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Show 155 whereas i n Kyoto and Osaka every i n s t a l l a t i o n had a club, and the tour consisted of making as many as possible. Seated in a new one, dark as a closet but shot through with the gleaming l i g h t s of glasses and i c e , the jukebox throbbing r o s i l y , one was momentarily back in San dl r-(n k. Francisco. And since a s&xsb cost only 250 even the hardiest celebrant, like Major Hammond, could return to Oji with his salary, though not his faculties, intact. During the day the Oji contingent luxuriated in new sights and sounds, freedom from duty, the feel of a hotel room,clean and fresh and somebody else's bother. If fortunate enough to get one with a bath they trailed around naked, a pleasure not practical in Oji's glass walls. And nothing, Sid mused, contributed to sex like a change of scene; half the pleasure of the Kansai ((Kyoto and Osaka) lay in getting horny. Holidays had their routine. They slept, and/woke to make love, and relaxed into a nap; then they rose, bathed, and descended for breakiast, after which they were ready for a tour. The Imperial Palace, the Gold and Silver Pavilions, the Gion Temple, the Honganji - - sites as famous to the Japanese as St Peter's to the West were viewed with sighs and shrugs - - funny looking place; besides, who's heard of it? Creeping through the corridors of the Nijo Palace they came to a large, dim room, the dusk relieved by gold-flecked panels. "This, sirs and madams," said the guide, "is Nightingale Chamber. Note froors." And stepping inside he trod a' short distance, when a delicate singing arose, the muted clamor of birds. "For safety," he explained. "Could not creep up on Emperor." "Our floors squeak naturally," Phyllis observed. "Never thought there was a reason." |