This week is obon--like "oh-bone!" I'm not really sure exactly what the cultural meaning of obon is yet, but what I have observed is a lot of people off work and a lot of traffic jams! We had a 30 km traffic jam coming home from church on Sunday evening and other places were worse--up to 64 km! Basically, for you Americans, it is like Caterpillar vacation, but for most everyone in the country! Many people get together with family--often going to the country to their hometown. Hachioji city center seemed pretty quiet when we went down there to buy some mountain climbing clothes! We have spent our week studying and doing odd jobs, but one day we took Akihiro's mom to the mountains about an hour and a half away from our home and went hiking. It was a little cooler in the mountains and it was nice to walk along a creek, see a waterfall, scare a big toad, wade in icy cool water, and see the interesting flower varieties. Also equally nice was to get clean in the onsen and eat a kakigori--which is like a snow cone. Akihiro's favorite kind is a green tea syrup with the shaved ice, a dolop of green tea ice cream, sweet red beans, and a few pieces of toasted mochi (compressed rice). I would have to agree--it is better than U.S. snow cones!
P.S. I got 3 hours worth of stars on my Japanese studying star chart today! (Whoohoo!) Amazing what a very small incentive makes!