Hiking with Elderly Teachers

One of the teachers I work with, Ino-sensei, is a really cool guy and is a member of a hiking group consisting of other older teachers from the area.  Every month or so they plan a hiking day and he always invites me.  Unfortunately, I have had to say no many times but this time I said yes.  We were to meet early Saturday morning, take some trains and buses to the head trail in Saga Prefecture.

The bus we took ran along a pretty sad and dry riverbed-

Eventually we arrived! A little preparation and soon it was time for introductions!  

Drinking in casual and formal places

I met up with a friend I made a while back and stopped in at this fancy shmancy whiskey bar.

Hey Dad!

Mike and Richard come to town - Part 3 - around town and a boring German festival

The difference between Western toilets and Japanese.  Both look horrible-

With Richard gone, we walked around and showed Mike how nice the Police are here.  Still....think she can stop me if I wanted to not be stopped?

Mike and Richard come to town - Part 2

After the usual late start that comes with going to bed at six in the morning, I took them down one of the many old areas, Shin Sekai.  Funny. That name translates to "New World." Ha!

Mike and his murderer gloves-

Same place-

Mike and Richard come to town

Richard, a close friend from Shonan, and Mike, a friend from UCONN I haven't seen or talked to in years stopped by for a bunch of days.  Yukino's friend from Tokyo also came for the weekend so our apartment was absolutely packed.  We started off at a local pizza place that has wonderful calzones-

With Richard's hat and the two I have, we make a lovely trio wouldn't you say?

Kyoto Koyo Day Trip Part 4 - Koyo at night and a little bit of food

After eating some sushi it was time to see some NIGHT koyo.  I picked a place on my map that had a the symbol for it and off we walked.  Kyoto is not as friendly as other cities when it comes to subways and trains so rather than taking a bus we hoofed it there.

Rather than trying to caption each picture, I will give you a rundown of the place.  Its a large temple complex.  There was a taiko drumming presentation we stuck around for and left early before people could get to the good areas of the place.  There is a small river valley that has all the night koyo viewing.  The admission fee of around $5 gave us access to a very cute little outdoor tea garden area as well.

Kyoto Koyo Day Trip Part 3 - The famous Golden Temple, Kinkaku-ji

We took the bus back to the area around Kinkaku-ju, the famous Golden Temple.  I have been to Kyoto a few times before but have always bypassed this place.  Having seen pictures of it before and not liking touristy places always made me stay away.  But, it was on the way home so I thought it couldn't hurt.  Luckily, it was about twenty minutes before closing and crowds of people weren't present.

 Near the entrance was this. I was AMAZED with the placement of the leaves on the ground. It was like someone placed them like a blanket.  Not a single leaf was misplaced. As Yukino just said, "leaf artist."

TADA!

Kyoto Koyo Day Trip Part 2 - Leaves, high heels, and Kozan-ji

 We were pretty much done with the daytime koyo part of our trip so we headed back down to the river valley-

About halfway up/down the hill were some nice outdoor picnic areas for people to get tea and snacks at-

Kyoto Koyo Trip Part 1

Twas a beautiful autumn day and we hopped on the train towards Kyoto with our final destination farther in the mountains.  After little bit of train and bus riding we arrived at the entrance to Jingo-ji Temple.

My old car, bread in a can and thanksgiving chicken

Finally! I spotted my old JAPANESE car for the first time in JAPAN!

Yet another abandoned house in Japan-