A Blast To The Past

Hello again!!!

I have so much to talk about, but I'm not going to rush it.  The more I rush my writing, the worse it gets I think.  I am just going to continue where I left off and I will catch up to today eventually.  (I am only like 5 days behind, but I will catch up soon)

During the first night Lisa was over, she kept getting woken up from this rustling sound outside my window... I never noticed anything.  (this house is really terrifying at night anyway, so scary noises in pitch black and then flickering lights had just become the norm for me.  

Lisa:"What is that a bird!?"  

Me: "How could a bird get into the window box?!"

Lisa: "I don't know!!... But it sounded like a bird..

Me: "I'm sure it wasn't a bird"

After consoling Lisa, and telling her that it was ok and the window was locked and I will check it out in the morning, she went to sleep.

Morning came (as expected) and I opened all the storm doors.

NOTE: These older Japanese houses are almost all windows.  The entire South wall of my house is honestly windows.  To protect from "baddies", people close the storm doors that are used for like hurricanes or very strong wind.  These doors have a lock on them.  This is how people keep from just smashing the wall down and coming into my home.  END NOTE:

So when I got to my room and tried to close the storm doors there... the one on the window would not go in all the way...

I tried forcing it...

I tired being nice to it...

I tried forcing it again...

I asked it nicely to go it...

I tried forcing it again...

I tried forcing it again... (you get the idea)

Finally I looked inside the box where you push them into and what do you know... There's a birds nest in there... (Que Lisa's "I told you so")

The bird still resides in my window box and I have not yet named the vile beast... but he (or she) is surly cozy there... for now... (this will have to be amended in my near future)

So the next day (last week on Sunday) Lisa and I decided to go check out an old museum in Iwajuku (close to where I live) and the town of Kiryu (far from where I live)

We ate breakfast and went to go pick up a second bike from by bosses house.  (There was no way were were going to walk today again!)

We got the bikes and after about a 20 minute bike ride we arrived at a very fun museum! 

(Entrance from the Road)

(Cool building we I will show you soon)

(Awesome area I can come and fish soon)

The museum is actually an ancient tomb dating back to the Kofun Period (3rd - 7th century)

We went inside...

(This was where you had to walk to get to the museum entrance)

Here is the highlights of the tour of the museum inside:

(A real Katana... The first one I have ever seen)

(Ancient Bronze Katanas from probably the Edo Period)

(This pot is 3,000 years old)

(Tools from 16,000 Years ago of the indigenous Japanese People)

(Yeah..... 30,000 year old tools used by some of the first Japanese People)

All of this was ABSOLUTELY incredible to me... In America, if you go to a museum, you see things form other countries.  There is nothing in America that is 16,000 years old that was used by the people in Ohio.  People were barley across Asia 16,000 years ago!!  Seeing cutting tools that were honestly 30,000 years old, and knowing that they were from the area THAT I LIVE IN was incredible...  Lisa told me that in my area, there are countless stories of a kid playing and digging around in his back yard and unearthing a 5,000 year old pot or something... there is this rich history honestly everywhere I go in Japan.  Everyday this place gets more amazing to me. (by the way, if I find a 5,000 year old pot in my backyard, I'm keeping it.  It will go in my living room next to me TV)

On the second floor of the museum there were tons and tons of rock samples from all over the area.  There are volcanoes in Gunma (I KNOW!! CRAZY RIGHT!?!?! WHERE DO I LIVE???) and they take the cores of these deep lava slags and show the eruption dates on them.  I didn't want to show all the pictures of the rocks, because.. well.... there rocks, but I did really enjoy learning a lot about them.  Luckily Lisa was there to help translate all the signs.  I would have been totally lost with out her there!

I did really like the wall of old tools made from ancient Obsidian from the local volcanoes... (I love where I live in Japan)

The last thing that I thought was cool was this Mammoth... Again... it was excavated in the area that I live in.

(Mammoth and me!!)

And the most important picture of the day:

(My lovely tour guide and girlfriend Lisa! Thank you again for everything!!)

After that, we walked around a little bit more and we came across something else that was AWESOME!!!

(We found a temple!!!)

I also live a 20 minutes bike ride from an temple.  I saw this and Lisa told me without even a second thought, "Oh there is a temple here"

Me: "A temple!  A real Temp-- (Running up the hill and instantly getting tired because it was so steep)

(This baby was seriously almost a 60 degree incline)

(And about a quarter mile in length) 

(We reached the top of the climb)

(This is where you put your wishes so the spirits know what to do for you I think)

(This is the temple) 

(Lisa told me to put some money in so the spirits would watch over me while I'm in Japan and Living alone)

(The decent)

(Panorama) 

(The temple sign)

So on the way back to our bikes, we were just talking, and this little girl was walking towards us.  She looked at me like I was an Alien. She said 「英語の人？！」Which if you don't speak Japanese is really hard to explain... Basically she yelled "It's and English language person!!!"  Right at me.

Lisa and I got a laugh out of this, but that is when I realized that I am honestly the first non-Japanes person that girl has ever seen.  They were not kidding.. In Gunma, I am the ONLY white guy.  But it's cool. I kind of like being the guy that looks different but people get to know me pretty fast here.

So we returned home to grab some things and set out to Kiryu. 

First stop, get food.  It was almost lunchtime at this point... (That's right, we did all this before noon even!)

So we got to the train station and thankfully Lisa was there for me (as always) because there was so much kanji written all over the train sighs that I couldn't understand at all.

(Ok... I assume the red one is "you are here" seems pretty universal... After that... I have no idea)

Lisa explained and we set off into the afternoon!

(From the train)

We arrived in Kiryu and walked around a bit.  There were so many awesome stores to see.  We walked into this one store that only sold antiques, and another one that just sold stuff.  The last one we stopped into was a tea store and I looked at cool stone teapots and homegrown teas that were all over the store.  It was awesome.

We still needed lunch. So let me set this up for you...

I just saw things that existed in Japan 30,000 years ago, I saw volcanic rock that was encases with fossilized Dinosaur Bones, I stood next to a mammoth that lived in the same area as me, I traveled via bike and train to see new areas of Japan that I have never seen before... Lets get a really cool and interesting lunch!

(Colonel Sanders!!!!!)

That's right!  We went to KFC.  And you know what... It was REALLY good!  I honestly think it was some of the best chicken I have had in a long time.  I had a spicy chicken sandwich, and it was actually spicy!  I had such a good time there.

Before we left I walked over to the trashcan to throw everything away... wrong.

Again with this trash business!  

Lisa had to show me how to throw this away here, and that away there, and you cap of the bottle here, and the tissue there, and the ice in this part, and the cup here, and the wrapper of the sandwich over there.... (When I get back to America, I am going to enjoy throwing everything away in one big trashcan.  

After lunch, we walked through a huge store.  It was like a shopping mall.  We went to all kinds of different places and shops.  There were some cloths places, and some dollar stores, and some music shops, and even a game center like Dave and Busters! 

We spend a long time in the store, and when we left it was starting to really get hot!

(Now that it was about 2:00)

I suggessted that we find something like ice cream to eat, and Lisa led me to Denny's

(I know right... another American joint) You would think that since I was all the way in Japan, I would avoid these places, but instead, they were all the rage for me!

This Denny's was unlike any I have ever seen!!

(Denny's)

(Denny's)

(Denny's)

(I CAN"T BELIEVE DENNY'S IS THIS GOOD!)

(We ate this awesome parfait at Denny's)

After the long day in Kiryu, we decided to set sail for home...  But what's this???  Could it be that there was a Bonsai Tree tournament in the station that we had to wait in????  Oh yes it could be!

What an amazing day!

We finally arrived home and we cooked some dinner.  We ate a lot that night because we have been walking so much over the past few days.

That night before bed, I wanted to try and rid the box of the birds nest...

I unbent a coat hanger and started to try and dig it out.  I was working on it and Lisa was telling me to not do it now.  I wanted to wake up in the morning and be able to close the door and have no problems with birds or nests.  So I kept working at it.  I looked at her for a second and then I heard a buzzing sound and I felt a bug fly in my ear...

Now I don't know about you, but when an unseen bug flies into a part of my body... it is safe to say that the part of my body that makes me scream the loudest would be when it is in my ear...

After flailing around to get the fly out of my ear (which you would have thought was 10 African Killer Bees from my reaction to it) I had to listen to another episode of everyone's favorite show, Lisa says, "I told you so."  and then I went to bed.

"The revenge of the nest" will have to come another day...

The weekend was fantastic.  These two days made me really want to be and live in Japan for hopefully the rest of my life.  Lisa has been a huge help to me, and I thank her everyday.

I hope you enjoy this blog today.  I will have more coming out soon.  Lots of things still happening.