’ll bet by now he’s already an expert.
Shinto and Buddhism, BFFs
The two main religions of Japan actually get along and intermix quite nicely. Toshi says “Shinto is for the now, Buddhism is for the future”, meaning Shinto is how you honor all the things in your life on a daily basis, while Buddhism prepares you for the next go’round. “Births and weddings are celebrated Shinto but funerals are Buddhist events”, according to Toshi.
Shinto has approximately 8 million gods (or sprints) – everything and every action has a spirit associated with it. Toshi says that when Buddhism came along from India a few hundred years after Shinto has taken hold, the Japanese welcomed it because 8 million and 1 gods isn’t THAT big of a difference.
A Thousand Vermillion Gates
The Fushimi Inari shrine is an iconic forested shrine-city whose ancient Buddhist temple and thousand vermillion Shinto gates have drawn crowds since before the 15th century. The main Inari shrine was built to honor the spirit of agriculture, and the many fox sculptures abound reflect an early form of pest control.
The story goes that back in them days, the rice crop was getting plagued by flocks of sparrows (live ones – not the kind you get on a stick for 500 yen). Anyways, foxes were then brought in to hunt and eat them…
… raw. They ate the sparrows raw, and not de-feathered, skewered, seasoned and grilled to perfection like the very one sitting in my belly presently. Back to our story…
The foxes did such a good job that the insects who’d been kept in check by the unseasoned, un-barbequed sparrows were allowed unfettered access to the rice crops and wiped them out anyways.
Of course the farmers realized their mistake eventually, but by then the whole fox motif was pretty much a thing. However they did build a shrine to encourage the swallows to return.
The End (and at least 96.4% of that story isn’t total bollocks).
Kiyomizu Temple
A huge temple built high above the ground on the foot of a mountain, nestled into a grand forest. There were also many shrines about and a rather big ass, bright orange pagoda.
An impressive display to be sure. Legend has it that a shard of the Buddha’s bone is burried under that pagoda. Toshi says this is also true of the other 5,000 buddhist monuments in Japan.
But really there’s only so much a visitor can absorb and find meaningful about these ancient relics.
In truth, it did have an effect on us spiritually – and perhaps there will be more about that later. But we’re at the part I’ve been dying to tell you about.
It’s where I tell you that I ate a whole sparrow. I’ll try and surprise you with the morbid gruesome fact that this thing was crunchy due to its head, beak, bones and talons.
I Ate a Whole Sparrow
Well, I guess you already know the details.
What I didn’t mention is a group of pre-teen school girls also bought a few (on a dare maybe?). Watching them eat it was amusing.
Shopping in the Shadow of the Shinto
Wonderful little shops full of everything we really liked and didn’t need but bought anyways lined our walk back to the car.
Wet Clay Throw Down!
I wanted to buy a coffee cup from Japan, Z wanted a teacup and Stasia wanted a bowl. When we happened upon a potting wheel studio, we decided to make our own. Stasia already had a couple years experience so she made a bowl and a fabulous lid to fit on top- which made the shop guys look at each other and nod in approval. This girl knew her chops.
Meanwhile Zephyr and I felt our way through the process like blind people crossing an intersection (slowly and not necessarily in a direct path). The studio crew were great at jumping in and saving us and in the end we were all proud of our creations.
Other Omnivorous Opportunities
Octopus balls, spicy cucumber, roasted corn, grilled chicken – all on sticks the way the gods intended. We had katsu for dinner (one of the local styles – basically breaded deep fried meats). Good, but crunchy, flame-broiled sparrow is a hard act to follow.
Germanapanese
Stasia and I closed the night out with a little stroll to Our Place – which was closed so we popped into a German/Japanese Biergarten where we got sausage from the hinterland mixed with sashito peppers, a lager and stout Asishi.
Toshi, Revisited
An hour after being dropped off I realized I had lost my credit card at some point during the day. After searching we called our driver (now gone for the day) but the number forwarded to a central answering machine. We called the credit card company to cancel our cards and were just about to pull the plug when a knock on the door revealed our driver Toshi, who found the card in his car and had driven all the way back and walked up the stairs to return it. I was practically blubbering my thanks and apologies for the inconvenience and his generosity.
What a gem of a human being!
Did I mention that he’s also been the guide for Robin Williams, Steve Jobs, JK Rowling, Tom Hanks, The Gorbachevs, The Reagans? I mean how special will all those guys feel when they hear he was OUR driver!
The Itinerant Three TnTs 
This was so fun!!! I can’t wait to visit Japan and eat things on a stick and hire Toshe.
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I just learned today from another driver with the same company that Toshe (I put his full name in the post) is a legend not only in the company but in Japan! He’s worked for the top touring companies during his career.
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