Oita & Beppu pictures, coming Home!

We have had a great week in Oita, visiting our friends Joe & Sayuri. We're looking forward to coming back home tomorrow (the 31st here)! It's been a great week, a mixture of tourism, shopping, and house construction work at Joe's new house south of Oita.

Here's some new pictures to enjoy!
Oita part 1: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eWbF26MX5jmZbvI52

Beppu, and Oita part 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/atMus8FTnt9dZecA2

We're looking forward to seeing all our friends and family back home! See you soon, state-side! =)

Now in Oita! and Kyoto pictures part 2

We are now down in Oita, Japan, visiting our friend Joe and his wife, Sayuri! Joe is originally from Alaska, but he's lived in Japan for over 20 years. We met him in 2013 through couchsurfing, became good friends, and we've been coming back to visit ever since.

We're having a lovely leisurely time visiting with them, and just doing some shopping and light sight-seeing here. Our first night in Oita, we went to a local Hawaiian-style bar & restaurant for a salsa dance! A very fun evening, and nice to get some dancing in.

Today, Devlin, Joe & a new friend, Carlos, are on a bike ride over to nearby Beppu. I'm off to do a little shopping. =)

The weather has cleared up - a massive typhoon was going by Kyushu when we first arrived last Saturday. It rained and was windy up through Monday morning, and then it was past and moving north, and the weather became much nicer. Today there's sunshine and hardly any wind. We've been really lucky to get mild weather this whole trip! I think we've only had 3 days of heavier rain in all.

Here are some more pictures, from our last couple of days in Kyoto! Enjoy!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NqOZ40RPRzA3rEFk2

Kyoto & Kanazawa

Hello friends and family! We are in Kyoto, Japan, currently, and I am finally updating this blog. We flew into Osaka on October 11th, and then caught a train to Kyoto. After a first few nice and mellow days, we caught a train up north to a smaller town called Kanazawa, on the north coast.

It's been a lovely and pretty relaxing trip so far. We've been enjoying observing Japanese life, trying (or looking at) unusual food, and a change of pace from home.

Here's a photo album from the first part of our Kyoto visit:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tsSGdzgrl8gmBwC43

And pictures of Kanazawa, a well-preserved Edo town with the famous Kenroku-en garden:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oElk3POaoycFgi2R2