June 2, 2016

Today’s theme is about cats I love very much.

“Kyoto Hyo-neko no mori” (literally, woods of leopard cats) and “Kyoto Fukurou no mori” (literally, woods  of owls), standing next to each other, opened this March at Shin-Kyogoku Street, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City,  a shopping arcade in downtown of Kyoto.  I have been waiting for this opportunity since I heard about  these places from one of our guests, and finally visited there today.

Admission fee is 600 Yen for 30 minutes. If you want to visit both places, the common admission fee will  be 1100 Yen.

It seems no official website for the 2 facilities yet, so I cannot show you a good map, but you will find  them at the right hand side if you walk a little on Shin-Kyogoku street from Shi-jo street.

Hyo-neko, the Bengal cat is an expensive cat, can be sold for around 3000 dollars at pet shops, which  is out of average people league, so this is an amazing experience for me.

As they are young cats, they are so active, keep running around and jumping. The time I visited there  was around half past 6 o’clock in the evening that was already after their napping, and their eyes are  enough glowing and glaring !

Holding a cat in your arms is not allowed in this facility, but no problem because they are so friendly  that they came to me ,jumped on my knees and smelled about contents of my bag.

Their so much lovely behavior made the 30 minutes pass very quickly (^^)/

One more shot of using a litter box…

His (Her?) strained but relaxed look is also the cutest!

In the next time, I hope I have enough time to try “Fukurou no mori” as well. I believe cat lovers will not be able to resist this place when visiting Shin-Kyogoku street.

2016.5.6(Fri)

Today, I would like to introduce a Sento Hinode-yu ,public bath which has stood for 88 years and is located near our Otabi-an hostel, as I love a Sento and a sauna bath very much !

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~hinodeyu/eng1.htm

I often go to a “Super sento”, a modern large bathhouse or a relaxation spa, but, such a town public bath has a long history and something special atmosphere. It’s a kind of a regional salon where you can talk with a bath attendant lady or local old people.

In the undressing room, bathroom baskets are piled up and you have to take one and put it into a locker with your cloths.

If you are not familiar with this way, the bath attendant lady will take a basket and give it to you, beating the dust off and tell you how to use it.

Hinode-yu is planning some events for visitors.

The next event is “evening with light of fireflies”, Japanese summer tradition, to be held from June 10 to 15.

I must go ! (^_-)-☆