I tried to sleep in, but my body always says no. Today started as a lazy day with lots of cleaning catch up. Went to the bakery but they didn’t have my bread. I could probably special order it too if I only knew Japanese. I worked a bit on scanlation stuff and watched tv. I procrastinated on my grocery shopping till tomorrow. I took the train to Takasaki again for a second Halloween party at Pitch. This one was for the Gunma International Club so it’s a mix of foreigners and Japanese. I had invited a friend Y, from Japanese lessons, and was really excited to see her there. We got a drink and some food there as well: salad, fries, pizza. I got to talk to a lot of new people and make some new friends! Y offered to give me a ride back to Tomioka so I didn’t have to worry about the last train either. We left shortly before midnight so I finally got to bed around 1:30 am. The latest I’ve stayed up in a while.

I wore my Hermione costume to school today amidst many squees and cutes. I think it was the combo of the costume and my contacts. I bought a ton of candy at Costco and handed it out to the students in the halls and classrooms between classes if they said trick or treat. So many happy girls. A bunch even gave me candy in return, as did Ichigo-sensei. I baked some pumpkin spice cookies for the staffroom as well. Took four hours on Wednesday with my tiny little toaster oven because I could only bake six cookies at a time.

Then I left early at 1 pm to get a ride to another school in Annaka. No time for lunch as I taught all four morning classes so I ate in his car. I had known it was a private school from the name, but I learned on the ride there that it was a religious school too, with bible recitation and its own chapel. I was judging their speech contest in my costume. I got a lot of stares as I passed through the building to the chapel. Their ALT wasn’t wearing a costume. We judged in the chapel which was really big enough to be a church. Very impressive school building with junior high school and high school combined. After the judging, I had planned to stay in Annaka to meet up with a friend and visit his cat, but it was short so I ended up hanging with the contestants. We gave them tips on how to improve their speeches. They each had written an essay a little over two pages and had it memorized. We talked in a very new building that made me think of my college. So fancy. It was fun chatting with them.



Afterward, I slowly walked and took pictures on my way to S’s apartment. While waiting outside, a young kid came up and started talking away to me in Japanese. We literally talked for 10 minutes without understanding each other, haha. S, another ALT, and I caught the bus to the station to meet up with another ALT and to head to Takasaki for the GAJET (Gunma Association of JETs) Halloween party at Gru. Definitely got a lot of stares! The party was so much fun! All you can drink and eat. There were fries, sandwiches, pizza, and s’mores! I even found out that fuzzy navels exist over here too, so now I know what I can drink! So much good music and dancing. I caught the train back home and got back around 11.

All the Gunma ALTs had a day long conference in Isesaki today. I caught two trains and walked about 30 minutes from the station to the education building. The walk was quite pretty, along the river and the sun was shining. The conference itself was rather meh. Not a lot of new information, but some good speakers at least. It was cool to see a lot of the people I knew again and many new people too! M offered me a ride back since she passes through Tomioka anyway.

We decided to get dinner with a bunch of others at a conveyor belt sushi place. You placed your orders on a tablet, and they were delivered by a car on the belt to your table. Or you could just grab whatever you wanted from the belt. Almost everything was 100 yen unless you ordered something special.

We didn’t have school this past Tuesday, but in exchange we had school yesterday for another open house for the junior high schoolers. And today, Sunday, I also worked. I was a judge at the Rising Cup debate contest in Isesaki. I judged three out of five rounds and was already exhausted. All the active listening takes it out of you. Our girls did their best and I was quite proud. The winning team was really amazing. They had one girl who could really attack the other side with her questions.

We were there all day. My teacher dropped me off at Takasaki station and I grabbed some conbini dinner while waiting for my train. So tired. And school is tomorrow. Wednesday is Gunma Day so at least there’s no classes. Most teachers will take nenkyuu (PTO), but I don’t want to waste it.

I had originally planned to go to Yamanashi this weekend to visit a friend and see a festival, but there was a mix up with dates at my school. I had said I would go on a day trip to Tokyo with the old lady school union (past students). They had already paid for me and reserved things so I had to get a refund for my tickets. On Wednesday I went to Costco, so we were able to stop in Takasaki on the way back to refund them at the station. It was my first time at Costco. Quite impressive! I spent so much money, but was very happy to even get an orange pumpkin! Got a sausage with relish and sauerkraut afterward too, yum yum. I was driven there by A who also had a Costco card.

My morning began with lots of bowing and good mornings and comments about my height. We had two large buses that were leaving at 7:30 am. On the bus, we were given a bottle of green tea and two mandarins. Kyocho-sensei, Kyoto-sensei, two other teachers, and Ichigo-sensei accompanied me. It took a little over two hours to get to our first stop, TenQ, a space museum in Tokyo Dome City. It was right next to Tokyo Dome (baseball stadium) in an entertainment complex. The drive was quite interesting. The hostess on the bus was a hilarious announcer and served tea and coffee, and performed songs. The whole bus had a self introduction time, and sang old school songs together. We stopped once at a rest area and Ichigo-sensei bought some apple tart. She gave me some too! It was very yummy, and made me strongly miss my papa’s apple pie.

Driving around in Tokyo was much different than what I was expecting. The streets were relatively clear and easy to maneuver around in. Completely the opposite of Paris or NYC! So many traffic jams there. I actually feel like I could drive in Tokyo. While on the bus, we passed the Imperial Palace (so many tourists!), the governor’s house, and the British Embassy.

Outside of TenQ we took a group photo. It was drizzling at this time, but luckily the rain stopped! The first part of the museum was two videos. We entered a room that had 3D walls with squares jutting out of the wall. It was a really cool presentation with light effects. Covered from the beginning of time through Egypt, ancient Asia, Galileo, and the astronomical clock in Prague! The second video was my favorite. Even made me cry, the weepy sap I am. We stood around a large circular railing overlooking a huge screen on the floor. The video was called “another point of view” and it took you from the footprints on the moon further and further out into the universe. Absolutely stunning to see throughout the galaxies and different space phenomenon. Reminded me a lot of all the Star Trek I’ve been binge watching. Space is amazing. The rest of the museum had an exhibit about some shuttle explorations on Titan and Mars, very current information, a section with games for kids, and a photo spot!

Afterward, we headed to Shinagawa Prince Hotel for a spectacular lunch buffet. At first we were two chairs short for our reservation, but apparently two random ladies sat down amongst our group so we had to kick them out for Ichigo-sensei’s and my seat. There was so much food! The desserts looked spectacular so I knew I had to save a lot of room. I started with the salad bar and Nepalese food section. Grabbed some stuff from the Japanese section including crab legs! This was my first time trying crab legs. They were very mild and much easier to break apart than lobster. I barely needed the fancy scissors they provided. There even were drink stations where you could get smoothies! You only had to pay extra for alcohol. My next plate was in another line that offered bread (croissants, baguette, tomato, nut, and honey breads), roast beef, spaghetti (why??), some rice pilaf, beef stew, and so much more. Finally I got two plate fulls of dessert, 11 portions of: chocolate cake, pistachio cake, chestnut cake, pumpkin pudding, raspberry mousse, pear cake, orange mascarpone, tiramisu, and glazed sweet potato. The raspberry mousse was heavenly and so was the pumpkin pudding which actually tasted like pumpkin instead of spices. I felt like I was going to explode, but it was so worth it. I think I really impressed Ichigo-sensei, haha.

Next stop was a traditional Japanese garden, Rikugien Gardens. Had we come a little bit later, the fall colors would have been stunning. But I still enjoyed our digestive walk. Very peaceful for being in the middle of the city. Then we were off to the Harajuku for old people, the part of Tokyo that had shops catering to the older generation with canes and rolling grocery bags, Sugamo. In the old days, women would wear red shawls for good luck with their kimonos, but now this district is known for selling red underwear for good luck instead. I got to wash the Togenuki Jizo statue. By pouring water on certain parts, it can relieve ailments or improve things. For example, the head will make you smarter. The same goes for incense so we waved some incense over ourselves. I couldn’t even look at food by this point, but some of the teachers bought famous mochi items. There were selling apples at a stall and the lady said they were Jonagolds, my favorite! I was ready to buy some, but one of my teachers had just bought ten and gave me half. So kind! I was trying to take less, but he insisted. (I tried one that evening and was indeed heavenly.)

On the way back, we ran into K’s school, the all boys school, at a rest stop. They had had a school trip. Ichigo-sensei needed to buy omiyage for her daughter - Tokyo Banana, which is a custard filled, banana shaped pastry. The bus trip home had more singing at the end. When we arrived back at the school, there was a lot more bowing and good jobs and thank yous.

How to get to Oze from Gunma

Catching bus from Numata

I did a lot of research of how to get to Oze National Park before my trip. It was rather spontaneous (less than a week before, I decided to go). Finding up to date English information was really difficult so I figured I’d summarize it here for others. This is how to get to Oze from Gunma or rather, Numata Station via public transport. Buses run from May 22nd to Oct 25th, 2015 (this year).

Getting there:
Numata Station -----> Tokura (bus) {2050 yen, 80 minutes}
[operated by Kan-Etsu]

Hatomachitoge ticket window

I found it easiest to use a site like Navitime to figure out when the bus was leaving. The exact schedule from the Kan-Etsu website was a huge pdf file with lots of tiny kanji. The bus picks you up from #1 outside the station. Lazuli Voyage has the best info in English. The first bus leaves at 7:20 am for Oze Oshimizu and stops at Tokura at 8:43 am and arrives at Oshimizu at 8:55 am {2250 yen}. Take a numbered bus ticket when you enter. At your stop, you can see how much you’ll have to pay by looking at your number on the electronic board on the front of your bus. Show the driver your number and money when getting off and put it all in a slot that faces upwards. Coins and bills.

Tokura ------> Hatomachitoge Pass (bus) {930 yen, 20 minutes}
[departs at 4:40, 6:30, 7:50, 8:55, 9:40, 10:20, 11:10 am]
My shuttle bus left at 7:40 am however to pick up more passengers on route. There are at least three different parking areas. Personally, you’ll have no problem getting up or back to Tokura. The shared taxi buses ran very often. I just bought a ticket at the window by saying my destination. If you take the bus from Numata station, it’ll drop you right at the perfect spot.

You can go directly from Numata to Oshimizu (another entrance) which I was considering. However, the last bus from Oshimizu leaves at 3:50 pm so you don’t have a lot of time to hike during a day trip. The last bus from Hatomachitoge was at 7:55 pm.

Return:
If you go from Oshimizu, you can go directly back to Numata Station (last bus: 3:50 pm, 2250 yen, 2 hours). What I did however:

Hatomachitoge ------> Tokura
[Run frequently, 930 yen, 20 minutes]
Took a shared taxi bus that left almost immediately after I boarded at around 2:15 pm because it was full. Bought a ticket from a window and followed people. The guy at the window said I had to ride back to Tokura before catching a bus to Numata so I did (had translation help here). The driver asked where to drop people off. Many people got off at the main parking lot which was a short walk over a bridge away from the bus stop so I think if you said Kan-Etsu bus or nothing at all, you’d be fine (my translator helped here again).

Tokura -----> Numata
[Last departures: 4:30, 6:30, 7:55 pm] (2250 yen, 80 minutes - took us 2 hours with traffic)
I caught the 3:12 pm bus. I asked at the ticket window and they told me the bus leaves from the spot marked #1. Some of the buses travel further than others (to Gokan and Jomo-kogen Station). My numbered ticket said 2 when I on and I got off at Numata Eki.

Easy enough, eh?

Time to talk about one of the most amazing days I have experience in my life. Nature has always been a passion of mine. I love to spend time outdoors and go hiking even though I’m not in great shape. I love to appreciate the beauty of the natural world around us.
We left J’s house at about 7:20 am in the freezing morning to drive over to Tokura where the shuttle buses run to Hatomachitoge, the park entrance. J told me that they will get snow soon up here. The morning was certainly brisk enough. Sometimes this road is not accessible for private drivers, thus the shuttle. On the way there I got to experience my first melody road! Gunma has a couple stretches of road that have striations that make a song when you drive over them. It was quite cool. We got there with perfect timing although we weren’t sure at first if we were in the right spot. J helped me get ticket at the counter and I boarded the small bus with a few others. We then drove to the next parking lot, pick up area, and filled up the rest. At 7:50 am, we were on our way up the tiny, curvy mountain road. It was a bit insane, but a gorgeous drive. Literally, pulling over, reversing and almost scraping past other buses and taxis.

I was off on my hike shortly after 8 am. K had given me her Oze National Park map in English which had some estimated hiking times. I had originally planned to go from Oshimizu to Hatomachitoge, passing by the pond and the marsh, the two most famous areas, but due my lucky ride, I switched up my plans. I considered hiking it in the other direction, but the estimated times wouldn’t have me arriving in Oshimizu before the last bus left. So spontaneous new plan: to hike a loop back to Hatomachitoge.

The trail was pretty slippery and damp on the boardwalks. I slipped a couple of times. An ambulance actually pulled up in the parking lot while I was there and during my hike a rescue staff person was carrying an older woman on his back. A river ran by part of the trail and you could catch glimpses of a mountain. The colors were just absolutely stunning. I made it out of the woods to the first rest area where they had a campsite, lodges, and food. The boardwalks through the Ozegahara Marsh began here, one of the most iconic parts. Breathtaking. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. There were certainly a lot of people around. I even saw a guy with packages strapped on his back really high. He was delivering them further into the park to some of the other lodges and food areas (even the ones on the mountain summits). Crazy!

I split off from the marshland back to a mountain to take the trail back. I didn’t read the map well enough so I’d underestimated what I’d gotten myself into: climbing up a mountain pass, summiting, and heading back down. It went up about 500m in under a kilometer. It was quite difficult, but looked even worse for the people heading down towards the marsh! There were much less people on this trail so it was quite peacefully especially since many Japanese carry bells on their hiking packs to avoid the bears. I think? They also carry an insane amount of stuff with them for day hikes. People whipped out their bento boxes with camping burners, made tea, coffee, cooked dumplings. It was crazy. Everyone here also really dresses the part of a hiker. All fully equipped with the right shoes and clothing. It’s very interesting to see the hordes of us on the trains afterward.

I ended up hiking at the same pace with this Japanese guy and he struck up a convo with his few words of English and my few words of Japanese. He was a sports teacher in Saitama. We kept each other company up to the top where the next break house was. He was also heading towards Hatomachitoge, but we split here since he was going to wait on his friend. I kept going towards the summit of Mt. Nakamura! It was astonishingly beautiful up here. Left me speechless. I ended up taking a break here and he caught back up to me with his friend. His friend worked in a hotel in Tokyo so he could speak a good chunk of English. We hiked the whole descent together and made a bit of conversation. This is exactly why hiking alone can be fun! They even stopped and made me coffee towards the end. Although he accidently used aloe water which led to an interestingly flavored, not-so-drinkable coffee. After we finally made it back down, they bought me coffee from a vending machine instead. So kind. We took some pictures together by the trailhead. We all bought tickets back to Tokura and they helped ask for me about the bus to Numata. The guy told us that I’d have to catch it Tokura. We just boarded a taxi shuttle that left almost immediately. The driver wanted to know where to drop people off, so they helped me out here again with translating.

After the harrowing drive back down, we dropped one pair by the ski slopes parking lot and the rest at the main parking lot. It was a short walk back to the bus stop. I asked at the ticket window aka said my destination, and they told me the first one in Japanese. I waited for about 10 minutes at the stop labeled with a 1, and boarded the bus for Numata. We hit some crazy standstill traffic on the way down, but at least it was an interesting drive past so many orchards. I wish I had had more time to get some apples! I got off at the right stop, and caught my trains back home. Whew! My legs will hurt tomorrow.

In total, I hiked a little over 6 hours with breaks for a total of 17 km aka 10.5 miles. I was a bit quicker than the estimated hike times on the map. I want to definitely go again in the spring!

Conbini breakfast for us. I got a cream bread and an onigiri that they heated up for me. I just kept saying yes and wham it was hot haha. I’m noticing them asking me a lot lately so now I know what they’re asking. Kasumi got some oden. Afterward, we walked over to the Tomioka Silk Mill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The streets were packed. We saw so many giant tour buses. As a resident of Tomioka, I could get in free. We confused the teller though when Kasumi asked for one adult ticket and one resident, and I was the one to show my residence card ha. I actually got a brochure in English with a bit more of the history. If you are more of a group, you can ask for an English tour ahead of time. Otherwise, all the signs and tours are in Japanese there. You can rent an audio guide for 200 yen in a couple different languages or do the audio for free on your phone with a QC code.

It was cool to be there on the weekend because they had some demonstrations of the silk weaving, taking the cocoon apart till only the worm was left. I also got to touch one of the cocoons and pull the silk off the outer shell, and see the worms wiggling around and make the cocoons. A lot of the site is still under construction and being restored. It’ll be interesting to see the finally product. I think I’d enjoy it more if I got more historical info about the place. Afterward, we went to get yakimanju, a Gunma speciality. They are soft buns are coated with a rich, sweet and salty miso sauce and grilled. So delicious and cheap! The best shop in Gunma according to many JETs is right by my school. I know what I’ll be getting for an after school snack somedays!

We went to get lunch next at CO-JIRO and stopped in some tourist shops along the way. Trying to get some Christmas ideas. I had heard good things about the restaurant so I wanted to try it out. Made Kasumi translate again for me, heh. The interior was nicely decorated and the sign has a cute cat next to it. They offered two lunch set options, A and B, so easy enough for me to order in the future. The food was amazing! Definitely lived up to its reputation.

Then we headed off on to Nukisaki shrine which was about a 40 minute walk away. You can take the train a bit closer, but it honestly doesn’t save much walking time so we decided to work off our food. The last stretch is really steep, straight up hill. What a workout! We had to start pulling off our layers. What’s special about Nukisaki is that you have to descend down stairs to the shrine. This is extremely rare to find in Japan. As we were leaving, some kind of ceremony had started with chanting inside the shrine. It looked like a blessing or so.

Lunch at CO-JIRO

Tea house garden

From Nukisaki, we went to a green tea house that had opened this past summer, ちゃきち, Chakichi. I had found it through instagram pictures. It was amazing. The decorations were fantastic and the sliding doors and windows were open to the little Japanese garden in the back. They had many green tea and other ice cream flavors. We both got matcha parfaits that were very yummy. It was difficult to choose what to order! Before we left, one of the staff struck up a convo with me. He had studied abroad in Australia and had lived there extensively. His English was so good and had an Aussie accent. I will definitely go back! So much more to try.

The small train station was about a ten minute walk away so we took it back to my station. It was a bit tricky this time because since it was the weekend, there was no one at my station or the one we departed from. That means taking the number ticket on the train and then paying the driver directly when getting off. You need direct change though so we had to figure out how to use the machine in the front of the train to convert a coin to smaller coins. It all worked out though and now I know how to do it for the future! We popped by my place to grab our bags (and for me to change into my hiking clothes), and headed off to Takasaki. Kasumi was heading back to Saitama and I was heading up north, a little past Numata to Gokan to spend the night in preparation of hiking Oze tomorrow. The public transport takes so long so I wanted to get as close as possible: 40 min train to Takasaki, 50 min train to Numata, 80 min bus to Tokura, 20 min shuttle bus to Hatomachitoge and one of the park entrance.

Matcha parfait

I had extra time in Takasaki so I grabbed a cheese bun from a bakery and a coffee at Starbucks, and hung out there. They have all the drinks written in English as well as Japanese so it was easy to order. They have an extra size here called short that’s even smaller than tall. The short prices are about the same as the US tall prices. It was a comfortable ride. I was planning at crashing at another ALT’s house, K, and she had offered to pick me up at the train station. So kind! Instead, another ALT, J, was driving and she was riding along with. That zero tolerance drinking policy. I had planned to join in on a game night at her apartment. I got to meet some cool new people, eat lots of junk food and pizza, and play spoons for the first time in forever. Apparently J lives far from Numata in a small village, Katashina, only 10 minutes from Oze. He offered to let me crash at his place and drive me to the shuttle bus pick up. This would save me 2050 yen and allow me to get an earlier start tomorrow. Super nice of him. We left around 10:30 pm for the long drive back to his place. We made it in good time. The stars were pretty amazing and it was so cold! About 45 degrees as a low. Thus, his place was already a lot colder and it was comfy to bury myself in a blanket.

After all the grading all week long from all the midterms, I was completely wiped. I’ve received my four extra classes that will be starting next week. Definitely feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how I’m supposed to get all my work done. I had to grade half of the exam for all 120 second years and the 120 first years too. Still working through the pile.

Today Kasumi comes! It’s so exciting to meet up with old university friends. We were heading to a sunflower festival in Midori today so I took the train in Takasaki and met her at the station at 11:30 am. We got lunch together at Subway in the food court. Mind-blown. Completely different choices. You can get fries and only six inch subs. I got smoked salmon with mascarpone and she got the duck sandwich.The choices were extensive and only six or so were the same US ones. When picking your toppings, there are no banana peppers or jalapenos, and you just say what you don’t want on your sandwich. Easy enough since I know the word for all. We caught a hour train to Iwajuku station where Kasumi called the bus service and told them where and when to pick us up. It was more of a private shuttle for 300 yen haha. It took us from right by the conbini at the station to the sunflower fields.

There were some food stalls and three fields with sunflowers. One was blooming strongly, but the others still weren’t at full bloom yet (so late!). When we arrived, they were just starting the archery on horseback demonstration. It was a tiny lane they had to gallop down while drawing and shooting an arrow into a piece of wood on a stand to break it. There were three targets. Some hit and others missed. It looked so hard especially at the speed they were riding! It was a bit sad though to see how some of the horses were treated. They were pretty jumpy and shoved around a lot by multiple people. Definitely seemed like the bit hurt. Afterward, we took some sunflower photos in the best field and each got a fresh manju (bun with red bean paste inside).

We decided to walk back to the train station since the shuttle bus couldn’t come for another 15 minutes. The poster had said a 20 minute walk, google said 25 minutes and it took us closer to 30 min. Always a bit nerve wracking walking along narrow Japanese roads where there are no sidewalks. We had just missed our train by ten minutes so we hung around waiting for about 30 min at the station. It’s nice to just swipe your Suica card at the station entrance. No gates. By the time we got back to Takasaki, it was already dark. We decided to get dinner in Tomioka at Mirai so we rode the private line all the way to Joshutomioka. I think it was interesting for Kasumi to see our bumbling country train.

I told her to remember how deserted the streets were and to compare it with the tourist rush we were going to see tomorrow. This time at Mirai, Kasumi easily deciphered the menu for me. She got an interesting cassis drink that tasted sweet and good. Together we ate fried cheese, sashimi, yakisoba, yakitori, and fried shrimp (little whole shrimp!). We walked back to my place and crashed.. Sadly it was cloudy, because you can see the stars pretty well in Tomioka.

On the bike ride to Kanra

Another beautiful day! I quickly had to do laundry before the rain comes again ha. I went to Kanra again today for a pumpkin baking party this time. The bike ride along the main roads was quicker and I got to admire the rice fields turning golden with all the mountains. I brought my supplies so that we could also bake my pumpkin muffins in a real oven this time. We ended up with some mini muffins and big muffins, a sheet pan of pumpkin bars, and made tofu pesto burgers (a spontaneous invention) for lunch when another friend joined us. Ichigo-sensei and her daughter even dropped by briefly. Plus some snack food was eaten while we watched Downton Abbey. Butter beer was also made! She’s so talented and made cream soda and butterscotch from scratch! In the afternoon, we were joined by another lady shortly before I had to leave to get some cleaning done at home. She brought some apple crumble that was also yummy. Ah, I love pumpkin things and how the smell lingers.

I popped by the bakery early this morning, but they didn’t have my bread yet made so I had to buy some buns instead and another chocolate hedgehog. I also tried some bun that had an edamame paste inside (I think). It was interesting. I also had to pick up my bike from the repair shop. I had dropped it off yesterday after school. I had the words brake pad and tire written on a post-it and showed it to him with the words, my bike and new. He could say the words front and back so he understood both tires, wrote a price down, and told me to come back tomorrow at ten when the shop open. As I was picking the bike up, I ran into Kocho-sensei who was biking to the concert given by our students at the train station. I already had plans to meet with K and do a waterfall hike up in Nanmoku so I couldn’t go.

 K picked me up at my place and we headed off into the mountains. It took us about an hour to get to our hiking spot. We were quite close to the border to Nagano. The drive was gorgeous! Such nice weather and I love to be in the mountains. The roads got super narrow, filled with blind spots. Luckily we didn’t encounter many people. We ended up waving to several tour buses filled with hiking tours. Look at us two gaijin! We parked and set off on what we thought was the trail. Together we could read about three characters on the sign, ha.

The first part of the trail had a really decrepit bridge that was falling into the river. It had been roped off and the trail didn’t lead that way, whew. The trail was beautiful. We followed along a river filled with rocks, shadows and sun, small waterfalls, and so much greenery and moss. Everything was rather slippery though. We had to traverse some rotting bridges so it was a little scary! The one had some serious holes in it. We even got to the end of a snake, He was moving too quickly to get a photo. After climbing a ladder next to a waterfall, the trail ended at the final Sandanno Falls, 50 m tall. You could barely see the top! We picniced here for a late lunch. It was a tad chilly at this point as the trees were quite thick. No sun for us and since the hike wasn’t too strenuous, I didn’t heat up a lot. K had planned to go swimming so during our descent, we stopped by a pool of water and a good waterfall. Perfect to take a shower! The water was frigid and the air cool, but he went in anyway!

On our drive back, we stopped by this one rest area we had seen. There was a ravine where the river had hollowed out rock. We walked a short path to a suspension bridge. So pretty! Would love to swim here during the summer, but no way down to the water. We later also stopped at the Nanmoku road station aka rest stop. They had a little restaurant and a shop that sold local food and products. Nice and cute things! I picked up a free hiking and waterfall brochure to plan future trips. They even have a camp site out there and an observatory. I’d imagine the skies would be amazing. The waterfall hike that we did was listed as #1. We got ramen back in Tomioka before K dropped me off. The bowl is always so big. I can never finish it all. Quite yummy though. I then had to go grocery shopping still. The sunset was so beautiful. One of the best I’ve seen. I wish I could have gotten a better shot with the mountains framed against a pink backdrop.

First day of no more cool biz. Now that it’s colder, it’s interesting to see all the windbreaker jackets that the male teachers are wearing, ha.

Shimonita is certainly a whole other world. Out in the bumpkin country all my students have really old, fashioned uniforms so even at Shimonita only some girls roll their skirts and boys have their shirts more untucked and unbuttoned. (Especially compared with Takasaki! The really short skirts and makeup they’re all wearing.) But before and after class when you have to stand and bow, only some of them do it, and so slow and grudgingly. They have good relationships with their teachers though. Also interesting how students have to stand and answer here. There’s much more pressure that way on an individual.