The Penis Shrine

Before showing you the enormous Penis Shurin, some background information is required.

The intention was good: a hiking trip with my boss (Cameron, the red-topped Scot) and the Longman/Pearson rep (Boris, from Penticton), who was in town for a few days to MC an english-teaching seminar. It started well, a quick lunch at an excellent ramen house in Ebino, where we were all given free Engrish shirts (see Engrish page for pic…it rocks), and had a tasty ramen meal. Then it was off to Hell, a 10 minute hike from the Shiratori Onsen in Kirishima valley. The Kirishima valley is home to a range of active volcanoes, and the energy given off heats the nearby underwater springs, which feeds the onsen and escapes in big steamy pufts at “Hell”. Next, it was Ebino Plateau to see the sights there, but due to the stupid rainy weather, there were no sights to be seen except the Japanese dear roaming the area. Ah, thanks Dear.

 

After that, it was a short half hour hike up a small Kirishima mountain to view the volcano crater lake, Onami Ike. The view was a bit of a let-down on a rainy day, as you’ll see from the 4th pic above. But then, *oh yes*, it was off to Penis Rock in Kobayashi, complete with shurin, carvings, statues, and a gift shop. 

  

As you can see, Cameron and Boris felt pretty comfy mounting a penis together, so after a few more posed pictures, we all headed to the Yupoppo Onsen in Miyakonojo to get naked and take a bath together. For only my second onsen experience, this was quite the onsen, containing an outside hot onsen bath and cold bath, an indoor hot onsen bath and cold bath, walk-through tub, shoulder massaging tub, herbal tub, fully-jetted body massage tub, dry sauna, and an *electric bath* (really #$&*ed up, it has these things in the water that send electrial pulses and makes your muscles go insano when you put any body part in the nearby vicinity…it sent my ass, stomach, and back into convulsions when I sat down too close unsuspectingly). The onsen pretty much topped our day of masculine adventures, so we headed home shortly thereafter.

A few days later later (or maybe earlier, I’m not sure at this point, and I really just want to get your mind off the potentially preference-alarming adventures above), Hana (that’s my *girlfriend*) and I hit a really gorgeous Japanese garden hidden within the city they call the Miyazaki Sports Complex. It was set up to represent all the districts of the Miyazaki prefecture, so it had some very distinct elements to it, including a waterfall, a big lake/pond, and a few really cool statues, 

 

as well as some big grassy fields with burial mounds and big rocks for Mike to climb up and attempt injury once again (unsuccesfully this time).

  

As you can see, they also had a tribute statue to naked guys in the “sports complex”. And what the hell is with all the cocks in this article anyways?! I want my money back…

Now to do some (penis-free) housecleaning…here’s a few flowery pics for Calfy:

  

And here’s a clock (that’s with an ”l”), some oranges, a head (completely unintentional), and a farmer, respectively:

   

Notice the suicide birds following the farmer. They hover around the tractor, dangerously close to the wheels and spinning blades, and follow it all over the field as it tills the hard ground and turns up soft dirt and bugs underneath. They’re constantly hopping and flapping and poking at the ground in their dangerous little dance of death, it was quite amusing to watch.

These guys in Ebino weren’t quite as bold, but their white heart-shaped bums make up for their lack of bravery. Nice bum dear.

~ by The Running Emu on March 15, 2007.