day 9 - bathing in public

12/06/07 24:25
today was a pretty short day i noticed just now. i stood up at noon (they are just too polite to wake me up at 9 or 10 am), had breakfast and got changed. i left with mami, starting the same way we did yesterday, setting off for the hyogo prefectural history museum. we rented bikes for the way (which immediately reminded me of all the awesome bike riding two years ago). the museum itself was okay, some nice exhibits, old japanese toys and model castles. the coolest thing was that i could wear a full 30-something kg samurai armor. how anyone could fight in such a thing i do not know, but i imagine a european middle age plate armor was still quite a bit heavier.afterwards we went to a freind of hers and had lunch. me and a bunch of pretty japanese girls, really not the kind of people i`d hang around with back in germany. i couldnt quite follow their conversation, though. we originally wanted to go to some karaoke place first, but it was already too late (yokatta!), so we went directly to the public bath where we wanted to go. it was closed though, so we had to drive 30 minutes to go to another one. japanese public baths are something different. everyuone`s naked, first. so they are gender divided, which left me pretty much on my own.apart from the 50 japanese guys who were still there at 10 pm. once you enter (you only take a towel to hide your privates) you wash. then you may enter the actual bathing area. it`s not a pool, just many different kinds of whirlpools and small baths where you can relax. it was definitely a memorable experience and i do feel quite relaxed. 7885 Y.