Shizukuishi Prince Hotel Shizukuishi-cho

... later a prince drinks too much of the water and also is turned into a dragon.  It is said that the heat from their love making is what keeps the lake from never freezing during the bitter Akita winters but in all reality this is because it is a Caldera Lake.  Anywho that is about it for this part of the blog.  The next will be about Kakunodate the Samurai village we visited later that day. Stay Tuned...

... done in most of Japan). The tour was only offered through a Japanese website, so it was likely we would be the only westerners there. We met Kaoru's mom Kiku at the station, it was so wonderful to see her again! I remembered my carefully practiced "mata iemashita, ne?" (It's good to meet again, isn't it?) and was absolutely shocked (and SO happy) to have her give me a hug right away. Japanese aren't "huggy" people, so I wasn't sure if I was forgiven for ...

... see. So it's really all odds and ends--a bunch of kabuki dolls, lacquerware and pottery, scrolls, maps and even a family with a trove of intricately drawn human dissection guides. Somehow the elucidation of the human ligaments of the hand are more disturbing in blue ink than the real thing in photos or in the BODIES exhibition. Plus, all the figures for the guides were of caucasians--take from that what you will. Could've gone longer but needed to catch a train--which are ...

... lac, que la surface de Tazawa-Ko ne gele jamais, meme en hiver ! Nous avons passe 2 belles journees a nous promener autour du lac avec le beau temps et a profiter des Onsen, sources chaudes naturelles. Notre auberge avait d'ailleurs son propre Onsen. La culture du bain, O-Furoba, est tres presente au Japon. Meme s'ils n'ont pas leur Onsen prive, ils remplissent une petite baignoire ...

... il y a certaines especes non repertoriees de cerisiers pleureurs, des croisements qu'ils n'arrivent plus a faire de nos jours). Au nord de la ville il y a un grand Bouddha en bois de 10m de haut, impressionnant ! Experience interessante d'ailleurs puisqu'on a essaye d'y aller a pied mais trompé par une carte non a l'echelle, on a sous-estime la distance. Une dame qui passait par la a eu pitie de nous et nous y a conduit en voiture ! Kakunodate est un ...

I stopped off here on the way to Hokkaido to break up the journey. It was actually a bit of a let down as I seemed to arrive on a holiday and there was nothing open and I couldnt find the temples and museums I was looking for! There were some nice ice sculptures though and I had a good hike up a very steep hill. It is very mountainous here and quite beautiful.

... look out of the warm train window as the snow blanketed everything. Got on the next train just in time, this train was bound for Hachinohe and went back under the sea through the long tunnel to 'mainland' Japan. Then we got the bullet train, which seemed even faster after being on slower trains for a while, back to Morioka. We had some takeaway sushi on the train which was very nice as our first experience of it (although we went vegetarian, just in case). Once ...

... inn) as the map in lonely planet was missing a bridge, and I almost walked into someones back garden! We were welcomed into the inn, dumped our bags, slipped into some slippers, and given green tea and Japanese sweets (more like biscuits) whilst settling our bill. It was a lovely house, your image of a traditional Japanese house; paper sliding doors, tatami mats etc. We then headed out towards Morioka's temple and shrine are ...

jai oublier de dire dans mon autre message que ici, a morioka, la ville est jumelee avec une ville nomee morioka en colombie britanique. Alors par un pur hasard, en me promenant dans la ville , je suis arriver devant un epicerie et puis il y avais des biscuits feuille d`erables et du sirop d`erables de la beauce.. un peu plus de 16.00$ le 250ml. bon apres m'etre fait demander gentiment de sortir parce que je n'etais pas un resident de l'hotel ...

... etait grise et ponctue de petite averse, les photos sont pas tres belles. Ensuite je suis revenue sur mes pas, dans la ville de morioka, pour dormir dans auberge typique du japon (ryokan) dans une chambre avec un plancher en tatamis, et un futon au sol pour dormir. Il n`y a pas internet alors je suis dans un autre hotel en train de bummer leur ordinateur !