The Cherry Blossoms are Blooming

I went down to the breadshop yesterday and played "Gomoku Narabe" or "Five-in-a-row" a ridiculously simple yet thoroughly addictive board game for a while and thoroughly beat Philippe who claimed (as he always does) that I cheated. Hyon Ju (with her superior intellect) then thoroughly and humiliatingly beat me. Twice. (http://www.xmission.com/~psneeley/Shareware/japanese.htm )
Later, having packed my bag full of free bread, Philippe and I went for a few quiet ones in town. We started off in "Africa", a bar off Kiyamachi with an excess of TVs, white people, unsmiling staff but half price beers during happy hour. Once happy hour was over we strolled down Kiyamachi paying scant attention to the clouds of cherry blossom above us and found a bar called "Pon" which practically defines the phrase "hole in the wall". The way in is a wooden door about 4 ft high that looks as if it is part of the wall, like some kind of secret passageway (http://www.hiddenpassageway.com/). So we stooped down and had a couple of beers there with the owner who refers to himself as "The Doctor" and then went on to "Pagode" for a couple more beers with Luka (Kyoto's answer to Alan Quartermain). He said he's going up to Tokyo for a free music festival on the 23rd so I invited myself along. Could be fun! Anyway, it's a brand new day, the sun is shining and the cherry blossoms are out, so no time to lose - I'm off outside for larks and thrills.