Chiba City and on to Kasimu

We checked in to the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Chiba without any further excitement. After a short settling in, I set out exploring. I wasn't feeling horribly adventurous at this point, so I started with circling the block and then circling, or maybe that should be spiraling, outward. There is a park across the street from the hotel and a Shinto shrine about two blocks away.

Dinner was on our own and I had missed lunch. I set out in search of food. As i passed a variety of restaurants, I realized I was craving good old American cuisine. Less than a full block from the hotel was an 8 story shopping mall. It was enticing for more reasons than one. It had a sign with a picture of a big, juicy cheese burger on a sign near the door and ,high overhead in huge letters, a sign for Tower Records. Yes, friends and neighbors, the same Tower Records that used to be located less than a half mile from my home in Houston! Now I know where music stores go when they leave Houston!

The food court was on the 8th floor. There I was lured in by the exterior of a small restaurant that looked extremely out of place. A neon Tecate sign glowed by the rough wood entrance and there, next to the entrance, was posted the same picture of a real live, scrumptious cheese burger. Not a McDonald's burger, but the real thing.



I headed back to the hotel with a Japanese DVD of My Neighbor Totoro and two CDs by Ayano Tsuji or is that Tsuji Ayano?

The next morning we went headed to Chiba University where we met the education faculty. I had the good fortune to get to talk with the Associate Professor of Visual Arts, Jinno Shingo.

From there we travelled on to Katori City where we visited a Sake Brewery and then met a papier mache artisan named Miuraya-san. He had created a rabbit that was used as an image on Japanese postage stamps. He demonstrated his technique of created works using a drape mold.





Finally, after a question and answer session we went to our hotel, the Kashima Central Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel with all the amenities.

I went with several other members of my group in search of dinner. We walked an incredible distance before we settled on a restaurant in another hotel. I had eel, which is very tasty.

On the long walk back we stopped at Baskin Robbins for ice cream, then it was back to the hotel for sweet dreams.

Tomorrow would be another day all too soon and it was set to be as full as any of the preceding ones.