Kyoto

'Are you...?' 'and you're....?' was how it went the first time I met Risa. She'd just got out onto the street from Shijo Keihan station. I'd been early, waiting outside Minami-za, the Kabuki Theatre where we'd arranged to meet. We set off straight away, where to I wasn't exactly sure.

Risa set up accommodation for me and my Dad when he came to visit this year in April May time. Since then we've traded e-mails pretty much every weekday about all kinds of stuff, and gotten to know each other quite well. A right regular 21st Century pen friend. So it was a little difficult, when I met Risa for the first time outside the Minami-za theatre, to reconcile the Risa I'd known for six months or so with the Risa right before me, standing in the sunshine (we had beautiful weather every day we were in Kyoto). A bit like reading a book, then seeing the characters you know and love done a little differently on the silver screen. Except this was all real, of course.

Risa was a lot of fun to hang out with. We set off straight away and walked all over. She told me her Dad likes to walk but not with her, because she goes too fast. I could see that. We saw some really pretty trees just nearing perfect autumn bloom, crisp reds and auburn yellows and golden greens setting it all off. Friday night me and some friends from Yamagata had gone to nearby Osaka to see Nathan Fake play, and the first train back wasn't til 5 or 6 or something- so when I met Risa for the first time there outside the theatre, it was already 1.30 ish. We spent the afternoon together, then when I caught up with everyone else it turned out there was a spare place at the izakaye Julia had booked up- so Risa came along too. We arranged to hook up Sunday too.

You can see what Risa made of the weekend here: http://www.kyotoguesthouses.com/news.php

Cheers again Risa, I enjoyed Kyoto with you a lot.