11 June 2009

I slept-in until noon this morning, and it was really nice! I probably could’ve slept even longer since I’ve been so tired, but twelve hours of sleep was sufficient. Miyo had brunch ready when I went downstairs, so we had fried rice with tsukemono and other leftovers from last night’s dinner. It was quite a large meal, especially since it was the first one for the day for me. After finishing up with brunch, Toshio, Masaru, and I left in their Prius to visit a couple sites around their house. First we visited Suwa Shrine. It was pretty warm outside, so I hoped it wasn’t located up a steep mountainside or anything. Luckily it was situated close to the road, so the walk wasn’t bad at all. Next, we walked to the Music Box Museum. A lady gave us a short tour of the two-story museum and demonstrated multiple music boxes to our group. It was really neat since I had never really seen so many large scale music boxes. Music is a universal language as well, so I didn’t have to worry about the language barrier while listening to the music. Following the Music Box Museum, we walked a couple blocks to the Seiko Watch Museum. Behind the museum, there was a huge water-driven astrological clock. We were able to walk inside of the two-story structure, but it was very hot and stuffy inside. The water wheel was incredibly loud, but I guess it makes sense since the gadget was substantially old. The museum itself probably would’ve been much more interesting if I could’ve read Japanese. There were many hands-on gadgets to help you learn about how a clock works, but I couldn’t read the signs so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Toshio and Masaru don’t take much time to walk through museums though, so at least I don’t have to feel bad about walking through them fairly quickly. Lastly, we visited the stone Buddha. We parked in front of another temple which was being renovated, and we walked for about 10 minutes along a dirt path to find it. We took some photos in front of it and headed home for dinner.
Miyo had been cooking for most of the day since she stayed at home while we were out. Dinner is always eaten at 6:00pm, so we made sure to get home by that time. For dinner, Miyo had made shumai, bamboo rice, grilled vegetables, tsukemono, and miso soup. It was once again a really good meal! I feel so lucky to have such good homemade meals everyday for every meal. Hopefully I don’t get too fat! Haha. The rest of the evening was very relaxing. We had plans to Skype with my parents and grandma at 10:30pm our time, so we all showered and waited for the exciting Skype call. As planned, my parents called at 10:30pm, and Miyo, Masaru, Toshio, Mitsunori, and I were all able to talk with my grandma and parents. It was such a special moment for everyone! Everyone talked for about 30 minutes until we finally said our goodbyes. The rest of the night, Masaru, Miyo, and Toshio were completely astounded by the possibilities of the internet. I don’t think they completely understand how Skype works yet, but hopefully we were able to do it again soon.