Wednesday - June 5, 2013
Today we started a three day trek outside of Tokyo. The tricky part about this is that we had to leave our hotel rooms. So, we had to repack our suitcases, minus what we'd want to have for the next three days, put our luggage in a single hotel room, and loaded on to two buses. So for all of you going on this trip in the future, it will be really helpful if you have a small bag or backpack that you can live out of for two to three days. You probably don't want to have to lug your entire suitcase around on this little three day getaway.
We were given a seating chart with our seating assignments. The Technos planners did a nice job of pairing each international student with a Technos student who would also be coming on the trip with us. They did, however, forget to assign a seat to Big Mike and me. Luckily the entire back row of one of the buses was open. We claimed it and had plenty of room to stretch out.
Our first stop was Mt. Fuji. You can drive up about 2/3rds of the way up Mt. Fuji and there are 4 other lookouts before you get to the top.
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Here's a map of the road up Mt. Fuji! We're currently at stop number 4 of 5 in this picture. |
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When we got to the highest point that we could drive to, we were told that we had 30 minutes. That seemed like such a short time. It was also cloudy so we couldn't see the top. I skipped the touristy shops and stumbled upon a shrine that was behind the shops. It was my first shrine of the trip so it was a neat experience for me to see it.
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Skip the shops and look for this arch. There's a cool little shrine through the arch and up the path. |
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Not surprising there were some shops up there too and I bought this wild little wooden doll that made noises via bells and a carved ball located inside the doll's mouth. I thought it might come in handy for a few laughs later.
As I left the temple area something amazing happened. The clouds parted and we could see the top of Fuji.
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The top of Fuji!!! |
We tried to get a group picture but it started to cloud over. So we went back to the bus to head to our next stop.
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Ok... this picture is ridiculous but you can see the spacious back of the bus with my red-headed Fuji doll and these rather random fake flowers that were in the back of the bus. |
Our next stop was in, what felt like, a very remote location. Here we were given the opportunity to make and eat our own Soba noodles. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat. I love buckwheat pancakes so I was excited to try these out. Again, the Technos organizers broke us in to groups which allowed us to meet and interact with more people.
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First we rolled the dough. Dayana from HWS was quite good at this. |
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I was not good at rolling Soba dough but this lady was quite impressed with my ability to throw flour on the dough to prevent sticking! Either that or she was amused with my sound-effects. We were having a good time! |
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Next we cut the noodles as shown by Hannah Eby, a student at Illinois Wesleyen. |
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Then this wonderful lady cooked the noodles. This woman was an absolute force. I don't know if she was even four and a half feet tall but wow, she had this wonderful power and authority to her and with her work! While she cooked, we had time for a few amazing poses like this shot below. That's how we do it international soba style.
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And finally we ate our noodles along with some other foods that the staff had prepared for us! I actually wasn't a fan of soba noodles but I liked everything else, especially the wonderful tempura vegetables. |
So now we were well fed. Our next stop was one of Sho's favorite places to take people... Matsumoto Castle.
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I actually took this picture myself... on an I-Phone. That's how beautiful this place is. Even I can get a good shot! |
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Matsumoto Castle was built in 1504 and remained in use until 1868. It is located in the town of Matsumoto which is located in the Nagano region of Japan. Even though the staircases inside are very steep, we had the opportunity to climb to the top. Along the way were displays of various weaponry.
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International Week at Matsumoto! |
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HWS at Matsumoto. |
Now on a rather odd side note, I have to talk about the toliets in Japan. Toliets in Japan are full of buttons. I don't mean buttons simply to flush. There are buttons to shoot water in various places and even buttons to make sound effects while you are in the bathroom. The toliets at Matsumoto had 16 buttons! It looked like some wild video game controller! So I had to take a picture. Hey... experiencing a new culture happens on all different levels. When I asked about the sound effects, I was told from a Japanese woman that traditionally, it was "unwomanly" to be heard going to the bathroom. Hence, sound effects to cover up the noise.
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Is this a toliet or the newest game at Dave and Busters? |
After Matsumoto we headed to camp. That's right...camp! Technos College owns a campground outside of a town called Midori no Muro. Often they do retreats on these grounds and this is where we would be staying for the next two nights. The students stayed in dorms while the faculty stayed in a guest house. Along with its beautiful setting atop a mountain, and its numerous sports facilities and karaoke machines, the campground was home to multiple onsen.
Onsen are hot springs and multiple buildings on the grounds have onsen facilities. In fact, the faculty guesthouse had just been equipped with an onsen for both men and women. After dinner we learned that there is a certain etiquette when it comes to using an onsen. Part of the routine is that you only enter the onsen naked... hence the reason why there were separate onsen for men and women. No one was required to use an onsen during their stay but it was an option that was open to all during our time there.
That night, the guys that were staying in the guesthouse... Me, Mike, Mike, Bob, and Matt from Technos sat outside on a porch and just talked for a couple of hours. It was a perfect night and a great opportunity to unpack the events of the journey so far and get some of Matt's perspectives on things.
That night I also realized that I had a somewhat serious problem. I had been troubled by a tooth for the last couple of days and it was getting really bad. Painkillers weren't working anymore. Here I was in the middle of Japan, three hours from Tokyo, in a campground, probably in need of some emergency dentistry. Yikes...
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