I wish I could extend again.

Well hello, I usually don't post during the day, but I had such an amazing day (again) that I should do some blogging. Currently I am back in Fujiyoshida, at the base of Mt. Fuji again. Had to come back, I know I could have gone somewhere new instead, but whatever, it's my trip. I after leaving Yokohama, I went back to Tokyo for a few days, before coming here. I love Tokyo. I explored some new spots, went out in new places. The place is a hoot. I dig it. But I do dig the quiet scene a lot as well. Yesterday when I got to Fujiyshida, I had lunch with a friend of mine Miku from Hano, which is a close distance to Fujiyoshida. So classic, because she speaks very little English, and being Japanese, she is very shy and does not want to shed a bad light on herself and mess up trying to talk in English. So for the few hours we spent together I was making an ass of myself using my choppy Japanese and learning new stuff from her. So awesome. I love that stuff. Then last night I went to this bar I had been a pretty regular at the time I was here, and as soon as I walked in I saw another friend of mine Yuki and I surprised him when I came in. It was pretty classic. Yuki is my dart buddy, hung out with him and his friends last time I was here. We play darts for beers, and I almost always win. He got a better since last time we played though, so it was a bit of a challenge last night, I still came out victorious. It's classic too because at this bar, they have Tapatio sauce, the Mexican hot sauce we have in California, and I love putting it on my food. I always make him try it too and his reactions are always classic. Last night I tried it on Nankotsu, which translates to "soft bone" which is cartilage. It was chicken cartilage, and actually not that bad. A little pepper and some Tapatio and I was diving right in. I love the people here. They love to learn English as much as I love to learn Japanese. So I feel like there's never a dull moment spent with them. Today actually another amazing thing happened to me. I went on this minor hike to the top of this mountain to find this Pagoda, and ended up finding this awesome little look out spot. The Pagoda was rad and all, but this look out spot was unreal. It looked all over Fujiyoshida and had a great view of the base of Fuji. It was cloudy today so the summit of Fuji was covered, but it still looked cool. Anyway, I sat up there for a while in this little bench area and read some of the book I am reading and took a little nap. So peaceful. I am currently reading Bushido, which is an essay by Inazo Nitobe on the ethics of the Samurai. I am so into it, I am half way done and I've only been reading it for 3 days. Granted it is not a very long book. But usually I cant sit down and read 10 pages without falling asleep or getting bored. But the chapter I read today was about the politeness, and how the Japanese politeness if on the border of love. There are too many amazing quotes to say, but one that really I have recognized is the empathy for one another that the Japanese have. For instance, if you were to ask a Japanese man wearing a hat a question while you are hatless in the scorching sun, the man will remove his hat to talk to you, exposing himself to the sun as well. This is because he cannot offer the comfort he has to you, the hat is not big enough for two people, and he doesn't want to make himself seem better than you. It is so true though, I saw it first hand today. First of all, on my way down from the look out spot I met this old Japanese man going for a walk. I greeted him and we began to talk. Turns out he has been teaching himself English for a little while and invited me over to his house. Had it been anywhere else in the world I would have said no, but in Japan it is an honor. Especially in these parts, you don't have the sick people and the weirdos that we have in the states. You see little kids hiking the mountain all by themselves, unsupervised. So anyway I go with him, and we are talking and along the way we stop at this temple in the city, that I had not seen yet. The man goes around and finds anyone who works at the temple to see if it is alright that we enter. The woman he finds in cutting the grass by hand in the garden (with scissors on her knees), and she is hatless. I watch this old man approach her ever so politely and remove his hat as they talk. It wasn't that sunny out at this point, but I still thought it was really cool. I am sure I have seen it all along and never paid attention to it, and now I am curious as to what else I have let slip by me. Anyway though, he gets me a tour of the temple from this monk and the monk descent English. I just asked weird questions about how they kept the place so clean and how they maintain the tatami and just a bunch of questions that were on my mind. No questions of Buddhism or anything, I was more perplexed by the simplicities. I did learn a bit about the temple too. I thought they had to clean the tatami and everything daily, but only weekly. After that fun learning experience, Kachuichi Watanabe (the old man) and I walked to his house where his wife, Matsuko, greeted us and prepared some food for us. I was blown away. I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off my face. I kept thinking, "you're in Japan, this family has invited you in for food, and just wanted to talk to you. This is awesome." It was awesome! We just taught each other different things and laughed a bunch. Trying to teach them how to say "R" as an American would is pretty funny. Last night I teaching this guy how to say "girls" properly. I finally succeeded with him when I wrote down "gilrs" on a napkin and told him to read it out loud. Boom, success. It was pretty hilarious. We had good laughs. But anyway, so I am at this tea time with these older Japanese couple, and they tell me about their sons, and their grandkids and all this. They were asking me a bunch of funny questions, and asking me how to say all these different things. They just kept offering me food too and we would discuss it. We discussed Japanese culture a little as well and how intense Kanji is. Seriously amazing. I practiced my Japanese with them, and they would crack up and teach me more. It's so fun teaching them, because they want to learn so much. And it is helping me to speak better English as well I think. I still suck at spelling, and I am pretty sure I am making the majority of them bad spellers too. But oh well, they get the point. Anyway, Kachuichi drove me back to the hostel and now I am here, writing about it. I love this place. I am sure it may seem nerdy or whatever, but I couldn't care less what other people thing about how into the culture I am. I think its rad. Anyway, I am off. Have a nice day.