Japan in Thirty Days

GSE Day 22

07 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment

by gbesses in Gerald/ジェラルド

GSE Day 22
Sunday - a free day. But Tom Okedo offered to show us around the city of his birth, and I was the only one who accepted. He picked me up at 11. First we drove by his office; he designs and builds solar and wind power equipment. The office was closed, but the number of trucks in the yard was impressive. Then we drove to a large field where soccer was being played, and we walked to the beach (Many surfers on what looked to me to be eight inch waves. I only saw one actually ride a wave and he fell, fast - you have to start somewhere, I guess, and I couldn’t do even that much.) while Tom explained that each May there is a large kite festival at this spot, which includes a downtown parade participated in by each of the towns of Hamamatsu. Several days of kite flying, kite fighting, eating and drinking - the video was impressive and the Festival museum

that we went to with the large kites was impressive. He says that about 100,000 people participate in the kite fighting, but the parade part looks busier on the video.
Then to the Hamamatsu fish market - small and busy. There was a small festival nearby and a magician put an audience member into a guillotine-type device and didn’t cut off his head when the knife came down, but did slice the cucumbers on either side. Then wonderful Ramen for lunch. Then to a temple with a marvelous stone garden. We stopped so I could get some caffeine, but I was sleepy anyway. Along the way we called Craig who wanted, along with Bri, to join us for dinner. Windy had sent me a note this morning stating that she wanted a day alone and none of us have heard from Jillian.
Great Inagi (eel) dinner. Apparently, Hamamtsu is famous for eel and there were dozens of restaurants as we drove that featured a sign for eel near the beach and the big bay. Tom took us to a great place near the hotel; we were the only customers, but we were early. Tom had plain Inagi. Craig, Bri and I had a special dish involving three steps - first eat the eel and rice; second mix in scallions and wasabi; third, drown the eel and rice in dashi (a fish broth). I liked the second step best and repeated it until my Inagi was gone - wonderful meal, as they usually are. Then off for Karaoke at a nearby place, for two hours, my voice is now a croak.
Back to the hotel. 9106 steps today.
Tomorrow we go to a Zen meditation place in the morning; present to the Hamakita RC for lunch and a photonics factory in the afternoon. We meet our host families for dinner. The folks I’ve met, so far, have been wonderful.
Editors note: The captions are somewhat loused up and I don’t know how to correct them in this program.