Sunday October 22nd.
Raced from work at breakneck speed only to race back again five minutes later to pick up my mobile. Equipped with all my accessories, I scampered to the station. I love the Shinkansen - Kyoto is 45 minutes away. From there straight out to Kurama for a local fire festival, conveniently located in the back of beyond up a hill outside Kyoto. The train out there wasn't too busy but as soon as we pulled into the station we could see huge queues of people waiting at the station and being shoehorned onto the trains going back to Kyoto. On the main street people chanted, banged drums and jingled jingling things to scare away evil spirits. If I'd been an evil spirit (or a health and safety officer - same thing, I suppose) I'd have been more alarmed by the 8ft flaming torches spitting sparks and smoke. The men carrying the torches were wearing traditional Japanese grass sandals and loincloths. Brave souls.
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