Day 145- October 5

By Al

In the morning, Amy and I made a quick trip to the mochi shop to get some take away.  While we were doing that, Sally and Drew transferred our luggage to the train station.  Amy and I joined them there and we took the local train to Shin Osaka to catch the Shinkonsen.  We had one transfer toward the end to a local train.  We were met at the train station by Shige Nakamura, the Nagasaki Rotarian who was our main contact with Nagasaki as we made plans for the statue.

He walked us to our hotel, where we met the rest of the delegation from St. Paul.  At the hotel, Sally, Amy, Drew and I shared the same room.  Half of the room had western style beds.  Half had tatami on the floor and futons for sleeping.  Amy and Drew elected the tatami half of the room. 

We went to a nearby hamburger restaurant- we all had the same meal- a large hamburger patty on top of a lettuce salad.  It was the only meal the restuarant served. It was great.

By Sally

This is another view of our room at the Osaka Youth Hostel- taken after we had packed and removed all our stuff.  It shows the table in the middle, and the closets which hold the futons and bedding.  There is a balcony behind the sliding door- no furniture on the balcony, but a clothes drying rack- which we used to dry our towels.  Another thing that interests me in Japanese life.  Most apartments have balconies. Most balconies have a clothes drying rack or clothes lines.  Most balconies that I see from the train have clothes hanging out to dry.  It seems most apartments in the U.S. have rules against hanging out clothes to dry on the balcony.

Amy and Drew on the futons in our Nagasaki room. Amy is making the Japanese peace sign- which you often see in pictures of Japanese youth.  The hotel provides each guest with a robe and slippers.   The traditional section had a raised floor, with a table and floor chairs.  It appeared that the room was used as a suite when only two people occupied the room, with the tatami section being the sitting area.  Like the Osaka room, it was small- reminded me of New York hotel rooms.