Hotel Leo Palace Okayama

... from my hotel in Takamatsu to You Me Town, a shopping center at a major intersection. When I got there, I saw banners everywhere announcing the opening of a new Uniqlo store two days ago. None of the banners pointed the way to Uniqlo, so it took some hunting to find it. A while after I got there, I noticed that one of the Uniqlo employees was leading the chant you hear in stores all the time in Japan. I don't know the exact words, or ...

... Koen, a landscape park supposedly rivalling the 3 best parks in Japan. It can tell you it's more expensive than Kenrokuen, larger than Kenrokuen and wilder. Which means it was better-less sculpting, more branches. While the view was fine the highlight was meeting Kaisha-san, an eight odd year old man who walked and talked with me through the park. Surprisingly spry, he suggested climbs I wasn't sure I wanted to make. He was ...

... famous Itsukushima shrine behind it, I found those sights somewhat overrated, especially as the shrine was a bit empty of iconography or statuary etc, but packed with tons of tourists. And the surrounding town is basically a bonanza of souvenir shops overpriced snack stands. Fun to browse around, but since I can't really buy anything as I have to lug it around with me for the next month, a few minutes per shop was all I needed.

Aside from Itsukushima shrine, there ...

... veramente da buttare via , non ho idea al momento di quanti km sono ma so molto bene che ho solo guidato nel traffico di quelli da esodo tutte queste citta` e o paesi che ho nominato sono coesi fra loro non c`e` un pezzo di terra libero che ti fa capire che stai lasciando un posto per un`altro.

... which are segregated for men and women as usual. It was not a particularly elaborate onsen, but it was quite nice. The dinner there was however nothing but brilliant. It consisted of a series of courses all brought to us in our room. The lady who served us was really sweet and friendly, and we kept saying to ourselves after each dish - that has to be the last course! We started with a selection of vegetables and various fish ...

We stopped off on the way from Kobe to Kurashiki at Imbe in the area of Bizen which is very famous for pottery and ceramics. Daniella had read in the guide book that there was a place where she could try her hand on the pottery wheel. It was a small town and there were not many restauarants open as it was a Sunday so we grabbed a bite to eat from a local supermarket. While Daniella did her stuff on the wheel, Jon took a ...

he computer is working much better. we spent the night up on Ushirioyama (Ushirio Mountain) in a cottage (really a cabin) and had a wonderful dinner with the family. It was absoultely wonderful; fresh fish, beef, lotus root, and other things I am not sure of but good. we all slept in one room (well almost--Kazu and Patty ...

... of the day with the family, Went to the coin laundry and while the clothes did their thing, went to the park nearby and played with a frisbee and baseball. We had a smaller dinner (thankfully), checked out Hiroko's fathers Harley Davidson and played with the children.

... Perhaps pictures would explain it better: Now while it`s a really, really awesome idea, and I did have a great time,�@the second shows my biggest issue with the day, which was the many, many children. Though meeting their parents was slightly surreal, meeting the kids was pretty sticky. I ...

... has a castle but it was re-built around 50 years ago and... has a lift, very traditional! I was gutted to say the least, that the one day I decide to turn up, they bloody close it! They probably knew I was coming. We chipped around for a place to eat and had some noodles and soup. Jumped back on the train to Osaka as there isn't much else to see in Himeji and spent the afternoon doing a combination of the usual. Movies, card games, chess blah blah blahdy blah...