Thursday

Today was a very busy day for all of us. It's only 8:00 pm and both Xav and Jen are already asleep.

This morning we began with a short walk around the neighborhood, where we found a lot of tiny frogs and a cool black salamander. Later in the day we even saw a pretty big brown snake. This area is really full of life.

In the morning we went back to school to pick up Xav's sandals (which he forgot there), then we went shopping at Yu Station. The first photo is of Yu Station, which used to be a train station before the train line was ended about 20 years ago. Now there is a really interesting mirrored building where the station used to be.

Then we picked up Hisako from her calligraphy class and ate lunch. We had broccoli and tomato pizza.

After lunch we went to Yusuikyo, a river park in Oguni. The river is incredibly shallow, only up to the ankles, but the water flows fast and cool. The whole river bed is not mud like most rivers, but a beautiful bed of solid rock upon which it is easy to walk. A couple of spots were slimy and a bit dangerous, but overall it was really cool. With the weather getting hotter, it felt great to walk in the cool water. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of this experience, which included a really tall waterfall.

Then we drove to Kurokawa Onsen, where Chris does most of his research. We visited a few inns, and took this photo along the river in front of a beautiful inn. We also visited a cake shop, where we met Yuki, seen in this photo.

Finally, we met this great dog as he was first facing off against a big cat. Then the cat went away and he smiled for us.

Tomorrow we'll finally leave Oguni. We plan to eat lunch with Hisako's parents and visit Kumamoto Castle. Sounds fun!