The Tennessean Ninja

Every since I first came to Japan I have been wanting to go to the Ninja museum at Iga-Ueno in Gifu prefecture. Like many boys growing up in the 80s I have been deeply interested by ninja for most of my life. I was a rabid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan. I loved all the campy ninja movies like 3 Ninjas, Surf Ninjas and American Ninja. It was just cool. So when I finally got to go to Iga-Ueno, a little bit of my childhood came back.

My school hooked everyone up with ninja costumes. Not everyone was excited about wearing them, but we all did. I enjoyed getting to wear it and creep around like a ninja. It was a bit uncomfortable though. The elastic cut into my legs a bit, but I do have really big legs.

The museum was pretty nifty. We got to watch a ninja show wear two actors/martial artists demonstrated some typical ninja weapons and moves. It was awesome and the lead ninja was hilarious. After the show we got to pose with the ninjas and got to throw a couple ninja stars. One of mine bounced off the ground and hit the target. It was cool. One guy sank a star into the target so deep that only about an inch was left sticking out.

The icing on the cake was when I got to hold an authentic samurai sword. This sword is dated from the Warring States Period and is over 400 years old. I'm a big history nerd and I was extremely stoked to be holding it. Makes me want my own.

After the show we rushed through the museum and ninja house. The house was cool because it had all sorts of trap doors and other secret areas. I wish I could have seen more of the museum, but we were being hurried by our chaperons to get back to the bus. I was a bit disappointed by this.

Our next stop was Futami-Ura. This is a famous pair of stones set not far from a beach in Toba. They are supposed to bring luck to marriages and are actually said to be wed themselves. This is symbolized by the ceremonial rope tied around and connecting each. The area was fantastic. It was really windy and the waves kept threatening to splash us. It really made me want to live by the sea again. Unfortunately we were only given about 20 or 30 minutes to see this great site. We were herded back onto the bus and headed to our hotel.

The hotel was great. It commanded a great view of the ocean and gave us many luxuries such as internet, karaoke and a large public bath. Dinner was a buffet and we were welcome to eat as much as we wanted. I stuffed myself because my lunch was rather small. Afterward we all took a long soak in the bath and then proceeded to let loose. We all gathered in one room and started in on our drinks. I had bought a local beer called Sinto Beer. It was pretty good. The pale ale was a bit too hoppy for me, but the brown ale was fantastic. I wish I could find it up here.

At some point in the night one of the Alaskans declared that he was going to go jump into the ocean. A bunch of us decided to join him. So about 15 people walked down to the little harbor and mainly just hung out. The wind was brutal and people were starting to lose their determination to jump into the water. However, they soon got it back and were in the water. Soon, too more guys wanted to go. Then one of the Japanese students and another exchange student wanted to go. I decided to join them. The water wasn't so bad actually. I felt warmer there than I had dry and on land. After about 3 minutes we climbed out. Soon after getting out I realized that my vest had blown into the water (my friend hadn't realized that I gave it to him). My old coin purse was in it. I'll miss it, but I'm glad it went out like it did, a true sailor's death.

The walk back to the school was a little harder than it was going down, mostly because I was freezing at this point. My hands were numb and I was overall just miserable. Immediately after getting back to the hotel all who had gone swimming took another bath. It was also during this time that we noticed a couple guys had gotten cut by something, most likely barnacles. One guy was bleeding pretty badly, but is ok now.

After the bath we all went to bed.

I awoke the next day feeling slightly hungover. That was soon cured by the breakfast buffet. This stuff was good, but not as good as the dinner had been. I also realized that I missed American breakfast buffets. There's something about biscuits and gravy that fixes a hangover like nothing else. We had a little free time after breakfast which I spent packing and checking emails. Soon the time came and we all piled back onto the bus for our next destination.

15 minutes after getting on the bus we were getting off again. We boarded a sightseeing boat and cruised around the bay for about an hour. It was nice because I got to converse with my friends and just enjoyed the scenery. After the boat, we were off to our last destination of the trip: Ise Grand Shrine.

Ise Grand Shrine is the most important shrine in all of Japan. It is the main shrine to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and also the mythological founder of the Japanese Imperial thrown. It's massive and extremely beautiful. The only downside is that pictures are not allowed in the main shrine area itself. But in other areas it's permitted.

I wandered the shrine with various groups of people and eventually left and began my pursuit of lunch. This turned out to be quite difficult as most places were one, expensive and two, not very impressive visually. My friends and I settled on soba. I've had soba many times and this was probably the worst I've ever had. It was ok in the taste area, but the size was tiny for the 700 yen we paid. After lunch we had about an hour and a half to kill before needing to be back on the bus. We hunted for cigarettes (one guy was jonesing for one badly) and bought some gifts for girlfriends and family.

Finally we got back on the bus and headed home. I slept most of the way back home. The rest of the time I spent talking.

Overall this was a great trip and I highly recommend Mie prefecture as a good place to go if you want to get off the beaten path.