And here was the fight.

Uhh, it was a cultural experience.

Alright, no there is a slight problem with carrying the Mikoshi. Check out this guy's shoulders. I don't know why a bump the size of a baseball appears, but it does. And it really hurts I am told. Max helped to carry one, and when John touched his shoulder later he let out a very sincere cry of pain.

So after everything was done we all went back to Kyoko's house again to drink and eat some more. I got in a long conversation with Iida-san on the left, in which I think we discussed travel. My Japanese wasn't quite up to his level, and I got about 40% of what he said, but luckly he had had enough wiskey to find me intresting. Moto-san is the guy on the right, and after we had basicly run out of energy we went over to the bakery of he and Sanae's son. That was sure an intresting shop. We ordered bread and hour ahead of time, and when we got there it still hadn't been put in the oven, so he gave us all the bread in the bakery: 4 buns with miscelaneous fillings and a piece of Foccicia bread, which he gave to John instead of the guy that had been waiting for service since before we got there.

So, the verdict for today: excelent. I like Kamakura. It's like Hawaii, but I get to practice Japanese. By the way, why does my left eye scrunch up when I honestly smile?

Sendai is a great place to go for free...

So, last night I decided "Tomorow I think I'll go to Sendai, after all, I have a Rail Pass, so I can go for free." So today at 4:50 AM I left the house with my camera bag packed with the supplies I would need for the day: two handy wipes, a camera, a book on Kanji, a phrase book, a book for my summer class, the Rough Guide to Japan, extra batteries, my rail pass and small gifts that I could give to anybody I met who was nice.

After some worrying, but no real problems, I found my way to Tokyo station and bought my first Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket, which I actually didn't buy, as all my train trips are free. I then purchased my first Bento, shown in the picture.

So the train ride was great! I spent the entire time grining from ear to ear. What speed! I arrived at Sendai way sooner than I had expected. I walked out of the station and began to walk towards the town. The picture below was taken at the exact point when I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about Sendai, and decided to walk back into the station and ask for a map.

The woman behind the tourist information desk sugested that I take the bus. I humored her, but I had no intention of taking the bus, that would cost money! Besides, it was a great day and I wanted to see the city. After 50 minutes of walking and not really seeing anything, I finally came to the ruins of Sendai Castle, which were actually quite beautiful. A cute little stream fed the pond that this flower was growing in. I walked up the stream to its source, the most beautiful sewer pipe I have ever seen.

It was at that point that I nearly stepped on this snake.

And this is the entrance to the shrine at the top of the castle.

The view from the castle. I walked from behind the tall building. It was kind of humid by this point.

I caved in and took the bus back. 250 yen. I then discovered that Sendai has possibly the longest covered shopping street that I have ever seen, populated entirely by stores that do not intrest me, and visited by girls that I did not consider attractive. Sendai having cost me only 250 yen, I decided to get on a train to somewhere else.

All the guide books raved about a place called Matsushima, one of the three natural wonders of Japan, so I decided to go. There was a Danish guy and his Japanese girlfriend on the train, and I tried to talk to them, but I got the feeling that they were both made very uncomfortable by the idea of a random American coming up to them and trying to start a conversation. I left them alone and walked from the station to Matsushima Bay, where I found this.

It was less pristine than I had been led to believe.

And there were some nice looking parts.

Still, there were some cool things about it. That thing that looks like a sea wall is in fact the shells of shellfish.

However, the humidity in Matsushima was nasty. Not to mention, I was beat from walking all day. Compounded with the fact that all the food stands and cafes were closed, and that the town was devoid of people, I became grumpy.

This is how empty the town was. I did not see a single person walking down the street or working in a garden. Only the convienience store was open. I went back to the station and returned to Tokyo.

Total cost of the trip, 1400 yen. 15 dollars. Mostly spent on Poccari Sweat, the Japanese equivalent of Gatorade, of which I drank 3 bottles.

The Story of My 4 AM Walk (aka. ４時に散歩をした)

Today the story reads from the top to the bottom.

The jet-lag is not really as bad as I expected, although I think that this also has to do with the fact that (due to lack of daylight savings time) the Sun rises at 4 AM in Japan. So this morning, I woke up at 3 and went for a brisk morning stroll at 4.

I had no real goals for this walk, aside from the fact that I was a little hungry, so when I saw Tokyo Tower (see picture) I decided to walk to it.

Consequently, my back has been killing me ever since that flight, and about 20 meters from where I took this picture I saw a sign that said マサージ, which is pronounced "masaji". I thought to myself "cool, I should probably look into getting a massage"...

Well, I got to Tokyo Tower. It was alot closer than I expected, so I sat down for a while and took some pictures...

And here is the best picture I took...