Taking a Tour

Nirayama Furnace

Ai and I in front of Egawa's statue

Autumn in Izunokuni

The School Room inside the Egawa's Residence

3 in 1 tree

Different looks for different seasons for the 3 in 1 tree

Okonomiyaki joint

So about two weeks ago, some of my friends and myself were invited to partake in a free tour of some historical sites in the city of Izunokuni. So naturally, we went. It was interesting to learn a bit about Japanese history and culture all in one go. We learned a lot about the governor Egawa... who is credited for the building of many large cannons for coastal defense (at Nirayama Furnace) and introducing bread to Japan (it was literally like a rock, but one probably couldn't be too picky back then I guess). We visited his residence and saw the school room where they say modern Japan began. Egawa was very interested in teaching all the Japanese western culture, so that was the focus of this school. This was of course all during the 1830s or late Edo period. Anyway, there was lots to see and we all had a good time. We were all particularly amazed by this one tree within the residence, which was in fact three different trees (maple, oak, and cherry) all growing together...so it looked like one tree, until you saw the branches had different types of leaves growing out of them. After the tour was finished, we returned to Numazu and I went to lunch with Ai. We had Okonomiyaki (a vegetable and meat pancake), which was really, really good. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to have that again sometime soon. That's it for now, but don't you feel smarter now after having read all this history :)

Bazaars, festivals, Halloween- oh, my!

こわいいね? Happy Halloween!

I got a haircut :)

The Festival in Fujinomiya

Fujinomiya is famous for their yakisoba

Yeah for Yakisoba!!

One of the Dashi (floats) from the festivalA bunch of the people actually help to pull it around town

This fall has been pretty fun and full of events. Last weekend I went to a bazaar for a nearby school that some of my students attend. Then of course this week was Halloween...which of course isn't really celebrated here in Japan, but I heard of a party and decided to attend with one of my Japanese friends. It was rather crowded though, so making the most of the night we left and went to karaoke instead. Halloween was never so fun. This weekend I had two adventures: 1. I finally went to get my haircut...and I went alone (scary thought with such a language barrier there) and 2. I went to the Fujinomiya festival. The haircut was actually a pleasant experience (they do an extremely good job at washing your hair here) and I'm looking forward to my next time going. The festival was highly enjoyable to see all the sites. There are dashi (or giant wood carved pillar-like floats that are pulled around by a bunch of people) for each area of the city...I saw at least 5 different ones during my time there. It was really cool to see these because while the dashi are being pulled there are people sitting inside (or literally hanging off of) them, playing drums and other instruments all the while. Anyway, it has been an enjoyable autumn so far and I know that winter is well on its way...it is just starting to get pretty cold here. Therefore, かぜなどひかないようにきおつけてね。(Try not to catch a cold, okay?)