More Rugby, A Beer Factory and Yanagawa

Hi everyone,
As promised here is a little summary of everything I have been doing the past 4 weeks.
On the 15 of January I attended a performance by the drumming group TAO.
I forgot my camera but, like many events in Japan, pictures were not allowed.
But the performance was quite good. One of the performers said that they would be returning to Fukuoka in May, so hopefully I will be able to see them again when I am back here.

On the 19th, there was a Christmas Party at the school.
Three groups of students sang a different Christmas song in Japanese.
My group sang "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town".
Then all the students and teachers sang the Japanese version of "Silent Night".

That weekend, I went with a few friends to another rugby game.
This one was a professional game and was held in a stadium.





On Christmas Day, all the students took a trip to the Asahi Beer factory.
Being able to see the whole process was quite interesting. But unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of any of the most exciting things.





Just this past week I left my homestay and moved into a dorm about 10-15 minutes away from the school by train.
This past weekend I spent a day in a small town called Yanagawa with a couple students from the same dorm.
The town is famous for it's unagi (eel) and for boat tours through it's many canals.

Before taking our boat tour we walked around the town a bit and stopped bya few Shinto Shrines that were nearby.




This Shrine seemed brand new.

This young boy, along with his mother and younger sibling were inside the shrine when we arrived.

This man is a Shinto Priest.


Next we made our way to the boat dock and had a nice one hour tour of the canals.




The tour took us under several bridges.
Believe it or not, these next two pictures are the second lowest bride we went under.


Afterwards we were a bit cold and very hungry.
So we ate at a nearby unagi restaurant.
It was a bit expensive, but VERY good.

As for the future...
Right now, the plan is to leave the city and go to my first WWOOF farm by January 5th.
I will stay on that farm for 2 weeks, and then go to another farm in Fukuoka prefecture and stay for another two weeks.
After that I must renew my visa (which will probably involve going to Korea for a short period of time) before I can travel to another WWOOF farm somewhere else.
Right now I'm thinking of going to the Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe area, and then closer to Tokyo.

After January 5th (if all goes well) I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again.
Or cellphone reception for that matter...it'll be just like home!
Anyway, feel free to leave me some questions/comments.
I'll try and post at least one more time before I leave.
Oh, and
Happy New Year everyone!