Castles and Centipedes

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

I was really excited to sleep in on Saturday. That is, until I was preparing for bed at about 3am and remembered that the Shiga JET picnic was the next day, as well as a tour of Hikone castle. So much for sleeping in!

I met Elizabeth on the platform and we hopped a train for Hikone, the second largest city in the prefecture. There, we met up with 25 other JETs, were divided into two groups and handed fans, which are wonderful!, and stated walking to the castle. Each group had a Japanese guide who spoke English, which was quite nice.

The castle itself is up on a hill. Once upon a time, it had three moats, but the outmost one has been filled in for roads. The castle was finished in 1622 by the Ii family, who ruled as domain lords over the Hikone area. Much of the castle is actually original and it is considered one of the finest castles in Japan.

We walked up the hill (the castle, of course, being on top) and were greeted by a small canopy with misting hoses underneath. We all crowded under those and didn't really want to leave. There was also an ice cream vending machine on top, which I found to be an unfair marketing strategy, but I didn't give in.

There was a nice view of the surrounding area, including Lake Biwa from both the top of the hill and the top of the castle. Once inside the castle, we had to take off our shoes (and were handed plastic bags to carry them with us. The castle itself was wood and mostly empty of furnishings. The stairs, however, are incredibly steep (steeper than the ones in Alyssum's house!) and work almost like a ladder. Modern safety features (like traction and handrails) have been added, but it would still never fly in America. Someone would fall and sue. Having stairs like this apparently makes the castle easier to defend.

Once on top, we could look out windows in all four directions. I chatted some with the guide as I recognized a landmark.

Back downstairs again, we put on our shoes and went walking down to the gardens – Genkyu-en, which, really, are lovely. As I told Travis, “when I marry wealthy, I'll have a garden like this.” The gardens themselves are Chinese-influenced and were completed in 1677. There was a cute little tea house that sits over a pond which, according to my guide book will serve treats and tea, but we didn't stop.

From there, we took a train to Nagahama, where the barbeque was held. We stopped in a little conveience store so people could buy drinks and I browsed sunscreen. The only one they had was probably about 2 ounces and cost $15. I'm looking elsewhere.

In the park, which had fountains and was next to what appeared to be a castle, we eventually found the rest of the group, under a shelter near lake Biwa. There was a monkey in a cage in the park that we passed on the way – he looked hot. There was also a stray cat that hung around our gathering. The place had been decorated with colored posters – one for each new JET with a mario theme.

Dinner was grilled. Among the returning JETs there is one pescetarian (vegetarian who eats fish), and one vegetarian afficinato. Among the new crowd, there are two lacto-ovo vegetarians (traditional vegetarians who eat no meat and no fish, but do eat dairy and eggs), and one vegan. I think we surprised the planners, as they weren't anticipating so many vegetarians and weren't prepared.

I spent a lot of time chatting with Chiam, who is plenty happy to let me use her as an example of vegan any time anyone is surprised about me being a vegetarian. I also chatted with Elizabeth and Dusty, who followed through on his promise and picked me up some vanilla for 1/6 the price of my local grocery store. It was still expensive, but I happily paid him and thanked him.

Many of the boys stripped their shirts and stated playing ultimate frizbee. They later went swimming in the lake at dusk (some on shore made sure the rest of us know how polluted that water is) and, at one point, held their removed.... shorts over their heads to let the watchers know they were now skinny dipping. They did all get together, arms over shoulders, in a long line and jump at one point, revealing, in the dim light, a long row of scrawny pale behinds.

Some returnees stole their clothes off the beach, meaning they had to stand around dripping in whatever boxers/shorts they went swimming in until they managed to persuade the right people.

I got some lovely pictures of the sunset.

We were cleaning up the sight when Roxy screamed. Turns out a giant centipede had crawled over her foot. There are about 5 inches long, and are actually poisonous. They can kill you. Several of us got pictures. While we were all calming down, there was a scream at the other end of the pavilion: May had been bitten by a different one. Her loyal friends smashed it. May didn't want to go to the hospital, claiming she was fine, although her foot where she was bit was swollen. Brain got on the phone and started taking care of stuff. Many of the returnees say these centipedes are rare and they've only seen one in their entire time in Japan.

I have not heard an update on May.

Elizabeth and I took the train home, happily resting our feet. It was a long day, and we were both exhausted.

I made crepes.