Chogen no Sato is a reconstructed antique village in the mountains above Yamaguchi and we were lucky to arrive at the same time they were having the Momiji matsuri (fall leaves?) festival.
This village was originally built in 800 something by the same Buddhist monk who settled Mt Koya. He came looking for lumber to build more temples.
There are craft shops to make paper crafts, bamboo crafts and much more. We watched them make paper and Roy was fasinated by the wood shop, ofcourse.
The trip was sponsored by the City of Iwakuni so half the participates were Japanese and there was one family from the Netherlands. Now picture this, they had us singing songs on the bus, some in Japan and some in English. We sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I think in all the years, I never knew there was more than one verse to Twinkle Twinkle. There are three. We also sang Row Row Row Your Boat in round, but it was pretty bad.
It was a great trip and we enjoyed the new friends that we made.