When we got out of the train in Maibara we immediately noticed that we were in a much smaller town. It sort of reminded me of Chilliwack with all the farms and small buildings spaced out. Kazutaka and his wife were
waiting at the station for us with their two mini cars. They welcomed us and then drove us to a super fancy resort in the side of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan.
In the resort we met 5 more family members. Unfortunately they could not speak English but we managed to have a nice meal together showing pictures of tinker and travels from my iPod. The meal was a 4 course meal with a salad, pesto pasta, steak, and chocolate desert. It looked and tasted expensive.
After lunch we took some group photos in the courtyard of the resort which was overlooking the lake. Very picturesque. Then we were off to see the old Ujihara house; the house that my great grandma grew up in. Yutaka did not know who lived there now but we approached the small house and Shozo knocked on the door. A little old lady answered and started chatting in Japanese. Then her son came down to the door and he told us that he also was Ujihara! More family :D. He invited us in and showed us the small tatami rooms on the first floor. In one of the rooms there was a giant shrine that looked like it was for multiple people. We said some small prayers and then the man started to explain how he was related. It was difficult to understand so I videotaped his conversation and will show it to my grandma with the hopes she can figure it out.
We then gave him our hotel details and headed off. As we were leaving he grabbed a cardboard box full of coffee late in a can and started giving them out to everyone. What a kind person! I am continually amazed by the level of generosity given to basically strangers.
It was getting later in the afternoon so everyone went home except Kazutaka and his brother Todao who drove us in separate cars to Hikone Castle.
The castle is perched up on a small hill surrounded by a moat with big carp swimming around. The castle was closing shortly so we did a super fast walkthrough of a museum and then made our way up the stone steps to the castle. This castle is still the original wooden structure as was built in the 17th century so it was really neat to see the inside. Inside were really steep steps going up to each floor. The rafters were quite elaborately built with massive pieces of timber. Quite impressive.
After exploring the castle we made our way back down for some pictures before touring around the little area around the castle. There were lots of little shops and eateries.
It was getting late so we made our way into a famouse cafe/dessert restaurant. We each had the cake set and got to choose between an array of yummy deserts. After the dessert meal we were take back to the hotel where our luggage had already been dropped off by Kazutaka's wife earlier in the day.
We did some quick emails and headed to our nice rooms. This was probably the nicest hotel so far in our trip.
Later in the evening the Ujihara we had met earlier that day came by for a visit with his family and brought some omiyagi with him. What a cool guy! I hope we see him again.
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