Today after school Mr. Hayashi took me and Miss Kageyama to Awaji Island, a big island south of Akashi, right near where I live. The island is connected by a bridge larger than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, but we took the ferry to get there. The ferry is pretty big (“half as big as a destroyer”, says Mr. Hayashi) and we just parked our car inside, along with several big rigs and a bus or two. We went upstairs and sat in the swanky lounge and had iced coffees while we watched the ferry pass under the Akashi bridge.
At the other end we drove off, and then headed south on Awaji to see Mr. Hayashi’s father, who is in a nursing home on the south end of the island. We stopped in and Miss Kageyama and I stayed in the lobby while Mr. Hayashi went upstairs to see his dad. After about fifteen minutes we were back in the car and headed to the southern-most part of the island to see a famous whirlpool.
The whirlpool was supposedly underneath the next big bridge that takes you to Shokoku. We looked and looked, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Mr. Hayashi conjectured that they “turn it off” after five o ‘clock. It was nowhere to be found. I took lots of pictures of the bridge and the sunset, and finally ended up taking a picture of a vending machine that had a picture of the whirlpool. I guess that will have to do.
Afterwards we drove back up north, and had dinner at a restaurant at a roadside service area. The restaurant was inexpensive, and had great food. The best part was that there were giant windows, so we could see the bridge, all of Kobe, and then a blood red moonrise over the city while we ate.
After dinner we jumped in the car and crossed the bridge itself, paying a discounted but still expensive toll – 3850 yen (about $35). It boggles the mind to think that people pay that price to cross the bridge. The ferry costs about 1600 yen to get across – less than half the cost.
Mr. Hayashi dropped me off at my place, and I went inside to drop off some stuff. Almost immediately I turned back around and went down to the yakitori – it has been a while since I’ve been there. Seems like I’ve missed a lot. The master treated me like a long lost son, asking about what I’ve been doing, letting me try new items on the menu for free, and very happily telling me that he is going to get married around the first of the year. As far as I could tell from our conversation, his girlfriend is pregnant, so they are going ahead and tying the knot. From what I understand, they are just going to sign a paper or something – no ceremony or anything.
He invited me to party with them on New Year’s Eve. I said yes – nobody has made a better offer, and it’s a time to be with family in Japan. I don’t want to intrude on Mr. Hayashi, and the folks at the yakitori really know how to party. It will be fun – I guess we are going to meet at the yakitori, close it down early at 10 o’clock, and then sit around in there and drink and eat on the house until just before midnight. Then we’ll go to the shrine, drink there, and they will ring the bell 108 times – once for every sin that you might have committed in the previous year. I’m looking forward to it!
