On Christmas Day, Rie and I took a nice cheap taxi across town to the International Ferry Terminal. We boarded the high-speed ferry and three hours later we were in Japan. From the ferry terminal in Fukuoka, Japan, we took a very short and very expensive taxi ride to the bus station. In Korea, the Dollar is very strong and everything is fairly cheap. In Japan, the Dollar is very weak. If I was working here now, I would be earning about 35% more (in Dollars) than I did four years ago.
During our 10 minute / $15 taxi ride, we discussed all sorts of things with the taxi driver. He thought Rie was from India and was not shy about asking our ages. After a short wait at the bus station, we took the four hour bus ride to the nearest big town to Rie’s brother. Taakaki and his family picked us up and we all went back to their small house in Iwagawa. It was a long day of traveling, and for some reason, I was given the honor of taking the first bath. I hope it was because I was the oldest in the house and not because they were treating me as a guest. Either way, my little four year old nephew jumped at the chance to be among the first to use the hot water in the bathtub. He had some good bath toys, but we could not stay too long because other people were waiting to enjoy the hot water.
Rie’s father’s family lives near Taakaki and we had a nice visit with many great-aunts and cousins and a few trips to the nursing home to visit Rie’s grandmother. On the 27th, we went to the airport to continue our journey south. I was surprised to run into a teacher I used to work with when I was an English teacher. I usually make fun of Rie for meeting people she knows at the Amami airport, but here I was running into friends in the big Kagoshima airport.
During our 10 minute / $15 taxi ride, we discussed all sorts of things with the taxi driver. He thought Rie was from India and was not shy about asking our ages. After a short wait at the bus station, we took the four hour bus ride to the nearest big town to Rie’s brother. Taakaki and his family picked us up and we all went back to their small house in Iwagawa. It was a long day of traveling, and for some reason, I was given the honor of taking the first bath. I hope it was because I was the oldest in the house and not because they were treating me as a guest. Either way, my little four year old nephew jumped at the chance to be among the first to use the hot water in the bathtub. He had some good bath toys, but we could not stay too long because other people were waiting to enjoy the hot water.
Rie’s father’s family lives near Taakaki and we had a nice visit with many great-aunts and cousins and a few trips to the nursing home to visit Rie’s grandmother. On the 27th, we went to the airport to continue our journey south. I was surprised to run into a teacher I used to work with when I was an English teacher. I usually make fun of Rie for meeting people she knows at the Amami airport, but here I was running into friends in the big Kagoshima airport.
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