#butjapan

[travelinghan]

OKAY SO THIS ONE IS FOR MY SLBP GIRLS. Friends/fam, if you dont get it, don't worry. Its a phone game. I found our kitchen!!! (Okay but not really bc its about 100 years later and in Okinawa BUT ITS PRETTY CLOSE.)

[han-pan]

My Lord Ieyasu’s castle…. @sengokugenkigirl

[travelinghan]

People keep telling me that I am "brave" to travel solo. I am never really sure how to respond to that. Does it make me "brave" to have a dream and the desire to make it happen? Does it make me "brave" that I am unwilling to give up on something I have wanted for over two decades because someone else does not want it too? Or am I "brave" for being adult enough to meet the responsibilities of getting myself around? Perhaps I am brave because I am alone, and simply that is enough for fear. I do not think myself brave. I do think myself deeply lucky for the chance and too stubborn to let a dream die.

[travelinghan]

Yesterday I watched a little white girl pick a dandelion and put it in her hair. Then she looked at her Japanese friend, picked another, and tucked it behind her ear. They smiled at each other, and the first held out her hand. “Ikou!” she said. The second girl smiled happily at her, grasped her hand, and they helped each other down a steep staircase.

I wish we could all be a bit more like that. Make each other pretty, lift each other up. And then let’s go on, together.

[han-pan]

ANOTHER ONE FOR MY SLBP KITTENS.

Totes bought konpeito >w>

#NNNEEEERRRRDDDDD

@jemchew @sengokugenkigirl @small-and-nerdy

[han-pan]

A special treat for my Little Ladies out there.... @jemchew @small-and-nerdy @sengokugenkigirl @frywen-babbles

[han-pan]

Hey guys! This is amazake, in my continuing journey to Eat All The Lord’s Sweets, today was Kenshin’s. Amazake, or sweet sake (non alcoholic drink made with fermented rice) literally tastes nothing like sake. S'warm tho.

What’s left? Hm. Bekko ame. Does anybody know wtf Shingen’s treat is supposed to be???

@sengokugenkigirl @small-and-nerdy @jemchew @viridian99 @frywen-babbles

[travelinghan]

Strangers

I have to get this down before the magic leaves me. I wanted to go to the Sanada Treasure Museum and associated buildings and samurai houses because #livinghistory is KIND OF MY THING. And I am more than a wee bit obsessed with the Sanada clan history, esp during the Edo period. There is little to no English guidance on how to get there. Google Maps says that, from Nagano, its a 3 hour trip. The place is some 5-6km from Nagano city, that is nonsensical. I discovered a bus line that was not included in the Google Maps and learned that it was a 30 minute ride on the Alpcio line 30 bus (leaving from bus bay 3, should anyone else ever want to go. As of 2017, cost 650 yen.) Everything is in Japanese. Get off at Matsushihiro Station. As I was trying to puzzle out the map at the bus bay, a gentleman asks from over my shoulder, "Where are you going?" So I told him the Sanada Museum. He tells me this is the right bus, so I happily get in line. I tried to get off one stop too early, figuring I could walk but itd be better than overshooting the stop. This gentleman was still on the bus and told me to wait, and that he was getting off at my stop. He walked with me when I got off and asked about my interest. Then he BLEW MY MIND. He hands me his business card. The man is the CURRENT HEAD OF THE SANADA FAMILY. And the director of the museum. And was on his way there for a meeting. I am sure my eyes bugged right out of my head. I was so shocked and pleased and excited. He asked a few questions about how I figured it out and said he would work woth the city to get English information available at the station. It was so so cool.