11:10. In Kana's flat in the morning.

11:10. Chie and Kana.

11:46. In Kusatsu centre now. Today, as it was a national holiday (part of golden week), there was a matsuri (festival) in Kusatsu. Here Chie is eating Kuro Zatoh Kanten, a kind of seaweed jelly in a bamboo stick.

11:47. Me with the bamboo stick thingy.

11:51. Part of the matsuri. Here lots of ladies do a slow dance whilst walking to the tune of the town song.

12:05. Chie punishing Kana for being a bad tour guide.

12:09. The rooftops of Kusatsu.

12:10. Kana had brought us here, near the centre of Kusatsu, saying it was a geological miracle - there's a natural tunnel running underneath a river. However, I couldn't help but think one important criteria for something to qualify as a river is that there's actually some water in it.

12:11. The depth gauge. Somebody is having a laugh.

12:15. I took this picture for my Mum - there's a Brother sewing machine in this window, anf there were people doing some textile work in this shop. However, due to the reflection, it's very hard to see anything!

12:37. Back to Kusatsu Matsuri again. Part of the parade. The costumes were very good, although I wasn't too sure about the hats.

12:39. Younger participants in the parade, with similar costumes.

12:39. Hmmm a bit difficult to distinguish between the crowd and the parade!

12:41. The guys must be important.

12:42. I didn't really understand what was going on with this group, however twirling and throwing about of these big sticks was involved.

12:43. Hmmmm...

12:45. A big box, almost certainly containing something very important, plus a bloke on a horse (a real one!).

12:52. Another bloke on a horse. Must be important.

12:52. A closer up look at the bloke on the horse.

12:52. Another big box thing is on its way.

12:52. ...and again...

12:52. Errmmm... errrr I'm really struggling now!

12:53. Ahhh Geisha types.

12:53. ...more Geisha types.

12:53. Must be the head Geisha.

12:53. Female Samurai...?!

12:58. This lot look a tad monkish.

13:00. Important looking woman in a litter. I think this was pretty much the end of the procession...

17:00. In Kyoto now, in the Ryokan in Shukuboh, where we were going to stay the night.

17:01. It was the first time I'd ever stayed in a place with this kind of traditional room.

17:04. Me sitting happily on the tatami.

17:17. In the grounds of Shukuboh. This I think is the main temple building.

17:19. Interesting how even the less attractive concrete building still has to have some kind of novelty roof.

17:22. A tribute to the wandering monks of Japan.

17:25. A (seemingly) realy working well.

17:26. Me and one of the smaller temple buildings.

17:31. The graveyard up behind the main temple building.

17:54. Me at dinner in Shukuboh. We'd come here especially to have shojin food - the diet of Buddhist monks - as it ought to be intrinsically vegetarian. It turns out this place by default serves more typical fish based meals, and you have to ask specially (as we did) to get the real hardcore vegetarian version.

17:54. Not sure if the photo does it justice, but this meal was really quite spectacular - I'd strongly recommend it for anyone visiting Kyoto. I'd expected Shojin cuisine to be very basic but I guess this was a different version for visitors as it was really lavish.

18:15. Chie managing quite spectacularly to hide behind a pair of chopsticks.

18:15. Chie enjoying her nabe (literally pot) a kind of stew thing that cooks on the table.

19:30. After dinner we thought we'd go for a walk around Kyoto. This is me failing to take a picture of a temple whose name I've forgotten.

19:30. Again, all blurred.

19:31. Chie did a much better job of it.

19:48. Me under the lanterns in Mariyama park.

19:48. Just the lanterns. Each one has a person's name who has donated money.

19:57. Chie consulting her guidebook in front of the gates to Mariyama park. I think we ended up going back to Shukuboh shortly after this.