Most Productive Trip Ever: Day 1, Hiroshima

On Sunday morning we got up bright and early to get to Hiroshima. First, we went to Miyajima, where we saw huge orange torii in the water. It was really amazing to finally see it, I think it's a relatively famous shrine that a lot of people know about. It was low tide (and rising) so we waded out to it and touched it and it was really cool. Afterwards, we wandered through the shrine in awe at the beauty of the island and the view.

After Miyajima, we headed to the A-Bomb Dome in the Peace Park. We saw the ruins of a building that was still standing after the atomic bomb was dropped, though now it's just spindly skeleton of a building. There are a lot of very contemplative monuments in the park and it has a really chilled out atmosphere. I think my favorite bit was the arches "peace" written in different languages on it.

Kristen and Andrew had been thinking about going to a baseball game while were in Hiroshima, and we could hear the cheering from the park, as the baseball stadium was right across the street. I was supposed to leave and start heading for Kobe to get to my hotel for the conference, but I'd never been to a baseball game before, even in America, so I figured why the heck not and went with them. We got 1500 yen outfield seats and the experience was quite a spectacle. I can't compare it to an American baseball game because I've never been to one, but K and A said that it was more lively and that people cheer constantly here in Japan. It was amazing, this sort of organized cheering that included lots of hand clapping, flag waving, and the other team had brought their own cheering squad and trumpet players. We ate yakisoba (fried noodles, kind of like chow mein I guess) for dinner. Part of the reason we went to the game was just to see what people eat at Japanese baseball games. So yeah, no hot dogs or garlic fries, but yakisoba, onigiri (rice balls), bento boxes. But lots of Asahi beer.















Kristen and Andrew leaving my apartment. The time went by too quickly!

















At Ogawa Station waiting for the train.

















On the ferry to Miyajima.

















This cute little baby was running around trying to pat the deer on Miyajima (I swear, Japan and it's deer....they have em in Nara too). She would toddle after them, then with her little baby hands pat them in a way that looked like she was more smacking them with force, but not intentionally, I think. It was adorable.

















Whew it's hot and I'm sweaty! Andrew tasting his first POCARI SWEAT drink. We've since decided that between Pocari Sweat (least sweet), Aquarius (middling), and Dakara (most sweet), Aquarius is the refreshing winner.

















The triple threat in front of Miyajima torii.

















Me, having waded out to the torii. It's so beautiful, and I love how organically shaped it is. I think they used an actual, unrefined tree trunk for this torii.

















Admiring it from the beach.

















The A-bomb dome at the Memorial Peace Park. The story with this is that the bomb exploded right above this building and basically gutted it, so it was left up as a reminder of the event.

















Arches at the park with the word for "Peace" etched in different languages.















Close up

















Origami at the Peace Park































Hiroshima Carp baseball game. Looks pretty normal to me until you see...

















The cheerleaders in pink happi coats that say "Ladies"

















Andrew and Kristen with Asahi beer and yummy yakisoba.

















The opposing team's cheering squad complete with happi-coated men and big drums.

















The crowd blowing up balloons at the start of the 7th inning...

















And letting them fly!


Hiroshima's a nice little place, would definitely go back and visit again. Miyajima was particularly amazing and moving. And I guess now I have to go to a baseball game when I get back to the States. A's game, anyone?

Funny Story: Kumamoto

I think Andrew has the picture evidence, but when we were in Kumamoto, we went out with my friend Noriyo, who took us out to a nice traditional style Japanese lunch. Afterwards, we went to Tsuruya department store to look at food and omiyage. This is where we found that 10000 yen watermelon. Anyway, we're walking by one of the food stalls and stop to get samples of this doughy bread ball thing and the lady behind the counter, who we later find out is Teramoto-san, sees Andrew and starts shrieking, "kakko ii!!!!!!" over and over again, which means "You look cool, attractive." I explain to her that these are my friends from America, I live in Ogawa, etc. etc, and she can't stop saying "kakko ii!!!" She tells us that her daughter goes to Waseda University and that she's really cute, does Andrew want to date her? We walk away laughing but decide to come back to take a picture with her. After we take a picture, she takes out her cell phone and shows us a picture of her daughter, who is pretty cute. Teramoto-san goes on to tell me her daughter can speak German and Italian and can travel around the world. We take this as the hint that she's trying to hook up her daughter with Andrew, who apparently is the cool and attractive kind of foreigner that Japanese people like, because throughout the trip this sort of attention happens regularly. Anyway, should Andrew decide to stay in Japan, at least he already has a Japanese girlfriend set up at Waseda University because he's kakko ii!!!!

Happiness is...

- Having an insanely fun and productive trip with two awesome friends and realizing that in only one week we went to Hiroshima, Kobe/Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Ise-shima.

- Speeding along on the Nozomi shinkansen at 300km an hour while devouring the latest issue of Vogue (thanks K!) and daydreaming about couture and African safaris as the scenery turns into a beautiful green blur.

- Finally getting home after 8 hours and 7 different trains.

Our trip was amazing! Too many good pictures and crazy stories to do in one post so over the next few days I'll try to break it up into smaller posts of each leg of the trip. Definitely not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, travelling is too much fun. But I guess the money has to come from somewhere...

And we're off!

Kristen and Andrew are here and it's so surreal! We're off to Hiroshima tomorrow for a day, and then I have to split off to go to a JET Recontracting Conference in Kobe. But I'm going to meet back up with them later in the week in Kyoto and finally we'll make our way to Mie-ken to visit Kristen's family. It's been so much fun so far, can't even imagine how much more fun we're going to have.















Welcome to Kumamoto! Andrew enjoying dinner at Joyful.















OMG YOU'RE IN JAPAN!!! Me and Kristen, at Joyful.















$100 Watermelons at Tsuruya Department Store. Whaaazaa??
















Me and Kris with the squinty-eyed Colonel Sanders outside KFC.
















At Kumamoto Castle. (Sorry, still haven't figured out how to rotate pictures on Blogger! Anyone know how to? The tech support has been thoroughly un-helpful).
















The Engrish find of the day, "Poopy Pickers" at Jusco. That is one beautiful canine butthole.
















Taking my car for a spin on the left side of the road.


And tomorrow we're off to Hiroshima. Be back in a week!

P.S. Linds, we miss you!

Engrish at Its Finest #2

"We are landing on HANEDA Airport."

Spotted in the elevator at the Ningyocho Toyoko Inn when the fams and I were sighto-seeing. The homoerotic innuendo is just...unexpectedly hilarious?

Ice Cream = Happiness

I just gotta say that 5 scoops of Haagen Daas ice cream for 650 yen can easily brighten one's day. After YMCA Japanese class last Tuesday, we decided to take advantage of the "Special Scoop Day" and load our faces with quality ice cream. Raspberry Champagne, Cookies and Cream, Green Tea, Strawberry, and Caramel. MMM.















Me, Dan, Becky, Brooke, Cheryl and Don and their baby Lance. We're placing bets as to whether his first word will be an English or a Japanese one. Gaaah, he's a cutie pie!!

Oh yeah, I got a haircut/trim too, maybe about a month ago. I didn't mean to get bangs but as a result of my own incompetent Japanese ability and stuff being lost in translation, somehow I ended up with them, but it's all good.

Japanese Summer...

isn't quite here yet, but I can smell it in the air. There's this distinct scent to it, something like a combination of damp and smoky (probably from the approaching humid weather and the burning of garbage). It's not a bad smell, just a distinct one. I can feel summer coming, and I can see it in the stores too. Fireworks and yukata are coming out on store shelves, and lots of cold drinks too. It blows my mind that in a few months it'll be a year of me being here.

Went to my homestay family's tonight for dinner as usual on a Monday and saw fireflies for the first time. We were cleaning up after dinner and otou-san told us to go outside and we walked in the dark along the path between the family's rice paddies and gazed in the general direction of the forest, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness they slowly appeared. It was dreamlike; little floating green intervals of glowing light between the cedar trees. Then I looked around in the darkness with rice paddies and only a few lights in the distance and had another one of those "oh yeah, I'm in Japan" moments. It doesn't happen very often. As much as I try to focus on the moment sometimes, it just doesn't register in my mind where I am or what I'm doing sometimes, and I wonder if that's a good thing because if it always did, maybe I would be overwhelmed. But the few times it does happen, I love it. It's a moment where I feel completely aware and everything makes sense for a split second. I guess it can be likened to a satori (yeah, Mr. Steeb's Major Religions only becomes more applicable as I get older), and it's an amazing feeling. It was a moment of contented peace and comprehension, standing in the dark with otou-san and Naho and Tsubasa, staring at these little floating green lights. I know in a few months the weather will be awful, first with the rainy season in June and July, and then the debilitating summer heat and humidity come August, but there's a lot of things about summer that I am looking forward to that I blindly went through the motions with last summer because I had just arrived. Definitely looking forward to the Furusato Matsuri and dressing up in yukata again, lighting fireworks that are illegal in America, having lots of barbecues, going swimming, eating ice cream everyday and not feeling guilty about it. Not looking forward to lot of bugs (which are starting to infiltrate the apartment somehow...), mosquitoes that pay no mind to profusely-applied insect repellant, humidity, needing to take two showers a day. But before all that, I think I'm coming home for a stint in July or August, so I'll keep you posted. It's a strange feeling, wishing you could put two things together. There are things I love and hate about both America and Japan, of course. I guess if we didn't have to choose between things life wouldn't be so interesting and choices wouldn't have any meaning then, would they? But man sometimes I wish life was easy.

Kristen and Andrew are coming to visit this Friday! Very excited. God, when was the last time I saw you guys? Was it when you guys came to SC and we crumped on the knoll and visited the Econ department for Andrew? Or when we went to Danvin's place..? Either way, it's been too long. See you soon. Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, Mie-ken, here we come!