By Mark
Hello, it's Mark again. I'm continuing the essay I posted a few days ago.
We left off with me in Kamogawa, and experiencing soap difficulties in the bath.
I met up with Kim that Saturday morning, and we left to head to Kamogawa's beach to take part in an Earth Day beach cleanup. Despite the light drizzle that was falling, there was a good group of people waiting to help. I met the town's mayor, and several of Kim's coworkers.
We spread out in a line from the edge of the beach down to the water, and walked along the beach picking up garbage. We ended up filling the bed of a pickup truck. A very successful day.
Kim then took me on a tour of the town. The streets are very narrow, and only one car can fit at a time. We were quite a spectacle. Kim has very long blond hair, and I am blond as well. I was dressed in jeans, my black leather motorcycle jacket, and a pair of sunglasses. I imagine I looked pretty scary. We had people slowing down as they drove by us to get a good look.
We ate dinner at Denny's. Now my fellow Americans are in for a shock. In Japan, Denny's is a NICE restaurant. Clean, bright, staffed by happy people, with good food (Japanese type food of course). Not like the dregs-of-humanity, smoke-filled holes I used to frequent as a poor college student.
We went bowling at a fantastic place that unfortunately I can't remember the name of. It was a combination grocery store, clothing store, arcade, bowling alley, and restaurant. Then we played games in the arcade, until it was time to go to karaoke.
If you think that was a busy weekend, wait til you hear about the next weekend. But that is for another day. Send your comments to gleep@lvcm.com
