Day 5 was not what was expected due to the aftermath of the typhoon. Unfortunately, that meant we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji because all the roads were closed due to landslides. We ended up an improvisational mansion visit, a castle visit, and a bullet train ride to Kyoto.

I really didn’t imagine having to live life in a typhoon, but today I realized that it’s a once in a lifetime thing for a guy living in landlocked Colorado.  The storm knocked out power and resources in Guam, but it gave Japan tons of rain and landslides.  

Today’s hero would be our tour guide Hiro (see what I did there?). Although all the things he had planned were being swept away due to the landslide, he was constantly finding things for us to do in Atami. Those plans ended up being getting lunch in Atami and visiting a famous mansion in the area.

The mansion truly was beautiful. I realize that being in Japan, I feel taller mainly because the population of males and females do tend to be shorter than the average American. In the house I actually had to watch my head, as I might’ve hit it on a few low points throughout the house. The house also had a huge garden that simply I was wishing I could have.

After driving around, the weather seemed to clear up and before taking the bullet train to our next station, we were happy to figure out we had time to kill so our tour guide Hiro stopped us to go to Odawara Castle. The castle really didn’t have anything else than its architectural beauty. It did have a few monkeys that we were able to see.

We ended the day on a bullet train ride and boy was it a smooth ride. An 8 hour drive was turned into a 2 hour train ride due to the trains that are able to reach more than 200 mph. We saw another tour group and we decided to befriend them as well as we were on this trip together learning the same things with them. The ride was smooth itself and felt like a regular bus ride.

I apologize for this recap not being as exciting, but I do offer this picture of Odawara Castle.