In the morning the ambassadors visited the Iris Festival at the Suigo Sawara Aquatic Botanical Garden and also got to ride boats, which I was really looking forward to and was sad to have missed. :( But at least I still managed to make it in time for lunch, which was in Sawara, at a restaurant called Chiyofuku. My first impression of the restaurant (besides being viciously attacked by mosquitoes in the two minutes I spent waiting outside the entrance) was that it was very classy/fancy (for lack of better words), though not in an intimidating way. The outside looks very traditional, but the inside is pretty modern. Of course, the food was delicious, too! Tempura, sashimi, pickles - all very traditional food.
Chiyofuku
Address: 1720-1 Sawara, Katori-shi
Access: 12-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Closed Mondays
Our next stop was the Suigo Sawara Dashi Kaikan/Float Hall, where you can learn about the dashi (floats) that are used in the Sawara Festival, which is one of three great festivals of the Kanto region (for some reason in Japan they always list top things in threes). It's also apparently an Important Intangible Cultural Property (says their flier). Though I will say these floats are different from any others I've seen, as they have giant figures on them. The Float Hall had several of the actual floats on display, where you could see them up-close and also try on happi, the traditional coats. To be honest some were a little intimidating, but they were still pretty impressive. The floor above also had some exhibitions with musical instruments and wooden sculptures. Pretty cool. I can only imagine what it must be like to see them all lit up at night in the parades, complete with music and crowds of people!
Suigo Sawara Dashi Kaikan (Float Hall)
Website: http://www.city.katori.lg.jp/dashikaikan/index.html (Japanese only)
Address: 3368I Sawara, Katori-shi (inside Yasaka Shrine grounds)
Access: 15-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Admission: 400 yen for adults, 200 yen for elementary/junior high schoolers
Closed Mondays
Next we had some free time to explore the town, which is famous for its traditional-style streets. I've heard you can also rent kimonos to explore with, which is something I'd like to try sometime. There's a little river that flows in between some of the historic streets downtown, and it's very picturesque. You can even ride boats here too! There are also lots of souvenir shops with cute/traditional items, which I had fun exploring - I also found one that sold high-quality earpicks (aka made of fancy wood and costing hundreds of dollars), haha. And of course there are places to eat, traditional/historical buildings, and also a museum (that I didn't go to) dedicated to Ino Tadataka, who made a map of Japan in the 1800s that is almost identical to maps nowadays (in other words, incredibly accurate for the time). 
Finally, we went to Katori Jingu Shrine, which is famous enough for me to have heard of it before this tour, for what that's worth. I will admit (again) that I don't know much about Shintoism or shrines, but it was a really beautiful and quiet place - the road leading up to it was lined with trees that were big and green and shady, and after we went into the temple and were given a brief introduction by somebody who worked there, I wandered around the back by myself and it was very peaceful.
Katori Jingu Shrine
Website: http://www.katori-jingu.or.jp/ (Japanese only)
Address: 1697-1 Katori, Katori-shi
Access: 10-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Admission: 300 yen for adults, 100 yen for elementary/junior high schoolers
Closed Mondays
And so ended our first tour! I'm still sad that I missed the first half (though I guess it's my own fault, or rather my alarm clock's), especially since I'm sure everybody did self-introductions on the bus, but there are still three more tours for us to do as a group, including an overnight one, so hopefully I'll get to know everybody soon anyway!
