Day 20 - Last full day in Japan

Today we had to pack up our things and be ready to leave by 8:50.  I was happy to be back at the place with hot dogs for breakfast.  We went to JICA.  They are like the Peace Core.  JICA is funded by the government, but operates independently.  The lady who spoke had spent two years in Madagascar.  It was interesting to learn about all the good things JICA makes happen in developing countries.  The volunteers, grants and loans help improve our world.  It reminded me of my mission trips to Bolivia, but I could not imagine staying in a developing country for two years.  Next we had our last group discussion and had a free afternoon.  I went with the group who went to the Ramen Museum.  Chris has been obsessed with Ramen the whole trip and was really looking forward to this.  I think ramen is just ok.  The Museum itself was really not a museum.  We didn’t see any exhibits.  It basically was a gift shop, a toy racecar track, and then about 10 different Ramen vendors.  I picked the ramen that had thicker noodles and slightly thicker soup because it did not say it had seafood in it.  The paper was wrong, it did have some kind of fish in it so it was not that great, but I ate it.  Then we were off to see Mt. Fuji at the train stop closest to it.  We took the bullet train and had to make a transfer to another bullet train.  It was a good thing we did because when we transferred we could see the whole mountain from the platform.  By the time we got to the close station the clouds had rolled in and we could only see the bottom of it.  It really would have been an awesome view (S).  Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and go to the hotel at the airport.  It is sad that the trip is over.  The three weeks flew by.  I have made some good friends and had some awesome experiences.  I have a ton of pictures to remember everything.