Higashiyama Dai-Ichi Hotel Aizuwakamatsu

... What's that line about suicide being a permanent solution to a temporary problem--in this case it was a permanent solution to an imaginary problem... But the tour guide at the top gives a spirited dance-like performance of the suicide, set to a Japanese narrative. Either way, it was rather strange because I don't quite get the significance or context. Even going to the site of the kari kiri (you gotta hand it to the Japanese to signpost every single thing), I tried to find ...

... so we are getting better at using the machines to buy our tickets. We have discovered that when you buy a children's ticket it says the same price as the adult one, so you can't tell if it's a child's or not until you go through the barrier and then it gives a ''tweet tweet'' sound, which I suppose alerts the guard to check that it's a child going through - clever hey? Anyway we arrived in Kurama and got some lunch at a local ...

... reconstruction. The walls and moat are original, and there's a nice garden and tea house. There's a good view from the 5th storey; however, the smog was pretty awful (they do lots of burning in the fields and it was really thick on this particular day), and the town itself had nothing going for it. Most Japanese towns and cities are quite ugly - nondescript concrete ...

Now we decided to head 3 hours east to visit the apline snow monkies of the japanaese alps. Probably not the most constructive use of our time but when I heard that the young monkies dive bomb their parents in a natural hot spring I was sold. We got there and it was so true, the monkies are helarious and complete unafraid of humans, they don't really care that you are there. You should ...

... you take on the Pass actually takes 2.5 hours, but there are some you can take without the Pass that take about an hour and 50 minutes. You head for the Tobu line once you get to Asakusa and they will direct you to a small tourism office next door where you buy the pass. Unfortunately, most of the Temples close at 4 in off season and 5 in prime season. Being off season we weren't left with too much time. We arrived at the station and ...

... a great bowler. In fact he's pretty bad. But he is sooooo funny. He is a walking rock star, in everything he does. With his hair, and outfits, and he is always having fun. The most outgoing Japanese guy I've ever met... He had Amy spanking his butt for good luck at one point. I hope we spend a lot of time with him! Tatsuya was the big winner of the game. And after bowling we went into the arcade since they give you free tokens to play with for bowling ...

... got her another yet!)so we wanted to get one, the owner offered to drive us to get a new one which was really nice after we got the bag he then took us out for ramen his treat. the food at the hotel was great but even tho they had an english menu the waiter made a mistake on the second night and we had curry and rice two days in a row. we basically spent two days relaxing, we had a walk and saw a shrine, i got to know a japanese dentist in the outside bath (and no there was no gay love).

... to try one of those suspicious looking OMIYAGE (souvenir foods) from Aizu. We settled on a CHOKO-DAIFUKU since it had cute little Byakkotai cartoons on the box. What it turned out to be was cocoa powder covered balls of a cloudy, pliable substance. I ate 6 in my effort to avoid wasting it, despite the experience being a bit like consuming what I'd describe as chocolate left to sit for too long in a peat bog. A trio of obasans (old ladies) were watching the whole show with ...

... bottom of the food chain). Also it impresses me to see cars that give you an extra wide berth, even when you're walking along the footpath. Nevermind that they could be driving into oncoming traffic. Oh and another thing. I completely suck when it comes to navigating. I lose my bearings at just about every corner. If it weren't for Mike we probably wouldn't have got to half the places we'd been to. Though on a couple of occasions, my navigationally challengedness has brushed off ...

... or cleaned, giving it a milky appearance. It also tasted and smelt a bit like rice, unlike the Jun Mai Shu. We were sitting around a traditional indoor briquette heater. The damn thing burns steady for 24 hours unattended. It can also boil your water. We had a good chat with Yamaguchi-san about the area and his family. Aizu Wakamatsu's samurai were apparently the elite samurai, whilst the Shinsengumi (probably the most famous in Japan) were more like the police in ...