A couple of weeks ago, I was in Kyoto, looking for breakfast before meeting some friends in Gion. I found a great little independent shop called Nōen, about halfway between Gion-Shijo Station and Yasaka Jinja, on the south side of the street (the official address is 571 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0074). It looked busy, but I decided to go inside and see if they had a seat available. Fortunately, they were just clearing a place as I walked in. There were tourists at a couple of the tables, but the customers were about 80% Japanese, and most of
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About
Susan Spann is the award-winning author of CLIMB (Prometheus Books, 2020) and the Hiro Hattori mystery novels (Minotaur / Seventh Street Books), featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo.
The Ninja Blog
Join me as I blog about Japan, my books, my travels, and all the things I see along the way!
Hidden Super Mario Underground in Kyoto!
Last weekend, I popped down to Kyoto to see some friends who are visiting Japan from overseas. After spending Saturday afternoon at Nishiki Market, we split up so I could check into my hotel before meeting up again for the evening illumination at Tō-ji (one of my favorite seasonal light-ups in Kyoto). I decided to take the underground passage to the metro, but didn’t expect to see this on the walls along the way: Both sides of the underground hall were covered in floor-to ceiling murals that made the tunnel feel like walking through a Super Mario game. I’m not
Read morePraise for the Hiro Hattori Novels & CLIMB
Spann keeps getting better . . . a taut closed-circle mystery with perilous consequences. Fans of classic whodunits will be pleased.
A tremendous reach into uncertainty amidst a cancer diagnosis, and ultimately her summits become a reward far more than the tops of the mountains she attains