Where we`ve been...

KayoSan
-stayed in a temple, with amazing meals, prayers in the morning, tatami mat room, and tiny perfect garden
-saw the fabulous parade for Kobo Dashi`s birthday
-spent lots of time in Okuno-in cemetery, crying among the cedar trees
-Met Joh (pronounced yo) late at night, who took us out to dinner, gave a room to sleep in when we couldn`t find the fabled campsite, fed us breakfast, and drove us to the train station in the morning!!!!

Beppu
-went to two hospitals, saw two doctors, many nurses, and was helped out by on of the hostel staff the whole time (who droves us all around, waited with us, and translated everywhere for us)
-went way up into the mountains behind Beppu and spend a few hours in a hidden wild onsen, in a big stream in the forest...fabulous. Followed by sushi dinner with everyone, of course.
-visited the Beppu Sex Museum...very interesting!!

Miyjima
-wandered around in the dark looking for a place to camp, set up the tent in the dark, and had a surprisingly good sleep at a very strange inclined angle
-was followed by a very cute small fox-like thing (that Scott and Justin saw when they were in Japan)
-woke up to a mother deer right outside our tent, who then ate her breakfast of berries while we packed up

Hiroshima
-saw the Atomic Dome, the Peace Memorial, and the museum. Very impactful. Nuclear war BAD!!!
-was asked by many school children, in halting English, what I thought of the memorial and how it made me feel

Kyoto
-went to a crazy busy temple, high on the hill
-wandered around in the old part of town, through little streets crowded with old wooden buildings.
-saw Geishas (again)
-hung out in Gion district, didn`t see Geisha here though, but ate a fabulous meal
-went to an amazing flea market (enormous!!!)
-spent the day with Peter`s friend Akari, who showed us the sights
-and visited the bamboo forest

There is much more, but I will spruce it up later, when I have more time....

Bamboo excursions...

So, I know it has been awhile since I put an update. We have been either crazy busy or no where near a computer (in other words, on a train, LOL).
I have a few days to myself right now, as Peter has gone to climb Mt. Fuji (YAY Pete!!!). I decided to stay in Kyoto. I am kinda bummed about this, as I really wanted to see Fuji and the sunrise at the top would have been awesome. However, I know my feet (and my energy levels) would not be able to handle it.
Today I saw Peter off on the train, had a nice sushi lunch at one of the fabulous circular sushi restaurants, and the decided to go and find the bamboo forest I had heard about. It was only a 20 minutes train ride out of Kyoto, and a little walk through the town. It was very beautiful. I started in a smaller forest, with bamboo that was not very old or tall. I then wandered into the temple that resides in the forest, which had beautiful gardens (apparently one of the oldest in Japan). I also encountered a tiny little shrine tucked away in the bamboo and moss. It has this funny little bridge made of bamboo. It was so tiny and it only went over moss. Yet it seemed important somehow, based on how everything was structured around it. I never found out what it meant??
It was SO hot in the forest that I had to take my glasses off because they were completely fogged up. I sweat so much that hours after I got back to the hostel the clothes I had hung to dry are still damp.
This post would have been longer, but Peter ended up stuck at the base of Mt. Fuji because no one will take him up to Station 5 tonight. I`ve been helping him figure out how to get up there and back tomorrow. It is not yet climbing season (which happens in July and August), and the transport up the mountain is very scant right now. He`ll miss his sunrise at the top, but hopefully he`ll get to climb it tomorrow starting really early.
I am going to post a list of things we have done so far, just so people can get an idea of where we have been.