Castles (Oh! You Pretty Things)

Things I noticed about Japan this week:
1. There are no stars. I think Honshu may just be the cause of all the world's light pollution.
2. The streets are impeccably clean but garbage cans are few and far between. Whoever is paid to clean up garbage in this country is doing a fantastic job.
3. Not all Japanese music is bad 90's pop.

Oh my, what a week. After school last week, our friends took us to our (my?) first kaiten sushi restaurant. It. was. awesome. I don't know if I can ever eat sushi again unless it comes on a conveyor belt. But, not only does it come by on a conveyor belt, you can also order anything you want off a small touch screen TV at your table at which point it drives itself to you on a small train straight from the kitchen. I don't know if you can picture that but, trust me, it is cool. After the restaurant, we went bowling. Always fun. The next day we went to kaiten sushi again (with our other group of friends who we had originally planned on going with before the previous day's events had presented themselves) and then shopping. I won't go into too much detail with the shopping save to say it's cheap and everything is unique. We finished off the day at Cold Stone Creamery where they sing to you while they make your ice cream. True story.
Saturday it poured with rain. This wasn't the kind of rain that we Vancouverites pretend we can brave (all the time secretly miserable)-- this was "if I take my umbrella out in that, it will crush under the weight of this tropical storm" rain. So, I spent the day inside reading and taking it easy.
Sunday and Monday were dedicated to sightseeing. I finally went back to Nagoya and went to Nagoya Castle which I was happy to have missed before because now there is a whole new exhibition going on with live shows and VERY famous old Japanese artwork. Nagoya Castle is very interesting. It is one of the most beautiful castles in Japan from the outside but actually, the original castle burned down in WW11 so it was rebuilt for the modern tourist complete with elevator and air conditioning. Everything about the castle was fascinating (owing very much to the English speaking tour guide I found who offered her services absolutely free- really, she wouldn't accept a dime!).
Monday, Sean's host parents took us to Inuyama Castle- the oldest castle in Japan and a national treasure. It was gorgeous and a lot more of a real, old castle feel than Nagoya Castle. After the castle we went to Monkey Park. It is exactly how it sounds. Well, kind of. It is a kind of monkey zoo. Tons and tons of different species of monkeys. You couldn't hold them but you can get very close to the lemmings and spider monkeys. Very cute. Awful smell. Following Monkey Park was a bit more sightseeing in Nagoya and dinner in Kariya and shopping for supplies at the 100yen store (Japanese dollar store) for the Halloween party we are throwing at school.
Went back to Nagoya briefly today on a failed mission to find the illusive Japanese Cat Cafe then went to school to paint our banner for the school festival this weekend. After that, we and our friends went to a traditional Japanese Izakaya restaurant. I won't get into the details here, but I will say it was fun. ;)

Oh dear, last night was my first decent sleep so far and now my host host mother tells me there is a cockroach somewhere in the house. So much for sleeping...

Short update this time. I'm happy to tell longer stories if you want to chat on Skype!

じゃあまた！

Britt ♥

I miss Edgemont Village in autumn.