Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act

A shop in Nagahama where artists practice their glass making skills.

A train arrives at Maibara Station.

 Saturday I took my first train ride in Japan. While given enough time, I could have probably figure it out myself. The machines have English buttons and it's not too different from the CTA or Metra in Chicago. None the less I was extremely grateful that there were other students there that had taken the train before to show me how it was done.
A couple of friends and I visited a small town north of Hikone called Nagahama. We only saw a small portion of the town but I loved it. The area we went to was called Kurokabe square. It was a grid of old storehouses that have been converted into little nicknack shops. Most of the shops contained some sort glassware. The town is known for its glass industry. We didn't visit the glass museum but one shop we visited had an area where you could see pieces being made.

An artist creates a cup out of glass.

I also learned fun things about Japan's public restrooms this weekend. I knew going to Japan
 that western style toilets (aka toilets that you sit on) are not found everywhere. I found out this was very true. The public restrooms I went to were all squat toilets. While the gentlemen reading this might think this is no big deal, I assure you it was quite problematic. I have never used a squat toilet and I wasn't sure quite how to go about it, but in the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm "when you gotta go you gotta go." But in all seriousness if you are ever traveling in Asia and you're a woman learn how to squat; I found this helpful. Also, for being a pretty clean country I found it strange that there was never soap in the restrooms. Thank god for hand sanitizer.

One of the streets in Nagahama's Kurokabe square. If you look to your left you will see a couple looking at map reassuring us we weren't the only tourist even if we were the only ones that stood out.