Hello Again. Time for another smart aleck guest post on Deep Kyoto from Peko (a.k.a. Michael).
I wanted to confess some of my most recent blogger sins — articles that I didn’t post. But first, like any good American, I want to talk about the weather. It is doggone hot in Kyoto now and I am going by first summer without using air conditioning, in my entire life!! This requires true bravery and I can rack-up some more eco-friendly points.
#1
Speaking of summer, this is hamo, pike eel season in Kyoto. While it doesn’t really taste very good, I do like to eat it. A gaijin knife maniac, foodie researcher and professor on sabbatical in Kyoto for a year got me to take him over to Kichisen (the greatest restaurant in the world) and have Tanigawa-san get out his knife collection.
Tanigawa-san gave us a demo of bone cutting the pike eel. Removing the bones is hopeless so they have to be cut small enough to eat. Don’t try that at home. Plus, you need like a 5 kilogram knife that costs like $900.
#2
I have had writing an article about this shop at the top of my list of priority things to get done for one whole year now. Does anyone know this shop?
Then I thought that I would tell you about some articles on my new (traction-less) site, OpenKyoto. We have some shopping theme articles up for your inspection. Please check them out, leave a comment or two and make me feel like some humans have visited this site!
Second Hand Book Fair Under the Trees
Pottery Festival Under the Highway
Tweet: Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.
Michael – How on earth do you manage with no air conditioning in this muggy soup?!
Here is how you do it:
Fluid intake is crucial. Here is a photo of my set-up.
1. One bottle of 103 proof Fighting Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey per day on lots of ice. (The idea here is to stay as hammered as possible throughout the month of August. Are you with me so far? ひぃひぃ)
2. A ‘minus ion’ fan (positioned between your legs) cranked up to 強.
3. Loud, loud music on headphones — unless you want to rumble with the neighbors. Rumbling with the neighbors will cause you to get hot though. (When the ringing in your ears starts to worry you, turn down the volume and change to the podcasts. I recommend Napoleon 101 from The Podcast Network.)
4. Four kinds of deodorant. (One kind is for feet.)
5. A Hexachrome Magenta colored mobile phone (if you are male) so when people ask you why you have a pink phone you can ridicule them for their ignorance. This makes me feel cool.
6. Of course using a Mac goes without saying.
You had me with the Fighting Cock…
Hey, Michael. Serendipity brought me to DeepKyoto.com and there you were. I know exactly where the store is. We took to calling it the Bucket Shop last November. The apartment we rented for our stay in Kyoto was a few blocks away. Gorgeous hand-made articles…and in many cases gorgeous prices. I loved the cedar beer “glass.” And the ohitsu was equally gorgeous. But I must admit that the ohitsu I bought at the flea market for Yen 1100 was better suited to my budget. See you back at Kyoto Foodie!