03-joumae.jpg here we are in front of Kumamoto Castle. The three of them had the brilliantly original idea of assuming a pose reminiscent of the show "Charlie's Angel's", although they are young enough that I suspect that the pose was intended to be reminiscent of the movie "Charlie's Angels." Anyway, I liked the picture that they didn't know I took before the posed one better, so here it is. In front of Kumamoto Castle 02-dagroop.jpg Here we are in front of Kumamoto castle, with some poor guy whose job it is to wear the traditional castle peon garb and sit out front getting his picture taken with rubes like us. From right to left: Eugene, Elaine, Peon, Kai, Geoff, Some midget we don't know. The Group 11-shichigosan.jpg This weekend was also the Shichi-Go-San holiday, where children aged seven (shichi), five (go), and three (san) are dressed up in wild kimono and dragged to the local temples. Here is one such kid and her four handlers leaving the hotel. Shichi-Go-San Geoff: "Don't take a picture of me; I am trying to count." Eugene: "I can see your cards." 06-asohole.jpg Mt. Aso is a volcano that we visited in Kyushu. Here is its steaming crater. Mt. Aso 07-asogroop.jpg Here we are on the top of Mt. Aso. The environment up there was really freaky. It was so cold and windy, and this strange rain was always falling. Everything in every direction was pretty much either grey or blue-grey. I found it post-apocalyptic. Hence the huge smile on my face. It would appear that Elaine also loves the Apocalypse, while Kai is rather unenthused. Mt. Aso 2 10-planesunset.jpg Here is the sunset from the plane on the way home from Kumamoto, with some mountain poking through the clouds. Ain't it purty? Sunset 09-lovebacon.jpg Eugene loves Bacon. Six Degrees of Bacon 01-kumonight.jpg This is Kumamoto at night. It is not a big city or a small town really; it is somewhere in the middle. And it has real electric streetcars! You can see Kumamoto castle lurking in the background. Kumamoto at Night Kai: "Wait, what am I doing?" Spades 05-fishcut.jpg In a game center in Kumamoto, we found a really cool game where you have to slice fish like a sushi chef. It's harder than it sounds. Sadly you don't get any fresh sushi when you win either. Fish Cutting Game 08-spades.jpg During this trip I learned to play spades with my cohorts. The play sometimes became very intense, mostly due to someone being overly competitive. Here are some captions:
Eugene: "I can see your cards."
Geoff: "Don't take a picture of me; I am trying to count."
Kai: "Wait, what am I doing?"
Spades