The view from the
balcony of the restaurant where we ate lunch...The 18th dawned bright and early--unfortunately I didn't. I set my watch alarm to go off an hour before the bus left for Kawaguchico, but somehow I didn't hear it and I woke up 10 minutes before the bus left. I seriously debated skipping the whole thing however I dragged myself out of bed, dressed, threw some clothes in a bag and made my way to the bus. Actually, I have a good excuse for being tired on the morning of the 18th--all the other mornings I had to wake up at 8:00am to attend Japanese language class! Okay, I always get some grief for complaining about getting up at what some people consider the late hour of 8:00am, but I'm just not used to it and that's that. Dragging myself out of bed at 8:00am to attend language class for two hours was not one of the pleasant memories I have from my stay in Japan. Don't get me wrong, the classes were okay but I would have preferred them at a different time--like when I was awake!
Getting back to our trip to Kawaguchico, we rode on the bus for about three hours until we stopped for lunch. We had a very nice traditional Japanese lunch at a restaurant with a beautiful view of the Japanese countryside.
The view from the
balcony of the restaurant where we ate lunch...
After lunch we stopped at a nearby sake brewery for a tour and the opportunity to spend money. In the following photograph you will see our trip "narrator." The Japanese lady in the picture was our tour guide for the trip to Kawaguchico. Not wanting to shirk her duties, she described everything in excruciating detail, from the scenery outside the bus windows to Japanese history, to the moral values of the Japanese people. She was truly a wealth of knowledge but I think everyone on the bus would have been happier with a bit less detail. However, this did give me an insight into tourism Japanese-style.
Our sake brewery
tour guide and our trip "narrator"...
After touring the brewery, we filed into the gift shop where we purchased omiyage and sampled sake. I must say that the sake I sampled was some of the best sake I had during my whole stay in Japan. I should have bought a bottle. One of the more interesting items for sale in the gift shop was a container of grasshoppers marinated in soy sauce. Naturally, someone bought a container and passed it around the bus. Most people ate one, including myself. Actually, it wasn't bad. One benefit of taking the plunge and eating a grasshopper was that after that nothing was too weird to eat!
Grasshopper
anyone...
The next stop after the sake brewery was Kawaguchico (Lake Kawaguchi) where we had a group photograph taken.
Group photo...
[JISTEC photographer]
We then went to the ryokan (Japanese hotel) and checked into our rooms. There were a few free hours before our dinner so some people went to an amusement park, others strolled by the lake, and I took a bath. I really should have taken a nap because I was still tired, but I thought I should bathe because my hasty departure in the morning precluded a shower. Dinner was in the Japanese style and we all wore kimonos. The meal was excellent and consisted of many courses. Unfortunately, toward the end of the meal my sleep deprivation started to catch up to me, producing a nasty headache. At that point I knew I needed to get some sleep so I excused myself and went to bed. I really wish I could have stayed, because I hear everyone had a lot of fun singing karaoke.
Our dinner (sorry
for the blurring, there wasn't much light in the room)...
Please be
seated...
Let's eat...