Left Sendai and headed DEEP into rural Japan to a tiny town called Oshika. Nestled in a midori forest, we were greeted by all 49 students of Oshika Junior High School. They treated us to a welcome assembly where they talked about what changes happened to their town/school after the tsunami, and they performed an original version of soran. We had a picnic in a park before riding a boat to a small offshore island populated by deer and a monkey. Some of us hiked around a waterfall while others fed some of the tamer deer. We rode back and were taken to our hotel. We checked in and marveled at the traditional style of the rooms replete with tatami mats and futon. The hotel has wonderful service staff, an operational public bath, but no WiFi. We had a extravagant dinner with whale meat, uni, sashimi, chawan mushi, etc. Four of last year's Rainbow for Japan Kids participants joined us for dinner and a fun night together. The jet lag is catching up to us, but everyone enjoyed a full day of once in a lifetime experiences.
Beautiful pictures! How nice to have been on a top of a mountain and down in a boat on the water! I wonder how eating whale was?
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