Naka Noto Middle School - National Noto Youth Culture Center - Chirihama Beach House - Cosmo Isle UFO Center

We started today by being a few minutes too early for our visit to Naka Noto Middle School.  To kill a little time we stopped at a nearby park where it took the Junior Wingers all of two seconds to find a zip line.  The warm, humid breeze foretold the typhoon that was to arrive a few hours later.  In the meantime, at Naka Noto MiddleSchool we were given a lesson in traditional Japanese calligraphy followed by PE where we learned to dance the Yosakoi dance.  In between, we all had a chance to talk with many Naka Noto students.  Lots of fun.

The typhoon was reaching its peak as we left the school and boarded the bus to the youth center.  Lots of wind, but little rain.  We had lunch at the youth center, followed by a craft activity where we carved soapstone to create a personalized stamp.  Afterward, our original plan was to run around on the beach at Chirihama, but because of the high surf, we stopped at the beach house just long enough for some ice cream, then visited the Cosmo Isle UFO Center (a space/UFO museum of sorts).  By the time we left the museum the wind had started to die down  as the typhoon moved out of the area.  We made our way back into Nanao for a stop at the Patoria Department Store and Mister Donuts followed by shopping at the 100 Yen Shop.

The local newspapers had articles about our visit to Asahi Middle School yesterday.