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Day 11 (June 11) Deeper (and authentic) dive into Kunisaki Culture

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Day 11 (June 11) HUNTING for potatoes! Today was our last full day of a rural and more traditional experience on the Kunisaki Peninsula (tomorrow we head to Fukuoka, where we'll join its 1.67 million residents... and sing karaoke). We started today day with the traditional Japanese warm up routine; everyday for decades these "calisthenics", replayed daily on national tv, have been the common way Japanese students started their school day. Because these exercises have remained largely unchanged for decades, they have created a bond between generations; today, the young, even the elderly, can be seen executing their exercises. Our first "visit" today was to an exquisite local temple. While there, a monk led us through a time of meditation/reflection. We experienced 30 minutes of absolute silence- stunning to have not a sound considering there were 15 people in the room. We also walked the temple’s gorgeous mountainous grounds. Our next stop was ...
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Day 10 June 10 (our first double digit day in this travel program journey)

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8:30am: Breakfast at ryokan; 9:40am: Left for a temple near our ryokan inn; We visited 12000 year old "made" from one tree. The temple was bombed in WWII and most of the interior paintings were destroyed / roof burned but rebuilt; 10:40am: We rode bus to Usa-Jingu shrine; 11:10am: Walked around a lot of tori gates; We saw 3-4" caterpillars and koi fish; 11:30am: Visited the three shrines, drew fortunes and wrote wishes, which resulted in Love life predictions- and a few of us were disappointed and for the rest, their Life predictions left them happy; 12:45pm: Lunch; we had fried chicken (katsu) - very sugoi; 2:00pm: We found soft serve ice cream (continuing our quest to taste Japanese ice creams); meanwhile, Kelland, Jess and Emilio "found" more luck; 2:30pm: We rode bus to tea farm; we walked up mountains and hills and saw stinky kawaii cows and lots of solar farms; 3:25pm: Rode bus back to ryokan inn; 3:45pm: Show...
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Day 9 - June 9

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The sea, the mountains, and the plains We arrived a week ago and what a cultural feast and time to engage with Japanese students/adults over this intense, eye-opening and rewarding stretch. Today, after “our best sleep yet,” we enjoyed an amazing assortment of Japanese breakfast foods and then hit the pathways of Himeshima. We walked the streets, passed a shrimp farm (Himeshima provides an unusually large portion of shrimp to Tokyo on a daily basis), and then hiked to overlook space- looking down on one of Himeshima’s seven volcanic craters (not active). We even visited a small temple (about 7’ x 7’), where according to legend a princess, who regularly served and supported the people of Himeshima, hid 1000 island residents in this small structure from their exploitative tax collector. He eventually returned to the main island, and thus they were safe that year. We then took the ferry across the Setonaikai Sea back to Kunisaki. Upon our landing, we made our way to the community center...
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Day 8 (June 8, 2026)

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Konnichiwa! Hi, everybody. Welcome to Day 8 of our Japan PolyGloba travel plan. This is Lilah and Elizabeth, your tour guides for the day. We started at our inn and had a final delicious breakfast where everyone was able to make seaweed rice rolls in the morning. Then we packed up all of our belongings and left our inn (for the past two days). Part of our preparation for departure was putting away the futons, involving stripping away the sheets for the cover, futon base, and pillow. We said our final goodbyes and took one last picture with our wonderful hosts. We will forever remember their energy, gratitude and kindness. We then boarded the bus to go visit the actual buddha 40’ rock sculptures that we had seen replicas of before. After a long hike up millions of rocky steps we were able to see the two carved granite statues and learn about their stories. The sun buddha (on the right) tries to speak to everyone but not everyone will listen. Therefore, he enlists the help of the angry...
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