Sorry for the short hiatus; we didn't have internet once we left Kyoto until we got back to Tokyo today. I'll break it down into the past four days (including today):
5/30: Hiroshima
We woke up around 8 in the morning to get ready to go catch the shinkansen to Hiroshima. Sayumi's mom made us a delicious breakfast, again, and then her mom and dad drove us to the local train station. On the way they stopped to make a delivery of something to some sort of place, and they had us get out of the car for a few minutes to look inside the building because apparently, it was really old, dating back to the Edo period. It was pretty awesome to get to see something with that much history so close up. After a little while of admiring the structure, which looked really well-kept despite its age, we got back in the van and went to the station. I was sad to say good-bye to Sayumi's mom and dad; they were really kind people, and I hope I get to visit them again someday.
Thus ensued a long train ride to Hiroshima. We had to take street cars from the station once we got to Hiroshima to our hotel, which was really, really nice. Since Will only booked it for two people to save an extra 90 bucks (because they charge you that much extra for the same room if more people are staying in it, for some weird reason), we went in different groups. Thinking back on it now we seem kind of silly, but hey, it was all safety measures taken to save the collective whole $90. Anyway, first Sayumi and Will went in, Sayumi taking my luggage since she only had an overnight bag, and Andrew and I waited in a park caddy-corner. Then they came back and took in Andrew, and I waited a few minutes and went separately. I admired the room for a little, then the four of us went out and got okonomiyaki for lunch. It's hard to explain what exactly okonomiyaki is; it's kind of like a pancake with cabbage and other stuff in the middle. Ours was Hiroshima style, so we had soba and I'm not sure what else in it. But it was delicious and super filling. I couldn't finish all of mine, so Sayumi and Andrew helped me.
After lunch we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum. It was a really powerful, emotional experience for me; the Memorial is basically where ground zero was, so it was really bizarre to think that where we were walking was where the first ever nuclear bomb went off. I can't even begin to fathom the kind of pain that those affected by the bombs experienced.
We walked around the museum, which showed some pretty graphic images (including wax figures of school children with their skin melting off because of the intense heat), and then went out and walked towards the Atom Dome and the Children's Peace Memorial, which was erected in Sadako Sasaki's honor--you know, the young girl who developed leukemia and folded 1000 paper cranes in hopes of having her wish of becoming better granted.
Anyway, we rested outside by the dome for a little, exchanged pictures with another traveler (we took his picture in front of the Dome and he in turn took ours), and then went and got soft serve. Nothing special, you might think, but soft serve in Japan is a little different. You can get it wherever there's a little ice cream cone sitting outside of a store; and when you order it, they get out a little container from the freezer and put it in a machine that squeezes and rotates the ice cream out onto a cone. It's pretty cool. I got vanilla chocolate swirl; yummy!
We walked around and explored some for a few hours, then went back to the hotel to ask where a good liquor store was. They were all closed by that time (8ish), so we went to a convenience store and got snacks for dinner and some alcohol. I got a can of plum wine, with two plums in it, and a can of this drink called Nectar, which is something like sparkling peach soda with alcohol in it. Then we went back to the hotel to eat and shower, and then went to bed.
5/31: Yudanaka
We woke up early to catch the shinkansen to Nagano/Yudanaka. We spent pretty much all day on trains, leaving around 9 in the morning and not arriving in Yudanaka until around 3.
Before we left, we got breakfast at a bakery called Sun Pieno. I got a green tea bun and a piece of toast with an egg on it. They were both really, really yummy. It was sad having to say good-bye to Sayumi at the station (she had to go back to Kyoto); I hope I get to see her again soon! She's going to the States for the 4th of July, so I hope she has fun!
Anyway, once we finally got into Yudanaka, we were pretty tired and hungry. We had stopped a little in Nagano and gotten some ice cream out of a vending machine for a snack, but that was wearing off when we got to the inn. We got a late lunch/early dinner at a local soba place; when we paid, they gave us each a little plaque with the name of the restaurant on it, the date, and a painting as a little souvenir.
Then we walked around a little bit, and went to a Lawson's on the corner by the station (a convenience store chain) for some more drinks. I got some sort of apricot honey spirit, which is yummy and sweet and will probably last me for a few more days.
Yudanaka is a pretty small town, but I really liked it. Everyone was really friendly; when we first got off the train, we must've looked lost because two girls turned around and helped us find where our ryoukan (inn) was. It was all the freaking way up a huge hill (one of the huge hills in this part, since we were way into the mountains), and they were heading down, but walked with us all the way up until we got to our destination.
Anyway, once we got back to our room from Lawson's, we hung out in the boys' room (we had separate rooms), ate and drank. I did my Kingdom Hearts puzzle that I'd bought in a toy store in Hiroshima, and then went downstairs for a shower/bath. There are a ton of hot springs in Yudanaka, and our ryoukan had some in the bath houses. I showered and tried to sit in the bath for a little, but it was super, super hot and I could only stand it for a few moments before I had to get out.
I dried my hair and went back upstairs for bed; but I couldn't sleep so I watched the first half of The Neverending Story before finally falling asleep.
6/1: Yudanaka, day 2
We woke up around 8, and I rearranged my suitcase a little before we got called downstairs for breakfast at 8:30. It was really good (though nothing compared to what Sayumi's mom made us, of course! <3) and filling, as always. After breakfast, the owner of the inn drove the three of us to the Monkey Park, where a ton of monkeys (Japanese macaques I think they are) hang out around the hot springs up there. He dropped us off at the entrance and we walked about a mile or so in, then chilled with the monkeys for a while before heading back down. On the way we passed a gift shop and stopped inside for a look; Will bought some dried apples with honey which were really tasty.
In this part of Yudanaka, there are 9 big hot springs that are famous, so the tourist-y thing to do is to buy a special towel and go around to the different hot springs and stamp the towel with the stamps they left outside.
We did that, which took us a while to figure out because first we couldn't find where to find the towel, then we gave up on that and tried to find the nearest hot spring on our map, but the map we had was kind of weird, so we wandered for a while before finally asking someone. She gave us a new, better marked map and showed us where we bought the towels, and after that it was pretty much smooth sailing.
Once we'd collected all 9 sets of stamps, plus an extra one for a hot spring that wasn't one of the 9 but still an attraction, we had lunch at another local noodle place. It was really adorble, decorated with tons of cool Disney stuff, and the lady was super nice and accomodating. We all had udon, and when we were done she gave us some manju, which are little pastries with filling. These had anko (red bean) paste in them; we ate them later once we'd walked back to our inn for a snack.
At this point there wasn't much to do but hang out and relax until about 6, when the owner drove us out again, this time to a hot spring at the top of one of the nearby mountains--Rotenburo I'm pretty sure it's called. Andrew tried to do some laundry, but the washer broke so we had to ring it all out and hang it up in hopes it would dry by morning. The hot springs open up onto a really majestic view of Yudanaka; we stayed there for about half an hour before calling him to come get us again.
Once we got back, we walked down to Lawsons again for some dinner. Andrew and Will were making fun of me because I always get onigiri and never seem to try anything new, so to show them I bought a soba sandwich, which was (of course) delectable. I gave Andrew my hair dryer to use on his clothes since they weren't drying very fast, and some space bags for the morning in case they hadn't dried by then either.
We had a little more to drink, but not very much, and then went to bed. I finished The Neverending Story, which is a silly movie with a weak plot that doesn't make much sense, and a main character who's hardly in it at all except for when he's reading. I think the one that everyone likes is the second one, when he's more involved.
6/2: Back to Tokyo
We had another long day of trains to get back from Yudanaka to Tokyo. We caught the local limited express back to Nagano, then got some breakfast in Nagano before catching the shinkansen to Tokyo Station (I, of course, had umeboshi onigiri because at this point I hadn't had one for two days and I was craving it, damnit). From Tokyo Station we caught the Yamanote to Akihabara, and from there it was the local Tsukuba Express to Asakusa. We checked into our hostel (the same one as when we stayed in Tokyo before) a little after 1, then went out for lunch in search of a kaitenzushi--where they make the sushi and put it out on the conveyer belt. Alas, we couldn't find it, so we settled for a Japanese fast food joint and had curry.
After that we went back to K's to drop off/get some stuff, then headed out to explore Ginza and go back to Shibuya. Will did a little more shopping, purchasing a belt and a wallet chain; I got a book of Japanese short stories to translate for my thesis and a new bag, and I also got a crepe for a snack before we headed out to Roppongi to see Maki again. We were going to meet her at a little bar Andrew had found online, but it was so small and people were smoking so I went outside, and we just ended up walking and meeting her by a SoftBank store. She led us to an izakaya, which is something you're just going to have to look up an explanation for if you're curious because I don't know what to even try to compare it to, and we drank and had some snacks and visited for a little. Then we caught the trains back to Asakusa and came back to our room, and here I am blogging my little exhausted brain out while trying to upload photos as quick as I can to Shutterfly.
Tomorrow we're going to meet up with Beecken-sensei and her little group and head up to Yamagata for a welcome party the university students are holding for us. I'm excited to finally meet some more people more in our age group.
It feels like our trip is almost over when really it's barely just started. I can't believe we still have roughly eight more weeks here. I know it'll go just as quickly as the past week has gone, which makes me sad but happy in a way since I know I'll be home soon. I'm not super homesick, but I am still feeling a little out of place and isolated. I think I'm just travel-worn, 'cause we've gone to a lot of places in the last few days; I'm glad that after tomorrow we'll be somewhere steady for a good two months, because I'll need that long to recover from such an intense first week. For someone who wants to travel for a living it's a pretty pathetic start though; I'm going to need to grow some thicker skin or something if I ever hope to be able to do what I want to do.
Pictures are taking forever, so links to those will have to come later.
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