At dinner Friday night, I had lamented to Denis, who also likes them very much, that I had missed out on eating sea urchin straight from the case at Nishiki Market, so Matt and I started our day there with lunch.

And then, of course, we admired many many of the other lovely things there.

But eventually, it was time to go meet up with our friends at the Manga Museum. We were so excited!

In truth, the museum was more of a library, with rows and rows and rows of manga. It occurs to me that maybe not everyone knows what manga is. Basically, it’s comic books, but that’s too simple. You can think of them more as graphic novels (comic books in long form), but even that’s not entirely accurate. Manga can be fiction but it doesn’t have to be. It’s just that it’s a book, but in comic book form. It is a very common thing in Japan, and you will see all types of people reading manga. 

Since there wasn’t much of an exhibit if you weren’t already very knowledgeable, it was a disappointment to some of us. I’ve been interested in manga for a very long time, but had no idea how long it has been going on. So I found the shelves by year going back to the 30s very interesting. More interesting, in fact, than the shelves organized by series or intended audience (housewives, for example). 

At the end of our visit, Matt and I posed for a portrait at the portrait stand. We requested a motorcycle for a prop. It was great, but they apparently see me as blonde, and my eyes were more turquoise than they really are. Matt’s eye color was perfect. I think maybe they are more accustomed to dealing with darker tones?

After the museum, we wandered past more shops, and stumbled upon a wonderful one specialising in pigments and brushes. I wasn’t supposed to take a picture, so this is from my hip as I browsed, hence the quality.

Matt really wanted to go to the palace grounds, and promised me gardens, but by the end of the day, everything but the large grounds outside the palace and gardens was closed. It was nice, but disappointing in the heat. We took a taxi back to the hotel.

When our taxi dropped us off, I recognized the sign for the cafe I’d just seen Max check into on Facebook, so we went in to see if he and Guido were still there. They were, so we joined them for a beer. 

Later, Laura and Denis also joined us, and we ate there as well. It was a relaxed environment, with good food. Laura and I both had fish and chips, which were delicious. Matt is in love with the lamp terrariums, so that’s in fact the only picture I snapped that night. 

The next day, we would all be departing for different directions. It had been a whirlwind week and a bit more, and we were headed for various slightly calmer places!