We started today with the alarm at 730…well, that was the intention. People leaving their room at 600 meant we were woken up quite early. After a shower and packing our day packs, we headed downstairs to check out. After waiting over 5 minutes for the lift, I used the phone on the floor and called reception. They said there was a problem and to catch the staff lift.

Michael and Leila were already downstairs. We put our suit cases in the storage room and walked to Shinjuku station. We bought Suica for Michael and Leila, and got some breakfast, and then went to catch the 920 train to Nasu. After a short train change we arrived about 12, and got in a taxi. We met Kaoru’s parents at a restaurant for lunch. Then Otosan dropped us at the farm place where we walked around and had some food. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to their house, but at least we didn’t have any bags to carry!

We sat and talked for a bit and then all had baths before Okasan served a spectacular feast. Beer, saki and champagne accompanied chicken, sushi, potato stew and salad. We had some great laughs and Kaoru did a fantastic job of translating for us all. There was more food than we could possibly eat but we had a good crack at it. Then we went up to the other house to make our beds and unwind. Kaoru taught Leila how to assemble the oragami sakura balls. Michael and I thought we would be helping best by keeping out of the way.