Crazy Japan strikes again!

Today we leave for Tokyo, so this will likely be the last update before we get home. So let me fill you in on what we've been up to for the last day or so.

Yesterday we went on a hike with the junior high students at Kitasanbe School (one of Steve's mountain schools). What a serious hike! Mt. Sanbe is the highest mountain in Shimane prefecture, and is actually one of a series of mountains that once formed the outside of a volcano (I think, but as I don't speak Japanese, some details slip by. But it makes for a good story). So the day started with a climb to the top of Sanbe, about an hour. Then we descended that mountain through a gorge of slippery rocks to a lake at the bottom, and climbed up to the top of the next mountain, where we had lunch. Luckily, the weather was not the best yesterday, it was supposed to rain, so they cut the climb short and we omitted one of the mountains from the excursion. The climb continued along a ridge between the second mountain and Sanbe, and we arrived again at the top of Sanbe (very tired, legs like jello and ready to give out at any moment...). I've never been so happy to be at the top of a mountain. Back down to the bottom and we were all done. It was a full day, we started climbing at 8am and were not done until around 3pm. We couldn't have been happier to get to the onsen that afternoon, where we relaxed and then watched sumo and ate icecream.

We were then ready to start eating again, and decided on kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) for the third time this trip. We were craving something called ebi-fry-maki-zushi, which is shrimp tempura roll, and soooo good! One of the kids on the climb has a brother who works at this place, and she was making fun of us because the last time we were there we ordered six of these. Anyway, half way through the meal we found out that the pizza place we wanted to go to was open, so we left and headed for our next round of eating. One pizza, six beers and three free sausages later, we were at the local Lawsons to pick up some refreshments and snacks. Many people wanted to see us on our last night in Ohda, so we had a mini party here at Steve's house complete with mini-Japanese style keg to serve nama (draft) beer.

Thats about it. We don't really have too many plans for the rest of the trip except that we hope to leave for Tokyo today around noon, however at the rate we're going, it will be much later than that.

So,,,thats it for now. We're looking forward to hearing from everyone, and settling back into our lives (do I really have to go back to work???).

Talk to you soon,
Torie (and Erik)