Trying to remember what I did today. We ended up in a small town called Gamagori after we left Izu. We visited a big green tea plantation, where we were taught the traditional way to drink green tea. It was prepared in a special way that was apparently the "right way" to drink tea. I kept bumping my head on the ceiling because I was always careless watching where I was going. Plus, the ceiling was incredibly low. Anyways, it took us about 3 hours to get to this place called the Laguna Fish Market... which was pretty crazy for a fish market. It was more like an outlet with it's own giant market on the first floor, and a bunch of shopping centers around it. Then around 6, we had a nice buffet dinner. Pretty tired now, so I'm going to enjoy the Onsen (hot springs).

Gamagori is an onsen (natural hot spring) town. The main source of income comes from tourism and there are loads of ryokan (traditional style Japanese inns) built on top of the 4 main onsen areas in Gamagori. My friends and I stayed at Nanpuso for about 100 bucks a head one weekend in 2004, and did it again in 2005. Hopefully this will continue as long as I'm in Japan!! (Of course, I want them to all get together even when I'm not here, but really how could they possibly have as much fun without me? *laugh* I'm a narcisstic beast yes i am!!!) Anyway, it may sound steep, but it's actually very inexpensive compared to the other ryokans out there. The reason being of course the incredible dinner banquet that they set out, the all-night onsens, the breakfast that comes the next morning (with everyone still completely bloated from the night before of course....) and yeah. It's a great way to relax and bond while eating a lot of food and sitting around naked in hot mineral water with your friends. ^_^