Kanazawa and Hopp one in Hakuba

So yesterday morning we awoke with all agleam in our eyes, For this is the day in which I was to see a ninja dera (ninja temple) and a Samurai castle. I couldn't even describe to you how excited i was to see these two things. so the story goes, we went to this temple and found out it wasn't actually a ninja temple...story of my life... BUT what we did find out is that it was a Samurai temple with many tricks and illusions to fool enemy ninja sent to the kill the Feudal Lords back in the day. Things such as murder stairs, hidden stairways, trick doors, and many other little things that were designed to help the lord hide in his temple or to injure the intruders.

Next was the castle, and to say the least, utter disappointment...So as it turns out, back when the Feudal Lords were all battling, basically all the castles got burned down by each other...so there was no actual castle... we did get to run around the grounds of the castle and ended up hearing about the history and the layout of the grounds from a volunteer guide that found us foreigners wandering around.

we then went to the park, Kendo -something something park...it was absolutely fantastically gorgeous!! it is actually one of the three most popular and famous parks of all Japan!!!

afterwards we went to the a fish market.... This was sooooooo cool! literally a ton of small alleys lined with fisherman and their days wears shouting out trying to sell them! we found a 600 dollar fish...a ginormous tuna fish!!! it was mainly crab season, so we saw tons and tons of crabs!!! one of which pinched a mouthy Japanese guy as he tried to mockingly make fun of me for not being brave and stinking my finger in his claw.....serves him right!!!

we also found a super famous street that has been filmed in movies many times ( can't name any though)....but we found a gold leaf shop!!!! and they let us eat straight gold!!! also let it be known that i was dared to snort some.... and as thick headed and manly as I am....i totally did... two words: no bueno

after this tiresome and fun filled day, we ended up at a 100 yen ($1) sushi shop..... I will try my best to accurately describe this... but basically you sit in a booth with you buddies and there is a big super long conveyor belt that brings out hundreds of plates of different kinds of sushi and you just pluck it off the belt as it goes by and eat it....they charge you per plate as it all cost 100 yen a plate.... all us boys had and average of like 10 plates each, the girls averaged 6 plates each... we then retired for the evening.

when we did get home, we started packing the van for what came today, Hakuba, and more specifically Hopp one resort..... a HUGE mountain!! with a 5 mile long run...it was sooooooo awesome!!! I actually switched backs to skiis for today because i wanted to keep up with all the pro boarders i was with, as it turns out... I like boarding better now, the skii boots were too big and multiple feet of snow is now bueno on those skiis...i should have stayed on a board.. on the upside! i met a british guy and his student Andy who was learning English and how to skii. i also bumped into 2 Australian Girls who thought my American accent was cute. Also 2 ladies from New Zealand who i skiied with for awhile because we were all trying to get to the bottom of the gondola... This place was sooooo big, i literally got lost with a map... yeah... with a map... so once i made it down to the gondola, i ate lunch quick and had a beer while chatting to three British guys in the local pub. As it turns out, everyone from everywhere was there that day. I also met a gentleman from Chicago IL but has lived in Asia for the past 20 years and is currently in Singapore doing HR work...

we all came home to Sally's famous cooking and we had Curry.... The really hilarious Satoshi came over and brought his brother with him...they all are playing card games around the table... while Tyler and I blog away, and everyone is winding down....

I am sore and tired, so I'm going to to soak in the bath tub with healing bath mineral waters.. peace out