YAMANASHI

Last week I went to Yamanashi Prefecture with Emi to stay with some of her relatives for several days. It was some pretty countryside and not too far from the city. Where we stayed seemed to be set in a large valley in the midst of the mountains.

The family we stayed with grows Peaches, Grapes, and also Orchids. We helped out in the green house for a couple days while we were there, moving the Orchids. We also ate a lot of good food while we were there. On the first night we had all you can eat Yaki Niku, as part of the birthday party for Emi's cousin's husband. I'm glad we arrived in time for the party because that was the best yakiniku I've ever had.

Emi's cousin and her husband also have a little girl named Himeka (princess flower). She is very cute and she seems to know it. She is always ready to pose for the camera. We had fun playing with her and doing some fireworks while we were there. We also just heard a couple days after we got back that Himeka's mom just had their second baby, a boy. It came a little early so no one was expecting him.

After all the hard work in the greenhouse we spent our last day at Fujikyu Highland! This theme park has one of the fastest roller coasters in the world, and it has the two coasters that hold the record for the highest height and most loops.

The roller coaster that has the most loops is called eejanaika, which can be roughly translated "why not". For example one could say, "hey would you like to go on the most frightening roller coaster in the world?" And then you could respond "eejanaika". I'm told that it is actually not a typical way to respond and perhaps eejanaika is a southern way to say "iin janai". They both mean the same thing. Any way, this picture below is not of eejanaika, its Fujiyama, and it once held the record for the highest coaster in the world. Fujiyama and Eejanaika were both awesome rides, and I consider myself a judge of roller coaster quality.