Hotel Boukai Sou Takamatsu

... nothing fazes them, and they don't even need a flat surface to perfectly fold a garment.

NOW A CARD-CARRYING MEMBER!

When I checked out of the Toyoko Inn this morning, they presented me with my Toyoko Inn Club Membership Card. I look very happy in the photo on the card! I was speculating what it would be like to rent out my house and use the proceeds to move into the Toyoko Inn and never have to do any cooking again!

Slept well until I realized that without the heat, the temperature drops to zero. My back was frozen stiff this morning. But got to Zentsuji early nonetheless. Navigating local trains here has been really challenging--the times are correct but you never know if your small stop is on the way or a passed station. Zentsuji is famous for 2 things: birthplace of Kubo Daisha (Kukai who brought Buddhism to Japan), and the square ...

Got a good night's sleep at the hostel but I awoke to Jordan's alarm at 7AM. So I decided to get out to Matsuyama castle, which I originally was going to skip. The castle is on a hill that I feared if I climbed, I'd have no engery for Kompira-san. So I took the cablecar. The castle, though renovated, has been redone with original materials and is really nice and complete looking. I'll pass on history if I can get a good photo. The sakura were in bloom here too and ...

Started today early with a really filling and hearty minshuku breakfast. Totally new experience, but very nice. The owners had a log outside with Shitake mushrooms so I got to pick a few and then grill them up myself at the table. I'm sure minshukus exaggerate what's normal fare, but I'm fairly certain most of what I ate could be eaten in the Japanese home, probably not all at once though... But I am really starting to like the idea of rice and pickled vegetables in the ...

... Japan country side. However when we arrived there,I noticed there were so many people and couldnt find the car park. All the parkings were full, and one guy took us to a parking inside one small road. So lucky! There is 785 stone steps to the Main Sanctuary, and another 1,368 stone steps climb up to the Inner Shrine. If you couldnt climb the steps, there are ...

Okay, so I'm extremely bored at work and very excited about my upcoming travels. The result of that is a new blog entry. Enjoy. December has been a slower paced month for me. I've been saving my money for my trip to Southeast Asia and there hasn't been a whole lot going on otherwise. It's been getting colder around here and the lack of insulation and central heating is reaallly starting to wear on me. Despite the cold, it has only ...

... really glad that I was able to go to Korea.   This past weekend was a little more relaxed. There was a concert in Tokushima City on Friday night and I went to see "Tropic Thunder" with some of my friends on Saturday night. Sunday was a strange experience though. We had a Christmas orphanage visit planned for Sunday afternoon, so when I was loading gifts into the back seat of my car it locked. I didn't think anything of it because my car does weird things ...

Not too long ago I realized that my time in Japan is already nearing its end! (well at least I am over 50% of my time here :P) Inspired by this realization I transformed into a mad-insanely-ambitious traveler, set on experiencing as much of Japan as can possibly be squeezed into various weekend trips. By cutting back on sleep and spending more time studying my lonely planet than any other of my course books, I have so far ...

... easy these days, I don't think I've worked an entire five day work-week yet, and I'm still getting paid anyways. I'm going to see Radiohead in Osaka on thursday (be jealous), which is going to be awesome. There's other things I'd like to talk about (car inspections, my cell phone, the impact of Tom Brady's injury on the global financial markets, etc.) but I'll save those for another blog post. Hey, maybe I'll start updating this more often, but no promises. 'til next time. Eric Gardner

... and encouraged to flourish. Not that I'm particularly worried about the Japanese losing their culture. Things have continued to occur in Japan in the same way since well before the British settled either Australia or America. I was asked at the Shinto festival what Australian festivals are like. I said they were quite different because Australia is so young that it doesn't have traditions in the same way Japan does. So many Australian festivals change every year or ...