House guest #2

Manny, the schnauzer is hanging out with us this week.

Friday night

On Friday Andre (Haico’s old friend) took me to another of his favourite locals. It was a place he has been going to for ages and is not a place many foreigners go to, so we where noticed and had sake poured for us by the old guys sitting next to us on the mat (the sitting kills me!). We have started to joke that he only takes me to Grandma and Grandpa places. The very cute couple that run this place are into Kabuki and you can see the signed photos from actors around the top of the room (panorama here). The food was good- salads, pickles, grilled fish and the best udon I have had yet.

The couples very spoilt dog usually hates Andre, but this night decided she wanted to sit on his lap. The feeling of course is mutal.

Conversations with Dogs

There is a bit of a dog thing going on at the moment, it’s a bit long to go into now but I will later- the promised posts are stacking up!

The weather has been a little warmer this last week and there have been a lot of people out and about on weekends and in the evenings. The last couple of days I have been walking in Yoyogi most late afternoons. I’m in love with this park and the way people use the public space. One thing that seems to be the thing on weekends is for people to dress their lap dogs up in these strange costumes. The poodle is a classic- chaps for emergency squatting. Hoodies for dogs are the rage- or puffer jackets with hoods. The hoods usually have ears on them too. Although I have not seen a dog wearing the hood up yet.

The ginger foxy looking dog is my favourite so far. He was really cute and I said “kawai” to the owner (a guy in his 20’s I guess). The dog reacted to this word by jumping up and rubbing himself against me- a well worked attention routine, he must love the ladies. The man with the two black dogs and I say hello to each other. He recognises me as the lady who like to pat and take pictures of dogs. The other picture is out my studio window. Last week a lady was throwing a ball up this walkway between the building, she was out of sight, I would just see the dog come bounding into view every couple of minutes.

Off to Kamakura tomorrow, bright and early. For a seek preview you can check Sarah’s post here. I am hoping for views of Fuji-san on the way. It was a super clear day today, cold with a slight breeze blowing away the pollution. The mountain must have been in view. I felt a kind of elation you get from extra oxygen.