Mount Aso is perhaps the most famous active volcano in Japan. We had a two-day trip to visit Aso and its neighboring regions, before Bertrand leaves to his homeland.

Everybody is busy preparing for the trip. The weather was sort of gloomy, unfortunately, but was not raining at least, which has often been the case when we plan something outdoors.

On our way to the Aso area, we made a brief stop at a small town of Hita. The place is famous for exhibition of hina-dolls, a set of small dolls used in the Doll's festival, which is an occasion to pray for young girl's healthy growth and happiness. Hope it also works for female graduate students' fruitful research activities.

The town is also famous for hosting a number of good sake (rice-wine) makers. Apparently our foreign members are attracted in the making process, while others showed more interest in tasting. Shown in the pitcure are funnels for filtering the sake used in the Edo period.

We stayed in a two-story cabin in Kurokawa-Onsen area. Around the end of March it is usually warm and comfortable in town, but is much colder in mountains. The best way to warm you up here off course is to take 'onsen' (hot springs), which is only half a minite walk from the cabin.

----left---- Fumi the firewood chopper ----right---- Bertrand and Shu the rice cookers (the warm job)

----left---- Maki and Eiko cut vegitables ----right---- Daiki and Bipul the chef make curry, which is naturally authentic

The dinner time !! It was so cold outside that everybody eventually found themselves sitting in a tiny area surrounding the BBQ oven, a small, small fraction of the huge camping site.

Kusasenri part of the Aso mountains. 'Kusa' is grass and 'senri' is 4000 kilometers, so altogether the name of the place means 'a huge grass field'. It was, indeed.

----left---- People having fun at the Daikanbo summit ----right---- We stopped by the famous Kumamoto Castle on our way home

Perhaps the end of March is one of the best seasons for travelling in Japan. In many places the cherry blossoms were blooming almost in full. Hope you enjoyed the trip, Bertrand!