So, I’m on the train I usually take to Ayaragi but this time, I’m staying on it all the way to Kogushi.  I’m glad for this kind of adventure.  It is 10 stops from Shimonoseki.  An elderly couple sat down with me in my little box seating area.  The lady is watching me write in my journal…but I know she doesn’t understand any of it…that’s nice.  The train has just taken off and the couple begin speaking loudly to each other in surprise…it’s going in the wrong direction…uh oh.  I tell them the next few stops and they realize they got on the wrong train.  Now that we’re at Hatabu-eki, they are getting off to catch the train in the other direction. 🙂

  They were sweet.  I think I might be on the wrong side of the train for the great scenery, but hopefully someone will get up on the other side and I can steal their seat before someone else does.  The next station is Ayaragi, then Yasuoka, then 4 stations I don’t know, then Kogushi.  I have no idea what I’ll do when I get there, but it will be a fun adventure.  Last night was the Kameyama Festival.  It was fun, lots of fireworks again…an hour’s worth of them.  I met up with Mika, Ruthia, Ami, and a few others.  Now the train is going beyond Ayaragi, uncharted territory for me.  🙂  Somebody put doll heads on sticks in that farm to serve as scarecrows.  I wish I had a picture of that.  Ok, I think I got the better end of the scenery after all…all the rice fields, farmland, and mountains are on my side…and the other side is, what, ocean!

—————

I just stepped off the train and managed to ask someone for a good restaurant.  I’m comfortable with udon, so that’s what I’m eating.  🙂  It’s really quaint here.  My udon has raw egg in it…but it’s tasty.  There was a lady who sat with me on the train after the elderly couple got off and was telling me how little there was in Kogushi.  She kept telling me that I should stay at the Kawatana-onsen station, or go on to Takibe so that I could take a bus to Tsunoshima.  It was so pretty on the way here, the mountains and rice fields and then suddenly there was the ocean on the left. So beautiful.  The lady I sat with has a friend in Seattle so we discussed how far things are in the US. 🙂  She was super-nice and said my Japanese was great for just being here since April.  Well, I’m done eating, so I’m off to check out that beautiful beach I saw just over yonder.

————-

I’m super-hot and super-sweaty!!  I’m really glad I did this.  I wanted some time out and doing stuff, but by myself.  I walked all along the shoreline for maybe a half a mile.  I tried to catch some crabs, to no avail, and went inside of a temple.  I have some great pictures of the scenery.  I love going to random places that no one else really sees much beauty or purpose in.  Maybe I have a feeling of ownership with it, because not too many other people can claim an affection for it.  I walked the shoreline one way and only saw a handful of people, and then walked back through the town to the station.  The fact that it is a stifling heat might have something to do with it, and my resulting sunburn is a testimony to that truth.  But it’s such a small and quiet country/sea side town.  I love it!

About halfway between Kogushi and Shimo is another bay/beach.  It looks lovely…I’m going to go there too.  And someday…soooooooooomeday, I will climb one of those mountains! 🙂

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135926&l=816e8&id=500635206
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135927&l=4c07e&id=500635206