Gero City

Takashi & Michiko's daughter (Kaoru) and her husband (Daisuke) joined Tsukasa and us for a family meal in another hotel in downtown Gero.  They had reserved a room for a traditional Japanese meal.  We all sat on the tatami mat floor at a low table.  As the Japanese frequently sit cross-legged or squat down and they frequently stand and squat and return to standing, the motions involved in sitting then standing from the low table and mat is routine and comfortable for them.  Sadly, this isn't true for most westerners.  Jada and I enjoyed the fellowship and meal, yet the low table, sitting, then standing from such a low position proved a bit more uncomfortable for us.

All the best photos were taken by Jada.

Michiko, Takashi, Tsukasa, Murph, Kaoru, Daisuke, Jada

After the meal, we took a walkabout
to see some local sights in Geru.
Our first stop was a "shrine."
In fact it was all in fun as
it seemed to honor a funny frog.

This frog seemed to be the focus of
the "shrine."  We came to understand that
this was for fun, a joke.

As we saw more shrines & temples in
Japan, we came to understand that a
small fountain, often with a dragon,
was a common feature.

Inside this shrine was the featured frog,
a donation collection box (with the 
parallel cross bars), and a pull rope to
ring a gong-sounding bell.
in this case, once you dropped coins into the collection box, ringing the bell produced a
funny spoken saying over a hidden speaker.

Continuing on our walk we 
encountered this legitimate temple.

This was one of the stone statues at
the entrance to the temple.

This "badger" has a flask at his left side.
We saw this fellow throughout Japan,
as he symbolizes a fun character who 
may imbibe from his flask,
possibly more often than he should.  😀

Continuing our walk through Gero,
Jada found that really great 
pottery was available in
wonderful shops & galleries!

The first of many 
maneki-neko (招き猫, lit. 'beckoning cat')
that we would see throughout Japan.
This remained one of the most beautiful.

Jada spied this vending machine
on the street .  .  .

.  .  .  and it produced clay figures!

While Jada could tell that
she would be buying a
ceramic piece, she did Not
know which specific one.
As these machines take
your coins and provide a
random item, they are called
"Gotchas".

Jada, Michiko, Tsukasa and I
enjoyed a footbath (鷺の足湯 or Heron Footbath)
fed from a natural hot spring in Gero.
Kaoru & Daisuke had a
long drive to their home in Osaka
so they left before we got here.
Takashi wasn't taking long walks,
so he waited in the car.

Leaving the footbath,
we noticed the 
"patron saint?" of Gero
featured in the roadway.
Gero's ubiquitous frog!