Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

9/20/2004, Kyushu trip, day 3

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

In the morning, we had a simple traditional Japanese breakfast with leftovers from the previous day.

The primary objectives for the day were to visit the local Kinokuniya bookstore, get some ramen (soup), and get me on my train.  We were successful in all of our endeavors.

First we set out for the Kinokuniya bookstore.  When we were planning the trip, they asked me what I wanted to do in Kumamoto.  I told them I wanted to visit, nice quite places and see the local Kinokuniya bookstore.  We have one in Seattle, so I have an interest in visiting them in Japan.  No particularly good reason or important objective.  On the way to the bookstore, we had to go through a festival.  Sakiko told me ahead of time that there would be a horrible festival.  I didn't know what she meant.  Well, it was people in costumes marching down a covered shopping street yelling into megaphones.  It was extremely loud.  There were kids covering their ears and cowering on the ground.  It really was horrible.  Eventually, we made it to the bookstore and I picked up a GRE prep book and a book on phonetic Japanese words.

Here's a quick snapshot I took with my cell phone of the parade.

After Kinokuniya, we stumbled on another historical building (museum) about a certain Greek/Irish guy who moved to Japan.  We took a quick stroll through there.

Finally, it was time for lunch.  We had some nice ramen and spent a little while reflecting on the awesome time we had together over the weekend.

While we were eating lunch, Sakiko and Tooru were kind enough to make notes about all the food we ate over the weekend.  Here is day 1 (Sat, 9/18/04).

Here is day 2 (Sun, 9/19/04).

And here is day 3 (Mon, 9/20/04).

At the station, I ran into some girls who were in the parade festival.

Going home was a drag.  I had a really nice time in Kyushu with the Masubuchi family.

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