Today we had a meeting in the morning with parents of some of the high school students we met yeaterday. It was interesting to discuss the similarities and differences with the views of parents in both countries. The meeting was held in the Iwadeyama Government Building. The building is loaded with replicas of Samurai's uniforms. Iwadeyama was the home of a famous samurai, and they have a festival every year to honor him in all the replica costumes. Then, one of the most amazing experiences so far on this trip for me was when we visited the kokeshikan museum and got to paint our own doll. A kokeshikan doll was created about 200+ years ago by farmers to occupy the children while they worked in the field. It was made of wood and had no limbs because it was easy to make. To "dress up" the plain wood doll, it was ELABORATELY painted and decorated by artists. You can see a picture of an artist making one, and another picture of the one i painted. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING I HAVE DONE YET! Well, one of the coolest....
Then, we visited the Jigokudani Hot springs. We couldn't go too far on our walk, and had to cancel going to one particular place b/c of earthquake danger. Things are hoping over here on Mother Earth!
The last thing we did today was visit the Ichinokura Sake Brewery. Sake is rice wine, and is very popular in Japan. It was really cool to see the process where rice is fermented, and made into a wine. Yes, I will be bring samples home to NY!!!!:)
This evening, my friend Rebecca and I used hotel bikes and we rode around the city. It was SOOOOOOOOO much fun. It was extra fine avoiding getting run over by the cars that drive on the opposite side of the road and the zillion other people on bikes. It was great to cruise around and watch the sunset.
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