A FANtastic afternoon

After the morning at the museum, Chuck and I decided to venture off to the Nishiki Market. I had envisioned a place somewhat like a Middle Eastern souk, but this is the largest shopping area I’ve ever been in, and it reminded me of the largest outlet mall in the world on steroids.

Nestled amid shops selling T-shirts and sunglasses and leather jackets were charming little shops by local vendors. There were hundreds of food stalls offering everything you can imagine from crêpes to ice cream to rabbit and sushi. We wandered around the whole shopping complex for about two hours.

On our way back to the hotel we were walking down an alley and I saw a tiny shop with an old man seated on the floor. He was surrounded by paper and fabric and pieces of wood, and I realized that he was making fans. I love to collect fans from places around the world, and this looked like the perfect opportunity. His wife told me he had been hand-making fans for over 50 years. He spoke no English and she spoke just a little, but we were able to communicate well enough for me to buy a perfect little fan that she put in its own little case for me. His shop was located 500 steps from the place where the first folding hand fans were invented by Buddhists monks in 794 A.D. Finding this little shop and my perfect fan was worth a 15,934 steps we took this afternoon.Read more