Tuesday was a day spent in three cities: Fukuyama, Okayama, and Kurashiki. We left Fukuyama a little late, around 9 am I believe, and after an hour and a half train ride we arrived in Fukuyama. Luckily for us, the Fukuyama castle is directly outside of the train station. We headed straight there to tour the castle. I believe this was the one with all of the fans sitting around airing you off? The castles really are starting to blend together! I remember being drenched in sweat though very easily.
After Fukuyama castle we walked around seeing if there was anything else to do. We walked to a few museums, but decided not to go in because we had many other places to go! Plus I was hungry. We went back to the station, and ate lunch at a 'Chinese' restaurant that had a really large lunch set. I say 'Chinese' because it was Japanese Chinese and therefore not Chinese, haha, and I think Japanese Chinese is waaay better than American Chinese which just fries everything and covers it in too sweet sauces. Ew. So we got the lunch specials which had a ton of food in them, lots of cucumbers, and they were amazingly good. Made my tummy happy.
Next, we took the train to Okayama, another long ride, then we took the bus to Okayama castle. I believe this was the castle where an old-fashioned car was sitting out in front, and we got pulled over by a guy who asked if we'd mind being in some pictures. They had a photographer set up on the top floor of the castle, and we were instructed to stand with a group of people by the car and jump up and down and look genki (healthy/energetic/happy). We did our best, but this was weird. We had no idea what it was for. If you see us in an ad or on tv or something, let us know. We got away eventually and went in the castle.
I had been to this castle before, but I liked going again. I like how the castle is almost black on the outside. If I had a castle, it'd be this color. After looking around inside, we went across a bridge towards the garden but didn't go in. We then walked back to Okayama station because we had to meet Nisrene in Kurashiki for dinner at 7!!
A short train ride later we were in Kurashiki, about a half hour before 7. We waited inside for a while, then walked outside, got hot, and came back inside. Finally, Nisrene showed up! YAY! And she brought a fellow co-op of hers who is from Canada. We all ate at the sushi go-round, where I had two plates of melon (canteloupe) and a plate of french fries in addition to more traditional sushi. Nisrene had a plate of cake! It was a good sushi go-round. Keep up the variety.
We finished and it was dark, but we had time before the bus to Nisrene's dorm. We walked over to the Bikan area, which I have written about before, to show Tyler what he was missing. It was a little creepy in the dark because nothing stays open late and no one was really around.
After the bus ride to Nisrene's, we watched some tv, and looked up information online about the earthquake. Yes, there had been an earthquake early Tuesday morning? off the coast near Tokyo (I think?). There was nothing on tv about it, and we were hard pressed to find anything online. Even though, Tyler and I got emails from people at home and in Europe who somehow heard about it. I guess they happen so often in Japan that it just isn't very big news.
A short sleep later, we were up again, and Nisrene made us breakfast. (Thank you! You're crazy and great!) Nisrene had to go to work, and Tyler and I were heading further east to Himeji and then to Kobe. Next time...
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