Kyoto, March 10

8:34PM JST - “A rainy day with indoor activities!”

So as said today was a rainy day. Though it came pouring down the temperature was pretty nice, even a bit warm in our opinion. But what do you expect hahhaha we’re from The Netherlands we aren’t used to rain with higher temperatures XD anyway we woke up a little late today and only left around 10:30AM. For breakfast we didn’t go all out today haha we entered a small cafe and both had a sandwich and a drink. Jo-anne had an iced cafe latte and I had a Yuzu & Orange drink which was really nice for breakfast!

At 2:00PM we had a Furoshiki folding class. So, what actually is this? Well originally Furoshiki are a type of traditional square Japanese wrapping cloth which has been used since a long time ago. The beginning of Furoshiki is said to have started in the 8th century. In the Heian era, 9th - 12th century, the furoshiki was used to carry around clothes and was carried mostly on the head. Originally the cloths were called ‘Hirazutsumi’.
The word Furoshiki is derived from the Japanese word ‘Furo’ which stands for bath. This ‘bath’ refers to the public bathhouses which were really popular in the past and you can still find today. The wrapping cloths were used as a mat to relax on after you’d have taken a bath. Only later on in the 18th century the furoshiki were used for wrapping instead of using it as a mat. In the present Furoshiki is appreciated as an eco-friendly cloth which can be used as a shopping bag or to wrap a present in beautifully! You can use a furoshiki in many ways!

Furoshiki has various sizes. A small one: Chu-haba (45cm), a medium one: Futa-haba (68cm) and a big one (actually two big ones but their categorized in the same section: Nishi-haba (90cm) & Mi-haba (105cm). The cloths can also be made of different materials, there are four mainly used materials which are: Silk, Cotton, Polyester & Rayon.

Well the place was about a 25min walk from the guesthouse. It was quite a walk as we couldn’t’ find the building at first. We were in the wrong street and then entered the wrong building XD Well we found it in the end and we were greeted by a girl who fortunately spoke english. We were led upstairs where we entered a cute small room where the needed stuff for the class was already prepared~ it was only us two and the teacher so we could fold in peace hahha. So we started the class by folding the easiest method which was called ‘Hirazutsumi’. Jo-anne and I could keep up fairly well luckily so we weren’t completely incapable as we thought we would be :D The girl who taught us was really kind and then in the middle of our class she said ‘So I saw in the reservation that you two are Dutch right? Dus ik kan dit ook gewoon in het Nederlands doen!’ Omg hahhaaha You should’ve seen our faces, that was such a surprise XD We had a little suspicion because her name tag said ‘Saskia’ which was in all a pretty Dutch name right? Hahaha but to suddenly be able to have a conversation in Dutch was really funny XD
Well we continued the class in Dutch and learned 6 more folding techniques~ with the last one being the ‘Rose wrapping’ method. I took a picture of that one! In my opinion it looks really nice, can you guess which ones mine? And which one is Jo-annes and the teachers? Hahaha I’ll await your answers~

After we had had the folding class we got to decorate our own cloth! That was so much fun. We got to choose our own color cloth in Futa-haba size. Jo-anne chose a pastel pink one and I chose a pastel blue. We got to work with templates and had special fabric paint which had to be handled in a specific way. First apply a little bit of paint on a tilted brush. Smear it on paper and circle the brush so the paint spreads evenly on the bristles. Then check if it’s evenly spread by drawing a streak on the paper and if so you can get to work! For the templates you’ll have a sample which you can place on the cloth to decide where you want it. Pin the template onto the cloth with some pins and if you have more than one layer, mark the corners with some tape so you’ll know where to place the next layer exactly. Then circle the brush over the template as you circled it on the paper and you’ll get a nice layer of paint. What’s really popular is using gradient!! So if you have a flower template paint the middle e.g. pink and the end of the petals purple! You’d get a really nice effect and it was really fun and relaxing to do~ :D

We’d sat there for I think 2 hours just painting our cloth XD luckily they gave you all the time you needed plus it was really quiet and not busy at all. Saskia, who lived in Japan for about 3-4 years, told us that she was in Osaka this sunday (as we were XD) and was walking Dotonbori and she was amazed how calm it was. Usually it would be much busier but because of the virus it’s so calm, she had actually never seen it before. We had also noticed that at many sightseeing spots it was way calmer than you’d expect it to be, it actually kind of works out in our favour XD we get to see a lot of beautiful places without too much people!

Around 5:30PM we were finally satisfied with the way our cloths looked and it got wrapped up for us. It’s such a fun activity and definitely recommend it if it’s a rainy day! It wasn’t as busy as normal so you didn’t really need a reservation but I would recommend getting a reservation. You can check out their instagram! We’ll appear there in a few days too ;) IG: @Marumasu24

Tonight for dinner we got conveyor belt sushi!!! Finally our first sushi since arriving in Japan XD It’s really funny to experience, the place we chose was fairly cheap and pretty busy, luckily we didn’t have to wait for a place as there were two seats left! As the name already says it the sushi passes by in front of you on a conveyor belt. The sushi was came per two pieces and on different colored plates. The colors on the plates indicate how much it costs, you keep the plates with you and when you’re done they count the plates and check the colors and estimate the price! There are people standing in the middle who make the sushi and put them on the conveyor belt. I didn’t expect it to get very full from a few plates but after grabbing 5 plates (which means 10 pieces of sushi) I was beginning to get quite full XD The pieces here are quite big if you compare it to what you normally get at a YuMe or ShabuShabu. So after 7 plates we were done eating~ we both paid ¥1120 which is €9,40! And that’s for fresh sushi which is getting made right in front of you!

Well I’m stuffed. I’m currently in the lounge of the guesthouse. It’s really cozy here, as if you’re sitting in a big livingroom! Some other guests are here as well, preparing food or doing their homework. It’s a nice change and super different from the futuristic capsule hotel haha I think I like this atmosphere too as it gives you the feeling of a small community XD

I’m gonna stop writing now. There is a lot I want to tell but the story already became so long. Maybe it’s a pain to read it all and I’d get it XD Today was just a fun and relaxing day~ Let’s see what tomorrow brings :)

- Yaru

P.S. this took 2,5h to write, i’m dedicated~