{"id":519,"date":"2007-07-13T23:10:56","date_gmt":"2007-07-13T14:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-07-13\/519"},"modified":"2007-07-13T23:10:56","modified_gmt":"2007-07-13T14:10:56","slug":"kyotos-miyagawa-cho-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-07-13\/519","title":{"rendered":"Kyoto’s Miyagawa-Cho District"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f\/5, ISO 800,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKyoto's Miyagawa-Cho<\/span>early on a Thursday afternoon\n<\/div>\n\n

It was raining off and on (mostly on) yesterday, but I accepted<\/span> a kind<\/span>\ninvitation from Nils Ferry<\/a>\nto visit his in-law's house in Kyoto's Miyagawa-cho district. It's the main<\/span>\ncenter of Kyoto's geisha world, although lesser known than the nearby Gion\nnightlife area, which is both more famous and generally more\npicturesque.<\/p>\n\n

(Gion has been featured a few times in my blog, with long-exposure cherry\nblossoms<\/a>, and some regular night cherry blossoms<\/a>, and\na few<\/span> pictures in one of the posts about my Aunt Jeannette<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n

Gion is the area where they often work, but Miyagawa-cho is the main\narea where Kyoto's geiko (Kyoto dialect for “geisha”) and maiko\n(apprentice geiko) train and live their daily life, so you see them walking\naround all the time in various states of formalness. Many of the area\nbusinesses are related to the industry, and such, it's common to see normal\nwomen in kimono, just going about their day.<\/p>\n\n

I'm not a big geisha gawker, but I do<\/span> very much enjoy the sight of\nnormal women in kimono just going about their day, such as the lady at the\ntop of this post (or the one at the top of this post<\/a>, or these ladies<\/a>), so I quite<\/span>\nenjoy the area. As Nils and<\/span> I walked<\/span> around the area, I saw many<\/span> geiko and\nmaiko, but found other things to take pictures of....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 35mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f\/5, ISO 800,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSolid Copper Rain Gutter<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Similar to the copper\nrain gutter in Kibune<\/a>, the one on this recently remodeled house was\nclearly a work<\/span> of art designed for both form and function. A wider<\/span> view is\nshown below (it's the house on the near left).<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f\/5, ISO 800,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nQuaint Little Street<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 35mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f\/5, ISO 800,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“Do Not Pee Here”<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Anywhere in Japan, a mini Shinto-shrine gate on a wall<\/span> or fence has the\nsame meaning as a sign<\/span> saying “do not urinate here,” although\none might guess the gate is more effective (the idea being that even\nsomeone who would pee against a wall<\/span> in public would balk at doing so on a\nshrine<\/span>).<\/p>\n\n

For the record, I can say<\/span> that they've been very effective in my case,\nin that I've never found the nerve to pee on one myself, nor on any wall\nwithin 8,000 miles of one.<\/p>\n\n

Sadly, the area is not immune from modern eyesores...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 1250,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nModern Blight<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Because that particular blight is common\nacross Japan (including in\nfront of my house<\/a>), one simply tunes it out, but when looking with the\neye of a photographer,<\/span> you have to see them because the “tune out” does not\nhappen when you see them in photographs. (Did you see the utility pole and\nwires in the picture above? Yes, I thought<\/span> so. I rest my<\/span> case \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 90mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFigurine Above the Entrance<\/span>to a Geiko\/Maiko boarding house\n<\/div>\n\n

The rain got a bit<\/span> much, so we retired to the\n160-year-old house of Nils' mother-in-law for tea and snacks, and to try to\ntake pictures of the house's small but exquisite garden (maintained by an\nequally small and exquisitely refined mother-in-law). The weather<\/span> was quite\ndark and gloomy by now, but I had<\/span> my light-hungry Sigma 30mm f\/1.4<\/a> lens with\nme, so by using that wide open and bracing the camera against something, I was able<\/span> to come away with a few<\/span> nice shots.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWell in a Private<\/span> Garden<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>15 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMoss, Ferns, and Rocks<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Before leaving, we walked about a bit<\/span> more, and I found<\/span> myself doing a\ndouble<\/span>-take when a rickshaw<\/span> went by with two rickshaw drivers as\npassengers. Rickshaws are relatively rare in Japan (they're as much a\nnovelty<\/span> to Japanese as to foreigners), but living in the part of the city\nthat I do,<\/span> I see them<\/span> every day. What I'd never seen were drivers in the\npassenger seat.<\/p>\n\n

It turns out that the driver was in training, as evidenced by the “IN\nTRAINING” sign taped to the back...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>350 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStudent Driver<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I didn't realize it as I was snapping that shot, but the gentleman\nwalking on the right (in all black) is the rather famous Peter MacIntosh<\/a>,\nleading one of his geisha walking\nlectures<\/a>. Peter is a Canadian<\/span> who has apparently earned unprecedented\nacceptance into the inner workings of the geisha industry. It's not my<\/span> cup\nof tea, but I'm able to appreciate the accomplishment, because it's easy to\ncount the number of other foreigners who have ever done it:  zero.<\/p>\n\n

At the far left of that picture is a green<\/span> sign for a drug<\/span> store. Note\nthe mobile display above it, for a drink<\/span> that claims to break down fat. The mobile<\/span> has a blow<\/span>-up can and a blow<\/span>-up stomach. How appetizing.<\/p>\n\n

On a sad note, just after I left for the evening, Nils got called away\nto the hospital because his little Greg (with whom Anthony was playing just the other day<\/a>) broke\nhis arm while running around the house. Frankly, the way little boys tear\naround, it's amazing that any of them have a solid<\/span> bone remaining, but I\nguess<\/span> it's more a matter<\/span> of luck than anything else if and when one breaks. Get well soon<\/span>, little man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was raining off and on (mostly on) yesterday, but I accepted a kind invitation from Nils Ferry to visit his in-law's house in Kyoto's Miyagawa-cho district. It's the main center of Kyoto's geisha world, although lesser known than the nearby Gion nightlife area, which is both more famous and generally more picturesque.<\/p>

(Gion has been featured a few times in my blog, with long-exposure cherry blossoms, and some regular night cherry blossoms, and a few pictures in one of the posts about my Aunt Jeannette.)<\/p>

Gion is the area where they often work, but Miyagawa-cho is the main area [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}