| John & Hiromi's Virtual Vacation to Hokkaido |
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| Day 1 - August 27th, 2001 | |||
Bulletin  |
 Day 2 |
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| John & Hiromi's Virtual Vacation to Hokkaido |
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| Day 1 - August 27th, 2001 | |||
| Bulletin |
Day 2 |
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| Drive to Kiryu | ||
| We left at 4:15am from Fujisawa, and had a relatively uneventful trip through
Kanagawa, Tokyo, and Saitama ken(s) to Gunma ken. A "ken" is
like a state. A "shi" is a city. We left so early, because even
at that hour, Tokyo is crowded. We arrived in Kiryu at about 8:30am. |
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3:41AM!! Just before we started | |
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We will be "Gunma-Ken" soon | |
| After the greetings, etc., Oto-san and I headed to the ofuro, or Japanese bath. The one we use is for senior citizens. Of course, I don't really qualify, but they let me in as Oto-san's "assistant." Actually, I believe that I am a young, thin man trapped in this old fat man's body. So far,I don't know of any operation to fix the situation, although I heard about a new rice diet where you use only one chopstick! Instead of paying 300-400 yen, I get into the ofuro for only 100 yen. The current exchange rate is about 120 yen to the dollar. I never knew that taking a bath with a lot of old men could be so much fun! You just have to watch out for the warm spots in the pool! | ||
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Information ladies for senior citizens' bath | |
| Afterwards, Hiromi and I went to Nagasakia, the local department store, and got a baby parakeet to replace Billy, who was eaten by a cat. Hiromi cried for three days. That's not funny! Our new baby budgie needs a name. Any suggestions? We then went to Sekichyu, a store like Home Depot, and bought a cord that will allow us to use the computer in the car...or in fact any appliance! WE ARE ABLE TO RECEIVE E-MAIL AT ANYTIME THROUGHOUT THIS TRIP. AND WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please don't make me use upper case, again!
I had also forgotten to pack the cord that lets us connect to the internet via our Docomo cell phone. The nice people at Docomo, sensing my dilema, were happy to suck out all of my blood for a cord that probably cost them next-to-nothing to make - 4,200 yen !! Later, Hiromi dropped me off to visit one of my best friends in Japan, Gokan Shuichi. In Japan, it is last name first. I just call him Gokan-san. We always have great conversations, because he is very smart, and speaks excellent English (Eigo). He is president of Kiryu's Eigo club,which I will present to tomorrow evening. I will read a Sherlock Holmes mystery to them, and then give a quiz! |
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When we finish the meeting of the English club at about 9-10 tonight, we will jump in the Subaru and head for Niigata. There will be new pictures going up, and old ones coming down all the time, so save any that you want. And please e-mail us, or I will use Upper case again! Love, John and Hiromi (Very happy with new parakeet!) |
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