Koyo Inn Shingu

... san.

Supper was in a larger room upstairs; felt like summer camp, with the camp director telling u the rules and next day's itenerary, but in Japanese. Same wonderful food, tho, with a few different dishes for us, since we'd eaten what the other guests had the night before. Everyone seemed friendly, and if obviously curious about the gaijin, they were much too polite to say much. We just smiled and nodded. And passed the ...

On arrive au camping de Kawa-Yu sous une pluie battante, heureusement des le lendemain matin un temps splendide s'installe. La saison du camping au Japon etant juillet et aout, il n'y a personne ! La region est faite de plein de petites vallees boisees avec riviere, dont une tres speciale puisque sous les cailloux de ...

... and so I changed trains at Taki. When I got to Taki, I had to take a limited express with extra charge of one thousand yen. I didn't like it, but if I hadn't taken it, I would have waited for 2 hours. It had happened all the time in any countrysides. Anyway, I arrived in Owase at half past twelve and started hiking. After a twenty minute walk in Owase, I reached Owase Shrine, which had two large Japanese cinnamons in the precinct ...

I'm sitting here with my bags packed, apartment mostly cleaned, trash taken out, clothes in piles to be donated, etc...I can't believe my 2 years in Japan is coming to an end! I'm ready for the next thing in my life and am grateful that I had opportunity to have this amazing experience. I couldn't have imagined my life without it right now. I am leaving my small town today, and am headed for the big city - TOKYO!! I will be there for about 2 weeks before I head to ...

... here? I certainly did not. I think for coming here with literally no knowledge of Japanese, that I've done okay. My agenda for coming on the JET program was different from many JET's (who come here to continue to improve their Japanese in addition to learning about the Japanese culture) so where I am now is a lot farther than I ever imagined myself being. Last week at pilates our instructor was waiting outside the room and she (has seen me ...

... different, and not understanding anyone (although I'll admit their Japanese was a little better than mine). We drew a huge crowd of onlookers in the hallway and classroom whispering things like "Wow.. listen!" "So cool, they're speaking only English!" "I don't understand anything!! Do you?" I had the best day talking to them, teaching their classes, eating lunch with them and playing with them at recess. It felt, for a few shorts hours, like I was at home talking to some ...

... huge kimono like thing-it even came complete with a mosquito netted hat, which I could see would've been very useful back in the day. So many Japanese people were taking pictures of us, haha. Since I didn't leave the country for this vacation (trying to save money), we had a time to do some normal things like see Spiderman 3, and just lounge around and do nothing. It was nice to relax! Towards the latter part of Golden Week a bunch of headed to Sara's town for the annual ...

... morning prayers and what we thought was a fire drill and were duly shepherded to the inner temple for prayers at 6.30. You could say it was a cool experience - I'd say it was bloody cold. The priest chanted, hit a bowl with a stick (nice sound) and clashed/vibrated a pair of cymbals while we looked on hoping to have light shed on the darkness of our understanding (never mind our souls). One of us (no, not me!) described the prayers as mumbo-jumbo. To me it was a mystery. The "fire ...

... we decided to try it out! (Keep in mind neither Leila nor I knew nothing about how love hotels work before we went) We drove up to "Hotel Nonno" and there since there is no place to check in, you park your car and walk up to the open garage door of your choice. We learned later that you can pull your car into the garage, and a sensor will shut the door automatically. This all adds to the secrecy of the love hotel. We picked a room and the door was open, so we walked up a flight of ...

... squeezed orange juice, etc. While eating breakfast and drinking the wonderful orange juice that we have in the hotel, Mrs. Jackson brought to our attention the fact that a glass of orange juice delivered to our rooms costs $11.50, something that we all felt should be put in the travelogue. After a pleasant breakfast, we all went up to our rooms to prepare for the exciting day ahead. Train ride to Nara: Instead of riding in the bus to Nara, we were able to experience ...