Case of the Cute-sies

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Today I decided to take the train (Japan is probably the best country in the world for trains) to Inuyama (a place Sarah recommended to me). I Think this town was hit upside the head by the ulitmate cute stick. It's a place like this that I would love to learn the language and spend the rest of my life. It's absolutely gorgeous and surrounded on most sides by a canal (which I'm currently sitting beside). Beyond the canal are beautiful small mountains and hills covered in trees. I went to the castle here - which is the oldest in Japan and then to one of Japan's finest teahouses Urakuen before going to eat some of the best Italian food I've ever had in my life at a tiny little mom and pop place recommended by the Bible ... oh, I mean Lonely Planet ... called Bistro. It's the first place in Japan where I felt I actually needed to tip them for such good food. Now I'm headed to a male shrine. Looking forward to seeing how good it is. I've decided Japanese culture is much better than chinse - somehow they manage perfectly the art of being one of the most modern countries in the world while also keeping their own culture safe.

Only the GOOD die young, only the good die young. I'm sitting across from a Japanese Zach Patterson. I swear besides being taller and slimmer this guy could almost pass for Zach's twin. For whatever reason we all just had to get off the train and wait before getting on again. I'm not really sure as to why. THe train people are some of the hardest to understand. They're like watching the news channel when it's focused on a guy sitting at a desk giving the news - no action so impossible to understand (trust me, if you've ever tried to do it with a language you're just learning it's really hard). But in general the Japanese seem to be extremely polite. I've stopped quite a few who have been extremely happy to give me directions (all in Japanese but there's enough body language for me to follow what they're saying). i just stopped a guy in the grocery store, where I was buying cheap traditional snack food, to ask for the bathroom - I must have asked literally for the bath room because he looked at me like I was nuts and gave me directions really far away only for me to walk out of the store into a restroom. The Japanese also seem to be almost obsessively clean and strictly obey the rules. Unlike India or China, if there's a crosswalk with a no crossing signal they all sit and wait patiently for it to change to green and then (in the cities) big mobs go across the street. They continue to follow the same rule even when there's no traffic.

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Photos

Nagoya Drinkin Buds
Decided to go out and chill so I wouldn't be alone. Look who I found! Three of the boys are Australians, Barry is right behind me with the peace sign. The rest are Japanese guys.