oh ninjas, how you disappointed me.

Yay for another long weekend! This time, it we were celebrating Labour day, which meant another opportunity to leave our lovely quiet prefecture (read: boring) and go elsewhere. Though, as tradition would dictate, it meant that we only decided the previous week that we wanted to go somewhere new, by which time, everyone else in Japan - being the organised, overzealous type of country - had already decided months in advance they were going to take advantage of the weekend too, and book out all the accomodation for the places we wanted to go. But, rather than drowning my sorrows in numerous cups of vanilla lattes and frappucinos like I usually do, I thought it was a good idea to try driving to a new prefecture. So, we ended up deciding on going to Shiga, a prefecture just next door to Gifu.

But what to do in Shiga? Well, visiting Japan's largest lake seemed so cliché and well, not my cup of tea. I've found out I'm not really one for nature, surprisingly (as I write this on my blog while listening to my iPod). And, all that the city of Nagahama seemed to have on offer, other than the usual temples and castles, was just a really, really old train station. Meh. So, trying to forge new ground, we ended up settling on Koka, the city known for its ninja clan in its heyday. Granted, I wasn't expecting it to be littered with ninjas, (after all, they would be all stealthy anyways if they were good ninjas) but we were hoping to visit Ninja Village, which, as you'd expect, was meant to be a village full of ninja-related crap.

After our two hour drive to Koga, turns out, we arrived a little too late. Like, 10-15 years too late. My super high expectations of the ninja village were a little bit more than shattered when we got there and found that it wasn't really that well maintained. Like, dead crickets and other insects littering the cases of old ninja weapons in the museum. And a tea house that looked like it had collapsed, and was left as it was.  The only redeeming part of the museum turned out to be the ninja star throwing range. It's sad to say when I thought about ninja stars, I immediately thought of Three Ninjas Kick Back, where one of the three was learning to throw ninja stars accurately, was given the wise advice by his uncle to stare at the target until it became the size of a watermelon, and aim at it. So, I did try that technique, though turns out, I can't tell the difference between that technique and squinting, so I wasn't that good.

The one redeeming thing from our trip to Shiga? Marimokkori! Yep, an overpriced ¥420 phone strap made my weekend. I guess that may be a sign of a not-so-successful trip. But nonetheless, as we stopped at a rest stop on the highway between Kyoto and Tokyo, the huge rest stop was stocked with souvenirs from everywhere in between, for the Japanese people who had forgotten to get any presents on the way back from holidaying. Which meant that I was able to buy some Marimokkori from places I had been to before I started my collection! wooo!!

 

Shachihoko (Lion carp), Nagoya

  

Pagoda, Nara

  

 Tanuki (Racoon Dog), Shiga