Kyoto

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We were in a smaller village where internet connection wasn't available in our host families, but we are now done with the Rotary trip; we went yesterday to the district conference and had a good time. We even spoke a little on stage, in Japanese in front of 1000 people. Rome, they open the district conference with a Taiko show, I am sorry you weren't there to see. Mike taped it.
We took the bullet train this morning to Kyoto and are now just regular tourists. Kyoto is a different pace but wonderful to discover.
3 more days and we are back home!

El Capitan is shown the correct way to wear his yucata.

We also toured Koriyama's water facility.

In Koriyama, we also toured the "cleaning center" which turned out to be the city's

recycling/garbage facility. They have no land fills and either burn or recycle everything!! Very impressive.

The fine art of making soba noodles

The Mayer Report: An Update (SLW)

Day 24: over three weeks in and Joel is still laughing. Forecast for next week: more sun.

Back for more karaoke

Cecile drew quite a crowd for her traditional Japanese interpretive fan dance while we karaoked (not an actual Scrabble worthy word) the night away.

typical Japanese bike with built in hand protectors

Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival

On Thursday night, my host family (the Takahashi's) took me to the nearby town of Nihonmatsu to celebrate with what seemed like the entire town of 100,000 at their 350 year old lantern festival. It was a night I will never forget. SLW

Don't quit your day jobs.

After being blessed by a Buddhist monk, his daughter attempted to teach Joel, Mike, and Sarah how to dance to the song "Sakura" while Cecile played koto music. Joel and Mike were naturals.

One highlight of our incredible week three in Koriyama was being blessed by a Buddhist monk. It was a truly moving afternoon.

We gave our sixth presentation (in Japanese) this week for the largest rotary club in Koriyama.

Rome this is for you (by Seshiru)

This one was at the entrance of the samourai village in Aizuwakamatsu

Rome, I am sorry but I am not sure we went to the Taiko shop you said. However one day we were driving and suddenly I saw a Taiko shop in Aizu. So I screamed to the driver to stop so that I could take pictures.
I am also putting pictures of other "drums" (pardon me if I am not using the proper word), that we saw in front of shrines and temples and even close to a samourai village.

Fun in the Outback. (Finally one by Joel)

We stayed at a Japanese Ryokan, which is a Japanese style room where you sit on the floor and sleep on a futon and no shower in the room. That’s right, no shower in the room. Everyone bathes in a central bath where you have a shower first and then climb into a hot spring tub for a soak. Of course the genders are separated.

The Ryokan is located in Kitakata at the foot of a dam. The scenery in this area is absolutely beautiful. I took a hike up the face of the dam to be met by a technician that seamed upset that I climbed the face of the dam instead of walking up the paved road adjacent to the mountains. I crossed over the dam to the opposite side of the valley and found a small canyon. While hiking up the canyon, I could hear a scratching and cracking sound. I hiked up the canyon in the direction of the sound and after rounding a small bend came to face a small heard of Japanese goats called Sorrow. Before I could get my camera up, three of the four goats disappeared into the brush. I managed to get a photo of the one remaining, but could still hear what sounded like eight in the brush. I decided to leave with the photos I had and hike down the mountain and across dam to the paved road that the technician pointed out.