What a Wakayama Weekend with the Wakitas!

I spent this past weekend with Saori and the Wakitas at their home in Wakayama.

Mr. Wakita is a self-employed architect who designed his own house. I was very impressed with it. The house was very interesting, comfortable and spacious. There seemed to be more floors than there actually were. Almost all the lights (and even the toilet seat) were automatic. And, there were some interesting windows inside that let light spill over from other rooms.

The room I stayed in was Saori's old bedroom. The bookshelf doubled as a staircase that led to a small lounge.

Here is a shot of the lounge. Connected to the lounge is a balcony (on the left).

There house is in the country, it was pretty quiet compared to Hirakata and Higashiyama. Sorry, that this shot is from inside the house, it was raining at the time. Also, allow to apologize for the neighbors who are farmers and who let their little creek get dirty.

On Saturday, we went to see Wakayama-jou, Wakayama Castle. Leading to it were many small bamboo candles which are called touroumatsuri.

Here is a close-up with the flash.

Here is a close-up in the dark.

I like how the building looks in this shot. The shape of the candles to the right is a heart.

Here is a better shot of the heart.

I took maybe 15 shots of Wakayama Castle and because of a long exposure time, all but two came out blurry. Here is the better of the two.

This picture is from the area surrounding the castle.

After visiting the castle, we met Egawa Sensei who is an acupuncturist. He is a very friendly man who gave me some free acupuncture. At the time, my hips were a little sore from too much biking after not having biked. I am happy to report that I have no pain in my hips.

Here is Egawa Sensei working on my other hip.

Here is me and a skeleton who coincidentally is also named Tom.

After helping me out, a real patient came by and Egawa Sensei helped her out.

She had rolled her ankle pretty badly playing volleyball.

After inserting a needle, Egawa Sensei allowed me to flick it.

We then all shared some snacks and Egawa Sensei let me administer some acupuncture on myself. I did alright.

Having briefly learned about acupuncture in a Chinese Civilization course, I asked if he ever uses fire when doing acupuncture. He did after all, and then the put some of the burning material on my hand. The sensation was a little warm but it never burns he told me. Apparently it relaxes the area.

Here is picture of Egawa Sensei administering his fire acupuncture.

Everyone helped. It was unnecessary but fun.

On Sunday, we met Mr. Kimura and his family at there orange farm. I believe they also grow persimmons. They gave me two bags of free oranges to take back to my host family. It wasn't the easiest thing to take back by bike, but I am grateful nonetheless.

Here is a shot of me, the Wakitas, and the Kimuras at their farm. The picture might not show it, but they liked me, and did not resent me for taking their oranges.