Walking around exploring

We decided to be adventurous and go for a little exploration of Chichibu.  We actually live in a suburb of Chichibu/near Chichibu called Onohara.  So we hopped on the little town train and went to Chichibu station. We walked along the main road and found a small shrine where some tourists were.  We have no idea what is was called, but since tourists were already there we decided to go too!  The people who looked after the shrine were very nice and gave us free tea and candy.  We bought a little carved monk/buddha sculpture that Aiden really wanted because it was "a little Jesus".  Although he was a little confused, at least he got that it is a religious place! We also bought a plaque and wrote down our wish and hung it up.  You can notice in the pictures more of the name sticker pasted to the ceiling.  I really want to find out a clearer explanation for them!

After we stopped at the shrine we decided to get some lunch.  Miki wrote out on a note card in Japanese that I have a seafood allergy and can't eat any seafood including food made with fish and seafood sauce.  It has come in really handy and to date there have been no bad incidents because of it!  So be found a pork restaurant, not knowing that was what is was.  We kept asking for chicken and beef, and it was humorous since the server spoke no English and resorted to large body gestures accompanied by her Japanese.

We also took some pictures of downtown and the surrounding mountain from the top floor of a department store.  I forget when the mountain is called, but it is mined for concrete or materials to make concrete/cement.  It you look closely, you can see the tiered cuts they have made.  

nothing like a happy pile of poo to get your message across!

We then went back to the train station and had to wait for the next train to come for 20 mins.  Greg wanted to pass the time away by taking jumping pictures of himself and Aiden.