After a good warm up on Sunday afternoon I was ready to go on Monday morning. I had chosen to go down to the marine factory site (A demolished refrigeration warehouse) to help The SPPCF – The Society for the Prevention of Prevention of Cruelty to Foam.
The next day (Sunday)I got up nice and early, got my shit wired and headed to the city volunteer center for my first day’s work…They were on holiday till that Wednesday. OH SHIT! I just spent 13 hours driving across North Eastern Japan to volunteer, only to find that I was going to waste a whole 3 days doing nothing. Needless to say I was displeased.
I decided to hit up the onsen and relax a bit and clear my thoughts. We had bathed there a few times on the previous trip but it was always at night and so I had never seen the surrounding landscape… Up winding road I drove, rounded a bend and it was like DAM!
I have been scarce again of late but as per usual I have good enough reasons. I just got back from my second time volunteering in Ofunato, Iwate Japan. The next few posts will cover that in depth…
On the 20th, I got up at a leisurely time and prepared everything I needed at a stately pace. It was hot and I didn’t want to stress. Headed off at a decent pace on the Kan-etsu expresway music pumping to match the pace of the fast lane. Hit the Takasaki junction and climbed onto the Kita-Kanto expressway an even quicker dash across the smooth, sweet new tar that cuts across the bottom of Gunma and Tochigi. Things were going good onto the Touhoku expressway through the gentle curves up toward Utsunomiya and that’s about where it ended.
Summer is the time for stupid fun, usually involving the consumption of larger than usual quantities of alcohol. Said consumption has the tendency to make for great times with good mates and when that happens... it is always good to put it on the internet.
Alternitively you could use this as an free advertisment for the Takashimaya Beer Garden in takasaki city which is a great nomihoudai for the summer months.
If however you are of a foreign persuasion, be nice and have good fun because the owner dislikes foreigners a fair amount. Can't blame him after being at a few of the ALT beer gardens and seeing how we take over the place. I would hate us too if it were my joint. So go with a few mates... drink up and party up! In the end. when we don't gaijin smash the crap out of the place we tend to be the life of the party... but maybe thats just cos my mates are epic!
RnK
