fantastic weekend

I had a great weekend. I finally got internet access in my apartment, I reconnected with some JET friends, and visited a town on the southern coast of Shikoku.

On Saturday I attended disaster training with other JETs. We participated in an earthquake simulation, high wind simulation, fire/smoke simulation, and practiced using fire extinguishers. It was a little silly, but it was nice to see everyone that I met during orientation and hear about how their first few weeks have gone. Here I am in the earthquake simulation.

I didn't get a good pic of the wind situation, but here are some people putting out an anime fire.


Today I went to Hiwasa, a town south of Anan (where the English camp was). I rented a bike for ~$4.50 for the day and saw the sights. During the summer, many loggerhead sea turtles come to the Hiwasa beach to lay eggs. In the last ten years the number of turtles that come has been decreasing. I don't think more than 10 came this year, but never the less, there is a sea turtle museum right on the beach. They had a tank of turtles and many facts and figures about sea turtles. Ever since I did a report about the Galapagos Tortoise in 3rd grade, I have been fascinated by turtles. So I really enjoyed the visit and of course, the souvenir shop. This is the beach.

This is the first exhibit in the sea turtle museum. That shell is an adult loggerhead turtle shell.

These are baby loggerhead sea turtles!


Hiwasa also has a castle and temple. The temple is called Yakuoki and it is the 23rd temple in Shikoku's 88 temple pilgrimage. I liked it better than the ones in Naruto. I saw some people on the pilgrimage too! Here are some pics:







The castle Hiwasajo sits on top of a mountain near the downtown area. It's a reconstruction of the actual castle, and not that spectacular for a castle. I didn't pay to go inside because I heard it's more museum (all Japanese) than castle.

These are some flowers that I haven't seen in Naruto, but were all over Hiwasa.


This is a foot bath that was next to the train station. You rinse your feet, then stick them in the troff of scalding hot water for ten minutes, and then dry off your feet and go!