Golden Week: Kagoshima, then Hida
On Thursday we leave for an 8 day vacation in Kagoshima, which is the southernmost prefecture in Kyushu, which is the most southern of Japan’s four main islands. Next week is Golden Week in Japan, which is like spring break, except it’s for everybody, not just students. The whole country practically shuts down, as everyone is on vacation.
I may not post much over the next week or two, depending on our internet access while we’re away.
Our original plan was to go even further south, to Okinawa, but then we started reading about Kagoshima, and it sounded like a lot of fun, so we changed our plans. We’ll spend a few days in the Kagoshima City area, with a side-trip to Kaseda for their annual Sand Festival (check out the pictures at that link – I think it will be a nice complement to our visit to the Snow Festival). Then we’ll visit the islands Yakushima and Tanegashima – both are supposed to have beautiful beaches. Yakushima is a rain forest island – check out this guy’s amazing pictures. Tanegashima is home to Japan’s largest space center. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get to see a satellite launching.
We’ll briefly return to Tokyo, to pick up Maria’s friend Andrea, who is flying in from the US, and then we’ll head to Hida for a few days. Hida is a mostly rural area in mid-Western Japan. Maria and Andrea will be tourists with the boys. I’m being released on my own recognizance to go hiking around Mt. Tateyama with Paul, a former student of Maria’s from Villanova, who is currently living in Hida and kindly agreed to take me hiking.
The only thing I’m worried about is Eidan – for the past 6 weeks he’s been getting up 4 or 5 times every night. Maria and I are exhausted. We probably could have improved his sleep if we were at home in Philly. But here, with neighbors on every side and 4 of us in a 1 bedroom apartment, the best we can really do is try quieting him down as quickly as possible when he wakes up. All the moving around we’ll do on this trip will be a major disruption for him, which means his sleeping will get even worse, …or if we’re lucky it’ll get better. Who knows – wish us luck 
