Hotel Le Mondo Hamamatsu

... When Ayaka and Kevin failed to get up a second time, it was just me and Corey who went back to finish the night out. We were left with the real temple-partiers; guys who had already sung themselves hoarse, had drank way too much (and were still drinking until after I left), and lost their shirts for the Water-dance (see video for explanation).

It was like hanging out an after-hours bar on a Tuesday morning.

When it was done, and the song was sung, we stumbled back home ...

I'm not sure if I've even told my family yet, but I will be on Japanese television.

It all started with expressing my interest in the sport of running, here called "Marason" (somewhere along the line, running a marathon got confusing with the sport of running, and people here simply call running, "marason"). A few people saw me running after my first week in Toyone (kind of hard to miss a foreigner running on the highway in rural Japan), and somehow that got around. Before I knew ...

... I've been getting used to doing on occasion nowadays.
During that period, before and after, the rain seemed to pick up, and it was a wonderful sound to drift into for that short period. The dojo itself is a small rehearsal hall, with wooden floors and a stage. It being next to a retirement community (there's plenty of those around here), I'm sure it serves them for special events. It being somewhat of a hall, the acoustics in that place from the ...

... over to the main tub, find a spot in the corner, and try my best not to face anyone, looking shy or just slightly off in the head. As soon as I sunk in and started to enjoy the warmth and cleanliness of this water, I noticed my bandage floating away.
Quickly, I grabbed it, and became so mad...I got calm.
I give up. I said. and scrunched it in my hand, and did my best the rest of the evening to just avoid anyone seeing it, but not really caring.

Toyone-mura, Aichi, Japan kawaiguy

... Now just to make it harder, I'm going to stick rivers, mountains, trees, and piles of dirt between you and the hole. OH, and did I mention, that you'll have to wack at this wee ball with a wee stick? Har har har" and all that jazz. The point is, it's fun because it's a pointless challenge. Back in the days before telegrams or camel-riding, some poor sucker who was quicker on his feet than others had to deliver messages, well ...

... carrying race', where with two bendy plastic poles, you and another person carry various sized balls around the track. The balls ranged from basketball to golf-ball. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Another game was called Tama-ire (Literally, Put the Ball In). They set up two baskets high on a pool about 15 or so feet in the air. One basket will have a ribbon on it, the other won't. The object is to put as many of your balls in the proper cup, where a point ...

... I had some on me too, but it seems that the nut mainly chose her to bust on. It must have found its way into through the grating and into the coals for it to reach that temperature, for I've never seen a nut get so violent before. Enough of that, or Skippy will be suing me in no time.

Once we've had our fill of beer, meat, gohemochi, and nut-explosions, we head out to the prime location for that night's fireworks. I think where most festivals distinguish themselves is in ...

... view of the town. Sitting on the top of a hill, this place overlooked most of surrounding area.

When I first choose the place, I wasn't sure how to get in. I saw the older gentleman talking to some elderly ladies sitting down behind him on these three chairs, beside another elderly man. When I saw them and they could hear me, I waved and tried to get in by the side entrance No luck there, and they called me back to where the window slided to reveal that it was ...

... Badly! I`ll definitely be returning to Nagano later in the year when the snow arrives, as Yusuke said that he`d give me some snowboarding lessons, so I`m looking forward to that... In the meantime, I embarked on a seven hour train journey down to Hamamatsu, where I was to stay with the lovely Yumi for a couple of nights. It had been well over two months since I last saw her, so it was great to meet her again at the train station, and she immediately drove me to ...

... almost everyone has a bike. Every street has stacks of bikes parked, and they all cycle on the pavement. So watch out. I've decide to break myself in gently, and visit the temples within walking distance of the hostel. So, after 5 minutes walking, phew. Temple Higashi-Hoganji (just rolls off the tongue), covered for restoration, well not so much covered as fortified. With a large metal building covering the whole main ...