Matsue weekend

I spent a 3 day weekend in Matsue, a "very countryside" place in western Japan, and it was fabulous. I went with Justin, who along with Lisa used to live here. It was nice to get a different view of what life in Japan can be like, and to have pictures to go along with all the stories I've heard of this place. We had fun sightseeing and hanging out with the local gaijin, some of whom I've met when they've been through Osaka. Here a lot of the gaijin have cars, to my amazement. I think I've been in a car 4 times in Japan, not counting taxi rides, and here I rode in a car every day! And their apartments were huge, we stayed with Andrew, Calvin and Tanya in their 3 bedroom townhouse, this blew my mind, I don't know anyone in Osaka with such a posh place. They even have a little back yard with grass! Craziness. When we were driving around through the countryside I was again amazed at the size of the homes, so big, and I even saw a 2-car garage! My students are always amazed to hear that at my parent's house we have a 3-car garage, they can't fathom that in the city here.

Anyway, we arrived in the afternoon, so had the day to go around Matsue city while everyone was working. We stopped first into the tourist info which is manned by Justin's former students who were very excited to see him, it was cute. Then we rented some bikes and after lunch and pirikura went to Matsue castle. I was in love with my rented bike, it rode so smooth and the brakes actually worked unlike my bike, it was amazing! Justin stopped suddenly right in front of me and I could stop too without running off the road or into him, it was cool. Anyway, the castle is small but nice, its one of the few remaining original castles in Japan. At the top is a great view of the area.

After the castle we took a boat ride around the castle moat and some of the city's canals. It was nice and scenic, beautiful weather. The boat had a tatami mat, so it was shoes off, I love that the boat had tatami! Who would have thought. The quirky part about this boat ride is that there are several low bridges the boat passes under, so the cover lowers down and you have to lean way forward or just lie down, the kids have it easy. Next we rode around the castle some more and then stopped at an old samurai residence and had a mini photo shoot.

Justin gave me a nostalgic tour of the city, going by his old apartment, and pointing out places like "here's where we had Lisa's birthday party" and "Theres the chain that I fell over on my bike!" It was hilarious. After the trip down memory lane, we rode down to the lakeside to watch the sunset and it was beautful. Made me realize a bit more how I miss being around water so much in Seattle, the closest water to me is the dirty Dotonbori river that looks more like a grey canal. yuck. After the sunset we met up with friends for dinner at an izakaya, feeling very dirty and disheveled from our day of riding around in the blazing sun and humidity. All in all a great day and introduction to Matsue.