April

Riv and I with some Cherry Blossoms

Ok, I am way behind, so I will do a brief overview of the month of April....sorry!!!

So, when Riv and I got back from Kyushu, we were pretty exhausted! It was actually my birthday that next day, so we went out and had an indian food lunch (all you can eat nan) and toured about tokyo some more. We were overall exhaused though, and called it an early day.

The next day, we went to Asakusa to see the temple, and Mama and Tsuki-chan tagged along. It was crowded, (as usual) and I made river eat takoyaki (fried octopus snacks) that he really didnt like...After asakusa, we went to the Ginza sony building to see the new gadgets.


At Asakusa


River at Asakusa


River asleep on the train.


Me at Ueno with the Cherry Blossoms


River and cherry blossoms

That night, we went out for sushi with my extended host family. Now, River hates anything fish, but he choked down as much as he could. Our sushi chef even cut them in half for riv, as he was having some trouble eating them with the chopsticks (although he wasnt really).

River left Japan the next day. Papa drove us to the airport, about a 2 hour drive, which was really nice. Tsuki chan also tagged along, as I dont think he really wanted river to go. Once river was long gone on the airplane, we stayed even longer to watch his plane takeoff, at Tsuki chan`s request.


River's airplane

The next day I had coffee with su on campus, and it turned out it was the day that all the school clubs were petitioning for new members. I really wanted to join a volleyball club, and I got a flyer. However, it turned out to only be for freshmen, so now I am just sticking with my international conversation club.

A couple of days later, host family invited me to go to Nagano to see Papa's extended family, and this time I could invite friends. So we all loaded up into the car, and drove there for an overnight stay. For my friend's benefit, we went to much the same places as I went to last time (see previous post) but it was way fun all the same. We ate a really delicious lunch of hand made soba noodles which was a bit expensive, but delicious.


friends at the castle

We ate dinner at Papa's family's house, which was also really delicious. We stayed up kind of late palying cards (Mama joined in) and probably went to bed around two.

The next day we went to an onsen (different one from last time) which was very nice. We then drove back to Tokyo.

The next day I went to a "hanami" with host mama, which is a cherry veiwing picnic party. We went with her elementry and middle school friends (the same ones as at new years). Her firends are really funny and happy (and drunk, as is traditional for hanamis) and I had a really good time. I even rode in a paddleboat with tsuki-chan, which I think he really enjoyed. We stayed out really late, and returned at dark.

And then, beofre I knew it, classes began! I have my usual japanese class, which is now nice because about half the people left for a different class, so now the size is small and nice. I am also in an "East-West" art history class which is easy....but I enjoy it becuase the class is a bit competitve. She explained it to us that one person will be assigned every grade on the spectrum...so only one 100% person. To make it worse, so gives out extra credit slips for people who answer questions correctly in class. Sooooo.....lets just say I am that annoying person in the front row raking in all the slips. yeah.....I would hate me too.

I also have an Irish history couse that has a really snarky british guy as the teacher. I think it will be a good class, but it is once a week on tuesdays....and the last 2 tuesdays have been a holiday, so I havent seen that class in awhile. stay tuned.

That weekend I went to Disney Sea with my Saitama host family and Su, which was really fun. They had never been there before, but they were so gung ho about riding all the rides, that we made excellant time. Mama and Tsuki-chan showed up a little later, which was really fun. It was really good to see them and talk to them again! I hope I get to see them again soon!!!


Me, Su, Kana, and Hiroe


Me and Kana

A couple of weeks later, I hung out with Asuka. We went to a Dinosaur bone exhibition, which was super cool. I was a fool and forgot my camera battery, so just believ me when I say it was amazing. Dinosaurs are awesome. They had all these bones from China and animatronic moving dinosaurs. delightful. After the dinos, we did our usual karaoke.

The next day, I went strawberry picking with my host family and friends. We drove about and hour and a half to chiba, to this place that grows strawberrys, and you just go into the greenhouses and eat as many as you can. I just about ODed on strawberries, but it was all really delicious.

Everyone picking/eating strawberries


Yum!


Papa doesn't even really like strawberries...


Tsuki-chan LOVES strawberries


Tsuki-chan and I found a cat near the strawberry place. Is it just me, or are they making the same expression?

We drove to an onsen afterwards, which was really high class. Very nice as usual. :)


We got to wear cool pajamas at the onsen (hot spring)

The next day I palyed volleyball with one of the international clubs. But, there were jsut too many people there and a ball hog on my team. So, even though my team won, it was a shallow victory for me.

The next day, I went to a picnic with my international club, which was so much fun! We ate, ad played ultimate frisbee for a long time....I was so sore the next day! gotta love frisbee!


The club
Sorry if that was way too much info at once....................I am going to try and update more! I will!!!!

Kyushu: Kagoshima

We arrived in Kagoshima early, and went to find our cheapest hostel yet. Not only was it near the station, but a private room cost only 2000 yen, and it was fairly spacious and had a TV!! There were also computers available across the hall. Overall, a very good deal!!!

We found out via the computers it was going to rain the next day, so we headed to Sakurajima after we dropped our luggage off. Sakurajima is a 15 ferry ride from kagoshima city, and is an island with a volcano in the middle. The city is described as the sister city to Pompeii in Italy, as people find themselves living with an active volcano.

It was a very nice day, and we headed to the ferry area. On our way, we met the first nice cat I have ever met in Japan thus far! (usually, the cats are really mean and hiss at you if you get too close). I was expecting this cat to do the same, but called at it anyways out of habit. But he came right for us! He wanted all kinds of pets....River crouched down to pet it and it jumped up and sat right on his knees! It was so cute...Some old Japanese ladies walked by and remarked how cute it was.


Kitty!

After spending some time with the cat, River and I headed to the ferry. It was incredibly cheap at only 200yen. We got settled on the boat (with some ice cream bought on board) and a Japanese girl came over and talked to us. Apparently, she is going to study abroad in Kentucky, and wanted to practice her English on us.


Sakurajima from the Ferry

When we arrived at the island we had a choice- we could take a bus, that is expensive and doesn't give you a lot of freedom but allows you to see a lot of the island, or go by bike. We chose bike, not only because it was a nice day, but also because it seemed funner and gave us more freedom. The bikes were the standard one gear Japanese commuter bikes with baskets that are common in Japan, and it made some parts kind of difficult. But it was a fun way to tour, none-the-less. It took us about 1 hour to go around 1/4th of the island. Also, because streets in Japan are narrow, it made biking a bit difficult. I am used to it because I go places by bike with my host family all the time, but I think River was a bit unprepared to how scary it is (see my earlier post about fireworks in Chofu toward the beginning...). It was fun though, and we biked to our destination, a fancy hot spring.


Cool Bike!

This hot spring is special because it is literally right next to the ocean and is right next to a shrine. Because it is next to the shrine, you have to wear these white robes when you are in it, which is nice because riv and I could go together. While the Coed thing was nice so I could hang with river, it was bad for the fact that there was this one riff raff couple in with us. People usually stay in onsens for at least an hour, but people were leaving rapidly to avoid the riff raff couple. So, we eventually left too. mer!


Me with Kagoshima city in the background
We also stopped at several scenic points on the way, which were really beautiful The ocean was so blue and everything so green, it really was amazing.


Look at that blue ocean!

When our bike rental time period was over, we returned our bikes and headed to what on our map was labeled "dinosaur park". I of course wanted to investigate because of my love for dinosaurs, so we walked up this steep hill and found a playground with life size dinosaurs in it! We got really excited, and took all kinds of pictures with the various dinos. It was basically us and 3 little kids running around in this big park.... There was also a huge slide which hurt on the way down, but was very fun.

Playing Dinotopia at the park


River and a new friend


Too big to climb


This is serious


River from the slide

After the park it was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we headed back to the ferry. We had our hearts set on Indian food, so we went back to the station to investigate if there was any available. When we didn`t find anything, we asked a kouban, which is like a mini police station every few blocks. There is no crime really in Japan, so they are basically just places to ask directions and find lost items. We asked them, and two cops were immediately on the job about finding a restaurant for us. (like I said...) They seemed amused by us, and I had a really hard time understanding the kagoshima dialect....which, according to asuka, she cannot even understand! But they were really nice, and found us a restaurant a little ways away. We were hungry, so we just went into the station and ate some omuraisu (egg rice omelet things that are delicious), which we enjoyed. After we ate, we were tired, and headed back to the hotel to sleep.

The next day, we decided to explore the city. The day was on and off rain, and we were pretty tired from the day before, so we took it slow and slept in a bit. Around 10 we headed out to some of the sites I had on my agenda...much to rivers dismay. One of my favorite historical figures lived in Kagoshima, so I wanted to visit all of his sites. We went to the place he was born first, which was so cool. We then went to his special statue, which was huge! So delightful.


Who wouldn't be excited about Saigo Takamori????


Yes, that is a statue of Saigo!

I felt bad for taking riv to all the places I wanted to go, so we went to his choice- a modern literature and fairytale museum. We couldn`t read a lot of the exhibits, but it had some cool interactive exhibits that were all but deserted. The fairytale section was a little creepy, but interesting nontheless.

After the museum we found a shrine with a cool tree in front of it...we took some pictures and headed up to "the cave where Saigo Takamori once hid." It turned out to be a bit of a long hike uphill, but we were both a little tired so decided against it. We walked around some more and shopped for gifts and explored, until we were worn out altogether. When it was late, we decided to see a movie "my blueberry nights" which was OK. We ate, and then headed back to the hostel. We packed up our stuff ,as we were returning to Tokyo the next day.


River with the cool tree.

Kyushu: Kumamoto

Our next stop was Kumamoto, 2hours by train from Nagasaki. I thought it was going to be a small town for some reason, but it turned out to be a pretty decent sized city. When we arrived at the station, we took the tram to our hostel. When we got to the specified stop, we had a little trouble finding it, but we asked around and found it tucked into some back streets. An old lady greeted us and told us we couldn't check in until 5pm, so we left our baggage and went exploring.


I made this in paint....


We walked for about 10 minutes and arrived at Suizenji, a famous garden in the area. We were a little out of season, for everything was still a bit dead looking, but it was interesting none-the-less. The garden is made to simulate the Tokaido road, the first Japanese highway in the Edo period that stretched from Tokyo to Kyoto. They even had a mound that resembled Mount Fuji.


River in front of "Mt Fuji." Normally it looks greener.

After we explored the gardens, we exited to some street stalls. River bought some souvenir sweets, and I bought one of those big grapefruit-lemon-orange things. Very delicious, but it turned out the skin was about an inch thick, so the fruit inside really was not as big as we first thought. Very delicious, however.


yum!

After the garden, we decided to got to the Kumamoto castle next. It was a lot bigger than the previous castles I had seen, and even had a moat surrounding it! The walls were huge and it we went up a maze of slopes and stairs to get to the castle.


Me and some big castle walls.


River being a ninja (do you see him?) He caused quite a commotion, and a lot of Japanese tourists took pictures of him.

We went inside the castle which was transformed into a museum, and it was a little boring, even for my standards. We looked around a bit, then headed back to the hostel to check in.

The old lady who owned the hostel was very cute, and showed us to our room which turned out to be very Japanese style, which was a fun experience. It was a tatami mat room and we had to get our futons out of a closet. We had a private room this time, which was nice after having to share at our last hostel in Nagasaki.

The next day we went to Mt. Aso, and ACTIVE volcano about 2 hrs away by train. Then, at the little train station, we got on a bus that took us up the mountain and to a ropeway. We took the ropeway to the top of the mountain , where we arrived at the caldera of the volcano. Sometimes the caldera emits poisonous gasses and you cannot go to the top, but we were lucky and it was quite safe. While we had travelled such a long distance to see this one thing, it was way worth it. I have never before stood so close to the smoking top of a volcano! It was cold and windy at the top, but it was a delight.


Me with the smoking caldera. The water inside was so blue! Very cool.


River and the mountains. It was so cool up there!


This is funny not only because it is spelled wrong, but also because the caldera was smoking.

After we saw the top, we headed back to kumamoto. We had a little time and explored the city a bit, which was pretty cool. After that we headed back to the hostel. The next day we were heading to Kagoshima...our final destination.

Kyushu: Nagasaki

Hello everyone! As you all know, my little brother River and I traveled down to the island of Kyushu for one week out of the two weeks he was here. We decided to go by shinkansen (bullet train) as River would be able to ride free with a JR rail pass. So, we bought the tickets and caught our 7:30 am train at Tokyo station.


A map of Japan. I currently live in Tokyo, and we traveled down to Kyushu.


River and the Shinkansen

We had to transfer trains in Osaka and Fukuoka, but arrived at Nagasaki about 5:00pm. The train ride was very pretty, and we were able to pass a variety of different places. River commented on how the houses along the Shinkansen rail never stopped...people are just everywhere in this country.

When we arrived in Nagasaki, we took the tram (only 100 yen) to the Youth Hostel, which turned out to be quite a nice place. It was run by a young Japanese couple who spoke pretty good english. We had a small room with a pair of bunkbeds, and had 2 roommates. One was a Indonesian girl named Milanti, who was traveling in the exact opposite direction as us-she began in Kagoshima, our last stop. She was very nice, but other than at the hostel, we did not see much of her. Our other roommate...forgot his name...got up late and went to bed late-so we did not see him much.

After we checked into the hostel, we decided to see the sites that were nearby the hostel. First was Meganebashi (spectacles bridge) named for the reflection it makes on the water (like glasses).


Spectacles Bridge. See the reflection?

It was getting dark, so our next stop was Mt. Inasa. We took the tram up this small mountain, which at the top claims to have one of the top 3 night views in all Japan. I think River really enjoyed this part although it was quite cold- the moon was full and the view was delightful.


Nagasaki at night. Taking pictures in the dark is hard!

After that, we had dinner (some ramen) and retired back the the youth hostel. The next day we got up early to go to or next conquest-Dejima island. We decided to walk there, and it turned out to be really close. Nagasaki as a whole is small enough to tour by foot-we barely even took the trams, although they were inexpensive. Now, Dejima is not really an island now if you can believe it- in the Edo period it was a man made island used to seclude all the Dutch traders during the period of Seclusion. For awhile, this was the only place in Japan Westerners were allowed. Now, the city as a whole has kind of engulfed it, but the recreated the small town with painstaking accuracy.


Recreated dutch meal


Me in a East-West style house. Paper doors AND wallpaper?! cool.


River in the large model of Dejima standing next to a smaller model.

Because we went so early in the morning it was not crowded at all, but as we were leaving the crowds started getting bigger. We ate a quick ramen lunch, and then headed to our next destination, Oura Catholic Church. Because of all the foreigners in Nagasaki, Christianity was kind of a big deal here. This church is the only western creation that is considered a national treasure of Japan. While no where near as grand as some of the churches we saw when we went to Italy, it was a very fun experience.


Me in front of the church.

Right behind the church was Glover Garden, an area where rich Dutch people lived in the early 20th century. They turned the area with all the mansions into a beautiful garden and viewing area. The weather was perfect, warm and clear, making it the perfect day to go.


River with some flowers at Glover Garden.


Me and a Masonic symbol I found!!! coooooool.

After wandering the Gardens for awhile, we headed toward the Confucian shrine, which brings me to another segment of old Nagasaki's population, the Chinese. Because of its convenience and proximity, China did a lot of trade with Nagasaki. This Shrine also falls under the Chinese consulate's jurisdiction, and is a prime example of Ming architecture (for those who care). River didn't really enjoy this part, but I did for obvious reasons. There were rows and rows of statues of Confucian scholars, but we didn't see any Confucius.


River and some Confucian statues.


What cha' lookin at?

The shrine also had a small museum, which was cute. They also had some terracotta warriors from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, but it turned out they were replicas (I looked it up in my dictionary) which is good, because if they were real, they would have been displayed improperly.

After the shrine we went shopping around a bit in China town (not as big as the one in yokohama). We did find these giant fruit that were as big as our heads!!! We didn't buy one here (kinda expensive, 10 bucks!!!) but we bought it later. It turns out the peel is about an inch thick. It was very delicious, and tasted like a grapefruit-lemon-orange. YUM!


I have no idea what this fruit is called!

We also went to a so called "Dutch Slope" where less rich dutch people used to live. However, it was really just a slope.


Yep, that's just a slope.

By that time it was getting dark so we headed to Nagasaki station for dinner. We found this delicious Indian restaurant and River discovered his love of curry and nan. We loved this place so much, we went back the next day as well. :) After that, we returned to the hostel to rest up for our last day in Nagasaki.

Our last day was Easter...and we all know what that means...lent is over! I ate a Java Chip mocha and chocolate scone from starbucks....and I think I overloaded on the sugar a bit after not eating it for so long. yum.....

This day was a bit rainy, but we still had so much to see. Our first stop was the Kofukuji temple, which was quaint and pretty. Because of the rain, we had the whole place to ourselves.


Raining!

Our next stop, on this rainy depressing day was the even more depressing Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial museum. The place was really nicely laid out, and the exhibits were well done, with everything from recreations, film footage, and actual articles found after the explosion. While it was nice, it was not a happy place. Hand bones that they found melted into a rock, bloody clothes, horrifying pictures....very sad but very informative. Atomic Bombs are the WORST.


River at the museum with thousands of paper cranes in the background.

After the bomb museum we went to another little museum (folklore museum) which wasn't very interesting, but free. Our next stop was the epicenter of the bomb explosion, where they put a gigantic pillar. so sad!


Bomb epicenter.


The blue sign indicates the level of the ground before the bomb.

We then ventured further into the peace park where we met up with the Nagasaki peace statue, which was created for the 10 year anniversary of the bomb. The hand that points up indicates the threat of nuclear bombs and the downward hand calls for peace.


The peace statue and me.

At this point the rain let up a bit and we headed to another church, which had been blown up by the bomb and then rebuilt. It was not as interesting, as we really couldn't walk that far inside. What was really fun (and cheered us up a bit) we this cool playground where you could swing around on a rope really fast. Probably not allowed in the US for safety reasons, it was really fun. And, because of the rain, there were no kids to challenge.


River swinging around on the cool playground equipment.

Next, we headed to the site of some christian martyrs, killed by Hideyoshi for being christian. There really wasn't much to it, but from the hill it was on we saw this massive buddha statue. Not being on any of our guidebooks, we immediately went to investigate. It took us awhile to figure it out (even though it was huge), but it turned out to be this modern temple in the shape of Kannon standing on top of a turtle. Very cool, and a nice Canadian couple took a picture for us.


The Statue from the hill


At the temple thing. coooooll.

By then it was getting dark, so we decided to go see a movie at the station. We saw Vantage point, which we predictable but enjoyable. We at dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, and then returned to the hostel. The next day we checked out and headed to our next destination: Kumamoto. Stay tuned!!!