I arrived in Kyoto on Sunday evening close to 5pm. The trip on the Shinkansen was about 2.5 hours from Kanagawa, but it was very easy since I slept almost the entire time! I went to eat a great dinner of Shabu-Shabu / Sukiyaki (
more on the food here), and then went out for a night of drinking!
After searching on the internet for good bars in Kyoto, I found that "Bar Kazu" kept showing up in the results. The only problem is that the bar is very difficult to find since it has no clear address, no signs, and is down a dark alley on the 3rd floor of a very nondescript building. I searched a little more and got a rough idea of where it might be. The best tip I found was that it was above a place called "Elephant Coffee", or something... so I set out to find it. When I got close to where I thought the bar should be, I decided to stop by another place and get a drink while I asked for directions. I saw an interesting character on a sign with an arrow pointing up some stairs, so I decided to check it out.
The bar was Called "Bar Henshitsuya"... which I was later told might mean something like pervert? Well it was nothing crazy, just a very, very small bar (4 seats and a small table) with a good selection of cheap alcohol and great music. The bartender and 2 customers that were there didn't speak English, but it didn't stop us from talking a little and enjoying a couple of drinks. Unfortunately they couldn't tell me where to find bar Kazu, so after a couple of whiskey's I headed out to keep up the search.
I continued on down the same alley and turned the corner. I knew I was near and knew the place was on the 3rd floor, so I was walking down a dark alley looking up for any kind of sign or indication of a bar. It was super dark and really quiet... you would never guess anything commercial was down this alley. Suddenly an older Japanese woman (I found out later that she was the ice lady for Bar Kazu) asked "Bar Kazu"? I was surprised, but answered "yes"! She didn't speak English, but she pointed me down the alley while giving me directions in Japanese. I thanked her and after a couple more minutes of walking, I found "Elephant Coffee"... another place that didn't look open. I went up to the 3rd floor and found a blank door... walked in and found that I was in the right place!I think the address might be:
309-4 Bizenjima-cho, Nakagyo-ku
From the map of Bar Henshitsuya, it can be found pretty easy.
Bar Kazu is a dark little bar with candle light and great music. There are 3 other things about this bar that make it great;
1. The bartender. Rei is half Finnish and half Japanese. He speaks both Japanese and English perfectly (probably Finnish too) and is more than happy to sit and talk with you when he's not busy serving drinks. I had such a good time I stayed a lot longer than I planned (they close at 5am), and Rei was nice enough to order us some late night curry udon delivery. Very good late night drinking food! Rei, in the very unlikely event that you read this... thanks again for everything, I hope to make it back there again soon!
2. The crowd. There was a mix on Australian, Japanese and even a Jamaican that I met in the few hours I was sitting there. Everyone that came through was very friendly and wanted to talk. I even sat and stumbled through a conversation with a Japanese guy using our phones to translate and share pictures. The crowd is another reason to come here, as it takes a special person to search out such a difficult place to find!
3. The drinks are cheap and the bar is open until 5am (or later depending on the crowd). This makes for a fun night out if you're willing to miss the train - which I did!
I left the bar at about 4:30am and started the long walk back to the hotel. The streets were completely empty, which is always very unusual for me to see in Japan. The trains didn't start back up till 5, and by that time I was only a station or 2 away, so I just walked the entire way back.
The next morning I got up and surprisingly I wasn't hung over! It must have been the late night udon. I gathered all my camera gear and headed over to Uji. Keizo's wife's aunt suggested I go to Uji to see the Byodoin. This was a beautiful temple, and even though it was raining very hard, it was still an enjoyable trip.
After the temple I walked across the bridge and found a mountain trail. It was raining and a little slippery, but I made it to the top.
I kept going on the trail and eventually ended up at another temple.
I walked over to the bridge and headed back across to get back to the station.
On the way back to the station it started raining very hard. I stopped at a tea room to warm up and get out of the bad weather. The tea was delicious!
I headed back to Kyoto, and had a great dinner at
Haffu Honten. The food was fantastic, as was the service... and the owner and his wife were both very welcoming. The owner spoke English very well, and was very good about making sure I had everything I needed. The place is a little out of the way, and might be difficult to find (I took a taxi there)... but you can definitely walk from the station.
The next day I got back onto the Shinkansen and traveled to Shinjuku for my final night in Japan. It was another rainy night, so I grabbed a quick meal and went out for a final night of drinking. I have been to the Shinjuku area many times in the past, but never visited the "Golden Gai" alleys of bars. I headed over there and quickly met a guy named Dennis who lived less than 1 mile from my home! Very strange. We talked a little and decided to go into one of the bars and get a drink.
All of the bars in the Golden Gai area are very small, maybe 6-8 people maximum. So it's very easy to start a conversation with anyone in the bar. The bartender in the bar we chose did not speak English, but we met a group of 4 Swedish students. We talked and drank with them, and when they left a group of Danish came in and sat down. We talked and drank with them and when they left an English couple came in. We talked and drank with them, and by this time it was getting very late again. I said my goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to pack up and prepare for the trip home.
Just like at the end of every other trip to Japan I've made in the past, I was sad to leave and wish I could have stay longer. I had to get home though, my wife had made plans for a trip to Napa California for the day after I returned (this was a difficult trip, I was very tired the entire time... but we had a good time). Hopefully I'll be able to visit Japan again very soon. I'd definitely like to spend more time with Keizo and his family, and maybe next time travel north.
While I was in Japan our new CNC machine arrived at the shop. The shop already had a 3 axis manual mill and a metal lathe, but the new CNC machine will allow us to create parts in-house that we previously had to send out for machining. 
Here are the rest of the photos I took yesterday at the Autocon show in Pomona. 
Today I attended a car show called "Autocon". It was at the Fairplaex in Pomona, which is only a 30 minute drive from my house. I took many pictures, which I will post in another blog entry. This entry is just pictures I took of the G35's (V35's) that were showing for our team. The original name of our team was "Rare JDM". This has always caused a little confusion, since our shop name is also "Rare JDM". This year the name of the car team changed to "Garage JDM", which you can see on the windshield banners. All of the cars have a lot of detail work completed on the engine bays... too much cleaning!!! 
