Higashiyama Grand Hotel Aizuwakamatsu

... and a few onsens. The reconstructed villa was pretty steep, as admissions go, but it did offer something different than most houses--it was furnished and had an air of what really went on day to day, including where cooking and washing and rice threshing was done. There's even a poop chute where doctors can check the health of the samurai through their excrement. And English signage to explain what the Hell all those tiny tatami rooms were for--who knew most of them were ...

... Jones' food hall but miles better. We had a great time making our selections and were gobsmacked how somethings were very reasonably priced, but then you saw things like a melon priced at $128! Anyway, we finally got to the park and had a brilliant time chatting to Paul's lovely colleagues, drinking wine, and eating yummy food whilst sitting in the shade on a cloudless 26 degree day and watching the kids play - great time out ...

... are beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes, and ski areas. We hiked along a popular nature trail, through an area with 11 marshes, lakes, and ponds, called the "Five Colors Lakes" because of the fantastic colors rendered by minerals in the water ... which change dependent on weather conditions. We had a grand time ... happy to have the opportunity to get out and explore the country a bit.

... the parents lounging around the onsen (hot spring) just taking it all in and the kids running havoc it is v funny. On the way out I saw two young monkies fighting, I had to take a video of a monkey fight...... but as I got a little bit closer one of the monkies jumped on me and turned the camera off ........ I couldn't stop laughing. And then the snow started ....... we headed for Tokyo

... are far away behind a screen. Rinno-ji and the five story pagoda were very ornate and beautiful. My favorite part was actually not the Temples but the street lines with perfectly aligned 100 foot cedar trees which the Shogun planted to line the paths! (Obviously most have been replaced by now). We wandered these grounds for a while until everything closed down. From here we wandered back down the main street of the little village to the ...

So today was a travel/show day. So not much time for sight seeing. But while picking up breakfast in Sendai before our travel call, I saw a really interesting event. It's what I think was a Breast Cancer Walk. It was a Pink Ribbon rally. But they instead of focusing on Cancer, all the signs talked about smiling and really positive messages. There were tons of people walking, and I would have joined if I didn't need to be with my group 10 mins later! It ...

So we get to one of our first relaxing places from the outside bandai-atami doesnt look that nice, probably due to its heyday being 15 years ago! The hotel we stayed at was called Kirakuya Inn not much from the outside but once inside it was really nice, it has 2 public onsens for men and women with many different baths and a sauna, and two private baths on the top floor observing the mountains surounding bandai. It was really nice, Michelle`s bag broke (also her hair drier blew up, we ...

... marked windows, when knocked go JYAAN, and fall down in one piece. Other windows go PIKA PIKA PIKA (accompanied by wide, "twinkling" hand movements) and shatter all over the place. I also asked about the big red cow symbol we had seen everywhere around Aizu. The cow is called AKABEKO (BEKO being Aizu-ben for cow). It symbolises happiness and togetherness. We finally exchanged addresses and got ready to leave. Mike even promised that he would return to Aizu for the festival with girlfriend in tow.

... immunity). After that comment, Takahata-san kept calling me MAJIDE-san. Then they all thought it was funny to keep calling Mike, Michael Jackson. They were all impressed when I told them that my grandfather was a Japanese translator (omitting the fact that he translated for the Allied forces during WWII). Once they'd left, we stayed back to help clean up (actually we just wanted to scab all that food that they'd left behind (a Kimchi hotpot). A big mistake it seemed since we ...

... my comments to heart. So I humbly apologise if any people reading this think less of Dave. Dave's rather protective of my blog considering he isn't keen on sharing it with any of his family or friends. Oh well. Best to keep the peace. My "hand that needs to be held" comment was a bit out of line. We could not dismiss that fact that something spooky was going on with our train schedule. It was a day full of the number 13. We caught the train from Nagoya at 11:13, carriage 13 ...