Trip to Fukushima with the Fujishima Family and Adventures of Mami-chan

On Sunday morning I awoke bright and early to meet with the Fujishima family at the entrance to the onsen.

They had previously arranged a trip for Will and I and told us that it would be somewhere scenic. We had no clue what to expect, but they pulled up in their large minivan and off we went at 9am in the morning. In tow was their two and a half year old daughter, Mami-chan, who is just the cutest little girl in the world. She is always running around the onsen saying "Michael-san" and sometimes she even tries to work out with me. At times she rides her little Hello Kitty tricycle through the old corridors of the onsen and I must admit it is reminiscent of The Shining, but other times she comes in my room and I amuse her with my Shia Labeouf motorcycle toy, which she stole.


We got onto the highway and just kept going and going and going. After we passed Sendai, most of all the passengers were asleep, except for myself and Mr. Fujishima, who was driving. After about 3 hours, including two rest stops, we arrived at a small and extremely traditional tourist village. There were little huts selling souvenirs and they all had thatched roofs. We ate lunch here at a traditional restaurant and I had chicken curry rice, which was totemo oishii (very delicious).



I must mention that parenting styles here are very different, at least from what I observed of Mami-chan and her behaviors throughout the day. It was mostly a lot of planned ignoring and some of it wasn't even planned. After the lunch, we left this area and went to a local castle. This castle is evidently very famous, but it was under construction on the outside so I have no pictures of the exterior. The inside was filled with historical things including real samurai armor, kimonos, weaponry, and souvenirs. It was all quite a trip, especially with Mami-chan running around and trying on the kimono and pitching random temper tantrums.













After the castle we went to a famous street in this town called Dr. Hideyo Noguchi Street. Dr. Noguchi was a famous doctor in Japan long ago, and he is featured on the 1000 yen bill. This street was dedicated to him because he used to have a hospital on the street. But now it has been turned into a coffee shop and we went there for some coffee and cake. I had the most delicious cheesecake and some coffee before walking around outside and seeing the famous street. After this it was getting late and we started our drive back to Naruko. By the time we arrived it was 9pm and it had been a long, fun-filled day trip.