I spent an evening out on my own in Kyoto. Walking around taking in the sites, getting a few snapshots, sampling the food and fruit juices, and chatting to the shop assistants in Japanese without my safety net of having Ritsuko with me to do all the talking. I'm here for the long haul, so if my Japanese speaking is to get any better, sometimes I need to just go out and practice. Kyoto is a good place to do it, because there so many tourist that people don't expect your Japanese to be perfect. Actually it's amazing how happy shop assistants become when they see you making an effort to speak Japanese. It also helps to pay them a few complements! It's amazing what you can learn when you just start talking to people... Stay tuned a few more posts on some of my "Summer Solo Excursions" are in the pipeline.