Western Kyoto

We went to Nijo Castle today, the palace of the Tokugawa Shogunate while they were in power for the 500 odd years that they maintained peace. The place was fairly impressive. Not really so much the tall walls that we think of in European Medieval life, but they certainly had thick ones (I'd say 20 feet or so, and all rocks as big as I). The coolest part was probably the gardens, and the floors of the main building, which were called nightingale floors because they make chirping sounds when you walk on them. This to alert the inhabitants to intruders, pretty ingenious design. Nothing else particularly eventful about the castle. There were several displays showing how the formal court seating went... in all of them, the shogun is about 12 feet away from the nearest person. This isn't so bad when in the formal court, but there was another room that showed him with the ladies in waiting... and his wife, and they too were 10-12 feet away. Makes me think that he led a lonely life, I suppose the price one pays for a balance in so much power. We also went to a movie theater, in the Gino district of Kyoto (where all the Karaoke bars, bowling allies, and video game arcades are). It was an awesome movie, have to say I was pretty impressed. Well, I'm running, gotta find something to keep my mind occupied. peace,-J