Hotel Matsuya Sukumo

... and then suddenly an ancient shrine tucked in the midst of it all, a torii gate surrounded by red maples, a tiny landscaped garden beside an entrance, the autumn colors soaring up the mountains, and my throat catches.

In Ozu the first rain of the journey gave a grey cast to the town, but I walked up to the castle which has been reconstructed using traditional methods rather than the ferro cement currently in vogue, and then across the ...

This charming village may be a highlight of the trip -　a touch of `old Japan` so elusive in the cities. Found another old ryokan where no one spoke English, but managed to get a room, and head straight to the onsen.

Decided to spend a second night -- in part to rest from ...

... station) that are a must-see for Usuki visitors. Since I had seen the Buddahs before, and I had been to Usuki town at night for the bamboo light festival last November, this time I went to the town during the day. The walking tour on the English map was the perfect way to spend a few hours in Usuki, and could easily be combined with a biking trek, or a bus trip to the stone Buddahs. (See pictures for bus information, taxi services etc. on visiting stone buddahs. The stone ...

... a year and see this old wooden bridge so often, but I am still fascinated with it.

The golden lights define the figurative art of wooden structure in the evening. I realize how elaborate the structure of the bridge is, and feel that there could be no other bridges like this.

... shabu, etc! We went to the grocery store a few times and I'm really looking forward to getting that box!

We also made sure to visit the onsen (hot spring) a few times. There's one on island that ************e goes to anymore, since there's a newer facility. It's great b/c there's no one there and I can fully relax.

Family/friends, food and onsens are what I miss most about Japan...

...W

... Kabuki (human actors telling stories and dancing) and Bunraku (elaborate puppets telling stories and dancing). Both are exotic and interesting to Westerners, but incredibly boring and normal for the Japanese people. The puppets are fascinating - they move incredibly well and realistically. They have a TV show on sometimes put out in Tokyo where they tell stories of old samurais and famous bits of history. I was impressed. Some of their mouths move, they ...

... couple that Will knew. Cam and his girlfriend (I suck at names now). Anyways, we chatted with them and went on our way. Unfortunately, it was raining a lot, so there probably weren't as many people there. Our friend who drove us told us that Sunday was the most boring day of the festival, and that Saturday and Monday were far more exciting. He said something about grannies dancing down the street. Wandering around the food stands ...

... nice, and the nice woman who recommended the Chamomile tea brought me another cup without me asking. I don't mind, it's just I'm not sure I can keep drinking all this tea. I'm starting to feel kind of hot actually. I'm considering taking a nap. I have another 2 hrs and 20 minutes before we're due in Taipei. Maybe a quick nap and then the dinner will be good to finish this slew of flights.

... there was a wonderful little complex that was a giftshop, restaurant and bathhouse all in one. So while we waited for the restaurant to open we used the baths, and they had a variety. There were the usual hot water baths, and then freezing cold water baths and salt baths too. We came out refreshed and sat right down to dinner and the food was delicious. The best was when we found out that the baths were free because we had dinner. We were definitely happy that night as we ...

... was very neat, a sleepy city and yet a proud city. They had their own kind of giant dragons that they made and danced with during their New Years festival that were very cool. You could see the wooden heads of various sizes in just about every shop. Uwajima is also fairly famous for their bullfighting. Yeah, that`s right, bullfighting. They have a bullfight arena right in the center of the city and the fights ...