Woke up bright and early again the next morning, this time to get hair cuts (but also because we’re still adjusting to the new timezone). Matt’s appointment was first at Rosy’s Make Hair – no one spoke fluent english, so a picture of Tom Hardy did all the talking. Cassandra’s haircut was on the opposite end of the city and took about 4 laps around the same block until we actually saw the building (it wasn’t hiding or hard to see… we just somehow kept walking past it). Luckily, Salon 77 had someone who spoke a good bit of english. Rumi-chan was awesome and taught Cassandra some japanese (apparently kami is both hair and paper! But it’s written differently: 髪 for hair and 紙 for paper).
We showed off our new do’s by walking to Nakajima park. On the way, we stopped at our first Japanese temple. It was really empty where the only sounds heard were from the monstrous crows. We had a snack of yakisoba and takoyaki at the park entrance before moving on. For being a weekday, there was a variety of ages in people enjoying the park. A small observatory sat on a little hill; the curator, Hiyama-san 樋山克明, had set up a solar telescope and also pointed the main telescope toward the sun for two different elemental filters. We (mostly Matt) spent about 20 mins chatting up the curator and learning about the local science center’s astronomical studies as well as Japanse versions for constellation names.
The picturesque scenery gave us a chance to practice some photography skills. One landmark, known as Hasso-an, was an old teahouse – original date unknown, but there was recorded use in 1700.
Dinner was a special treat of yakiniku 焼肉 which is grilled meat. One can order a variety of meat (different grades/sections) and vegetables and use the grill at the table to cook it to personal preference. Green tea ice cream with mochi and something similar to corn flakes topped off an amazing meal. Our 2nd full day in Japan and we have over 20k steps… this is going to be a long trip.
