Last night I fell tired asleep on my bed after a long day yet fun and exciting whole day tour to the Hikone Castle and the historic Hino Merchant Town - our second and last study tour as a complete group. I woke up this morning and my legs are aching which I believed caused by the uphill climb to the Hikone Castle and going down the Genkyuen Garden. It's not really a long walk but for someone like me who is not really into some fitness activities (I know I should get some) yesterday's walk was something (or I should say somewhat) rigorous. This morning I realized that I was not the only one with the same complaint but two others more though! We left JIAM by bus around 8:00 A.M. and came back before 9:30 P.M. It was drizzling when we arrived here. I had no umbrella and felt obliged to do as told by our tour guides not to get wet so after saying ohayo goizamasu to our tour guide I ran as fast as I could to get inside JIAM. Being one of the first to alight from the bus, I was the second one to reach the building. I think the first three (that includes me) who got off the bus ran harder and faster than anyone else in the group - that pretty likely added to my leg pains this morning. I don't want to think that this is a sign of aging though (oh I know this is a joke among friends back home and I don't think everyone can relate) ahaha!
Going back to the tour, I enjoyed it very very much. After seeing the artifacts inside the Hikone Museum we walked to the Hikone Castle. I like seeing castles and gardens so definitely this tour was one for me! The Hikone Castle has remained undestroyed since its completion in 1622. Unlike most of the castles in Japan which were just rehabilitated and restored from their original structures, the Hikone Castle remains original hence today it is considered one of the national treasures in Japan along with the famous Himeji Castle and four other castles. We had fun walking around not to mention the photo shoots we had to do every sooo often ๐. Unlike in Kyoto where we jostled through a flock of tourists while our tour guides and the CLAIR staff tried their very best to keep us not fall out of the crowd, walking through the Hikone Castle and the Ginkyuen Garden was a breeze with only a few tourists around. A portion of the Hikone Castle, particularly the facade on the entrance, reminded me of the Himeji Castle and of Okayama Castle in terms of the size of the castle itself, though I may not sound so precise on this matter. Just infront of the castle was the Hikone character show and based on the looks of it, the show is pretty much enjoyed by many tourists. Below is my photo taken with the adorable Hikone cat!
Tourists are allowed to get inside the castle. And we did. We climbed to the top of Hikone Castle. I was surprised to see the manner by which the staircases were built; they are not the usual reclining stairs that are easy to climb on. Climbing them was like climbing a tree. Tip for girls: if you go there wearing skirt or mini skirt, it would be good to put on a pair of cycling shorts or boyleg ๐ so you don't feel awkward or be conscious while crawling your way up the stairs ๐.
After Ginkyuen Garden, we boarded the same bus going to the Hino Merchant Town. It took us around forty minutes to get there from Hikone. We arrived early as expected so we stayed inside the bus and waited for some more minutes before we started going to the museum where we had a sumptuous traditional Japanese lunch overlooking a lovely garden! Originally, dining is not allowed in the area but the place was specifically prepared for us for said purpose. After a brief lecture on the history of the success of the Hino merchants and after checking out the museum , we were guided and ushered by Mr. Moore, our program coordinator at JIAM, for a walk 'round the neighborhood. The weather was a bit gloomy, so it was a really nice walk. I said in one of my posts on Facebook that the countryside of Otsu City is quiet and quaint; but Hino Merchant Town is a lot more! You can go 'round the place and would wonder if anybody's actually home.
Around 3:00 pm or so we reached another museum where we were set to meet our respective host families. We are a group of 28 trainees and we were divided into 11 groups so that meant 11 families were present to fetch and bring us into their own homes. The families were inside the room when we entered; some of them have kids. The mayor of Hino Town spoke to us in Japanese before we were formally introduced to our host families. Part of his speech when translated in English went like this: "we understand that you came from 12 different countries; that's why your host families have prepared so much for you to have wonderful memories in Hino; no they didn't do much preparations or changes in their homes, but they have prepared their hearts for you." I think we gave our warmest round of applause on that part.
Everyone has gone with his own host family. I went with my host family along with two other trainees namely Andreia, from Brazil, who is by the way also going with me to Toyohashi after our training at JIAM, and also Miggy, another co-trainee from China. Amongst us, Miggy, being a Chinese national, is the most knowledgable in Nihonggo, as Chinese language and Nihonggo have some similarities. Miggy can speak and understand Nihonggo a lot lot better than I and Andreia can do. The day before we came to Hino, I told Miggy to bring a lot of Japanese words with her so we can use them for this particular moment ๐. Our host family could hardly speak English. Thanks to Miggy who in most instances had done the translation for us. At times when she was having a difficulty expressing herself or what I and Andreia wanted to express, she would write in Kanji and show it to them, and presto we understood each other haha!
For our dinner, we harvested some Endo Mame from our host family's backyard and made dinner altogether. We made sushi!!! O btw, I forgot to mention, a home made lemon cake was served to us earlier on along with cups of hot Ethiopian coffee. That was really so special!
Our dinner was made of sushi, fried tofu and boiled Endo Mame and another beans which I forget the name. I was like... burrrrrpppp! Oishi desu. We had a great talk over dinner. It seemed to me all of a sudden we understood each other as if we had the same language. We laughed a lot that we didn't realize we need to go for the farewell ceremony. Pakiramdam ko ang bilis ng oras!
Our host family!
We made the sushi! Below is the yummy homemade lemon bread.
I like the Endo Mame, a variant of beans. I wish we can grow like this back home.
The farewell ceremony was another special moment. I looked around and everybody seemed so happy! You can tell that each trainee and each group and each family had a wonderful time together. At the end of the ceremony, all host family members including kids lined up outside the hall and wished us well as they sent us off one by one. We said thank you to them one by one too - it's the least we can do that moment to express our deep gratitude for their kindness and hospitality. When we boarded the bus, I realized that the host families followed us at the parking lot; they were standing in the dark under the drizzle waving goodbye to all of us. What a lovely sight! My heart melted. I (and I think everyone of us) felt so special and deeply honored and grateful for this wonderful experience. We were all wearing smiles on our lips when we left Hino.
Aside from proving to myself once again that Japanese are helpful and kind, I also came to a realization that genuine hospitality and kindness can break barriers resulting from language and culture differences and that through giving our hearts in service to others, we encourage and touch their lives in special ways. This is what Hino exactly did! Now whenever I think of Hino Town here in Japan, I would think not only of tranquility, hospitality and kindness but also of wonderful memories. Thank you Hino! Thank you for your wonderful people. Thank you for the memories. Thank you God for the opportunity to be here. ❤️
