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On this first day of the new year, we went to the historical city Kumomoto. It took a little over two hours to get there by train. When we arrived, we took the city trolley to Kumomoto Castle. We were very lucky because the castle had free admission for New Years day, something we didn't know until we got there. The castle was built originally in the 1300's by a noble family. I didn't realize the similarities between Japan and Europe in the Middle Ages. Both were split in small feudal states rather than one large nation. The castle was partially destroyed during the Meiji Restoration, but it has been rebuilt to its original state. It was so intimidating, so tall and massive. We also saw a few turrets, which were very large for a defense building. It was great to see something very "Japanese" and be able to walk through such a beautiful castle.

After we toured the castle, we walked to a house that was owned by one of the most successful Samurais of the area. On our way, walked past a New Year's day festival in one of the Shinto shrines. There was a lot of street food and people praying for a good year.

The Samurai house was very large a elaborate. It was a group of about seven smaller buildings connected by walkways and gardens. The interior of the house was filled with paintings, carved furniture, and beautiful porcelain jars. We were the only people at the house, so it was very peaceful to wander each room and garden.

After touring the house, we walked to the trolley to head back to the train station. On our way we saw a lot of door posts with a palm branch and a tangerine over the top of the post. It is a New Years custom in Japan, which was neat to be there to see. We were hoping to go to Mt. Aso, but when we got there, we found out that the cable car was closed because of the snow. It was disappointing to not be able to see the volcano, but we had already seen two very unique places, so we were happy. When we were at the Mt Aso station, we ran into four of the Korean guys from our tour group. I guess there aren't too many tourists in Kyushu in January!

When we got back to Fukuoka, we ate some dinner (sushi and ramen). We decided to relax after a long day where we saw a lot of places and traveled on the train for over seven hours. We made plans for tomorrow and watched a Japanese TV drama about a Samurai.