Oya no Yu Aizuwakamatsu

... Most are pretty normal, like a family receiving a high status visitor in the main hall. Others a bit odder--there's one of the mother scolding children for playing in their father's room. And then odder still--the re-enactment of the suicides of the owner's family (wife (34), daughter (16, 14, 6, 2 (well the 2 year old probably couldn't commit suicide so it's more like manslaughter...)). Apparently, the lord went off to war and fearing he wouldn't return they killed ...

... more than the traditional Japanese breakfast! Anyway, Paul had invited us to come and join his fellow staff members and their families at a picnic in Osaka as it was a national holiday, and we readily agreed. My other mission was to get washing done - I had not seen a single laundromat in Japan and Paul said I could do it at his place first before we went to the picnic. Of course, we didn't consider quite how long it would take ...

... the northern peninsula is pretty remote. We looked into driving or taking a train to Hokkaido (there's a v-e-r-y long tunnel that connects Honshu and Hokkaido), but that is one LONG trip! It will have to wait 'til next time, and we'll fly. The expressways allowed us to make good time, and we got there in about 3 hours. However, as I've stated before, they're expensive; we spent ...

... Kyoto....the ony difference I suppose is the mountain back drop with its snow covering, although It was bloody hot walking around!!! The temples are pretty cool too, so didnt want the fact that they were similar to put me off.....in fact one shrine Taiyuin-Ryo was pretty damn impressive. I took again a good train on the way back, this was a fairly good price and really puts what we have ...

... 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

... 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.

... I promise!!) After that went to a convenience store with Ken and Tatsuya. Ken and I talked about the oddity of cereal, and how Americans sometimes use it as a snack. It seemed very silly to him, and a likely reason why we as a nation are so big. I said it's not so bad, and he turned to me and said he would prefer a meal of fish instead. Hmmmm... Kinda interesting, and kinda funny to have a conversation about it. Then it was off to bed. Days off ahead of us!!

... 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).

We travelled to Nikko via Shinkansen (bullet train) and then transferred to a local train, arriving about 8pm when most of the town was closed. Our leader brought out the origami paper when we were on the local train and had us making paper cranes - which had the locals in stitches and soon the whole car was involved in the process. I'm afraid they despaired of us ever having the ability to grasp the finer points, but at the same time were ...

When I woke up this morning I decided that I needed to see less of Tokyo and more of Japan. I hopped on the Ginza metro to Asakusa and took the first Tobu Nikko rapid train leaving for Nikko. Nikko is best known for the mausoleums of the Tokugawa Shoguns, which have made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. These ornate temples are surrounded by a magnificant forest of ...