Thursday, February 5, 2010
We ventured out into the city today. First we visited an ancient shrine. It's customary to cleanse the hands first and then use a wooden spoon to put water into your mouth to swish and spit (this is to cleanse the mouth before entering the shrine). Next, in front of the shrine, I threw a gold 50Yen coin in the fountain for good luck, pulled the rope to ward off evil spirits, and made a wish ( I can't remember if it was done in that exact order:)
After the shrine, we drove out to Kujokoshima Park (home of the 99 Islands). You'll see some of the tour boats in the picture. Unfortunately, it was too cold to go out on one of the boats so we'll save that trip for a later time.
Then we were off for a Japanese lunch. Luckily, we had a Japanese translator with us to help us with our order. However, we did find out that this particular place did have the menu in English. The food was very, VERY good.
After lunch, of course, we had to make a trip to the bathroom. I'll just say, the bathrooms are different here. What you see in the picture is what most bathrooms here have (a squat potty). Most also don't have toilet paper, so be sure you bring extra tissue with you. Thankfully, one American toilet was there and boy what a treat- a heated seat! I've got to buy one of these to take back to the states with us.
We ventured out into the city today. First we visited an ancient shrine. It's customary to cleanse the hands first and then use a wooden spoon to put water into your mouth to swish and spit (this is to cleanse the mouth before entering the shrine). Next, in front of the shrine, I threw a gold 50Yen coin in the fountain for good luck, pulled the rope to ward off evil spirits, and made a wish ( I can't remember if it was done in that exact order:)
After the shrine, we drove out to Kujokoshima Park (home of the 99 Islands). You'll see some of the tour boats in the picture. Unfortunately, it was too cold to go out on one of the boats so we'll save that trip for a later time.
Then we were off for a Japanese lunch. Luckily, we had a Japanese translator with us to help us with our order. However, we did find out that this particular place did have the menu in English. The food was very, VERY good.
After lunch, of course, we had to make a trip to the bathroom. I'll just say, the bathrooms are different here. What you see in the picture is what most bathrooms here have (a squat potty). Most also don't have toilet paper, so be sure you bring extra tissue with you. Thankfully, one American toilet was there and boy what a treat- a heated seat! I've got to buy one of these to take back to the states with us.
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