Shofuen, the country, and Tokyo

Well, we've done the city and the ocean, today was all about the country side of Japan!

To start the morning off, we had another dip in the onsen.  So refreshing and nice.  Breakfast was amazing as usual... not your typical American breakfast, that's for sure.

From the Shofuen, we took off for the country.  I'm not sure of the name of the city we went to... I will have to ask my mom in the morning. 

My mom was laughing so hard... she was telling a story about an 80 year old obachan she met at the onsen who came with her three sisters.  She referred to her sisters as "the hunchback, the sumo, and the skinny one."

 My dad said my mom looked like Gilligan, to which my mom replied, "But I bought this in America!  It's from the Gap!"

Dad and Bob are obsessed with "Lemon CC"

I guess my mom has the special talent Shige told us about... the ability to sleep at any time in any place.

My mom was able to meet a friend of hers, which was nice for her.  This friend was actually at the "disco" (as my parents always call it) with my mom the night my mom and dad met.  So it was special for them to be able to catch up.

We took a train through the country side.  You see a lot of tea growing.  The rows of bush type looking things are actually the tea.  Right now they must be harvesting the tea.  You also see a lot of rice paddies.  The train took us through the mountains.  It was beautiful.  The train was an old fashion locamotive... really neat!

Rice Paddy



Rice paddy... you can see the rice starting to grow in the rows



Tea... they look like long rows of bushes.  You can see them higher on the mountain too.

Onions

I am guessing this tea has already been harvested

More onions

The country side

Mountains



Our train



Our conductor playing the harmonica.  I am pretty sure this was a rousing tune of "I've Been Working On the Railroad."  No, I'm not making this up.

The end destination of the train was another onsen.  We took another dip, and had lunch.

Artwork at the onsen... gives you an idea of what the onsen is like. Haha!

The entrance to the onsen.  Women go through the left, men on the right.

When Bobby got out of the onsen, his face was beat red.  This picture doesn't really show how red he was!

Yakitori

Squid

Karaage

Soba

Ramen (a suggestion from Ryohei and Kaisei!  Oishii!)

From there, we left the country and head back to Tokyo.  I have to include some photos of how busy it was in the city when we got off the train.  It's crazy and it's a weekday night!  I can't imagine the weekends!

We are spending the last two nights in Japan in two different spots in Tokyo.  The place we are at tonight is called the Prince Hotel.  It's really nice!  My favorite thing about it is there is another fantastic view.  This time we can see the Tokyo Tower from our window!  Kaisei and Ryohei wanted me to make sure to see the Tokyo Tower, and I can see it right out my window!

Bob told me, "Your hair looks crazy!!" ...and it did...

Part of the view from our room

Tokyo Tower

Tonight we had dinner at a local restaurant in the city.  The city is so awesome.  I wish we could stay in Tokyo a few more nights... there is just way too much to see!

My mom and dad took us out to eat for Bobby's birthday.  It was SO good!  This restaurant was kind of like a Japanese version of "tapas."  Lots of little plates for everyone to try... we had a ton of food and got to try so many things... make sure to read the photo descriptions!  There wasn't a single thing we didn't like.  Including the raw horse meat... yes, raw horse meat. :)

Friend Geso (squid legs)

Sukiyaki... I didn't take a picture of it, but you take the food out of the pot when it's finished and dip it into raw egg.  It was REALLY good- I was surprised!

Tebasaki (chicken wings)  Delicious!  Thank you, Ryo, for the suggestion!

Sausages

Yakisoba (one of Bobby's favorites.)

Raw horse meat.  You dip this into a sauce that has soysauce, garlic, and ginger.  It was great!

Grilled squid

Fried Tofu

Gyoza... this was good, but Baba's is still  the best.

The sukiyaki fixins before it went into the pot

Yakitori, but not "yakitori" like you'd have at an American restaurant.  One skewer has the chicken meat, one is ground chicken, one is chicken skin, and another is chicken gizzards.  The gizzards was my favorite.

Beef

Part of the menu

These were skewers with beef wrapped asparagus.

Bobby and I walked around the city for a little bit, and I bought a bag/large purse (my friends all know I like my purses big! :)) as a souvenir.  It doesn't get much better than shopping in general, but shopping in Tokyo takes the cake.

Tomorrow we will be going to the Tokyo Fish Market.  My mom is really excited about this, but so am I!  It's going to be really neat, I think!  Have a great day everyone... we are off to bed!  Thanks for keeping up with us.  We are so sad the trip is almost over... it has been an incredible ride!