... 

a little more from kasayama 

and then to tsuwano for the yabusame matsuri, another one of the coolest festivals i've been to. maybe not quite as intense as the hadaka matsuri personally, but still memorable...basically screaming samurai on horseback shooting bow and arrows at boards...doesn't get much better than that 

ah spring 

i like the shadows 

nihonjin, former jets, shimane jets, and of course, tom smith 

... 

there was even a little plum hanging on 

camping in ato, part two. as always there was much craziness, but the difference this night was that i don't even feel comfortable putting all of the pics i took on the blog 

okay, so there is a story to this pic. we didn't know any of the nihonjin here at the beginning of the evening. i recently learned a couple japanese jokes, so naturally, someone challenged me to go try them out. a few beers later and i approached them. in japanese i told them, "excuse me, i'm a foreigner and japanese sounds like greek to me, but the futon blew away and the cat is lying on the ground! please help me!" which of course sounds a lot cooler and more funny nihongo de. anyway, instead of laughter, i got looks of concern and before i knew it, they sat me down and starting giving me more food and more beer. soon, we were all over there enjoying their generosity...i will miss the hanami 

one of my favorites... 

isn't this a great tradition?! who invited one-eyed willie? 

... 

dan goes stubby 

on kasayama 

megan's ocha bowl was much better than mine... 

hagi yaki, who knew it was that difficult... 

looks a lot like this at night 

a bunch of the crew headed to the old castle ruins in hagi for my new all-time favorite cultural event: the hanami. basically, you get a bunch of friends (or make some as i'll explain later), some meat, some vegetables, some beer and find the largest concentration of sakura you can - which are illuminated by lights - and sit down and drink and eat...not a bad way to ring in the warm weather, eh? 

megan got "cultural leave" for the week so we hit a bunch of the hagi tourist spots. making glass was one of our first stops 

the following include a few, well, a lot of my favorite sakura pictures. there are various cultural events, camping trips and festivals mixed in; all in all, a pretty decent spring break in japan 

and speaking of the devil! we got to meet glover and tsuru in person! 

also, glover's wife, tsuru was the model for which pucinni's 'madame butterfly' was based on.  

most importantly, of course, was his involvement in the creation of kirin beer. look at a can next time you have one; it's thought that these statues were the impetus for the logo 

the thomas glover house was a definate highlight. overlooking the harbor, this house is a testament to a man who played a key role in the modernization of japan