Back in Tokyo, we had an all-day bus tour one day, and after went to the famous area Akihabara, the Electric Town. It's full of electronics shops and comic places, arcades and restaurants. it was very cool. But it rained. I didn't buy anything, because there wasnt much if you arent willing to spend a lot.
the next day we went and picked up our train tickets for the bullet train. we have a pass for a week to travel anywhere on the JR train lines, which is a lot of them. In the evening, a group went to Roppongi, which is supposed to be a fun flashy party area. But it rained. And it was thursday. So it was pretty dead. We went and ate at a little restaurant on the way back ot the hotel, we were all exhausted.
Almost the entire next day was spent on the Shinkansen on the way to Fukuoka. We stopped off in Hamamatsu and toured the Yamaha factory, where they make grand pianos, and their music musem. That was fun.
Next day, a group went on our own to Miyajima, an island at Hiroshima that has a famous shrine, and a big red arch that you see pictures of sticking out of the water. It was low tide when we were there, so it was sticking out of the sand instead. There were deer on the island. When we got off the ferry, and out of the station, we saw one, Ooh, a deer. Then there was another. And we looked around, and there were a lot more. The deer were everywhere. just hanging around. We took pictures of them and with them, and some of the other people in the group that went said the deer tried to eat their stuff. Unfortunately, we didnt have long there, but we caught the ferry back to the main part of Hiroshima and ate okonomiyaki at a nearby restaurant. This is the dish that Hiroshima is famous for, and they made it a lot better than I do. It took all evening to get back to the dorms at the college in Fukuoka.
Next day (Yesterday) we took the train to Amakusa. That took all morning, but we got to the hotel around 1:00 and met with our host families, and went out with them until evening. I was with Kevin the photographer (who gets lost a lot, but managed not to that day - though he did run out of film and made us walk back up the hill for it) and our family was very nice. We went to a flower festival at a park, and most of the other people did too. Kevin and i, and our family, and Crystal participated in a traditional tea ceremony. That was cool.
Afterward, we went with the family to a pottery shop, they had a lot of nice things, and toured to see how they make everything, and their three huge kilns. We had coffee there aqt a little cafe they maintain on site, and then stopped at a small bakery and got cakes on the way to the family's house.
It was nice there, big and clean. one room was very traditional styled and fancy. We had tea and our cakes and talked for a while, and showed pictures. Our hosts gifted upon us a bottle of sake and two crystal glasses. in the evening, we came back to the hotel for dinner. The hotel is very fancy and nice, I like my room a lot, and the view from the balcony is great. For dinner, we dressed in yukatas and were served lots and lots of food. I stopped counting after about the third course, but one of the guys said it was a total of 13 dishes. Lots of food. It was very tasty. Part way through dinner, one of the hotel people came in and found kevin and I, and told us that our family had come back for something. They brought us more gifts. It was very kind. We each got a small doorway curtain sign thing. Kevin's has a mountain, and says Japan on it, and mine has the traditional beckoning cat icon of luck and good fortune. And also a box of incense each, and a card. We bowed a lot.
In the evening, most of the group went to the onsen nearby (google it, and pay attention to the customs - the key word starts with "n"...), but not all together. most of the guys were leaving as i arrived. That was an interesting experience, but it was nice. There was an inside and outside section, and outside was also stairs leading down to a separate area with four individual tubs. I sat in one for a little while and left, back to the hotel.
That was the first relaxed day so far. Every day has always been busy busy, run run, stairs stairs stairs. This day was overall calm and very refreshing.
This morning we had a buffet style breakfast, with mostly traditional foods. Very tasty. Later, we'll be off to
someplace else, and will stay in another nice hotel again tonight, I think.
My camera's memory card is nearly out of space (700-ish pictures on it) and I forgot my cable in fukuoka so i cant get them off. No pictures for now.
Crystal wants to go see the aquarium at the bottom of the cliff, and time is getting a little short, so watch for more from me another time.
Ooh, the travel show site is travelmoxie.tv but there's not much there, and may not be until we come home. Go see it anyway.
Sayounara
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