Day 05 - 01/01/1998: Green Field: Now the obligatory Japanese Anime reference, a rice field with new growth. In Japanese Anime the most powerful statements are made through the use of stillness. This is the only photo for this day, but I can tell you about the day...
I was awoken early by the sound of the Boso-zoku doing burnouts around the streets of Kobayashi. Then after finally getting back to sleep I was awoken by Ritsuko's brother and his wife coming back from trying to watch the sunrise at the beach (50km away). Traditionally the New Year does not begin until the sun rises so Japanese people like to watch the sunrise over the ocean on New Year1, unfortunately in that part of Japan on that New Year it was very cloudy, so no one could see the sunrise.
This was the day I first tried an onsen (hot spring). It was an outdoor natural onsen, but it had a high bamboo wall around it. The bathing is segregated with separate walled bathing areas for men and for women.
After the onsen we went to a family restaurant where I ate Katsu Curry. This was the first time I saw a restaurant with orders being taken via a PDA and wirelessly sent to the kitchen. Now they are everywhere in Australia also, but the funny thing was at that time in Japan still the only way of paying for the meal was by cash!
Well that's all for this day, but exciting things are coming up in the next few days of the diary including Kirishima National Park, Kyoto, Shirakawa-go (the World Heritage listed village), and Tokyo.
