Saturday on my first weekend. I had to choose events that would leave me some time to study. I don’t know what the ongoing course load will be like but initially I have a lot of catch up to do due to different text books and different methods of teaching. Until I catch up with this I will have a lot of extra reading and studying to do.

I decided to stay in town and do some local stuff including going to see Okazaki Castle. It is a reconstruction of part of a large fortress that existed on the river here and was the scene of some significant historical battles. Hiroshi-san, my home father was keen to go and be my guide. He is a real history buff and lectures me on various things most of which I don’t really understand. There is an American woman in my class who has been here before and we had talked about going to Osaka on the weekend but after class we both had agreed that we needed to do more homework. I asked if she could come along and Hiroshi-san seemed happy with the idea. I met Julie after lunch and we came back to my place and Hiroshi-san drove us to the castle. I had not realized it but he had been a guide there so we got the deluxe tour. We started with a walk around outside and looked at the various traps and walls that were designed to keep out invaders or make it easier to kill them. At 2 PM there was a live event with samurai leaping with swords, spears and other sharp things shouting stuff complete with dramatic poses. I think that they were all supposed to be significant historical figures but the PA was really distorted so it was hard to follow what they were saying It was sort of like the Power Rangers teach history crossed with a game show. It was really hot out in the courtyard and I was glad to get inside out of the sun. Even Hiroshi-san mentioned that it was hot. The castle tower is 4 tall floors high and is a museum inside. You work your way up to the top where you can walk around the exterior balcony which gives you a great 360 degree view of the city. There was another building with some interesting exhibits one of which was a model recreation of a famous battle. Once we finished the tour Hiroshi-san bought us ice cream and we drove back home.

Julie was asked to stay for dinner and we talked for the rest of the afternoon. It turns out that where she lives in California is not that far from where my homestay family’s son lives.

Sunday I studied most of the day with a break in the afternoon to cycle around some. It is still hot but a little better than yesterday. I stopped to have a coffee and happened to meet another student from Yamasa. I had met him once before last week at the ZigZag Bar. I had a walk around Book-Off which has a musical instrument department as well as books, CDs, games etc. After that it was back home for more studying.

Someday I’ll catch up on processing photos and put some up here.