cheerful disposition part one & two.

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It happened before and now it happened again …

I was squashed into the fully packed train heading to work. During that time of the day it’s sometimes even difficult to get your phone out to read your mails. But I followed the Japanese habits and had a little peek into my inbox.

“ … alles gebucht, wir kommen!!! Marlene & Stephanie” <> all booked we are coming!!!

What, when ... where!? I couldn’t believe it that they would come down here to visit. But then I checked the dates 24.06 – 10.07 … oh NO!? That’s the RAINING SEASON here in Japan. I felt sorry for them … rain for two weeks! I called them but they couldn’t change the dates.

So they came to visit me on the island…

I met them in Tokyo for just one day to show them big city life and to make them crave for silence, peace and freedom … Because Yam san and I organized a little nature trip down to Shimoda in the Shizuoka prefecture. On Saturday afternoon Marlene, Tiffe and I took a train from Tokyo down to the beautiful peninsular. We met up with Yam, Yuka and two other friends of them half way down in a little town to continue our trip by car.

Our cottage was located in Shimoda, Izu-hanto surrounded by a tropical bamboo forest. We arrived in the evening and decided to spend all night outside by the fireplace, having Yakiniku (BBQ), Hanabi (fireworks) and all kinds of different Sake. I think that was the night Stephanie fell in love with Umeshu (Japanese plum wine) at the same time Marlene discovered that she dislikes the bitter strong taste of Sasai (Japanese sea snails); fair enough it’s a tough one.

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set it on fire ...

a little firework …

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It rained and raind and raind …and when we woke up it still did. After some early banana pancakes we headed down to the beach to get wet and to preserve one's honour in a distinctive football match. JAPAN vs. DEUTSCHLAND the result was a bit better then the WC game against Spain. 2:5 Olé!

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it's weekend ...

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We had lunch in the bay at Cape Iro-zaki near by the lighthouse at the southern peak before we did the little hike up the scenic spot, with its lighthouse and the little shrine that is set in stone, hanging above the thunderous ocean breakers accented by the towering cliffs.

… stunning!

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°°°°

cheerful disposition *part two.

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There is definitely one brilliant feature in Nagoya. It’s the fact that the city is located right in the middle of the island and all the lovely spots are easy to reach. S&M used that advantage and went on little one day to two day trips until our little round trip to Osaka, Kyoto & Hikone Castle.

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Yamamotos parents where already waiting for us in front of a traditional restaurant when we arrived in Kyoto. Because the wanted to invited us for dinner … This restaurant visit turned out to be the most sophisticated and delicious dining experience I had so far in Japan.

The first night we stayed in a crazy little hostel in Kyoto until we moved to Yam sans grandfather’s house. This night was the foot ball night when the Argentinean vs. the German team. We went to a sports bar supporting the German team. It was exhausting and lots of fun … 4:0 NO WAYYYYYYY.

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We devoted our next days to the Japanese culture visiting Kyoto’s food, temples, castles & nature.

Just enjoy the pix.

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in Kyoto ...

watashitachi – the mosquito performance.

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sneaked up to Hikone Castle …

It was already closed. So we had the most amazing scenery just for us.

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