Our usual second day in Japan. We drove from Maebashi with my mom’s friend Mieko to Toyama to see our friends the Kawasakis. It was a beautiful day in Maebashi.

We headed towards the expressway and saw some things I found interesting, including a zinc factory built on a hill. Most structures I see nowadays are built on flat land.

As we headed towards Nagano, there were some interesting hills and I think one of them is the one that the writer of Crayon Shin-chan fell from.

We got on the Japanese expressway (with a speed limit of 70-80kph – a non-speedy 44-50MPH) and headed towards Nagano Prefecture.

On the way we went to Obuse which is famous for chestnuts and the Hokusai museum. I don’t think it was worth waiting 1 1/2 hours for the chestnut rice lunch, but it was pretty good. That’s my mom on the right.

The Hokusai museum was also on the same level of interesting but I’m not sure if I’d go out of my way to get there. There was a sign that was worth the price of entrance. I”m not sure why it was so funny at the time, but my sister and I were laughing so hard I thought I was going to pass out.

We made it to Toyama and I passed out immediately after dinner. I’m getting old.