Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

9/19/2004, Kyushu trip, day 2

(This is the second installment of my story about going to Kyushu.  The first day is here.  The last day is here).

In the morning, we had a very traditional Japanese breakfast, including tamago-yaki (Japanese omelette), rice, miso soup, and plain natto (stinky, slimey, fermented soybeans).  Everything was good.  This was my third time eatting natto so I was definitely getting used to it.

Sakiko and Tooru were kind enough to write down everything we ate, so I could put it in my web site.

After breakfast, we went for a spectacular drive on Mount Aso, which is fairly close to Kumamoto City.  It is spectacular because there are big, green rolling hills everwhere with many different shades of green, grey, and brown.  Among other things, we went to an open air hot spring (rotenburo onsen) called Jigoku (means "hell").  There was a strong smell of sulfur everwhere, but once we got inside, I didn't notice at all.  It was wonderful.

After that, we went down to sea level.  The drive along the ocean side was almost as beautiful.  (Sorry, nothing compares to the views in Mount Aso National Park.) We went to a historical building that was previously an inn operated by a famous Greek/Italian who moved to Japan a long time ago.  Okay, I'm not the biggest history buff, but I got an unexpected surprise inside this place.  I had trouble reading a big sign written in Japanese, so I challenged my friend Sakiko to explain in English.  She did a fantastic job.  Generally, she speaks Japanese except when "practicing" English.  She has a big English vocabulary.  She is just working on becoming more fluent with using what she already knows.  It's interesting.

Here's the whole family near the sea.

And here's Tooru, Yuki-chan, and me.

I also got a watermelon popsicle along the way.  It is triangle shaped with seeds made of chocolate.  It's delicious.  Sorry.  No picture.

After the museum (well, inn), we had lunch.  Deep fried octapus curry with rice.  It was tasty.  I also had some orange soft-serve ice cream.  Man, do I love the ice cream and popsicles here.

For dinner, Tooru cooked a feast.  Deep fried octapus.  Raw horse meat.  Lots and lots of stuff.  I don't know how to say it all in English, but it was a great feast.

I should mention that playing with Yuki-chan is always a delight.  I had planned to watch Tooru cook, but Yuki-chan was wondering pacing house chanting "dou shiyou kana..." which means "hmmm... I wonder what I should do?".  It's awfully cute.  Finally, I gave in.  I abandoned my post watching Tooru cook.  I went up and helped her put together some train parts and I played her tiny toy piano.  What a kick.

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