JapanGirl64

  We spent a wonderful 5 days exploring Shimane and Tottori Prefectures over the Labor Day weekend. We had an early morning flight to Izumo and so we decided the best option was to spend the night in the Hotel Villa Fontaine which is attached to the Haneda Airport. It turned out to be a very convenient way to make the flight that left at 7am. On our way to the airport, we bumped into one of Kimball's co-workers. When he heard where we were headed he told us his wife was from Shimane. He highly recommend we stop at Izumo Taisha, a very old and famous shrine (Top 100, for sure!). So, on his advice we made that our first stop of the day.  It was a lovely place and by visiting we became educated on the story of the rabbit hopping from Oki Island to the mainland on the backs of many hundreds of sharks. Right at the end, the sharks got mad because they thought the rabbit had tricked them. So, they bit off the rabbits fur and left him to suffer in the saltwater and sun. Three brother...