Yesterday, February 11th, was "Foundation Day" in Japan, which meant that there wasn't school that day. A few of us Phoenician ALT's got together and split money to rent a car, and we drove out to Asago to see the Takeda Castle Ruins . When we left Himeji at 6:30am, it was just starting to snow; by the time we had driven north to Asago, the snow was falling much more heavily, with easily several inches sticking to the ground. We could see the Takeda Castle at the top of the mountain, and I could have sworn I could see what looked to be the specks of people walking along it, but due to the snow the route was closed. However, we did climb up as far as we could go, and saw a few shrines and a temple along the way! The snow was well worth it, though none of us were overly prepared for it, considering the forecast had said it would be sunny. We didn't stay in Asago long, and ended up driving to Kobe to go shopping at the Costco. Japanese Costco's aren't