Last week, my host sister Hiromi and her husband Tadasuke were visiting from Shizuoka--that's the area where Mt. Fuji (Fujisan) is. So after we spent the week hanging out together, my host mother and I hitched a ride back with them to Shizuoka and we did some sight-seeing on the way there. We first stopped at a huge shrine in Fujioka where I saw the biggest tori (holy gates) and clearest spring waters in my life. Then we went to see a basin where waterfalls gushed from all sides, where we sat at the top of the falls to eat the specialty of the area, yakisoba. In the afternoon, we drove halfway up Mt. Fuji, where we climbed a little bit, and marveled at the view of the cloud-tops--so high up that it was almost like looking out from an airplane!

Today I took off on my bike to run around Nagoya. I wound my way to Higashi-Betsuin, a huge Buddhist temple that was built in the 1690. Next I rode to the Atsuta Jinguu, one of the three most prominent Buddhist temples in all of Japan. This is because it houses the Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, or a sacred sword representing Japan's imperial throne. The temple was of a Southeast Asian style, and its tall towers made it incredibly easy to spot it from the main road. For more background information read this: http://www.atsutajingu.or.jp/en/intro/.

Japan is always full of places to explore! Until next time, jaa mata!