Monday, May 07, 2007

Magical Maebashi

Off to Maebashi in Gunma prefeture to check out Branda's hood!



For some reason the toll on the expressway for the almost hour long trip was only 1700 yen. I don't get it, it costs me 1300 yen to get to the mountains which are only about 20 minutes away. The whole toll system is kinda mendaksai, a pain in the neck. At least the drivers in Japan are good. The sterotype for Asian drivers does not hold water here. I'm able to drive down the expressway at 80kph through standstill traffic and not feel too worried. Back in America, people in their Hummers and Expeditions and Canyoneros tend to change lanes out of the fast lane as often as they can, and I've been cut off while splitting lanes a few times. Maybe its cause its damn hard to drive here. The licensing process in Japan is very intense, involving a $3000 driving school and all kinds of tests. Even for motorcycles, you have to take different lessons for different sizes of bikes.

Anyways...

Back to Gunma. Gunma is apparently an acronym for Gentle Universal Nature Magical Always. Totally.



Branda making her best G face.

What to do in Maebashi? Branda showed me around. Theres a nice park, lots of cafes, an observatory in the government building, good food, and a giant mall. So thats what we did.



Cool place, it's a staple of Branda's diet here in Maebashi. Standard Indian fare with a funky interior. They had some serious Chai there too, all authentic and shit. They had a whole menu devoted to their Chai blends.




The bathroom in the government building had a spectacular view! A nice place to contemplate the meaning of life... for about 30 seconds.

Maebashi sake is awesome!



This Japanese schoolgirl is totally molesting herself with zombie hands! Holy shit!

The next day we got toured around by a family from Branda's school. They showed us all the sights on Haruna mountain. Temples, natural wonders, lakes, and Ikaho onsen city. We did the onsen thing there. Here's some photos, I'll put up more later when I get them from Branda.



Branda and Hanae looking for something...








Get a blank fortune, run it under the spring water, and *poof*, let the magic happen! Me and Branda both got the same fortune, so I guess it wasn't too magic.

The next day I rode home in pouring rain on the expressway. Not cool.

And check this out. No tattoos muthafucka!

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