Hotel Alpha One Aizuwakamatsu

... though the plaque actually says that they feared their existence would cause him trouble. I'm hoping this is a mistranslation...please. The scene is actually stranger because one of the girls is apparently wounded by cannot die (the rest of the family is crumpled on the ground, plus the young kids are under a blanket) so she is begging a soldier to kill her--all heavy drama except there's no real facial expressions. Just an impassive mannquin face--all you're missing is ...

... he certainly took to. The other thing that I've been so pleased about in the short time to date has been the huge amount of walking we've all been doing here, there and everywhere, which given my somewhat sedentary lifestyle at home has pleasantly surprised me and I pray may help to balance the excesses of the beautiful food that we will undoubtedly continue to eat around the globe! And no tv turned on, even by the kids has been fab too.

... over $160 just for tolls and gas (costs less than in Europe, but far more than in the US) for the day. We had fun getting gas at a "typical" gas station, where the attendant runs out, shouting and directing you to the pump, and then when you're ready to leave, he stops traffic and directs you back out onto the road. Too funny! Sorry I didn't get any pictures. Aizu ...

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 ...

... earlier in the day that this little tiny town really closes down a sunset, there is nowhere to go at night. We retired to the hotel lunge where they had a fireplace going and some good 60s music. We wandered around the hotel once the lounge closed at 10:30 pm and observed some old hotel registers on display with signatures of famous guests including Dukes and Dutchesses of Wales, the Emperor, Helen Keller, the Lindberghs, etc. Very fun.

... believe I wore it with pride the whole afternoon... Including Sound check! Just some goofy, fun back stage stories for y'all. After the show, people were pretty tired from the week before, but I was able to get a Jason, Amy, Tatsuya, and Ken out to the bowling alley. Thank GOD Tatsuya and Ken were there... because we would have NEVER figured out the Japanese and the way to get registered on the First floor. But with their help, we figured out easily ...

... 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).

... This time however, the focus was more on the samurai viewpoint and the BYAKKOTAI (the 19 young samurai who committed suicide). It would appear that the city of Aizu is extremely proud of their samurai heritage even up to this day. Outside the castle we found a well that looked a bit like the one from the movie RINGU. Spooky stuff, but very beautiful. We also checked out a pitiful tea ceremony house. Kinda pointless unless you're going there to drink tea, but we weren't going to ...

... all the school kids. Two boys pushed through us to get to the toilet and both entered. Mike joked that they were HOMODACHI (a slang corruption of the the word TOMODACHI, meaning friends). The girls behind us obviously caught the reference and shot Mike a look. They were in there having a smoke of course, but I can't imagine two Aussie guys getting into a toilet together on a crowded train, unless they wanted to declare to everyone that their friendship was a particularly close one.

... hostel bunkbeds we'd been expecting. Upon arriving, Mike thought to ask Yamaguchi-san to recommend a good sake from his shop. He recommended some Jun Mai Shu that had won an award for being the No.1 in the region. It was also made at his cousin's brewery. I'd say it was the best drink I'd had on the trip. It tasted a little sweet and had a thickness to it. We learnt that this was the pure stuff - rice that had been fermenting over 2 months. It turns out that a lot of the ...