The town of Kushiro held a wonderful festival. Koji and Shirai took my son and I to many places. We visited the crane preserve where they have been successful in hatching eggs. Amazingly, the "cages" are open at hte top, and wild cranes often mate with those raised on the premesis. They mate for life.

We also visited a national park and saw magnificent views of the wetlands. Even saw a volcano far off..the "wife" is very active and had puffs of smoke and the "husband" is quiet and smaller. There were jokes all around about that!

Also, during the festival I got to ring a huge bell at a shinto shrine, a rare occurrence I understand. The parades were of drums and dances.

As usual, the families and town were warm and inviting..and best of all the sun shone all day. My poor son has his dad's lack of hair on his head and got a sunburn. Attached are pictures (if it works) of his adjustment to not having a hat...a large leaf of the butterbur

Cynthia