Yashi Sukumo

... and then suddenly an ancient shrine tucked in the midst of it all, a torii gate surrounded by red maples, a tiny landscaped garden beside an entrance, the autumn colors soaring up the mountains, and my throat catches.

In Ozu the first rain of the journey gave a grey cast to the town, but I walked up to the castle which has been reconstructed using traditional methods rather than the ferro cement currently in vogue, and then across the ...

This charming village may be a highlight of the trip -　a touch of `old Japan` so elusive in the cities. Found another old ryokan where no one spoke English, but managed to get a room, and head straight to the onsen.

Decided to spend a second night -- in part to rest from ...

... of what unbelievably seemed to be residences where people currently live. There was a teahouse along the way that sparked my appetite for matcha (Japanese ceremonial green tea) and Japanese sweets. But I didnt give in to my temptation and trekked along.

Next on the path was the Former Shinkouji Temple. This former temple has become a resting place for visitors and residents alike. From the second floor you can get a great glimpse of the old buildings and stone path ...

This is my first travelpod entry! I love to travel around the world so much, but let me write about my small hometown first.
I live in Iwakuni city, Japan. Iwakuni is a small town near Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb was first dropped about 65 years ago.
Iwakuni is famous for ...

... shabu, etc! We went to the grocery store a few times and I'm really looking forward to getting that box!

We also made sure to visit the onsen (hot spring) a few times. There's one on island that ************e goes to anymore, since there's a newer facility. It's great b/c there's no one there and I can fully relax.

Family/friends, food and onsens are what I miss most about Japan...

...W

... The ceilings also displayed low-quality photocopies of Indian line drawings of people having sex. The shelves in this crowded, cramped museum were filled with little stones (that only somewhat) resembled penises. They had photos of rocks, tree trunks whose branches formed legs and genitalia, and other odd things that required a perverted imagination to really enjoy. Don't get me wrong, there were tons of quality stuff - they had photos of the curator of ...

... are different. After that, we went to the "beer garden". I use that term loosely since "beer garden" here means "All you can drink, all you can eat". We snacked on some greasy fried chicken and had some beer and ran into Cam and his girlfriend again. Nicely enough, they offered us a ride back to Matsuyama in their rented car. Awesome. No hitching necessary. We then watched the fireworks, and drove back to Matsuyama. And that was my birthday.

I'm looking over the survey and filling out parts of it, and I just noticed the cute smilies they have beside the ratings of Totally Satisfied, Mostly Satisfied, Somewhat Satisfied, Somewhat Dissatisfied, and Very Dissatisfied. The face can probably be equated to the following faces respectively: :D, :), :], :(, D:( I found the depictions quite amusing. Well, this pen they gave me is ...

... more than happy to let us know that the other road we could have taken was a flat coastal road that came right out to the cape. I could have cried but we were also happy we could take the road out of the cape when we left. The cape itself was small and more of a touristy area with everything closing down at about six o'clock but it was very interesting. We learned about a famous japanese hero named Manjiro who was born in the area in the 1830's. His story is that him and four ...

... was very neat, a sleepy city and yet a proud city. They had their own kind of giant dragons that they made and danced with during their New Years festival that were very cool. You could see the wooden heads of various sizes in just about every shop. Uwajima is also fairly famous for their bullfighting. Yeah, that`s right, bullfighting. They have a bullfight arena right in the center of the city and the fights ...