Day 6-7: From Seaside to rural Japan to the city

On the morning of our last day on the road, we saw a tree covered with caterpillars. Masa shuddered and walked away while the rest of us took five steps closer. These little guys had been finding their way to our tents and we often saw them crawling on our shirts. We packed our stuff, took a morning hike up the hill and then started our drive away from Shibukawa Seaside.

In the Bikan district in Kurashiki, we stopped to check out some 17th century wooden warehouses. The wood used to build the warehouses were often burned to create this dark sooty exterior. My hands turned black after I ran them along the walls.

There seems to be a job for everyone in Japan. This man was hired to tell people to beware of the electrical cords going across the footpath. In Vancouver, we'd probably just get an orange cone.

Sake!

Last year, Will the Botanist had done a Help Exchange in a small rural town in the Hyogo prefecture called Fukuura. He had stayed with an American couple, Mark and Carol, and Carol's mom, Ayako. The couple had decided to move to rural Japan and buy their house for only 20,000USD! In Japan, rural homes get auctioned at low prices because everyone's moving to bigger cities but the buyers aren't actually allowed to inspect the house. They only got a couple of photos. Their home was absolutely beautiful. We slept on a big comfy bed in a room with a sliding door. The stairs leading to the room upstairs were narrow and steep.

 The very next day we borrowed two bikes and took a ride around the neighbourhood.

Our stay with Carol and Mark was way too short. They dropped us off at the train station and we hurried off after a photo to buy our tickets to Osaka.

Once we arrived in Osaka, we went straight to a park in the city centre where one of Will the Botanist's friends had organized a picnic. The place was beside a rose garden that was in full bloom.

A couple of hours later, after we had our fill of convenience store snacks, we were on the go again. We took the train at Osaka station and got to Kyoto station at around 8pm. Masa picked us up and took us to Kaitenzushi, sushi served on a conveyor belt. We watched Masa's stack of plates rise higher and higher as we took our time selecting. When we went up to pay, he refused our money. We shoved our money at him again and he waved it off and said, "Welcome to Kyoto".

I've learned it's pretty hard to refuse a Japanese person's generosity.