Friendly faces, part II.

In the morning my host takes me to see Himeji castle. I am not very fond of sightseeing, but the castle's and castle grounds' atmosphere is quite relaxing. Walking the castle's hallways, I woe my poor photographing skills, lack of a better camera and a worthy opponent. The hallways and gardens seem like fine grounds for a duel or, failing that, at least for some photographic evidence.

I meet a friend whose last name translates to "Demon grave". It is by my rough estimates the coolest name ever. We talk almost strictly in Japanese, even though I feel like I hardly understand even half of what is being said. By my friend or by myself.

Another day of having a good time and I return to my host in Himeji. I kind of get a little lost at the final stretch, but that just counts for light evening exercise. In the morning I take off for Osaka station once again. It's an early awakening but if I am not mistaken, trains are made for sleeping in them. I wait for my friend at the station for a while and she arrives with cavalry. In a few minutes I am being driven around in a small van towards Ise shrine, listening to fun music and conversing in mixed English, Japanese and a tiny bit of Finnish as well. I fumble through words and especially endings, but friend and cavalry remark my Japanese is very good and sounds like the Osaka dialect at times. What luck.

We visit a charming small town. After lazily walking around its market and checking out different stands and some tea we have Ise udon for lunch after which we find an ATM that gets me back in the game. Then we visit the village's shrine before heading back to the village. My friend wants a posing photo with me and I happily oblige. Afterwards my friends treat me to a gift of tea, we contact my host in Kuwana and go eat a fancy-ish dinner. They hide the check and pay in secret so I have no chance to participate in sharing the costs. Then we go to Kuwana where we say goodbye. I meet my host and her friends and family. We talk for quite a while before tucking in for the night.