Shirogane Matsumoto

... city, had delicious saki (again) and went to a small private soy sauce maker. It was some of the best soy sauce I have ever tasted – and some of the most expensive too (I bought a small bottle for 780 yen!) The region is also famous for “Hida beef” which is similar in taste to “Kobe beef” but not as well known. We tried to get to a restaurant to taste this beef but the wait was two hours and none of us wanted to wait that long.

There was a great ...

... showing artifacts and artwork in each of the floors. There were also some English signs which told us some facts about the castle. One of the interesting things were the really steep staircases. I think the steepest one was about 70 degrees! Some of the older tourists had some difficulty going up especially since the staircases were really narrow for two way traffic. I can't imagine samurai soldiers in full armor going up these ...

... the bartender spoke amazing english (he spent two years of high school in the u.s) and let us sample a plethora of sake varieties - hot/cold, dry/sweet etc.. until we had all found a favourite. This was followed, as many night henceforth would, by staggering into a local karaoke bar, and proceeding to serenade with and to the locals until around midnight when, to the tune of sweet home alabama, we sauntered home to pack our things for our train the next morning to Hiroshima.

... some money on cab fare. Hopefully I can remember to ride on the left side of the street and the other vehicles remember to do the same. I'm also hoping that the rumors of English-speaking guides are true.

Adjusting my expectations... I had thought I'd zip through the castle and get to Kyoto early. Probably not. Everything takes longer than you think.

Bonjour,

J'en suis a ma 2e journee avec le groupe. En fait, 3e mais lundi, aucune activite n'etait prevue sauf la rencontre de groupe. J'ai encore un tres bon groupe. Un peu plus vieux mais je m'y attendais. Les gens sont gentils mais etant donne que la guide n'organise pas vraiment de lunch ou de souper en groupe, je ne leur ai pas vraiment encore parle. Ma co-loc est vraiment gentille....Elise, Sophie, elle est ...

... cashed. Unfortunately, it was Saturday and all the banks were closed. After staring at a couple of locked doors, we went to the TIC outside the train station and asked them for help. They located a Savings and Loan (or something) that was open that could cash our checks. Of course it was on the other side of town.

Had lunch at a local noodle shop (on the far side of town). It was ok. [Not worth ...

... the citys 1500 dollar a month is a average income by now...
and a lot of people do stupid jobs...in a fuelstation you have a lot of people for giving you the bills, filling your tank, wiping your windscreen...same same for building sites on the road ..always people with flags who say you what you can see yourself...even in supermarketparkingspaces you have guys stopping the pedestrians like we have it for small school children...
ah, and the screming guys outside the ...

... student.....being that we are soooo far behind, this will be - a picture is worth a thousand words...enjoy the pictures. Your students/children are doing great...we have been sleeping Japanese style on the floor for six nights and are anxious to move on to Hiroshima for real beds and bathrooms in our room. We have been taking the Japanese style baths every night!!...
Gosh, hard to believe our trip is almost over!!!

... she owns the whole of japan, this going on the " if i like it it's mine, if i see it's mine" principle.
i love you sweetheart. we both miss you both. i'm getting some stares here, so i need to go. i'll try to get on computer tonite. have to do laundry too.
i'll tell tim about orientation stuff. that was very thoughtful of you.
miss you much, you too kate :)
love you forever, like you for always
mom

Today was a whirlwind. We were in a taxi at 8:45am to get to the train station. We then rode for 2 1/2 hours (In the AWESOME 1st class Green seats) from Tokyo to Matsumoto, which is in the provence of Nagano (Where the Olympics were held in the 80's). We were taken from the train station directly to the Concert Hall. Let me just say that this theater was BEAUTIFUL. It is only 2 years old, and is stunning. 4 teirs of seats. Really big ...