4th post - Thurs 29th Oct

Daddyyyyyy!

So much has happened!

I am so sleep-deprived but it is counteracted by sheer joy!

Today I woke up at 6 like always and got ready and bits and walked the 5 minutes to school and went to the mini homeroom they have set up for the 6 of us and we waited there for about an hour and made notes for the presentation about our trip that we are going to give to our class tomorrow and at 9 we got in Mr Fukumoto (reeeeeally nice maths teacher and Misaki`s homeroom teacher, also the person Mrs Holland is staying with) and we drove for a while through the (jaw-dropping) countryside until we got to an old samurai village. We went walking around the gardens there. All of the owners of the houses are descendants of samurai who felt it was important to their national history to open up theor homes and gardens so that people could see how the samurai lived. The gardens were beautiful and we could see the safety reinforcments (like really windy paths and lack of direct entrances) that the samurai built to protect their homes. The gardens were either based on water or the mountains. But they recreated water with rocks and plants so there was no actual water in the water garden! Butyou could really see the shape of the ocean. They were so beautiful. Koi carp and green tea! There were LOADS of huge spiders hanging off the tree so Natalie got very scared. We never have as long as we would like in these places because we always have to pack so much into the day, but we were still really pleased that we could go. Fukamoto sensei had organised everything for us and drove us there, explaining everything. He was so sweet and you could tell that he really wanted to share his culture with us.

After that, we went to a "Soba making experience" where we got to don aprons and make our own soba noodles for lunch! It was good to do something that resembled cooking as I have been missing making my own fod. The way you make the soba is really interesting. There was a big, beautiful water wheel outside the place and it was decorated beautifully. We had our soba cold and with sauce and traditional Kagoshima fishcakes and Tamagoyaki (Japanese omlette) and it was delicious! We got a little card that is like a pretend liscence to show that we have been taught how to make the noodles by proffessionals!

After that we went to an utterly surreal English museum about the really strong relationship between Kagoshima and England. They sold loads of English things (even Terry`s Chocolate Oranges!) and had Beatles music playing. It was utterly surreal! There was a big, red London bus outside! We had a cup of tea in the tea room in really ornate cups. I think they would be dissappointed to learn how the English really drink tea!

The next bit is the most important.

We went to a museum to commemorate the Kamikaze pilots and Mr Fukamoto bought us English guidebooks because he wanted us to understand. There were letters and wills that the pilots wrote to their loved ones just before they died. I have never been so moved. Natalie, Elliot and I wept and sobbed and shook all the way through. Those boys were my age, dad. Eighteen. They could have been people at Kagoshima High, or people we danced with at the gig on tuesday. The feeling of guilt at my country being partly the cause of these young men`s death and the feeling of sheer waste was physical. We read letters and looked at keepsakes that they had left behind and although it was utterly horrible, I think it was really important because it wasn`t just a museum to commemarate the people who died for their country, but it was put there to remind people so that it need never happen again. We walked through the gardens with shrines and gravestones and it is something that is now seared into my memory. I can`t even express it. So, so important. As we were getting in the car, Mr Fukamoto said "Please, don`t forget", and all I could say was "zenzen".

So it was with pale faces that we drove to the last place. It was a spa, unique in Japan and the world. We drove right down to the very bottom of Japan, right to the south ocean near Okinawa. We went to this little building by the sea and changed into Yukata. We went out the back and laid down and got buried upto the neck in hot, volcanic sand. It was amazing. It was boiling and, because of the heat and the pressure, it felt like all of the blood vessels in my body were pumping at like ten times normal. After that, we paddled at sunset on the southern ocean in our yukata. It was amazing. We were right next to the last mountain any of the Kamikaze pilots saw as they left Japan for the last time and, nice as it was to go to the spa, I couldn`t get the Kamikazi of my mind, and I am sure it was the same for the others.

After that, we were supposed to go to another onsen but we got a call from the school to say that several people in my class have swine flu, including Misaki and Elliot`s homestay, Takeshi. So we drove straight back to the school (me still covered in sand) and had an emergency meeting with the deputy head.

Elliot, Tomomi and I are now staying in a hotel for the next two nights and I won`t get to see Misaki again! :( It`s so rubbish. Mr Fukamoto picked up my luggage from Misaki`s house and brought it to the hotel. Misaki`s mum had washed and foded every single thing and left a sad note saying she was sorry and wanted to see me again before I left Japan. That class are so cool and it is so rubbish that we won`t get to see them. We are going to leave special messages in their homeroom.

It is, however, much fun in the hotel! Tomomi took us to the Konbi for dinner but Ell and I weren`t really hungry so we just got some sushi and Tomomi bought be a magazine and a Muji notebook!

We origianlly had a room each that was supposed to sleep 3-4 people but Ell and I wanted to share so now we are 2 of us in a room meant for 4 (it was originally gonna be just me!) and we have chilled out and watched Arashi on TV barging into karaoke bars where people were singing their songs.

So much hotel fun!

Today has been tiring, educational, excruciatingly upsetting, fun, sad, happy and exciting.

That`s all for now. Will email tomorrow if I can.

I love you all so much. xxxxxxxxxx