Day 6 in Japan

Me, our mother, Fred and Cheryl at Fukuroda Falls.



Fukuroda Falls.



There were beautiful scenes in the country, just like this.



Ken-chan, Fred and Jessica checking to see if they could catch a fish.



The Dragon Bridge.



This is me at the entrance of the Dragon Bridge.

MONDAY, MAY 26

Ken-chan took two days off so he could take us somewhere. He rented a van that sat eight so we could all go in one vehicle.

He told us to get ready to leave at 9 a.m.

Not a problem since we all got up so early every day. I think we were drugged or something.

During this time, Cheryl and i came down with severe coughs. Again our relatives came through, bringing all sorts of medication and cough drops. We just kept coughing.

The special place Ken-chan took us was Fukuroda Falls. It took about two hours. It got to the point that we took to joking about the length of time it took to get somewhere.

It seemed like everything was an hour-to-two hours to get wherever we were going.

It was gorgeous.

At the entrance to the falls, we got a wheelchair for my mother. We pushed her to the first observation point. She didn't want to go any further.

After our fill of the falls, we wandered down the village where we sat at one store and had some tea. We bought grilled whole fish and some other goodies and shared them with the pretty little cats that lived at the store.

We left and went to find a place that Ken-chan had read about. It was a small shop that made sake. Amazingly, we found it and it turned out the proprietor offered sake tastings.

He was this cute little old man whom I believe we woke up from his nap.

The three different sakes we tasted were nothing like the ones we have here in the States.

I bought a bottle.

And then we went to another place that Ken-chan had read about.

It was in this gorgeous river where a bamboo contraption was built. The bottom was in a V. Apparently, fish would be trapped there and all you have to do is stand at the bottom of the ramp and catch the fish. They are freshwater fish similar to a sardine. I think.

Jessica, Fred and Ken-chan took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and got wet.

It wasn't the season for the fish, but we could see how fish was caught.

We had one more stop. It was this spectacular bridge that went nowhere. It's a strange thing. The bridge, a pedestrian bridge, spanned a 1,000-meter gorge. You walk across and then walk back. I swear.

We had lunch there, and just as we were ready to walk the bridge, a storm came up and they closed the bridge. A good idea since it's a steel structure.

And a good thing for Ken-chan because he's afraid of heights. He made like he was disappointed, but we all knew better.

On our way home, we stopped at a grocery store and bought dinner.

Another full day. And we have another full day tomorrow.