Hoshi Matsuri '07

Sleepy as usual, so I'll just cut to today's T3A:

#3 - Falafel!

Four of us went out for falafel and hummus tonight. Not the kind of thing you get a lot of in Japan, and we had to head all the way up to Demachiyanagi, in northern Kyoto, to get it. This is the same restaurant I went to for my birthday last year, by the way.

Anyway, after an excessive wait, the food wasn't great, but it was certainly passable. After the heavenly food we had in Abu Ghosh, it's hard to eat hummus anywhere else. Anyway, that meal brought some joy to my life, as Middle Eastern food is something I love to eat and yet rarely get the opportunity.

We ran into some friends there too, by chance. Kansai is starting to feel real small these days...


#2 - Today was 2/11, Japan's National Foundation Day. It also happens to be the day of the Agonshu Hoshi Matsuri. A full description of this festival can be found on my blog entry from last year.

Anyway, here are some pics from this year's festival.

The Fires:



The Blessing:



The Devout:




#1 - Coat check

So this is another "it happened last night, but after midnight so it counts as today" posts.

I was at a night club. There were on the order of 100 people there, all there to see this famous DJ. When we entered, I had handed my coat to a friend of a friend to check with the people working the bar. Then, around 2:30am I decided it was time to head home. Except, I didn't have a coat check ticket or anything, and I didn't know where my friend was.

So I walk up to the bartender (some guy whom I had never spoken with - his shift must have just started) and ask if I can have my coat, and he's like, "sure." Then he walks into the back room and almost immediately comes back... with the right coat! How awesome is that!? Out of like a hundred coats. Talk about service!

That totally rocked.