On Friday, I got a package from my mom that had a bunch of stuff I needed, so I was excited. Then I left for Tochigi to see Yuhki. The train ride took about three hours long, but it was well worth it. When I got there, we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant that one of Yuhki's students' parents own. Afterwards, we went back to his apartment and played Wii. (Yuhki is king of video games.)
Russell arrived from Kyushu on Saturday morning, with a severe lack of sleep. It was kind of crazy to see him since I haven't seen him since he graduated a year or two ago. He brought me a Kabosu (citrus fruit his town is famous for) Hello Kitty strap. First, Yuhki took us on a walk around Ootahara, his town. There were a few people fishing in the rivers for ayu fish. We also visited a smaller temple that Yuhki said was haunted and 大雄時 (Sorry, I forgot how to read this temple's name correctly), which had a bunch of statues...and mosquitoes. It's 600 years old, so that's pretty crazy. The area is well known for soba, so we stopped at a little place to pick up omiyage. At one point while we were at the temple, Yuhki told us that his town was also known because the poet, Basho, spent one of his days walking through it and said it was very pretty (which is true).
Next, we went for tonkatsu at a little restaurant. It was delicious. It was the first tonkatsu I've had since coming to Japan, which is good because it was yummy, but bad because now I'm going to compare everything to it. =P Then we went to a little gathering at the eki-mae (sort of like where people gather...it looked like a swap meet) for gelato. There were craaazy flavors. The town is also known for their togarashi (red peppers) so there was togarashi flavored gelato, as well as maccha (bitter green tea), kurogoma (black sesame), nashi (asian pear) sorbet, and hakubijin negi (a type of green onion). I didn't get to try all of them, but based on all the flavors we collectively tried, we decided that all of the flavors must be good. =D
Afterwards, Yuhki drove us to Nikko. On our way there, we went up Irohazaka, which is an extremely curvy road. There's a curve for every letter in the hiragana alphabet (hence the name of the road). For anyone out there who likes Initial D, one of the roads in the game is based on that road. You can see skid marks from drifting on the way down. We stopped in the middle and took pictures of the greenery. The temple at Nikko was already closed since we got there around 4:30, but we did see this great waterfall (that's supposedly haunted). Then we stopped in a shop to try yuba (the film from making tofu) and rice crackers that are made in that area, which were also delicious. We finished out the night by eating at a place called Kite, talking, and playing video games.
Today, we woke up late. We meant to go to Nikko again to see the temple, but we were too sleepy. So we started out the day with lunch, where we ran into Yuhki's taiko teacher and his son. The food there was amazing, too. (Yuhki's town, despite being out in the country is full of so much good food!!!) We ordered yakiudon, nabeyaki udon, and soup yakisoba. Yuhki's sensei treated us to basashi (horse sashimi), which I'm still not that fond of, but this one was way better than the first one I had since it had ginger and katsuobushi (bonito flakes). We went back to the gelato place (where I discovered the chestnut glace flavor XD) Then we hit Uniqlo really quick and then I got ready to go. Russell is staying until tomorrow (since it's a holiday, but I still have school) On my way back home, I wasn't paying attention and missed my stop and had to ride the line really far, so I got back late, but it turned out alright.
After talking with Yuhki and Russel, eating so much good food, being out in nature (where you can actually breathe and look up and see stars), and actually living in the same room with people again I feel a lot more relaxed. The trip kind of made me want to live further away from the city, though I think it'd be even harder to make friends my age there, there are so many other good things about it. It's a real side of Japan I think a lot of people overlook, but I want to go back. =D
