Left to right: A group of kind old folks' graves; a kindly woman goddess whose name I don't remember and whose head was suspended over that town in the previous entry; an impressive view of Hachioji from the cemetary; a view of the cemetary; a childs' grave; some boards bearing names; a well-adorned grave. The one thing that seems to be true of Japanese graves in general is that they are far more complicated than American ones. While this doubtlessly means they are more pretty, it also seems like they'd be a lot more expensive. I'll take a more subtle and less respectful burial than this.

From here we went into the woods surrounding the graveyard, which are good for catching kabuto (horned beetles), and also good for just seeing insect life in general, which you'll soon see. Okay, let's play "find that insect!" Come on, humor me. Let's start with an easy one:



There's a pretty large spider in that one. I think you should be able to see it from the thumbnail, if your eyes are good. Here is a closeup image if you give up.



This one has an adult kamakiri (praying mantis) somewhere. He blends in with the leaves pretty well, but I think if you look hard enough, you'll see him. Here's the closeup.

 

I think you'll have a pretty hard time with this one. There's a young kamakiri here, but he's not green like the last one. When you give up, here is a closeup of the little guy.

I really like mantises, so I couldn't resist picking one up to see what would happen. Kensuke's mom caught one by his hind leg, and when she picked him up, he did this little ballet move suspended in midair. Here and here are a couple more shots of the confused little kamakiri. Also along the way we saw a sanagi (pupa) which neither of us could identify.

We soon left the forest, as we were being continuously attacked by ka (mosquitoes), although later it seems all of them bit mom and none of them bit me. I guess there are some perks to racism towards Americans in Japan... We continued for a short walk through the surrounding neighborhood, stopping at a little playground where mom insisted upon taking some awkward pictures.

Once again, fun to walk in the graveyard and look at bugs, but I think spending time with Kensuke's mom is going down as one of the most awkward things in the history of Luke Jones. Seriously, she's one of those women who ask tons of questions, like about what kind of girls I like and whether kissing on trains is ok, and I barely even know enough Japanese to ask what time it is. Also, she's continuously buying or giving me random gifts, like an orange hand towel with the Japanese Giants baseball team logo on it, and a selection of clothes for my family (I appreciate the thought, but I don't think any of it is to their tastes). Good thing I only was here for a little over a week, right? Does that sound heartless? Sorry.

Part two: less awkward, more delicious! After shopping a bit with dad today, he took me out to eat at a little restaurant somewhere in Hachioji.



Nice looking place, huh? Their specialty is unagi. That's Japanese for eel! Yes!! Honestly, if anyone is grossed out about eating eel, they should throw their impressions out the window, because it is very good. This was a very traditional looking Japanese restaurant, complete with a little area where you sit on the tatami (floor mats) rather than chairs. We took the chairs, but I would have been OK with the floor too. Here are pictures of the amazing meal: