"I am Caine."

Wednesday was my second day alone. I lazed around the house until about 11am and then decided to go for a five hour walk.

Start walking uphill, from Castle Iwabe, as if you hare headed to the parking spot. Halfway there, you will be looking down on this little neighborhood tucked away into a little valley. Noriko always dismissed my urges to run down the million steps and back up to have a look, so I decided to head down on my own.

After coming down the steps, take a look back up and say, "Dang that's steep."

Keep on walking, take a look at the entrance to an old bomb/storm shelter that will be on your left. Tepidly peer into it. Noriko told me that she's scared of them because a crazy homeless person could be hiding in one. That just makes me more curious! Where is Jeremy and a rope?

So you can get a grip on my level of Japanese, I could read/understand this sign without help!

This creek/storm drain runs next to the road for a nice little stretch (I also found out later, that J-Pop was in charge of building this project). As you can see, the course of the water is terraced or stepped. Each area has to fill and then spills over into the next.

Imagine my surprise when I peered over the railing and saw koi. That is one of the cool things about Japan. There are little surprises everywhere I look. This includes private yards. Half of them contain immaculate little "zen" gardens. Every little terraced area of the "creek" contained about 5-10 koi. Some young and some old. I'm guessing that in a heavy rain, little ones get washed down to the lower levels. I wish I could catch some and sell them in the States.

This orange koi was almost glowing gold. It was very beautiful.

Another example of some of the little surprises, here is another one: a Shinto shrine tucked away. I almost missed the mon (gate to a Shinto shrine) and the staircase beyond.

I'm still new enough in Japan, that I can't wait to see what's just around the corner or at the top of a temple/shrine staircase. The little spaces seem so quiet and tranquil.

The shrine is guarded by four of these fellows! J-Pop does a good impression of one these (squatting and baring his teeth). Many of our conversations include quite a bit of miming from both of us.

The Kurihama Hana no Kuni is a major Spring attraction in this area. Hana no Kuni means Flower Land. It's a huge flower garden. As you can see, it's not so flowerful at the moment. The entrance is under that bridge you can see in about the center of the picture. It's another nice steep walk up to the top.

Gojira!!!!The first thing I saw as a crested the hill. Not a good thing while strolling around Japan.

A children's park is at the top of Flower Land. This jungle gym is the largest I've ever seen. You can also climb inside Gojira's belly and then slide out of his butt. Cool.

This slide was actually a thousand little rollers. Cool.

Overlooking part of the port; Perry Park is down there somewhere. Oh yeah- I live by the ocean?

Overlooking part of Yokosuka

Two hours later, I made it back home. I felt better. I know how to get to a couple of places now. I have a better idea of my neighborhood in relation to the surrounding neighborhoods. I just have to decide, where will I go today?