Bethany's Visit to Japan

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So, Friday came and went, and around 5:40 or so I left school to go pick bethany up from the bus stop. I just had to follow the road next to school to the west and I'd eventually reach the highway and I could pick her up. I reached the circle K and picked up something to drink and double checked that I was going the right way. I then went out and continued to make my way there. Well, it was just passing 6 at this point, and bethany's bus was supposed to get in at 6. I was bummed that I was now going to be late, mainly because it was SO MUCH FURTHER THAN ANYONE HAD TOLD ME. Seriously, I was walking down a nearly deserted road to get to where the highway was. LAME. So I finally got to the highway, and went down on one side, because I didn't know which side she would be on. Well, I make my way down to the road/stop (making sure to duck the eye-level spiders going nuts building their webs for the nighttime bug-feast.) and plop down on the stairs to wait for a bit. Well, after a minute, I realize that Bethany probably got dropped off on the other side becuase she was heading to the north. So i begin to make my way back up all the stairs to go to the other side, and as i get to the top I look across to the other side (having not seen anyone) and see the outline of a person who looks like bethany. I then ziip across to the other side real fast because she'd been waiting. And lo and behold, she was there, and all sad because she had been dropped off early and it really was kinda in the boonies. Poor dear!

We made our way back to my apt. (which took about twenty minutes) and cooked some spaghetti for dinner. The food was good and the garlic bread was fantastic! :-) Bethany was also excited because she got some red wine finally too. We also watched some Robin Hood Men in Tights as well (oh Mel Brooks, what a character you are!) before bed.

The next morning we woke up bright and early (yay teacher's schedule lulz) and had a nice breakfast (i love my american breakfasts. i can handle the japanese food, but for b-fast, it's eggs, bacon, OJ, and toast, damnit.) We then made our way to the train station so we could head to Matsumoto for the afternoon. We made it there without incident and made our way around the town for the afternoon. we started by snaggin a map and made our way up towards the castle. We took lots of pics on the way, looped around the castle (while snagging pics) and then started to head for the art museum. Along the way we saw some beautiful cherry trees and just admired the city.

Oh, we also stopped at a chinese restaurant and snagged some lunch there. good stuff! :-)

The art museum was much better than I had anticipated. Some great sculpture work as well as some really unique artwork (lots of it modern) done by natives of Matsumoto. Some of theme were world renown too. We made our way back towards the station afterwards to catch our train to Ina to meet up with Kasuga-sensei.

We get to the station on time, and made our way down to catch our ride. Then I re-checked my schedule and found out the train that had just left (as in we could have caught it, but didn't) was actually the one we wanted, and I had mixed up the time in my head. GRR! So i found out when our next train was (both checking online w/ my phone, woo japan!, as well as around the station) and called kasuga to tell him we'd be half an hour late.

It wasn't too big of a deal though, although we did only have three minutes to switch trains in Okaya, which was a bit hectic, and I lucked out by making sure I asked and found out which platform we were going to, because the one other time I had done this transfer, I had gotten on a different train, and there was a train there again, so I would have just gone to that one. Whew!

We then met up with Kasuga in Ina, and proceeded to go to his place. It was actually much further away from the station than I had expected, which was a bit weird. On they way we chatted and I'm excited that I should be able to FINALLY get my car here in a couple of weeks, but I have to seriously start looking for one now :-p.

At Kasuga's place, we met his wife and a friend, as well as Kasuga's two sons (I DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD A SECOND!) and had an AMAZING dinner. I love having dinners in Japan, because there's always a ton of different things. We had sushi, nigiri, tonkatsu, a stew, and tons of beer / chuhai.

We also broke out bethany's souvenier gift for Kasuga, which was Soju from Korea. We all marvelled at how much easier it was to drink than the sake, and ended up clearing out a bottle of it. By this time everyone, and Kasuga in particular, was pretty outta it. We finally called it a night though, but it had been a fantastic time! :-)

The next morning Kasuga left early (before we woke up) to go to a mallet game thing or something, and his wife was nice enough to take us to Komagatake mountain (near Komagane city, which is north of Iijima by about 10km) It was a fairly long ride and we were really appreciative of her to drive us that whole way! We got there, and bought tickets for the bus ride to the ropeway, and then the ropeway (cable car) up to the high part of the mountain, where we coudl then walk.

I had eaten a bit too much at breakfast (after having a bit too much to drink the night before) and so the curvey road with all the switchbacks made me a bit queasey so it was nice to get up to the ropeway.

Kasuga had lent both bethany and I coats, since it was supposed to be pretty cold up at the top. Where the bus stopped, it wasn't so bad, but further up it got colder. So we walked around the bus stop area for a while, and bethany and I both had to use the restrooms up there, which were just outhosues basically, and squatters. Lol.

Well, then we got in the ropeway, but while we were waiting we talked with an American and his family. Paul was from Boston and has been living in Japan for over 30 years now, and actually has a store not too far from Iijima! Sells wood-stoves for cooking. Interesting guy, nice too. But didn't think bethany and I had it in us to do the hiking. we proved him wrong! we ended up keeping pace with him on up the mountain later! :-D

So then we got on the ropeway and made our way up to the next stage of the mountain. It was a beautiful ride on up, and beign able to do this at this time of year was fantastic: the leaves were changing colors, the weather was perfect.

Once we got up the higher part, we began to actually take a shot at the hike. It had a nice flat lead-in to get you used to walking on it, and then the real hiking began, which was basically climbing up rock-stairs for the next hour. The thinner air (we were about 9000 ft up at the ropeway base) made stops much more necessary. It was tought, but I forgot how much I love doing hikes in Japan. There were lots of people doing this, going up and coming down, and we'd always be saying things like 'good afternoon!' 'good luck!' 'be careful!' etc to everyone as we went by. Really nice. :-)

We ended up getting to the top in just about an hour, which shocked me because at the 45 minute mark I thought we had another 45 to go, but we made good time! :-D it was pretty steep for that last bit, but we did it! We took a break and caught our breath at the top. I absolutely adored the view up there! it was so darn beautiful, and was like during a flight, but with plenty of time to admire the view.

We could also see Mount Fuji off in the distance, even though it was 1 1/2 prefectures away, and stood out in contrast with the 'alps' that we were in and among. We then made our way over towards the last ledge / mound that made the actual crest, but realized that we didn't really have it in us to do it. It would have been another 20 minutes or so, and the view wasn't that much different ( I don't think).

so then we began to make our way back down, which was actually as easy as you'd imagine it would be. I didn't even have time to be scared to death of the heights and the walking along ridges where if i fell over i would pretty much be a goner, because I was too busy making sure I didn't take a wrong step. We ended up making it down in about 15 minutes or so, and then walked on an alternate path, but then had to climb back up to finish off the hike, which was killer! We also talked to a guy who was here for his first time, and we said how it was so beautiful and moving. It's so cool to be able to use even tid-bits of conversational japanese! :-D

We then made our way back down on the ropeway (only had to wait for 20 minutes) and then were able to catch a bus that went straight to the station. as we were making our way down the mountain I tried to get a couple of pictures of the sun hitting the sides of the mountains. we also saw wilk monkeys! That was so cool! :-) they were just running around along the road and suff!

We made it to the station, and only had to pay an extra 2$ for the ride all the way there, totally worth it! :-)

We waited at the station for a while and relaxed and basked in having a great day. On the train, bethany went out like a light (of course!) before we got home. Back in Iijima we stopped by the grocery store and picked up some more goodies. Back at home we made dinner (karaage-don), streched out and relaxed after such a busy day, and bethany fell asleep at 8:30. PUNK!

Monday morning we made our way around Iijima and I got to show bethany my quaint little town. That afternoon we went to the Jr. High school so show her that as well. :-) It was a fun time and the 3rd year class 3 gave us a private concert too! It was so great!

That afternoon bethany went home a bit early while I met with the principle of Iijima elementary school (since I haven't started there yet, just Nanakubo). Afterwards I ran home and snagged my new tickets for trash bags (FINALLY) and then picked up some stuff for dinner. We had delicious hamburgers Monday night while watching Knocked Up. Decent movie, but I wanna kill Rogan at times.

Tuesday we relaxed and biked around town. the bike ride was a blast! :-) Riding down the mountainside was SO much fun! Felt like I was 8 again, and it's always cool to look out over Iijima valley and see the city. We then went home, had lunch, did some transfer work for bethany's laptop (since it's old and she's scarce for space) and then took a walk taht afternoon too. We rounded out the night with some more delicious spaghetti and watched 'the usual suspects'.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast together, packed up, and went to the bus station. We ended up being early (and the bus was a bit late) but it worked out fine. I said good bye and bethany was off for korea again.

I ended up getting a call from her a couple hours later on a train for the airport worried sick that she wasn't going the right way, but things worked out and she got home ok. Thank goodness! :-)

be sure to check out the pictures! They're gorgeous!