Day 1 has ended. My day started this morning when I woke up, anxious to be going on my first real vacation trip. I woke up with Kana and decided to head out with her at around 7 in the morning. The trains were crowded. Since I had a relatively large suitcase with me, I wasn’t too happy about this. But when I arrived at Tokyo station I was in for a pleasant surprise. I got in line and waited for the bullet train to arrive...>> read more...

If there was one word that I had to use to describe Eichigo yuzawa, it would be “ski.” If I had to describe the town of Touka machi using only one word I would say “art.”...>> read more...

This morning I woke up and ate breakfast at the dining hall. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get pictures of the food this morning because my camera’s battery needed charging. Last night when I woke up at three in the morning to take pictures of the baths...>> read more...

I woke up early in the morning to once again take pictures of the bath. Although it was a more reasonable time. I was actually a little surprised that there were some people up at five in the morning to go to the baths. Granted I was the first one into the bath and I had maybe ten or so minutes to myself...>> read more...

Yesterday I already posted a lot of pictures from the sake festival. It was a pretty nice experience. I was also able to talk to my employer yesterday. We met Mr. Sekine of the Niigata Tourism Board. I was able to walk around the exhibition hall with him and try a lot of his recommendations....>> read more...

It isn’t the sake you are thinking of. I’m referring to this sake. Can you guess what “sake” means in Japanese? Yes, it means salmon. From the moment we got off the train, we were deluged with imagery of salmon. I started to wonder why. I assumed it meant that this town had a tradition of salmon fishing or something. We were given our answer at the restaurant we ate lunch at....>> read more...

On day seven we went to the town of Shibata. I immediately like the look of Shibata’s station. The buildings surrounding the station and connected to the main street were in the traditional style. However, these buildings appeared to be very new. Kind of like the beautification project that Murakami had going...>> read more...

I started my day at 3:30 am. I was trying to beat the traffic into the baths so I could take pictures. As I walk into the bath two guys are walking out. Which I think is a little unfair due to the fact the bath opens at 4 am. I at least waited until the custodian said I could go into the bath at 3:50 am...>> read more...