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February 7

Had difficulty getting Bill up in time for the train - passed him the aspirin and called him "little almond eyes" - which he certainly was. However, we managed to get to the station by nine, after being up most of the night, and caught the very comfortable train to Kyoto.

All day long we sat with our noses plastered against the rain-splashed window-pane. Part of the time the train ran along the coast, where we had the sea with its fishing boats on one side of us, and the misty mountains on the other. It was too cloudy to see Fuji, though we were at one time very near it. We did see plum-blossoms in the rain, and oranges, rice fields for mile after mile, gay paper umbrellas (what a feat it must be to ride a bicycle with getas on one's feet and a [[strikethrough]] n '[[/strikethrough]] parasol in one hand!), and fields of tea bushes, shaped and trimmed as neatly as so many box hedges.

At four in the afternoon we reached Kyoto, and made for the Miyako Hotel. We were mildly surprised that evening to find the dining-room on the fourth floor, but simply amazed to look out of the window and find a lovely Japanese garden, water falls and all. The hotel is built smack up against the mountain side, and the garden is [[strikethrough]] viewed from [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] on a level with [[/insertion]] the fourth floor. 

In the evening we took a taxi down to Shinmozen, the tourist shopping street, lined with fascinating little shops selling silk, Damascene, lacquer, porcelain, prints, cloisonne, - all the wares and crafts of Japan. Bill went in heavily for silk shirts, and blew himself to a stunning kimono of ribbed navy blue silk.

February 8 - Kyoto.

Dr. Komai, zoologist of the Imperial University, called on us at ten-thirty. To my great delight he brought his wife with him, and she spoke beautiful English, and we became great friends. She is the only Japanese woman I met who knew any English at all, and it was lots of fun to have a little feminine conversation, after all the stag parties I had been to. We went to the Zoo, then to the University. The Zoo is not as attractive as Tokyo, but very good, with many interesting things, such as black swans nesting, breeding hippos, a record of fifty lion cubs born, a cage with three Japanese bears and one lion, all very tame. The Director, Mr. Nagato, spoke practically no English, but was very affable.

The Komais took us to their home (foreign style) for lunch, and we had a delicious meal. Meat and various vegetables were artistically arranged in Korean charcoal burner which was set on the table, and we ate quantities of good "stew" with separate bowls of rice. Mrs. Komai had a pretty garden, with oranges on a tree, red camellias in bloom, and tulips and other spring bulbs coming up.

After lunch Mrs. K. took us to see some of Kyoto's famous temples. We saw the Buddhist temple of Gingakuji, the Silver Pavilion, where a number of old paintings are on exhibition, a small shrine contianing an image of the Emperor whose estate it once was, and saw the original ceremonial tea room, four and a