On Saturday Jonathan and I got to taiko class early. So early in fact we were the only ones there. Yes, we kinda forgot that there was no class that weekend. So, after some wandering around and vegetating in his air-conditioned apartment, we set off for Kinkakuji (not to be confused with Ginkakuji, which sounds almost exactly the same) with Tim.

It really is striking: it's called the Golden Pavilion for good reason. Some shogun apparently had nothing better to do with his money than to build himself a gold-plated retirement house. Eventually it was turned into a temple. And in the sunlight, which we had plenty of that day, it's really nice.

Afterward, we decided to go see Pirates of Caribbean (its Japanese title lacks the word the for some reason) with Catherine, subtitled of course. The most violence in a Disney film since Bambi died. But we all enjoyed it. Orlando Bloom actually looked like a man this time, which is always good. (Catherine seemed prepared to defend him to the death, but she doesn't read this blog now does she?)