Our last three nights in Tohoku were spent at Morioka, a famous castle city that no longer has its castle (believe it or not, nearly all of the guide books introduced Morioka in this way!) At one time Morioka was the end of the line for the north-bound Shinkansen trains, so it has always been a major transportation hub in the northern part of Honshu.

Our room at Morioka was much smaller and far less expensive than at Narita City and Naruko Onsen. Our Japanese room did not come with a sink, toilet, shower, or bath tub; those were located out in the hallways and shared with all of the other guests in the ryokan. The really interesting setup was that with the toilets: There was one room on the second floor that contained two Western style toilets and two urinals. In standard Japanese style, not only was this room for both men and women, but it was for both men and women at the same time. That is, in Japan it is common for both sexes to use one toilet room at the same time; the women are expected to ignore the men that are using the urinals when they (the women) enter the room.

In our ryokan, we met a mother and son who apparently hadn't learned how to behave in a Japanese house, at least in terms of slippers. One morning I was coming out of the toilet, and to my horror I found myself looking at two bare feet on the carpet (veteran visitors to Japan know that you take your ryokan slippers off before you enter the toilet, and upon entering the toilet you put on the toilet slippers that you will find there for that purpose. Similarly, as you leave the toilet you take off your toilet slippers and put back on your ryokan slippers. That is why I saw the lady's feet before I even saw her face -- as I was opening up the door to leave the toilet I was looking down at the floor for my slippers, and had the misfortune to first see her feet). Her son later came down to breakfast in his socks. Bad gaijin!

During our stay at Morioka we traveled to Kakunodate (a famous Samurai town that still has some of its Samurai houses standing) on May 20, while on May 21 we visited Oga Penninsula and saw a Japanese Festival.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of our stay at Morioka is that here Jane was first able to check her email while in Japan!