Another trip Northward

On my friend’s first day in town we did the Kamishichiken/Kitano Tenmangu course on foot. Kamishichiken was still closed, but Kitano Tenmangu had booths set up and a lot of people milling about. After that we decided to walk somewhere else, and realized that we were within walking distance of Nijo Castle. On our way there we passed a lot of closed stores, but also found a strange shrine that was located on small islands within a pond. I later learned that this place had something to do with ninjas, though I wasn’t clear on what exactly. Unfortunately, when we reached Nijo Castle we learned that they do not allow people to enter after 3pm, and since it was almost 4 by then we had to head back home instead. We ate at my favourite curry place that night and then headed to bed, since my friend was about ready to fall asleep in her dinner.
I believe that it was the following day that we met my friend at her hostel and went to see the nearby Higashi Honganji, which is the main location for its particular sect of Buddhism. One of the main buildings was under construction, but we could walk around the sort of porch that circles it. The placard there said that it was the largest wooden structure in the world, but I seem to remember that Todaiji in Nara said that *it* was the biggest wooden structure in the world. Maybe it’s a point of contention between the two. we went to Teramachi street, where my friend bought a kimono and obi at the same store that my mom and sister had earlier (the prices were still great) and we all managed to tour around a neat woodblock print store that carried a wide variety of things, both original and reproduction. For lunch we decided on grilled noodles (yakisoba), and I found a small place that looked both tasty and cheap. Unfortunately, the entire table of people behind Dad smoked like chimneys, and I swear that between the four of them they more than killed a pack of cigarettes while we there in the small, unventilated restaurant.
-One of these days I’m bound to get the hours at Nijo Castle right and actually manage to go inside.
-When buildings go under construction here they encase them in other buildings, doubtless to control the conditions inside. The one covering the building at Higashi Honganji was massive.
-Smoking is still very prevalent here, though I have seen a few non-smoking places. The thing that worried the most was seeing small kids at the next table in that smoke-box of a restaurant. I saw on the news here recently a segment on second-hand smoke, where they were stopping people on the street to ask them about it, and most everyone seemed surprised to hear that it was dangerous.
-It never occurred to me how hard it would be to be a vegetarian in this country until I started trying to find things for my friend to eat. Even though she was allowing fish for the purpose of the trip (because seasonings, soup stocks and sauces are all fish-based) we’d still find pork sprinkled into things without any mention having been made on the menu.