Day One: Exploring The City

I’m in love with the way guys style their hair in Japan, I really am. Anime was not necessarily lying about this. Some guys really do have longish, spiky hair. I don’t know if they use styling gels or what, but it’s freaking awesome.

We kick-started today with a trip to the beach. I took plenty of pictures, and found some pretty cool stuff. To be honest, I was a little hesitant about taking it, because they seemed just like the sort of things most people would take, and I didn't know why most people hadn't taken them. However, it turned out that it was perfectly okay. I am now the proud owner of a large possibly oyster shell, some smooth white rocks, some pretty aqua rocks, and a small dried starfish. (I know, right? How is it that no one else took this?)
This was then followed by making a brief loop around Enoshima (an island) to give me an idea of what it’s like. Busy, in case anyone was wondering.

Next we went to a downtown-type area and through a few stores. Each one had around five levels, but they were just stores, not malls! It was at about this time that my Japanese family discovered I love cats. Due to a discussion the previous night on mushrooms, I’m now fairly certain that my identity here revolves around three things: Cats, mushrooms, and Canada.
After wandering through a few of these stores, they took me to the train station to show me how to purchase tickets. We have yet to turn in my railway pass, but as I haven’t yet had the need to use a train, it doesn't really matter. Fortunately, there’s an English option, but it still looks confusing- you have to select a number based off of the station you want to arrive at. Okay… Just take my word for it; it looks a lot easier written down.
On our way to find somewhere to eat, we saw a school band!

They were performing on what I suppose qualifies as a street corner, and they were very good! We listened to a few songs, and then headed to a sushi restaurant. Fun fact: In Japan, you clean your hands with a small white cloth before eating. These are provided by the restaurant for free, along with green tea and water.
I tried eel, which may sound a smidge odd, but was actually delicious. All the sushi I tried was. There was only one I didn't try, although I’d been eyeballing it for a while. It was wrapped in nori (seaweed) with round orange fish eggs on top, and it was filled with these tiny white sprout-like things. They had small black dots on them and looked harmless enough, but something told me to be wary. After I finished, I asked what kind of sushi the funny white sprout-thing was, and I was told that the white things were actually tiny fish. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the black dots were eyes! As much as I want the full Japan experience, I’m not sure how I feel about eating something with its guts still inside it.
Side note directed at my mom: It is not impolite in Japan to put the entire piece of sushi in your mouth at once. I have perfectly average manners. So there.
This leads to Thing I Didn't Know About Myself Number One: I make eating with chopsticks look like I’m fighting a raging battle with my food. First, it tries to escape a few times when I take it off the plate. Then, it struggles and screams as I awkwardly stab it until it’s in half pieces. And finally, bloodied, broken, and on the brink of death, it makes a final escape attempt by taking a dive into my soy sauce, where it promptly drowns.
I even make eating things I've eaten all my life- such as spaghetti- look hard.
They had displays like this outside of every restaurant.

It was around when we were walking through the city hall and city office that I began to notice the stares. As a tall, Canadian girl with curly brown hair, I stand out a little more than most people. My hair seems to be the biggest cause for fascination, though. I even had someone ask to touch it, and I let her because she’s a friend of my host family and she was nice. I’m sure the pink ends help matters as well.

Before heading back, we took a short detour to watch some kids probably about my age use these massive bows to fire arrows at targets. It was both exciting and terrifying. I believe it was some kind of competition, because there were adults in the same clothing with what appeared to be scoreboards.
We watched for a couple of minutes after which I walked back with Okasan while Otosan took the car.

Random Observation About Japan Number One: They make the culverts look like works of art, with pretty designs and pictures on them.

After a delicious dinner made by Otosan, I helped Okasan clean up and used the bath again. It is currently my firm belief that if Canada plans to take part in any aspect of Japanese culture, we should adopt the home baths. They are amazing and one of the most relaxing experiences ever.

They also have heated toilet seats. I agree with this one as well.

Pictures I took of the place:

A popular way of travel in Japan is by bike. In fact, so many people ride bikes, they actually have places to park said bikes. Here is one of these places: