Trip to YAHIKO

My first Catholic mass in Japan was at the Aoyama Catholic Church (about 4km away). It was conducted in Japanese by a Mexican priest, Fr. Rao. He is a warm person. Initially felt abit weird having to go through the mass in nihongo. Was not really used to singing the opening song in nihongo, but managed to pull through the one-hour stint. The songs were in Hiragana and I am surprised that I managed to follow through and sing along though caught between kanjis at times. The language class is really helping alot. Then, the priest was preaching about Easter (fukatsu), since it was still Easter season. It was interesting as well. Didn't manage to catch 100% of what he said but I guess *it was not too difficult to understand too (*Amari muzukashii dewa arimasen deshita).

After church, I took a train to Yahiko and met up with the rest of the classmates. It was a pre-planned class trip. Yahiko is a tourist spot with a famous ginja (shinto temple) located at the foot of the mountain. It is about 48km from Niigata or 300km from Tokyo. It is also a place where tourist enjoy o-hanami with picturesque mountainside views at vantage point.

The entrance to Yahiko Mountain

The Yahiko Ginja

Class trip, joined by two New Zealanders who are teaching English here

Candid shot at the Ginja