Room With A View.

We started our trip on the island of Kyushu, in Southern Japan. Our first six days were spent with our relatives in a small town called Hita, which is a sort of resort town visited primarily by locals. Our traditional, Japanese- style hotel overlooked the lake and had tatami rooms and sliding shoji screens. I may be partial but I definitely preferred it to the last Sheraton we stayed at back in California, the one that had the fuzzy, nautical-themed wallpaper and the body-shaped stain in the hallway.

On one of the nights, our air conditioning wasn't working properly so they transferred us to the 'Special Suite' that had this private hot tub and shower on the balcony. I was exhausted and went straight to bed, but Rigel was out there for long time, turning it into his own private man-spa. Since there were few tourists in this town, I told him he was lucky that the sight of a 6'2" naked white man prowling the balcony didn't prompt any phone calls to the local police or bring out a torch-carrying mob. I mentioned this to my aunt the next morning and she said, "Omoshiroi!" I'm not sure, but this either means "That's funny!" or "You Americans are all perverts."

Upon arrival at the hotel, all the women are taken to a small store in the hotel to pick out a kimono that you can wear during your stay. I loved seeing the girls dressed in these, even though Kira insisted on wearing her, "I'd Rather Be Partying" t-shirt under hers, and Kiyomi kept flashing her panties everytime she started showing everyone her ninja kicks. And me? I wore one, too, except when Rigel started referring to me as his Geisha and making me walk three feet behind him, I took it off and started beating him about the head with it.

Next up: The food. And more food. Oh, and then there's the food.

Tweet Pin It