10 Bag Trip

On July 4th the three of us headed for Tono City; this would be my third time volunteering, the first for Will and Ben. As it turned out, hauling 10 pieces of luggage (including backpacks) to Tono was perhaps the most physically taxing activity of our entire trip. We schlepped our ten bags to the airport, from the terminal to a bus (with no luggage compartment), from the bus to the train terminal, on the train (again, no place to put baggage), and over the train tracks to the station exit. We had then intended to walk to the Welfare Center, but the miraculous Mr. Koiguchi and his wife were waiting with their car. Mr. Koiguchi did not balk (although he did raise his eyebrows)at the huge volume of luggage, but managed to stow it in his trunk (after taking apart most of the inside of his car to do so.) Arriving at the Center, we hauled the huge bulk of our luggage into the gym, created a giant pile, and thankfully proceeded to forget most of it for the remainder of our stay.