Satonoyu Waraku Minamioguni-machi

... journey, partly to review my course in Japanese and extract the verbs and vocabulary needed for the tasks of travel, and mostly because I loved this ryokan with its old wooden buildings looking like samurai houses and stone lanterns and paths through plantings, and lit torches at night.

... cuisine, but also including relaxing baths that look out on the river and mountain landscape. As you sit on the boat you can enoy the dangling paper lanterns reflecting off the water, the scenic mountain views, and the charm of the men pushing the boat along with wooden oars. The hotel even lends out yukata (summer kimono) which allows you to be a part of the tradition even more.
The boats are best enjoyed with a large group of people ...

... from Oita City to Nakatsu on the JR Nippo Line , it takes about one-hour, and is a nice ride as you can buy food and drinks from a lady who comes by each car with a cart of snacks. Since there were two of us going round-trip we bought the special discount 4-tickets for 9,800yen total (thats 2450yen or about 25dollars for each ticket) It would certainly be a better deal with the JR passes but I cant get that since I am living in Japan ...

... y se podia apreciar el tamano de la caldera de Aso: 18km de diametro de Este a Oeste y 24 de Nortte a Sur, 128 kilometros de circunferencia. Dicen que es la caldera mas grande del mundo. Desde arriba, podiamos ver todos los picos que aparecian en la guia: Nekodake (con forma de sierra), Takadake (el mas alto de todos), Kijimadake (un crater ya extinto) y Eboshidake. Cuando llegamos a la cima de Nakadake, nos encontramos con dos crateres: el primero era bastante grande con ...

... y la que parece ser su hija. Su marido fallecio hace un ano y ayer justamente celebraban el aniversario con 50 invitados. Habian dejado flores y regalos junto a su retrato. Parecian bastante amigables, pero sin pasarse, muy a su rollo. Tienen el hostal, donde ellas tambien viven, decorado con cosas inservibles, como payasos de plastico, montones de posters, memorabilia de diferentes lugares... todo un poco viejo, pero limpio. Por supuesto, tampoco tienen ...

... fluently but follows unwritten rules within a particular country, but what exactly is meant by this? Throughout the globe there are many national differences that crop up about how a resume should be written and presented, so if you want yours to be taken seriously you need to take on board these unwritten rules. For example in Germany, folding your resume to fit in an envelope is out of the question. Instead you need to use an ...

... You can feel your heat beat in your feet.

After you are done in the sand you then proceed to the Onsen area. You get naked (still no one around), wash all the sand off you then jump in the boiling hot bath. Now, after the long hot bike ride and the sand, then the bath, I was on the verge of passing out. The bath was so hot! I dragged myself out and couldn't walk straight. Very relaxing but very draining as well. Just as I was leaving a couple ...

... I was so inordinately pleased with myself for having completed it.

After hiking to the summit we hiked down back to Aso, in about 3 hours. The geography was totally schizophrenic much like the weather. We started with rocky ledges at Nakedake, then progressed to a volcanically silt-ridden moonlike landscape, then onto farmland replete with log fences and then into a coniferous forest and finally into a suburban center. And somehow, as we descended, the day got ...

... standards! It's weird that a whole town has developed in the bottom of the calder - once the volcano erupts again - they'll all be toast. When we get back down to the town Jim decides on sampling the public baths here - he's really got into this thing - after the sand baths at Ikubusi I decide to give it a miss! Mind you he's cleaner than he's been for the whole of this trip. The following day we take the bus up to the top of Nake Dake ...

... on the big fellow yet. It's on my to-do list, really. He plays for the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix (say that 3 times real fast!) of the Basketball Japan League. Teammates often call him Ming Ming or Sun. When he dunks the ball, it feels as if the entire floor is shaking. He mostly lumbers down the floor, but has a soft shooting touch.