Shojuen Minakami-machi

Awesome 3 days summer camp in Gunma with Kokusai High School. We spend our time talking, walking, exploring and enjoying the great hotel. The scenery was awesome, the food was delicious and the students were "genki" and adorable. Honestly one of the best times I've had in Japan so far.

Exciting to see this fall. You can approach very up close to the fall. Of course, you have to be very careful because the rocks are very slippy. Like Niagara fall, huge amount of water is falling which create dynamic sound and mist into the air. The fall is located on rocky valley. So, you could also enjoy walking and viewing great rocks around the fall.

... of Kokeshi, Mr. Usaburo has been challenging new style of Kokeshi. Usaburo Kokeshies are the great harmony of traditional and modern style of Kokeshi which produced by the greatest designers. http://www.mustlovejapan.com/area/gunma /usaburo_kokeshi/

... Anyways, would have been nice, but **** it I saw The Cure. Meandered back to the Green Stage where The Cure were playing later and arrived while The Muse were playing. Now throughout the whole day the place looked pretty ****ing empty, apart from a fair bit in front of the Green Stage where peoplewere standing. And behind that where people were relaxed, sitting on the grass listening to the music. When I arrived and saw that the crowd for The ...

... tie-dyed napkins that we returned later to get them. At first I thought the guy had cheated himself, but how could I communicate this without offending him. I finally realized that all 4 napkins were 300yen. We took the London double decker bus to the Art Museum. They had an exhibit of Japanese decorative arts from the art deco era. A few of the items were made in Japan, but most were French: René Lalique, Emil Galle, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and others. Their prize piece was an ...

... through the chilly winter by coming down the mountain to bathe in the natural onsens (hot springs). What a sight to see! They were so tame, but Darcy and I tried to keep our distance. They are still wild monkeys after all. Shara wanted to take a baby monkey home with her.

... like contraption! It was painful and comical at the same time. I went to the medical clinic in the town and got some x-rays. It appears to be okay. No dislocations, no broken bones or fractures. It is not nearly as bad as when I fell last time. I will heal. I am in a lot of pain and find it hard to walk, but I have faith that I will be back to normal soon. Cross your fingers. (Recent Update: I went to a doctor in Toyama because ...

... and new, but the lobby and dressing rooms are so well built and full of light. We had an almost full rehearsal, which helped ease our nerves before an audience arrived. After that I napped for an hour or so. Then we had dinner... another bento box. This time the main dish was a ground beef patty with mushrooms! Deliciouso... But, we weren't supposed to eat them. They had ordered us these amazing western style chicken dinners, that were ...

... tko da sploh nisem mogla verjet, da mesto, ki je vecje kot LJ - ima 400.000 prebivalcev zgleda k da nihce v njem ne zivi. Je pa lustn, zelo alpsko in leseno. Spala sem v hisi, ki je bila del templja in dobila pravo japonsko sobo, z preprogami iz nevemktere trave po tleh in posteljo - no matress na tleh. Hisa je stara vec sto let, tko da ti ne pustijo nest ruzaka v sobo. Sam kul. Papirnate stene in tko. Da sem prsla v Nagano sem mogla vzet hitri vlak - shinkansen ...

... to the Tokyo Art Festa 2005, its an ar festival with artists from all over the world and within Japan. It was amazing, I`ll show you all my pictures cuz its too hard to explain what we saw. And it looks like we`ll be seeing you all soon enough... Marianne