Cherry Blossoms In Kyoto

For a while now, I have been thinking about where and when I should meet up with Shoko. After our marathon karaoke session in Osaka, our next meet-up needed to be even better. It was true that I wanted to impress her, so I ruminated as to what we could do. I figured something fun and romantic. I paced my room as I encouraged my brain to get enlightened. A few things came to mind. I could take her snowboarding in Nagano, but realised that demonstrating my hideous snowboarding technique would not impress her. I contemplated taking her to the arcades in Shinjuku and play on the arcade taiko drums all day, but realised no enjoyment could have been gained by this. I even thought about taking her on a camping trip to the island of Shikoku, but gave up the idea when I realised it would take 20 hours by car to get there. I needed a sign, a flash of inspiration that would elevate me from my thinking funk and it came in the shape of a cherry blossom that floated onto my balcony via a soft breeze. Of course! I could show her the view of Iida from my balcony. The cherry blossom decided to make its presence known even further by drifting through my opened patio door, into my room and dropping onto my head. I immediately scrapped my idea of showing Shoko my balcony, and decided to ask her to come and see the Kyoto cherry blossoms with me. When I spoke to her on the phone she told me she had recently graduated from a Kyoto Buddhist University, and could therefore show me the best spots to see the blossoms. The time, date and location were agreed and I felt happy.

I was feeling calm on the way to Kyoto because the city is well known for its scenic beauty and peaceful, Zen-like atmosphere. It wasn't a good sign, therefore, that I wanted to break some skulls as soon as I was thrust into the annoying crush of commuters inside Kyoto's cavernous station. It was even worse that I wanted to subject my violence to a group of Buddhist monks. It came as quite a surprise that I wanted to exact physical harm to a bunch of non-violent baldies, but when they insist on blocking my route, I lose all sense of self-respect. I encountered this peaceful gang of half a dozen on the escalators and was annoyed when half of them decided to block the side of the escalators reserved for people in a hurry who want to charge up the stairs. I looked annoyed but remained calm. At the end of the escalators the Buddhists went beyond the pale and stood in a circle yakking to each other, creating an obstacle for other people. I was blocked by their circle and waited until they buggered off. They didn't and remained talking quietly amongst themselves. I coughed loudly and irritably. They didn't hear me. I was about to say, "Oi! Slap heads. Move it!" ensuring a lifetime of disastrous Karma. They only became aware of my presence when one of the Buddhists gesticulated wildly with a clenched fist, which in turn punched me in the stomach, winding me.
“Gomen!” he shrieked in horror.
“It's alright,” I said, whilst bent over like an old witch.
Once they saw my broken form, they quickly dispersed and allowed me a clear route to the walk through. My fury levels were now notched up even higher.
I concluded my feelings of rage were going to be misplaced in a tranquil city like this and would leave a bad impression with Shoko, so I took a deep breath and thought of happy images like playing football in the sunshine, drinking a nice cool lager and dreaming of using chopsticks correctly. I fixed a simpleton grin on my face and serenely walked through the station, whilst being knocked back and forth by hurried travellers. Whilst my soul was feeling calm, my appearance was a disordered mess. My clothes had been yanked and pulled from the crush of people in the station, my hair had been ruffled, my bones were bruised and I was still crouched over after being punched in the stomach. When Shoko met me outside, her quick gasp upon meeting me signalled the fact that I must have looked like Quasimodo. In contrast, she looked fantastic, as if walking off the cat-walk. When we walked off to a nearby coffee shop to decide what to do for the day, she strutted whilst I hobbled.
As we slurped at our coffee we quickly decided on seeing Kinkakuji - The Golden Temple - a popular tourist destination due to its golden structure and the shimmering water that surrounds it. Before we got up to go, Shoko asked if I needed a walking stick for support. I assumed she was joking, but when she said this, she looked serious. This was not going well at all. I had hoped to impress her with my winning formula of good humour, looks and humility. But what she really got was a clapped-out old bastard who couldn't even stand up straight. I forced myself to straighten my back and made a sigh you normally would hear from your granddad when he lifts himself out of an armchair. I saw panic in Shoko's eyes, and I didn't blame her. “Why am I hanging around with this broken fossil?” her eyes read.
I decided to come clean.
“I was hit by a Buddhist.”
She stared at me.
“He hit me real bad,” I reiterated in a whiny voice.
“I see,” she said.
She waited in silence as she saw me struggle to straighten myself out.
“Wow, he must have been a bloody big Buddah,” she said, and laughed with power.
I was relieved she saw the funny side and wasn't embarrassed by my wretched figure. Maybe she was, but she covered it up well as she assisted me getting on the bus. As we sat down an old fella opposite saw me gingerly sit down whilst holding my back in pain. He gave me a knowing wink followed by a I-know-how-you-feel expression. The old man suddenly winced and clutched his own back, and his wife rubbed it. Almost immediately I felt a sharp pain shoot through my back and I too winced and clutched my back. Shoko helped by massaging the spot. As she was doing this I stared at the old man with an expression that read: But-I'm-young!!
He stared back, his face read: Well-at-least-we're-getting-a-massage.
I stopped our telepathic bickering when I realised he was right.
Our bus eventually arrived outside the Kinkakuji Temple, which was swarming with tourists taking pictures of the cherry blossoms that surrounded the temple grounds. Shoko and I walked over to a blossom tree and made some appreciative comments about the pretty flowers.
“I love,” Shoko said, pirorretting around the tree.
“Love what?” I asked.
“I just love,” she said with a smile and skipped off towards the Golden Temple.
Her infectious attitude momentarily rubbed off on me and I attempted to skip off after her, before realising I could walk only with an outrageous limp, thus destroying any hopes of happiness at that moment.


The Golden Temple was situated in the middle of a lake and glistened in the afternoon sun. The peaceful setting was disturbed by the incongruous appearance of a man playing B.B King songs with an electric guitar as he squatted on a rock at the viewing area. I was intrigued to see if security were going to drag him away, so I watched him for a while until Shoko dragged me away to look around the grounds. As we left the area, I turned to find two burly security men dragging the guitarist off whilst he was playing The Thrill is Gone.
Shoko and I walked towards a group of people who were throwing money into a tiny pond. Shoko threw some money in and did a quick prayer. When she opened her eyes she told me she prayed that she would have a good year. She then told me to throw some money in and pray for something.
I looked inside my wallet for a worthless one yen coin, but all I could find were 500 yen coins, which is quite a lot of money.
“Erm...I think I will pass,” I told Shoko.
“Oh, come on, everyone puts in something. It's tradition!” she said.
“All I have is 500 yen coins,” I pleaded.
“You can't put a price on a prayer,” she said.
“I can.”
She gave me a fierce glare.
I sighed and took out a 500 yen coin before grudgingly tossing it into the pond.
I turned to Shoko. “Who am I praying to again?” I asked.
“Whoever you like.”
So I prayed for the fish in the pond to throw my money back. Predictably, this never happened.
After becoming 500 yen poorer, we decided on seeing Daigo-ji temple because it had a huge pagoda and the obligatory cherry blossom trees. Once there we made a few remarks about the beauty of the cherry blossoms, the temple and the pagoda. Finding ourselves stuck of things to do apart from that, we decided on visiting a cafe. Before we left the temple grounds, Shoko found a prayer area outside a small temple. People would light incense and pull a rope which would ring an old bell before praying. Shoko took me by the hand and dragged me to the praying area.
“I've run out of prayers, Shoko!” I remonstrated.
“Do what I do,” she said, and she rang the bell and prayed. I did too.
“What did you pray for,” she asked.
“To stop praying,” I said.
She playfully punched me in the stomach, which actually bloody hurt considering the thumping I took from the Buddah earlier. I felt we had done enough templing that afternoon and suggested we sit down for some coffee. There was a convenient little cafe on the temple grounds but this cafe was strange because it appeared not to exist. We found a sign with an arrow pointing in the direction of a cafe which we followed. We walked for some time but found no cafe. We were about to turn back when Shoko spotted a small curtain hung against two trees in a small forest. Curious as to what lurked behind this red-curtain we walked towards it and drew it back which revealed a small house with table and chairs occupied by people sipping green tea and eating Japanese sweets, enjoying the sunshine.
Shoko and I agreed this must be the cafe and sat and waited for a waiter to come and take our order. After a few minutes we began to question the service of this archaic cafe-bungalow hybrid. "Sumimasen!" Shoko said, looking for a waiter.
On this prompt, a smiling old waiter appeared from behind a nearby bush, which was no bigger than a beachball. As Shoko was giving her order I made quick darting glances to the bush the waiter had just materialized from. I was intrigued as to what was behind it. Shoko tapped me on the leg and said it was my turn to order. My investigative eyes remained fixed on the bush. "Whatever you're having," I said in a distracted manner.
The waiter bowed and scuttled back behind the bush where steam suddenly emitted behind it. Either there was the smallest kitchen behind this tiny bush or he was relieving himself of a particularly potent shit. I gathered it was the former explanation because he emerged after a few minutes carrying two hot green teas.



After this sojourn in the woods, we decided to visit the city centre before seeing Koizumi-Derra because this temple was the only one lit up at night. The city centre was heaving with tourists, which made walking along the pavements impossible. The suffocating atmosphere forced Shoko and I to hole-up in a coffee shop for the next few hours. The gates to Koizumi-Derra temple closed at 9.30pm and we finished our coffees at 9pm, so it was a mad rush to get there. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a steep road which led up to the temple. A quick look at our watches told us we had only five minutes to get to the temple before the door slammed shut on our faces. We both took a deep breath and legged it up the road which was aligned with market stalls selling merchandise. If I had time to inspect this scene, I would probably conclude that it was all very atmospheric and lovely. But the situation only allowed us time to fly up the road like a couple of rockets. We arrived at the gate just as it was closing. Shoko sweet-talked the security man who allowed us in. It was worth the killer-run because to see this lighted temple at night was remarkable. The cherry blossom trees illuminated the grounds with a golden, ephemeral colour. Kiyomizu also afforded visitors ample look-out points which provided a view of Kyoto at night.
As Shoko and I looked out over the beautiful Kyoto sky-line in thoughtful silence, she asked what I was thinking.
"Where we're going to eat dinner," I said.
We went to an Italian restaurant in the city centre. Over our lasagne we talked about how great it was seeing each other and how much fun we were having.
I asked what she was doing later, hoping she would say, “I want to continue having fun with you!”
I was therefore upset to hear she was busy. I asked what she was doing.
“My job,” she said.
“What do you do?”
“I'm a hostess,” she said.
“Oh, splendid,” I said, in an unintentionally posh accent.
“I work in Osaka. You can come with me if you like.”
I had just recovered from the surprise of hearing Shoko was a hostess. I was further shocked to hear she wanted me to entertain her customers as well.
“As much as I'm flattered by the offer, I really don't think I would make a good -”
“I don't mean you work with me silly!” she laughed, and playful punched me in the stomach again, causing me to bring up a bit of lasagne. “I'd like you to come to Osaka with me. When I finish my work, we can go somewhere by ourselves.”
I said I would love to go with her, but as soon as I did, a dark thought entered my mind.
“What exactly do you do with your customers?” I said, worried about how Shoko would react to this dangerous question.
“I know what you're thinking, and no, I don't do what you think I do.”
“Well, what is it that you do do?”
“I don't do do anything!”
Our first serious conversation was in danger of becoming ridiculous.
“My company calls me, tells me what bar to go to. I then go to the bar and meet the people that asked for a hostess. I then sit and talk to them and then I leave.”
I nodded sagely.
“You've obviously never been with a hostess before,” she said.
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yep.”
We took a Hankyu train from Kyoto to Osaka, and arrived 40 minutes later. Shoko was running late for her appointment with a bunch of businessmen in a bar near the station. She said to meet her outside the bar in two hours time. She smiled and leant in to kiss me on the cheek.
“Break a leg,” I said, which wasn't the best thing to say considering she had never heard this expression before.
“You want me to break my leg?! What’s wrong with you?!”
“Erm....just have fun,” I said to redeem myself.
She waved and ran to the bar. I drifted towards the bar so I could get a look at her customers. Through the glass window I could see Shoko shaking hands with a circle of chubby businessmen who were slurping on beers. I hated them immediately. They took my girl away from me!
One of the businessmen looked up and noticed me scowling. I stuck my middle finger up at him before fleeing into the Osaka night.
I walked the streets for the next two hours, getting paranoid as to what Shoko was doing with the fat businessmen. No doubt the person I scowled at had relayed to the others that he had seen the apparition of a bespectacled scruffy fellow swearing at him from the window. Shoko would probably know that misfit was me which meant I was going to have some explaining to do.
“Did you swear at one of my customers?” she said, when I met her two hours later.
“No!” I said, pretending to be hurt by this accusation. I was telling the truth because I swore at him twice. Once from the window, and again when I waiting for Shoko to leave the bar and saw the guy leave early. I gave him the finger when he walked past me at the entrance.
“It's just that one of the customers saw someone matching your description swearing at him,” she said.
“He must be imagining things.”
Shoko wasn't convinced by this answer but didn't investigate further. But I was still investigating her job.
“What did you talk about?”
“Politics, the economy and their work,” Shoko said.
I was delighted to hear they didn't request her to get naked.
“I guess you have to be well informed,” I said.
“Of course. If I can't have a conversation with them, I won't get paid.”
Shoko then told me she planned to quit her job because she had just been accepted to work for a major airline company in Hong Kong as a cabin crew member. The hostess job had punishing hours and she found herself always returning to her parents’ home in Kobe in the early hours of the morning everyday. Plus the nightly intake of alcohol was causing her to feel sick.
All this sudden rush of information was causing me to feel sick. I tried to arrange the information with the most important at the top of the list.
“When are you going to Hong Kong?!”
“In June.”
“Bloody hell, I only just met you!” I said out loud.
“I only found out that I got the job yesterday.”
I was utterly deflated, and my face complemented my feeling.
“Come on Sam, let's not let this news ruin the evening,” Shoko said. “Let's go to a club.”
This news depressed me even further. Shoko watching me dance would make her depressed as well. But I had no say in the matter because she dragged me into a nearby nightclub where we proceeded to get blindingly drunk. We both danced close together and before we knew it, we were kissing and we didn't stop for the rest of the evening.
We left the club when it closed, still kissing. As we walked through the Shinsaibashi district, Shoko broke off and said, “We should just be friends.”
“Of course we should. Friends that like to kiss,” I said and launched in for another kiss.
She gently pushed me away.
“But I'm leaving the country in two months, we have no future.”
“Live in the present baby,” I countered and tried to kiss her again.
“I just can't Sam,” she said, rejecting my lustful moves. “I made a mistake in the club.”
“Well, I'm sorry,” I said like a petulant teenager.
“You know what I mean. If I get involved with a guy, I have to see a long-term possibility with him.”
“Well I got a long-term possibility growing in my trousers,” I said whilst hugging her, thinking I was the wittiest person in the world, when in fact I was just an intoxicated fool.
“Sam, stop it,” Shoko said with severity.
“Sorry.”
The trains by now had all stopped, leaving us to spend the night in Osaka. I had initially planned to spend it in a hotel, but I didn't think Shoko would be happy with that scenario considering our conversation. I asked where she wanted to go for the night.
“Let's go to an Internet Cafe,” she said.
I told her that Internet Cafes were no place to spend a night, but she reassured me that it was different in Japan.
We went inside a big building which had seven floors. On each floor were varied amenities. A bank, a bar, and a restaurant to name a few. At the very top was an internet cafe. The interior had dark lighting with sporadic bursts of bright lighting. It was quite disorientating. Another aspect of the large place was that it was silent. It was as if Shoko and I were the only ones there. At the reception area, a moody adolescent with punky multi-coloured hair gave us an overnight stay ticket with our booth number on it. We then made our way though the cafe, which was lined with black booths, each containing a computer and a beanbag. When we found our booth, we took our shoes off outside, and closed the door behind us. It was dark, cramped and very cosy.
We checked our emails, watched a DVD whilst drinking endless cups of tea, and went to sleep.
I had enjoyed my day, despite the rebuff by Shoko. But my time with her became even better when I woke up in the middle of the night to find that Shoko had her arms around my shoulders whilst she was fast asleep. I tried to keep this position, even though I eventually lost the feeling in my body after straining my muscles. At least this allowed me ample of time to plan what to do with Shoko the next time I saw her.