Today is White Day! In Japan, Valentine's Day is for girls to give gifts to the guys they are interested in, while White Day is for guys to give gifts to the girls. Fun fact!
Today's adventure began with traveling to the Mazda Museum! We were able to check out newer cars in the lobby before getting shuttled to the main museum and factory for a private tour. I had never been in a Mazda (at least, not that I recall) until then. They are COMFY! (At least, the new Axela is.) I don't know a whole lot about cars, but it was cool to watch the humans and robots working together to make the vehicles. There was also a "future of Mazda" room with prototypes of different cars and stuff like that. Enjoy the pictures!
 |
| Mazda's first vehicle. |
 |
| Old truck that I thought looked funny. |
The last car above is in the "future cars" room. It can run on hydrogen and gasoline. The top of the roof is grooved to catch rainwater and send it into a filter in the car. It was awesome and weird looking at the same time.
Before continuing to the next place on the agenda, we stopped briefly to grab food in a subway station. We found a bakery called Little Mermaid. It had delicious pastries and food and we're going back there for breakfast tomorrow!
 |
| A piggy pastry! |
Our next stop was Okayama Castle. It was destroyed during an air raid in World War II and rebuilt during the 1960s (I think). We went to the top floor and worked our way from the top down. There were many artifacts such as clothing, guns, and even samurai armor within the castle.
 |
| Photo op! |
By getting a ticket to the castle, we were also able to explore the gardens behind it. I cannot remember the name, but most of the plants were not in bloom and there was construction going on anyway. Tess and I found a small, abandoned-looking shrine in the woods and spent most of our time talking on benches beside it.
 |
| The little shrine. |
 |
| A cool bridge. |
After that, we could do whatever we wanted to for the rest of the day. We were all pretty hungry and went to the mall near our hotel. In the food court, I found a delicious beef and rice dish that was spicy and cheap! I also bought a jacket. I didn't plan on it, I just went into a store and found a really cool-looking jacket with the help of the one store employee who knew maybe three English words. There was a lot of laughing and charades as we attempted to talk to each other. She was very kind, though. When she realized that I didn't speak more than basic Japanese, her tone or attitude didn't change at all. She stayed just as perky and cheerful even though helping me would be more difficult. It was a great shopping experience!
 |
| The mall! |
Tomorrow the group is going back to Little Mermaid for breakfast before we explore the surrounding area for a bit. Whenever we're done doing that, we are taking a four hour train ride to Tokyo. The trip is already halfway done!
Oyasuminasai!
Eating Piggy Pastry at The Little Mermaid in Okayama, Japan...you just can't make this up. Actually, it looks yummy - can't wait to find out what you discover for breakfast. I also expect to see a picture of you in your new purchase soon :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like another great day. Will you be on a Bullet Train going to Toyko....and, if so, do they actually hit 300 miles per hour? Was good to "talk" to you on FB - back again soon! ♥ AL
Interesting that the mall uses western letters and not Japanese characters.
ReplyDeletePS
Dad had a Mazda Miata, but you were very little then.
The Mazda factory must have been fascinating! One of my goals is to be the VP, HR at an all-robotic company (they don't talk do they?)
ReplyDeleteAll the food looks great! Great to see pictures of you in Japan - very cool!
Now I have to prove I am not a robot to publish this - they must be very good!
The Piggy Pastry was delicious! I have no idea what the filling was, and the flavors were too subtle to tell. I'll never know! :( My purchase is fabulous. One of the buttons on the shoulder straps is missing, but it came with extras. I think it must have torn off one of the times I slung my backpack off of my shoulder too forcefully. I'll just have to find where I put the spares and sew it when I get back to the states! We did take the Bullet Train to Tokyo, but I have no clue how fast it went!
ReplyDeleteYeah, there is a LOT of English here. They make it easy for me not to get hopelessly lost in translation. It is fun, though, when I am able to walk away from someone and realize that I had a basic conversation in such an unusual language (unusual for an English speaker anyway!). I like how Japanese "feels" when I speak it. I might try to learn more!
Hahaha, you should take over Mazda and check out the factory for yourself. Get on this! Yes, the robots are clever little shrews...