Picnic Bread Shrine

Day 6 June 5th, Monday





In the morning I went to the uncles home to do internet. I first helped him move some boxes of produce to sell at the market. At around 11:00 we went hiking up a little hill in-between Tachiarai and Ogoori that turned out to be very steep to have a picnic. The hike up had many stairs, but we had brought the stroller. I carried the stroller and Hiroko took Toshi.

Their family was very happy to spend time together. At the top we had a Japanese picnic of radish, apples, rice balls, cantaloupe Jell-O, and fake fish bars. We took a different route down that was quite scenic. It was a longer walk but we could use the stroller and it was very beautiful.

After lunch we went Akizuki which is a little town where it is illegal to remodel with western style architecture. It is very old. Toyotoshi took us to a famous little bread shop. He spent $14 on fresh bread. It was yummy tho. We then went to a shrine that Hirokoﾕs family goes to often. Hiroko use to play by they shrine as a kid.



After that we stopped at a parking lot and walked through an old district that used to be a Shogunﾕs Palace. The castle is long gone, but there was a nice stroll through a lane of cherry blossoms (not in bloom) and overpriced shops.

We continued the walk to my favorite shrine hidden in a forrest. On the way there we saw wild raspberries and ate them.





I went to that/this shrine when we had a Japanese reception. At that time we could go in and see original bullet holes from the Christian wars. It was closed, but we could walk along the ground.

On the way back to the car Toyotoshi, Hiroko, and I explored the ruined grounds of the palace some. There was not even a foundation left, but there were little statues from that era and a middle school built where the castle used to be.
Before we went home, we stopped at Hirokoﾕs favorite restaurant The Ringer Hut. We had noodles and dumplings. At home I was so tired I crashed until morning. I am not sure what everyone else did.