The alarm at 6.00 was not nice after a late night the night before. But we had a big day planned. After a shower Kaoru and I went to Segafredo for breakfast, but they were still closed! At 6.30! We had to go to the convenience store instead and I bought a couple of rice balls and a bottle of orange juice, which we consumed back in our room. We finished our packing (we had put the stuff we didn’t need for the next week in our main suitcases, and just had our small suitcase to live out of), and went downstairs to check out and put our big suitcases in storage. We then waited in the lobby for Michael and Leila.

At 7.30 we left Shinagawa Prince for the Shinkansen lines. Michael, Leila and I caught a Shinkansen to Tokyo, and Kaoru caught a JR train there. As the JR would be so crowded it made it easier for the suitcases to go by Shinkansen, but as Kaoru didn’t have a JR pass it would have cost a lot more for her to come with us. We met up, bought some snacks, and got on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nasu.

Once at Nasu we caught a local train to Kurodahara, where we met Otoosan and put our bags in his car. We then walked about 10 minutes up the road and met with Okaasan, and did a course on how to make miso. This was something Kaoru’s parents had done before, and Kaoru went with them to pick it up a few weeks ago, and thought we might enjoy it. Michael and I were given aprons to wear to keep our pants clean and it was off to work for us! Kaoru, as always, was busy translating everything for us so we could enjoy the experience as much as possible. We had a look around the storage areas and were explained how the parts of the process work which we did not get to see. He has been doing it for over 40 years, and his family have been doing it for over 120 years, so a long history.

After being served some snacks and green tea, it was time for us to head off, so we walked back to the station (it was so great without our bags with us!) and caught two local trains and a bus, which eventually got us to Nasu Land Beer – a craft brewery Kaoru had found for us to visit, which brews beer for the emperor! We got a tasting paddle each, and enjoyed a couple of pizzas with our beer. We then walked back to the bus stop and caught the next bus to the taxi office which Kaoru and I went to on (maybe) my first trip to Nasu – with the Soba restaurant across the road. The taxi came through and left just as we got there, and didn’t say anything to us, so must have been on another job. We watched another taxi go past and not stop, so decided we would start walking. It was only 3 km so wouldn’t take us too long, but Kaoru called Otoosan and he came and picked us up, and took us to the house.

We showed Michael and Leila around the house, as they hadn’t seen the extension. Leila gave them a present – a canvas print of a photo that we took last time they were there, with the 6 of us. We had a couple of beers, and then I had to deal with some work for an hour or so. Otoosan got the coal bbq going and cooked some pike on it! What a treat that was. We were going to eat outside but then the rain came, so we came inside while Kaoru and Otoosan finished cooking the fish. We then went in to the lounge to watch some Sumo, but I fell asleep on the floor so missed it. Once Sumo was complete it was time for more food. We were treated to tomaki sushi and oden (like a hot pot), with sake to go with it all. After dinner we got the beds sorted while Okaasan and Otoosan did the dishes and tidied up. We watched some TV for a laugh, but were all pretty tired so were in bed by 9.