Another Free Monday, Another New City

Today was our second totally free day of the trip. A few of us decided to sleep a little late and then make it to the internet cafe for about an hour. In response to a comment from a reader of my site, fanny packs are sexy. ‘Nuff said. After the leaving Kameoka,...

Midori Acres Is The Place To Be

Today’s outing was to the farm of Dr. Stapp’s former landlord Hitomi-san. Hitomi-san is a gentleman farmer of sorts. He was born and how lives in a house that his family has owned for over 300 years. His family used to be known for their archery prowess...

Pink Homecoming

This morning was a little sad. Our host families came to see us off and I got to see Hiromi-san, Naho-chan, and the boys for the last time. I gave the boys one last piggy-back ride and twirled them around until none of us could stand up. Before too long, it was time...

Big, Big Ships

Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding’s facility was a truly impressive place. One of the things that distinguished this factory from some of the others we’ve seen is scale. The main production building is a huge, 80 year old facility. All of the tools and...

Hibi Rock Star

I think I now have some sort of inkling of what a rock star feels like. Our destination for today was Hibi Elementary, an 80 year old school located in Tamano City and they absolutely loved us there. The kids at this school spent weeks preparing for our visit. We were...