Yamanoyu Morita Matsumoto

... and some old relics dating back to before the Jomon period (each period in Japanese history is marked by the Emperor who reigned at the time. Even today official dates and many business transactions are marked by the year of the Emperor – we are in the 21st year of the current Emperor, Akithio) It is located in the Japanese Alps and called “the roof of Japan.” It is surrounded by beauty and natural hot springs.

We did some shopping in the little old part of ...

... make room for them at buffets), Lonely Planet had a mention of one, and my brother had heard of them from some of his Animees so we decided to try it. We went to Sweets Paradise in Shibuya. You paid a flat fee and you're allowed to eat as much as you want for 90 minutes (for some reason they told us 80 minutes. Maybe it was b/c we were do American guys and they felt that we could take them out of business). There were many cakes ...

We travelled from Tokyo on the super high speed clean shiny amazing shikansen trains run by japanese rail who, outside Japan, offer the JR Railpass- a discount pass only available to tourists abroad that offers unlimited travel on the shiansen and train network for 7, 14 or 21 days- invaluable if you want to see as much as possible in a short space of time.

After arriving at our ryokan in Takayama, Erin ran through the basic ettiquette of the onsens- red curtain ...

... some money on cab fare. Hopefully I can remember to ride on the left side of the street and the other vehicles remember to do the same. I'm also hoping that the rumors of English-speaking guides are true.

Adjusting my expectations... I had thought I'd zip through the castle and get to Kyoto early. Probably not. Everything takes longer than you think.

... je suis donc en terrain de connaissance.

Il pleuvait a boire debout a Tokyo a cause du typhon qui a passe au large de la cote est. J'ai donc pris une journee de conge de mes vacances et je n'ai pas fait grand chose. Je voulais aller visiter un temple mais le temps que je traverse la rue pour aller a la station de train, j'etais deja trempee et beaucoup moins motivee ! J'ai quand meme pris le metro pour aller au ...

... a sarubobo, these little dolls that have become a popular souvenir for the area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarubobo) . There was quite a few traditional sake breweries in San-machi. We visited a few and tasted their wares; they encouraged you to taste everything. We bought some to have after supper at Banri.




We were running pretty low on funds so we went to get some traveler’s ...

... standing there...yelling at people to get them inside...i think thats called service industy in newspeak.

ok, enough for now...i think it is clear why i write in english...in german i can not express myself anymore as well, i bore myself while writing...so read you next time...maybe in german, maybe in english...
btw, its very distressing to log in after 2 weeks without inet to see only 1 mail...thx wew...
can someone pease write me, otherwise i feel so lonely

So sorry that you havent received any news from us....from Mt.Fuji on, we didnt have any access....We stayed at the World Heritag Cultural Site in Gokayama, which was like staying at a camp.Basically, we have been in a mountainous area...the students have been writing a journal every day - One student writes about our day and at the end of the trip these pages will be copied by the leaders and a booklet will be made for ...

couldn't get to the computer last nite. only have a minute this morning.
took a train here yesterday. it's up in the "mountains", which are like big hills. it's really such a neat town. their specialty here is making sake and woodworking. i think i'll get a few real pretty bowls.
tim said yesterday on the train "show me the pictures of sedona", he was really missing her and he continues to narrate. as of ...

... Day! Everyone is Irish today, including you! Most smiled and said that they'd try to make it by for a beer. Yoshimi, Aki, Huba and I walked the short distance up to the bar making sure we all were wearing something green. The bar was offering a free Irish whiskey or Bailey's if one were to come in adorned in the color green. Wonderful! Free drinks! I'm in. The bar was filled with many Japanese and a few gaijin ( foreigner). We ...