Kumamoto Clash

The last few days have been busier than I expected.. See, I've come to a less densely populated part of Kumamoto, and it being farming area, with tons of rice growing all around, I somewhat figured I'd be enjoying the rural lifestyle and slow-paced relaxation. Well, there's been some of that, and there's been some definitely not that. A short chronology resides at the end of this post.
I'd wanted to see peace park in Hiroshima, with the bomb site and all. But as I thought about it, and mentioned it, it seems strange I should want to visit it. Let me rephrase that, it's strange to me that people are telling me that it must be because I feel guilt that I want to visit it.. or I want to apologize... These could hardly be more wrong. It's not like the bombings are something I can be more attached to than an average Chinese citizen today to the works of Mao. These are things I could not have had any sway on even if they happened in my lifetime. It doesn't change anything that I personally believe that the bombings saved more lives than they harmed in any way. It doesn't change that nuclear bombs are indiscriminate, devastating weapons that should be handled with the care due to anything deadly. But I digress. No, I wanted to visit the gardens to take in the site.. take pictures of buildings that had faced the bomb and stood. Maybe catch a feeling or something ephemeral in the air itself, lingering radiation or whatnot. I want to see. And being there seemed like a good opportunity. But I couldn't, so sometime I'll come back alone. Or who knows, maybe I'll find someone who understands what I really want to do there and maybe they'll want to do that too.
On to lighter materials. An interesting find on Sunday, we went to a zoo in Fukuoka, and lo and behold, there's the temple, right there, less than a hundred feet from the entrance of the zoo and even closer to the zoofront bus stop. I took a picture of it, but that's just random.
Okay, on to Kumamoto, On the way down I found out there are a lot of onsen down there, and... wow.. I got invited to come with a group of Hiromi's friends. She volunteered to stay with Jeff, who regretfully declined.
Hotsprings, as a japanese pasttime, is something that really has to be experienced to have any context to talk about it in. I got the grand tour. Touru walked me through the process. And really, within a couple minutes of entering, there's no time wasted before you can get to stripping down. We spent some time in the sauna, which was so hot it was actually difficult to draw breath through my nose. After, we spent some time in a couple of the baths, first a normal heat one, then a hot one (about 39.5C). I decided to finish up with a dip in the cold one, (17C). Touru thought I was crazy for getting right in that one without hesitating a bit. A few observations – the people who were most concerned about covering up drew the most attention, it really is very relaxing, and oddly enough (though it makes good logical sense) I was quite thirsty afterwards.
Finally there's today. We went to Karaoke and did fireworks, and there's not too much mysterious about that. Jeff and I sang several times. I think we wow'd them more by being native english speakers (yay pronounciation!) than by any degree of singing. Though I did draw quite a response for singing Ash like Snow (my first japanese song of the session). I did enjoy the fireworks and got a number of nice pictures and one funny video. I'll share those soon.

Saturday, September 5th
Caught the train to Hiroshima proper, found a locker to stow stuff. Saw the Hiroshima castle grounds, ate delicious okonomiyaki, caught a 4 hour bus to Fukuoka.
Sunday, September 6th
Very short doors in this ryoukan (traditional inn). Found brunch, stowed bags, caught a bus to the zoo. Returned, caught bus to Kumamoto, met some of Hiromi's friends, ate a buffet, did the onsen,
Monday, September 7th
Met Hiromi's friends for Karaoke, then met up again for fireworks.