During the second week we went on a day-long excursion up the Noto peninsula. We visited a lot of places, including the Chrihama beach driveway, Ganmon rock formation, a hot spring and ryokan, a Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple, and a lacquerware shop. It was a busy day, but very very fun.
Ganmon rock formation from [...]
The Okayamas (Leslie’s parents) had a treat for Leslie, Joy, and I, as they offered to feed us and take us to another festival in nearby Mikawa.
Leslie and I took the train to her house after spending some the afternoon downtown. She lived much farther away than I did, and her town was right near [...]
Today’s special event was having lunch at a nearby restaurant with the teachers of the school. It was a lot of fun, and I got to show my sketchbook to my classmates and teachers.
As for nighttime, how could we resist not returning to Apre as much as possible? Drinking and singing - it’s the Japanese [...]
We went to our regular bar for dinner before heading to Apre that night. It was Leo’s last day so we couldn’t pass up a chance to see the barkeep one more time. It was a really happy and fun time, even though Leo had to leave. We had grown really close to him in [...]
Whenever someone’s last day comes up, they’re required to give a short speech in Japanese. Leo was only able to stay for two weeks, so we had to say goodbye to him early. It was a very sad goodbye, since Leo was a great member of our group, but we managed to have a nice [...]
It was a really rainy day today, but we all wanted to go see Kanazawa’s famous “Ninja-dera,” a temple in the Temple District of Kanazawa. There were tons of temples in this tiny area (thus the name), but Ninja-dera was especially well known for its complexity. It had 6 or 7 floors concealed in a [...]
Since the Rice Planting event was cancelled, we went to a bowling alley and arcade to make up for the missing event.
Bowling in Japan is a lot like bowling in America except for one key difference: the Japanese ignore every rule that is solemnly respected in the U.S. For instance, in Japan the foul line [...]