It is a good indication of what a good time I am having that I willingly woke up at 6:30 this morning; I did not want to waste any time sleeping. I tip-toed out of the suite so as not to wake anyone and took the elevator down to the basement where the ONSEN is located. Alternating between hot and cold baths, showering repeatedly while scrubbing myself clean, and forgetting everything stressful in the world is the ideal way to begin any day. After 45 minutes of this, I headed back up to the room where I sat on the balcony and admired the surrounding scenery. By 8:15 a.m., everyone else was awake, and we all headed down to a gourmet breakfast on the second floor of the ryoukan. We checked out of the hotel shortly thereafter, and set off for another exciting day.

First on the agenda was admiring the many fine views of the volcanic island of KYUSHU, where many active volcanoes still exist. Mutu-san told me that 15-20 people recently died when one of the volcanoes flared up unexpectedly, causing the fatal landslide.

Deadly volcanoes aside, the landscape on the island of Kyushu is amazing, and makes me think of New Zealand (although I have never actually been there). The low cloud cover, the "wet feel", and the absence of Tokyo's omnipresent trains were a much welcomed change of scenery.

Juna-chan, the girl pictured to the left, recently returned from a year-long exchange in England and is quite possibly one of the kindest people I have ever met. There is not a bad bone in her body, which is of inestimable importance, and we spent much of the day chatting together.

Before breaking for lunch we toured a small town where we bought OMIYAGE (おみやげ, or souvenirs) and toured the local sights. For example, we walked around Kinrin Lake, which was recently made famous after being featured on NHK, Japan's national television network. I am not really sure why this particular lake was made famous, but it was nice enough so I have no real complaints about the choice. Below are a few pictures that should give a better idea of what it looks like. (As for the last picture, well, I couldn't help breaking into a sort of Irish jig that left other tourists shepherding their children away.)

There was a particularly nice handicrafts shop nearby where my mom spent an exorbitant amount of time looking around for things to buy. She is only in Japan for two weeks, so I had no real cause for complaint, but it was tiring nonetheless. After perusing through the various knick-knacks, I toured more of the surrounding area, which is still very traditional an impeccably preserved.

The roof shown to the right is made of bundled tree branches, and every few years it must be replaced with the help of 10-20 men. Japanese communities are very closely knit, so such repair work is taken on by members from across the community as part of a group approach. This is something I first saw on NHK six months back, but even so, I surprised myself with how excited I became at such a seemingly innocuous bit of architecture.

Lunch was served at an amazing Italian restaurant called Saihido, which is run by a nearby RYOUKAN, called Murata. The caliber of the food, service, design, and price (!) can best be explained by noting that Meryl Streep once visited Japan with the sole purpose of staying at this particular hotel. We were given a small tour of the RYOUKAN while we waited to be seated for our reservation, and the facilities were impressive. One of the biggest advantages to Japanese style is the understated classiness - and this particular place got everything right. There was even an art exhibit where I saw several famous artists, most notably a Pablo Picasso painting. The picture to the right was not taken by me, but it might as well have been because the gallery was that empty when I visited. It is not like just anyone happens across this kind of place, and even if someone does happen across it they will need some serious connections to get in. Not bad for an obscure place tucked away in the mountains, is it?

The only downside to the lunch was that the "young people" dining were priced out of ordering wine with the meal, so I settled with OCHA (green tea), water, and a strange vegetable concoction that reminded me of a scene from the movie, The Thomas Crown Affair: after spending the night at Thomas Crown's (Pierce Brosnan) house for the first time, and it was sleepless night at that, the butler served Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) a freshly made cup of God-knows-what to drink. Anyway, whatever was used in the movie was served to me for lunch. Perhaps Meryl Streep knew the recipe and shared it with the restaurant? Whatever the case, I am banking on the hope that it was at least somehow healthy for me.

Today was shaping up to be another enjoyable day on the island of Kyushu, and things would only get better. We drove 45 minutes to the stadium for the Oita Trinitas, J-1 team with a mid-table ranking, located in Oita City. The Trinitas play at the Kyushu Oil Dome, or "Big Eye" as it is locally known. We were greeted at the gates and presented with VIP passes that entitled us to unlimited stadium access, food, and alcohol drinks for the match against Vissel Kobe.

At half-time Junna-chan took me back through the executive box and into an elevator that brought us down to the ground floor of the stadium. From there, we walked down a couple of corridors before the green pitch opened up before me. With our VIP passes, we walked past the guards and out onto the track next to the field. Looking up at the fans in the stadium, I had my "this is awesome!" moment, so we headed back to the executive suite where I was introduced to the owner of the club. He was a friendly man who was not shy about speaking English, despite his limited vocabulary. After Maki-san commented that I am a footballer myself, the club owner took hold of my leg, feeling for my muscles, and dragged me around the room while introducing me to people. It would have been awkward if it was not so surprising! While I posed for a few pictures, Junna-chan cleverly took extra food and beer back to our seats.

The game was 0-0 until the second half when the Trinitas opened their scoring account. The goal itself was notable in that it came via a strange sequence of events whereby the ball bounced first off the post, then off the crossbar, and finally a Trinitas player made sure with a header that found the back of the net. Having had two false alarm just moments before, I was already on my feet screaming and waving my Trinitas towel as the stadium erupted in celebrations. For all the talk of the Japanese being a "quiet and reserved society," one needs only to attend a sporting event to see such a misleading theory rightfully disproved.

After the game we split into different groups as Takumi, Junna-chan, Meina-chan, and Shigo-san all set off to catch a flight back to Tokyo. I rode with Muu-san to BEPPU, which is one the most famous ONSEN towns in all of Japan. We had a booking at a Japanese ONSEN RYOUKAN that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The picture to the left was the view from my room, and the picture to the right shows the private hot bath located in my private suite. Not a bad way to wake up or bathe in the morning, is it?

However, bathing would have to wait because there was a special SAND ONSEN that we decided to fit in before dinner. I had no idea what to expect, and I suspect most people are in a similar position, so I will go ahead and describe the process.

After entering the wooden ONSEN building, I first bought a ticket entitling me to a "sand bath" for 500 yen. Next, I removed my shoes at the entrance, placed them inside the nearby shoe rack, and headed into the men's changing area. I took off my YUKATA (the Japanese "robe" that I decided to wear through the town) and placed it in a locker. Instead, I put on a new, simplified YUKATA that was provided, and headed into the sand "bathing area."

In the naturally heated sand area, five elderly women with massive shovels were digging elongated holes in the ground, much in the way graves look before being filled in. One of the women gestured into the nearest hole, so I climbed in and laid on my back, with my head propped up on a wooden log. Next, the woman began filling in the hole with the scalding sand until I was covered from the neck down. I was still alone in the room, unsure of what to expect and unsure how long I would last because the sand was really hot - the point of this is to sweat excessively, thereby relaxing tired muscles. This "relaxing" period went on for 15-20 minutes, when one of the workers dug me out of my hole.

I headed back into the men's changing area where I first showered (I was desperate for an iced shower at this point) to remove all the sand, and then I climbed into a small hot bath.

We arrived back at the RYOUKAN just in time for our 20:00 dinner reservation. We sat on TATAMI mats and were served 10 different courses, ranging from SASHIMI to SOBA noodles to pickled vegetables to grilled fish, and of course a whole host of others I cannot recall - each serving consisted of 3-6 different different dishes.

Predictably, the longer the dinner went on the more it turned into an ENKAI (宴会, or Japanese drinking party). Predictably, I was the "last man standing," as I have developed a strong addiction to Japanese beer. In fact, my addiction is so strong that I even took one of the leftover bottles with me so I could drink it with dessert in the hotel bar (rules are very relaxed here because everything is so expensive to begin with.)