Visiting Yuhki

I just came back from visiting Yuhki in Tochigi-ken. It was just a really short overnight trip, but it was nice to see him. He took me to Nikko. (After all "NIKKO IS JAPAN" according to all the posters I see everywhere.) It's actually sort of gaudy because it's so colorful and decorated, but it's pretty amazing to see since you can go everywhere. I saw the three monkey carvings, with the whole 'see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil' faces. I also saw the sleeping cat and the bird. According to the lady giving an explanation, the cat isn't actually sleeping, but the point is that it is so peaceful there that a cat and bird can live together peacefully. My favorite part was the big shrine area with the dragon on the ceiling. If you make a sound on from under the dragon's tail, it won't come out very loud, but if you go up to where the dragon's mouth is and clap or make noise, it's magnified. It's really cool. It snowed a little bit while we were there so it was really cold, but it was nice to see everything and be in nature.


Later, Yuhki took me to his taiko practice. It's a waaay chill setting and really short, but the kids are really good and the adults are even better. =D It's matsuri taiko so its different than in the states, but you can tell that everyone that does it really enjoys it so it's a great atmosphere. The drums are also really nice. The guy who makes them is a professional and did work on drums for Memoirs of a Geisha. (The shime tightening method they use is sooo much smarter than in the states. A lot less work.) We went out for dinner after that, but I didn't talk much. I was pooped, and as I get tired, my Japanese gets worse, so I'm afraid I might have given them a bad impression of me. =/ Ah well, I guess that can't be helped now.

It was nice to just hang out with Yuhki for a bit though. He's Nintendo Man. He has the craziest Nintendo goods. Today, we just relaxed a bit, went to a Brazilian place for lunch, then headed back to Tokyo, since he's going on a trip to Nara. All in all a nice getaway from Tokyo.


I added pictures to the old blogs and more on flickr, so check it out!