Too Many Pictures, Too Many Smiles

Today we went to the area at the base of Mt. Fuji.  I have pictures.  many, many pictures.  So many pictures, in fact, that I will only be giving commentary when absolutely necessary.



Tunnels in Japan are long and numerous.

I don't think this really needed to be a sign.  I feel like improper toilet use is not a big enough problem to necessitate a sign in every stall.

Rest stop.

Breakfast.

Mountains.

Mt. Fuji.

And again.

I don't know what this was, but I think it was a bizarrely-designed restaurant.

This was a car dealership.  This lot.  That's all.

Lake.

GIANT KOI.

WE FED THEM.

GLORP GLORP GLORP

The primary purpose of our visit was to go to my host dad's father's grave.  It's at this nice cemetery, where the only sounds were birds, wind, and VROOM VROOM VROOM from the nearby Fuji Speedway race track.

VROOM VROOM VROOM

We also stopped to visit some relatives of my host family.  They lived in this house, which was about as fancy inside as the gardens outside.

Except we didn't get to go inside.  I'm just going on what I saw from the door.  Anyway, that's the end of the garden.  If I didn't separate these, they'd look like they were part of the garden.

But they're a shrine.  A fancy shrine dedicated to Mt. Fuji.

I have no idea who this horse is or why he has a statue to which you can offer your wishes, and neither did my host family.

This was at another rest stop.  It's a hot spring, but only for your feet.  You're supposed to walk around on those rocks there and come out feeling like you had the best foot massage ever.  It works.

They had Mt. Fuji ice cream.

And a Mt. Fuji rice ball.  Guess which one I got.

It was "blue rose" flavor, so imagine rose flavor, but blue.

Kumomoto is not know for mangoes at all, so I have no idea why Kumamon is on this package.

For lunch I had daikon soba.  It's like soba but with radish.

The biggest swan boat.

More mountains, and that's where the Fuji part of today ends.  After that I went to school and talked to Kayo and Misaki for a while, and then I walked home.

This is the road I took home.  It goes through lots of fields, and so I was the only person on it.  It was the best.

One of today's cafe customers got to go to Tokyo Skytree (this Eiffel Tower-ish thing that just opened and is obnoxiously tall), which every news station is talking about these days.  He gave us some Skytree chocolate, which was pretty good.  Mostly I just liked it because it was probably limited-edition since the place opened just yesterday.

Tomorrow is probably karaoke and more school talking.  WHOOOOOO