We went out with Tomoko's mom to run some errands, including going to the library, where you had to check your bags before entering! I guess so people don't steal books..? Anywho, we looked around there for a bit before going through the McDonalds drive thru...on the opposite side of the car! Crazy. Anywho, then we went back to Tomoko's house to get ready for the parade. She helped me do my hair the way they do it for these types of things, in a loose side ponytail.

Then we went downstairs where Tomoko's mom helped us with the summer kimono's which are a little different then regular kimonos. Mine was blue and had flowers on it. It was really pretty. She helped us put them on and tie them up properly. We also got cute little purses that matched what we were wearing. We were driven back to Shobara and we went to watch the fireworks. Everyone was staring at me..can't imagine why haha! All the other Japanese girls were wearing the same kind of kimono, there were some really beautiful ones. We watched the fireworks and got some meat on a stick and a drink. It was really fun, I felt so Japanese!

Tomoko and I did not do a ton this day. We watched the first Harry Potter with subtitles, that was fun. There was a festival going on in Shobara that Tomoko's dad was going to take us to. It was kind of wet outside, it wasn't raining but it had just been I think. We went a little early for the parade, Tomoko's dad was so nice, I wanted to buy a map of Japan so he drove to a couple different stores to help me find one, but with no luck.

We got to the parade and there were quite a few people there. There was a lot of little tents set up selling food. We bought some and it was delicious, I can't really remember exactly what it was but it was really good. I had the same traditional festival drink that I had at their little summer festival. The parade started before dark, it was really cool, there were a lot of different groups there that were really fun to watch. The Hiroshima Carp mascot was there too. It was pretty sweet.

When we went back to Miyoshi we all went out for dinner to have Chinese food. First we stopped at a shoe store so her brother could get new shoes. The Chinese food in Japan is totally different then what we eat here. I didnt recognize a thing that they ordered except noodles, but they didn't taste the same. It was still pretty good, probably a lot closer to real Chinese food than we eat.

Tomoko's dad drove us for about an hour through the Japanese countryside to the Jyosei Waterfalls. It was so beautiful there. We had to hike up a pretty intense hill to get there, but it was worth it. When we got back it started pouring rain outside, but it was still hot. We made cookies for Tomoko's friends birthday the next day.

We went for lunch at a restaurant called Sunday's Sun. It was very western. So western that they were playing COUNTRY MUSIC. I was so excited, I've never heard country in Japan, Tomoko says they don't have any, so it made me really excited to hear some Martina McBride on the radio. Then we drove to the Taishakukyo Park where we parked the car and rented bicycles to ride around in the park. It was a lot of fun. When we got back to Tomoko's house we learned that her cat had died while we were gone. They had it under the shrine in their house in a box and when we got there we went outside across the street by a big tree and burried the cat, we all lit inscents and put them around where the cat was buried.

After the long day in Onomichi and Mihara we went back to Tomoko's house and had dinner with her family.

On my first day in Miyoshi me and Tomoko and Tomoko's mom drove to the Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery where we met up with Yukiko and her cousin to have lunch and go to the Ogenki Desku museum(I think thats what it was called). Then we had grape ice cream at the winery. While we were there we also went to a tea ceremony in the museum, which was really interesting. The tea was gross though, but I don't like tea, so maybe thats why. Then we went back to Tomoko's house where there was a summer festival going on next door for their community. So we went there with Tomokos parents and her brothers and her brother's friend. It was really fun, we ate potatoes and chicken and noodles and a hot dog on a stick. I also had a 'traditional japanese festival drink', which was really good. Then everyone got up and did a Japanese dance to a traditional japanese festival song, so I had no idea what it was, but I tried my best to get it right. It was really fun and I met some awesome people. Before we left the mayor of the town brought me to the podium they were on and gave me this big box with a lot of Japanese bath salts and soaps. It was a really cool experience.

We went to the bowling alley in Shobara in the morning and we met up with Tomoko's friend there. After that we drove to Shobara Kyuryo Park. It was ridiculously hot, again. We walked around there for a while. When we were walking through we decided to stop at this building in the park where an old man taught us to make leaf whistles out of clay, it was fun and it only cost about 300 yen. They had to be hardened so the man said he would mail them to us. When we were in the park we also saw this really awesome playground, but I was too hot to play on it. Then we went back to Tomoko's house where we were getting ready for a family barbecue. Her aunt and uncle and cousins came out to have dinner. Tomoko's mom taught me how to made these crazy rice triangles. They barbecue very strange though, but it was so delicious. Her family brought me flowers that her aunt arranged herself. We also had firecrackers. The Japanese are big with the firecrackers.