Sweet. I have an Obon plan. I know what you're asking. What is it, Derek? What's your plan? And wtf is Obon?!

Obon is a weeklong summer holiday over here. It's in the middle of August, and it's similar to....Halloween. When I say it's similar to Halloween...I mean that really loosely. In the Shinto religion, there are hundreds of gods (so I've been told), and during this time they all go to a certain shrine on Shikoku to honour the dead. I think some dead are supposed to roam around too. I may be way off with this, but the stories I get from my students never make much sense. Trying to figure out what Shintoism is, is even harder.

It has something to do with bowing and clapping for good luck.

So, back to my plan. So far on my holidays I've been to Shikoku, Osaka, Tokyo, and Thailand. Now I'm heading down too Kyushu...the sound western island. However, it's going to be a road trip! Tony got his drivers license, so we're renting a car and hitting the road for about a week. I think this will be an entirely different Japanese experience. I'll post more details as I find them out.