No time for jet lag
Trip Start
May 16, 2006
1
4
10
Trip End
Aug 26, 2006
Tome,
Japan
Friday, July 21, 2006
Today we visited a lot of historical places in Tome. We went to an old elementary school that Seikoh (our interpreter and trip organizer) attended and had a tradition school lunch. Then, we attended a tea ceremony held at a samurai house. The tea was surprisingly good (I'm not a tea drinker) despite its bitterness. I liked the pastries a lot. I also tried dango, which are dumplings on a stick covered in soy sauce. Those were really good too. Afterwards we visited an old police station-turned-museum.
We also went to Fumie's father's tatami shop. They had a wishing tree on which I placed a very lengthy but sincere wish. I encouraged Eric to talk to Fumie's sister, who is 14 but looks closer to my age. She seemed very shy, but that's how all the Japanese girls seem relative to us. On our way to a gym, I talked to Tomomi, who is Austin's host sister. She's my age, and she went to Southlake a couple years ago. Eric talked to Yuki, who is Kayla's host sister; he held his umbrella for her (how sweet!). At the gym, some of the girls were wanted to talk to the guys from an athletic club, but they were busy running laps. Nevertheless, Marie and Skye said hello and tried to ask them questions as they passed by. My only contribution was yelling "Gambatte!" which means "Try your best!" Marie said that it seemed they liked that a lot.
01 - re-creation
^_^After our break at the gym, we went to kendo practice. We saw some students practice and learned a couple moves from the region's #1 and #2 players. Kendo is much harder than I expected. I need more strength and awareness. Everyone complained about getting hit and how it hurt despite the wrist/hand guard. While it did hurt when I got hit on my wrist bone, it was like the time I filmed a kung-fu movie with my friend Chris (in which he had to knock a dagger out of my hand). The instructors did a demonstration with real katanas. It was so intense that you could literally hear a pin drop in the silence. The #1 player (who was going up against his teacher) got hit on the head, and he kept doing despite the blood dripping down his face! :o
Then we visited a manga museum honoring Ishinomori Shotaro who is from Tome. He created Kamen Rider, Kikaider, Cyborg 009, and Gilgamesh. Consider I grew up watching the live-action versions of the former two and have seen the anime form of the latter two, I was excited! This was the man who helped usher in Power Rangers. :D I must've seemed really dorky, but I was extremely stoked to see original drawings by Ishinomori and other manga artists (like Monkey Punch, who created Lupin the 3rd). The museum also had an exhibit on Anpanman, which is a popular children's series.
Finally we went to a supermarket, where I bought some food for myself and mom. I also got Cutie, which is a fashion magazine, and it came with free flipflops. Everyone else was taking pictures in the purikura (a photo booth that allows you to draw on your pictures). I'll do that next time. 'Til then, oyasumi nasai!
