Friday madness

Today was the end of another fun filled weekend. I visited many places and saw many people. I got to experience more of Japanese unique culture and learn the language. On Friday we, Satomi, Oo-san, a student from China, and her tutor, went to Takachiho to sight see around the area. Friday was a holiday for the Japanese labor thanksgiving, this made every where we went quite crowded but we made it through some how. (Below, a common traffic jam in the place we were, looks dangerous huh) Takachiho was about eight hours away by car so we started the adventure quite early, at seven in the morning. It was almost like a mini road trip. There were conbinis, Japanese coveniant stores, about every ten or fifteen minutes while we were on the road. We visited the Takachiho gorge, but we weren't able to ride in the boats because there were so many people. It seemed rather dangerous at times with a very thin road and tons of cars and people, but it was very beautiful and lots of fun :)After visiting the gorge we went to watch some Kagura, traditional Japanese song and dance, at one of the many shrines around the area. It was ... very interesting. Suposidly this is a different type of Kagura than what is in other parts of Japan. It was quite comical, and people seemed to understand what was going on. Two of the actors, if that is what they are called, were carried around on large bundles of branches which I believe were a suppose to represent hourses. They asked people in the audiance to help take them around out side and then carried them inside the shrine. It was very entertaining. Once we finished the kagura, Satomi took me to an Onsen, Japanese hotsprings. It was my first time so I was unsure of what to do, but it was fun and very relaxing. After that we started the long journey back to Miyazaki city.

While I was away I asked my friend on the same floor as me to baby sit Shiva-chan and make sure he got fed so he was well taken care of while I was away for many many hours. He is still very energetic as always, as is any kitten. I miss Thanksgiving in the states, but I am thinking of cooking some Thanksgiving foods for my friends in Japan. I think they would find it very interesting.