Chapter 4 (Episode 1) – Tomioka: Dinosaurs, Art, and a Bowl of Happiness
(Day 4)
I woke up unusually refreshed in my new hotel and wandered downstairs for breakfast, still half-asleep but curious.
In front of me stretched a neat line of Japanese-style dishes — miso shiru steaming gently, grilled fish glistening under the lights, and bowls of perfectly white gohan.
I wasn’t quite sure how much of each one was socially acceptable, so I watched the locals first, copying their calm, confident movements like a very polite spy.
Before eating, they murmured a soft itadakimasu.
I’d only read about the word before, but hearing it spoken aloud — quietly, sincerely — made breakfast feel less like a meal and more like a small ritual.
I joined in, hoping no one could tell I was still thinking about coffee.
After breakfast, I took a slow train to a small town called Tomioka.
Most people come here for the famous Tomioka Silk Mill, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I, however, had dinosaurs on my mind.
My plan was the Gunma Museum of Natural History, followed by the nearby city art gallery — a combination that felt oddly perfect.
What I hadn’t planned for was the walking.
Nearly 2.3 kilometers each way.
Still, it was a beautiful walk: quiet streets, houses with carefully swept entrances, tiny vegetable gardens, and trees blazing in late-autumn colors — red, orange, yellow — as if nature had decided to show off just for anyone patient enough to walk.
As I approached the museum, the atmosphere changed completely.
Food trucks lined the entrance. Children ran ahead of their parents. Teenagers laughed loudly, immune to the cold.
Inside, I stood face-to-face with a towering dinosaur skeleton while a small boy beside me whispered, “Sugoi…” (Amazing.)
I agreed. Completely.
Time passed faster than expected.
In the souvenir shop, I picked up small dinosaur keychains for friends back home — the kind of gifts that say, “I thought of you… while standing under a fossilized predator.”
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