GPS, Michi no eki and other learning curves in Japan

So we are learning.. I am not sure I am learning everything I had intended to learn and yet that is also learning. 

GPS: 

Ah, the luxuries and benefits of modern technology! We have a GPS for which I am so grateful. There is no way we could navigate the roads here without it BUT it is very tricky. We can't use the name, address or other options as they are all in Japanese. We have to put in map codes (great idea Japan - an individual number assigned to each place on a map). It is accurate most of the time... but alas not always. We end up in interesting neighbourhoods (looking for a campground and finding a 5 star hotel with all the staff in traditional Japanese kimonos) and down way too skinning roads as a result. Yes we had read that you should never be tempted not to take the toll road but we thought we should try after all the two hour trip from Tokyo cost over $65 just in tolls alone. The non-toll road, however, took us 4 hours to travel only 114 kilometres! These roads were crazy. 

You can see the switch backs on the GPS! Kate, Paul and I all rode up front like the old days when I would breathe in the vent air to keep from being nauseous. 

Michi no eki

Free road side parking. These are marvellous places. They have clean washrooms and safe 24 hour parking; some include markets, vending machines, and even one of ours had an onsen (material for another time). However, they are tough to locate unless you are on the toll roads - see previous paragraph. The handy map is all in Japanese and try as I might, you can't overlay a map from google on to this map to figure out where they are. Many a frustrating hour has been wasted just trying to find a spot to park at night. 

In the education department:

When we were in the Netherlands, Kate and I, much to Paul's chagrin, would spend hours reading every plaque in the museum, absorbing everything we could learn. There was a lot of English in the Netherlands. Even Paul got into it when we came upon a working windmill and he was able to chat for a long time with the mill worker about the mechanics and so on and so forth... Here, we tend to blow through the museums. They are fascinating in their depth of history and we are impressed by the size, beautiful, age and construction yet there isn't any English guides even to buy so... we look and move on. 

The Zenkoji Temple in Nagano

The temple is just over 1400 years old and is the centre of Buddhist architecture. The bell here was rung at the start of the Nagano Winter Olympics. 

Matsumoto Castle 

This is Japan's oldest existing castle and I am positive both my children used this castle as their model for their grade 7 social's projects. We climbed up to the top of the 6 stories - ridiculously tight stairs with a pitch of 60 degrees with people going up and down the same set. It was spectacular to see the way the building was built and still standing....  

Well that is all the learning for now... must be off to bed.