Hotel Matsumotoro Shibukawa

So, Tokyo was fun, but....it was nice to get out. Back to the 'countryside' (comparatively) town of Isesaki we went. We kidnapped Samantha (unless her grades suffer- in that case she came on her own freewill!). Her apartment was blessed with construction noise all night- both ...

... like an onion, once you've got it figured out, you realize there's a whole other layer underneath. Of course it's fun to open your eyes to a different environment and laugh as it laughs at you (although, Japan will laugh indirectly at you, so you're not really sure what's going on...). Besides, injecting a little crazy in one's life sometimes isn't so bad... Speaking of food, lets go backpacking!

Awesome 3 days summer camp in Gunma with Kokusai High School. We spend our time talking, walking, exploring and enjoying the great hotel. The scenery was awesome, the food was delicious and the students were "genki" and adorable. Honestly one of the best times I've had in Japan so far.

Exciting to see this fall. You can approach very up close to the fall. Of course, you have to be very careful because the rocks are very slippy. Like Niagara fall, huge amount of water is falling which create dynamic sound and mist into the air. The fall is located on rocky valley. So, you could also enjoy walking and viewing great rocks around the fall.

Usaburo Kokeshi (卯三郎こӔ 9;し) is the Japanese traditional doll "Kokeshi" shop and manufacturer in Gunma Prefecture. The founder Mr. Usaburo Okamoto has designed and produced Kokeshi. Not only producing traditional ...

... The good news is that kids do speak a lot of English which is great. The 6 year olds were talking to each other in English almost ALL the time which I was pretty much amazed. During the afternoons from 4:30sh and sometimes to 6:30 the elementary students ( up to 4:30 there are still some late pick ups for day care/kindergarten students) arrive. Some are also chaotic and some don't want to really work. Guess who's going to work with them on Monday's in the afternoons ...

... from my memory and what I could find on the net this close after the performance, which wasn't a lot. Tape Open Kyoto Song* Fascination street* From the edge of the deep green sea Hot Hot Hot* alt.end The end of the world* lovesong* Pictures of you* Lullaby* In between days Friday i'm in love** Just like heaven* If only tonight we could sleep* The walk* Shake dog shake The Kiss* Never enough* One hundred years End (encore1) Wrong Number ...

... 10 foot fountain by Lalique. Ed stayed in the lounge and talked to 2 Japanese kids from near Osaka. They gave us a bag of tangerines and pomelos. We peeled a tangerine and a pomelo in the restaurant after our meal and they were good. From the art museum we could see a huge golden temple with a kind of mezza-luna shape crowning the roof. It had a 6 pointed star as the symbol. According to my guidebook, it is the headquarters of the Majikari group, a shinto temple. I'll have to look that up

... so to Takasaki. The views were really nice. I always forget that Japan is more than just Tokyo and skyscrapers. There are so many mountains and beautiful countryside. And the colors on the trees down here are just starting to change... I can't wait. Another week or so and it will be bursting with colors. We got off the train, and got on a van for about another 1/2 hour drive to the venue. Once there, Mika took us to a ...

... ki gre 300 neki km na uro in je res hiter, udoben in zelo japonski. ti vlaki imajo skorda obraze - taki navihani zgledajo. In seveda si recem - joj, to je zelo japonsko. Itak sem pa cist prevzeta, ker lahko pijem vodo iz pipe in mi nc ni - JEEE! Za konec bom napisala tole; ne samo da se samemu sebi zdis velik in debel, poleg vsega si se dirty traveller;) sam oni so tok obsedeni z nakupovanjem in perfekcionizmom, da se sploh ne cudim, da imajo tako visoko stopnjo ...