17 May ２013

17 May 2013
So Im sitting on a bus heading once again for Osaka-the third time.  Tomorrow Felicia and I will fly from Osaka to Fukuoka.  Felicia is a friend I met in Okinawa through my other buds.  We caught a train up here to Kanazawa in Toyama with the intention of heading to Fukuoka.  Problem is, we came to the wrong Fukuoka.  Fukuoka is in Kysuhu way down in Southern Japan and we are near another Fukuoka in Northern Japan.  I:ll take the blame for that one as I booked the tickets.  Didn:t double check the location when I researched the travel on the iphone.  So now we are two hours North of where we stat\rted but $120 bucks plus a hotel later, we are finally heading in the right direction.  On my left are the Japanese Alps and on my right is the East China Sea.  I desperately wanted to visit the alps but after much debate, we decided it wasn:t in our best interest financially to venture into the mountains for several days in search of adventure.  I have a hankering to look down into an active volcano at Mt. Aso in Kyushu.  I:ll see them next time I:m in Japan.  This may not be a great decision in the end but I don:t really want to spend all the money to buy extra warm clothing.  There is still snow on the mountain peaks after and even here on the ground it:s quite chilly at night.At least this way I get to see them from the bus.

So, allow me to play catch up.  Last time I wrote, I beleive I was planning to visit Miyajima nd Hiroshima.  Let me say, they were incredible.  The hike up and subsequent 360 panorama of Miiayajima was absolutely amazing.  As I reached the top, I discovered there were giant boulders on the peak that stood above all else for miles around.  I therefore, after much failure, managed to scramble up upon the highest one thereby offering an unihibited perspective of the Japanese coast, the deep deep blue sea, and other surrounding islands.  It was like nothing else I had ever laid eyes upon.  I would equate the view to be similar to what I:ve seen in pictures of the Agean sea in Greece.

If the fairly rigorous hike to the summit was in preparation for the beatiful surrounding landscape, the hike down blended exquisitely with the natural beauty of the rivers and shrines that seemed to exist in perfect harmony with one another.  At one shrine deep in the woods high on the mountain, I was able to perform a bit of self meditiation left over from the short period in which I used to practice breathing yoga.  By the end of this meditation, I was so thankful to live on such a wonderful planet with such awestriking majesty.  I was happy to call the Earth my home and to be a part of this nature.  I tried to envision the hundredsw of monks who have trekked upon these very same forest trails for many many years before my very existence.  What a perspective they must have had for this life on their path to enlightenment.  I had even passed one of them cloaked in traditional orange robes on the way down the mountain.  I:m not exactly sure but I believe this place to contain a mixture of followers of both Bhuddism and Shinto.  It was said that many many years ago, a very particular mountain tried very hard to reach heaven from this mountain.  Not in the height sense, but rather by the magnificence of it.  How could such beauty be pure accident.  But then again beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there many places on this Earth with such beauty before Industrialism changed this planet forever.

Further down the mountain, I came across yet another temple.  This one seemed to be perfectly at peace with the soft river and envy-green maple leaf trees all around it.  The river created a superbly calming atmospher as did these maples-the brightest, most beautiful green I:ve ever seen.  The temple architecture was nearly ass astounding as the many relics and artwork found on its grounds.  At one point during my exploration, I noticed a room that had been carved into a mountainside appearing similar to a hobbit shire.  (Don;t tell the monks!)  I didn;t realize it at the time but it was already past closing time for the temple.  Due to my obliviousness and curiosity, I decided to enter the room in the mountain.  As I slid the door open trying very hard not to make noise, inside I saw three little Hobbitses!!!  No, actually the room was empty thankfully.  But I didn:t realize this until I sat on a bench near the door for a couple of minutes as I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.  The only light in the room came from the door and a single flame inundating the air with the smell of incense.  The room was so quiet I feared to take a single breath for fear of disturbing someone or something.  I envisioned a single monk sitting Lotus style somewhere in the room deep in a trance on his path to enlgihtenmnet.  Then I imagined him being shaken awake by the unmistakable, gut-wrenching screech of the door sliding open.  Fortunately, once I was able to make out a bit, I could see I was alone, but there were statues of former monks and curious humanoid creatures all around me.  Traditional paintings of wise old Japanese men from long ago also covered the walls in addition to manuscripts written in purely Kanji (Chinese characters used to write Japanese language).  What an amazing discovery.  I assumed this was some sort of holy place of worship and meditation for these folk so I decided it best I make my leave.  Not without snapping a couple of photos first though!

Once I finally left the temple on Miyajima, I visited the ever-so famous Itsukushima floating Shrine always seen in pictures of Japan.  It mimics a fox head as this is the particular mascot or something of that sort of this particular sect of Shintoism.  There is a lot I miss out on culturally because of the language barrier so if you are interested in checking out any of this information, its only a quick google search away.  Because this blog is primarily personal and garners few views, that research is a bit beyond its scope. The shrine is enormous but its actually not anchored to the sea floor, It floats with the tide but due to its esquisite engineering and balance, it never tips.  I was able to snap several photos \of it which can be seen below.  This was one of the main things I wante dto see in Japan so I:m tahnkful to have had the opportunity.

The next day I decided to explore Hiroshima.  I visited the atomic bomb dome where a buiilding hit by the atomic bomb  dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. in August 1946 has been preserved as it was just after the blast.  A bit eery really..  I also visited the peace memorial museum where I devoured accounts of the blast and interpretations and to my surprise, there was very little propaganda or bias to any of the reporting.  It essentially states that the Japanese began the pacific war by bombing pearl harbour while simultaneously occupying Manchuria then the U.S. did a horrible horrible thing by bombing the city ultimately killing thousands.  I;ll not offer my opinion of justification for any of these events as it:s not my place, but I rather just see the atrocity of the entire scenario.  This was war though and jsut another line of killing in the thousands of years of violent history of mankind.  I will say it was very intersting to see what the Japanese government subjected its citizens and Korean and Chinese immigrants to often forcing labor and comandeering ports, businesses, and homes.  It;s easy to point a finger but the U.S. is no better in that regard.  That:s all I:ll say to that.

After Hiroshima, I booked it to Tokyo to hang with some new and old friends.  I was able to spend a day with an old girlfriend of mine and it was great to see her again since we never really had any closure(Like every relationship I ever had in the military).  Later that night I met up with a couple of guys I met in Okinawa a few weeks ago and we went out for sushi.  This particular sushi place delivers sushi to you directly via a truck that rolls around a track at chest level next to all the tables.  You put your order in on a computer screen then a few minutes later, your plate rolls right to your table where you take the plate and push a button causing the truck/tray to go back to the kitchen.  The only human interaction you have is with other customers and when you go to pay your bill.  With text messaging and modern technology, I can:t help but think restaraunts like this will become more prevalent in the future across the developed world.

Next night, I met an old English teacher friend of mine and one of the dudes from the night before.  After parting ways with the English teacher, Polish guy and I hit the Tokyo nightlife-hard.  I:ve rarely had so much fun in a club as we did that night in Roppongi.  Beatiful women, good beer, and lots of socializing.  It was a blast.  We stayed out until 6 am before separating to take care of our personal stuff.  He to bed with a Protugese gal, and me to the internet cafe to apply for an Indian tourist visa.

The nex tday kind of started to make this trip a bust.  Felicia arrived the day before and I decided to go visit a famous flower garden a couple of hours away from Tokyo.  When we arrived, the flowers werent in full bloom and there really wasnt much to see in the city.  So since then the trip has bascially been nothing but trying to figure out what we wanted to do and taking trains, buses, and planes all over the place en route to one place or another.  We did get to tour Akhihabara and Harajuku in Tokyo(Fe went crazy here because she loves anime.  We also went to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka which was a lot of fun.

Now that I:ve come to the end of this, it:s actually been 3 days in the making. The last week has been one disaster after another but today were in a hostel 3 hours away from Mt. Aso in Kumamoto-shi.  It:s a pretty town and were in a terrific hostel with lots of traditional Japanese decor hosted by a super friendly Japanese guy.  He even picked us up at the bus stop at 11 pm last night- 2 hours after normal check in time. It:s raining today so I:m taking a day to catch up on personal business but tomorrow we will catch a bus in the a.m. to Mt. Aso which is an active volcano where you can actually look down into the volcano and see the steaming sulfur.  Excited for that.  We:ll see what we can get into.  Several more plans in the works but they are hindered a bit since Fe is unable to get a rail pass for the bullet train since she is not on a tourist visa.  That was a pretty big hindrance and we almost split ways because of it but hopefully the rest of the trip goes a bit better.  Until next time...!

time to catch up

So this week im in Kyoto, Japan with an old friend of mine/.  We arrived yesterday afternoon and planned to spend a few days exploring Kyto and Osaka. But allow me tonback uo a bit. I spent the lasst week and a half in Okinawa visitting old friends and making plenty of new ones.  I had an absoluute blast and quite frankly i wasnt ready tooo leave when i eventually did so I thtink I'll fly back in a couple of weeks or so.  I dont ever want to leave that place so long as my buds are there.  Great to see Zach and David aGAIN/  I swear those guys are my life long brothers.  We share very similar ideals and views about how the world around uys works and  i'll be very iiinterested to see where we all end up0 once they are out of the military like myself.

I also had the opportunity to explore the island and bit and visit new and old destinations.  Being there this time was a cocmpletely different experience than when i was under the rule of the military.  Wonderful to no longer have that burden.  Got to surf and hike and even do a bit of deep water soloing which was terrifying and kiind of dumb actually.

After the week had passed though,, Ihad already comitted and bought plane tickets up here top Kyoto/Osaka area to explore.  Though I severely miss Okinawa and my friends there, I am positively stoked to be inundated with Japanese languauge and culutre.  As a matter of fact, my Japanese language is improving immensely every day and it's terrific.

Last night we crashed in a hostel.

6 May

Ok so ivew been seriiously slacking on this blog but I have a long train ride ahead so I think it's due time.  I'm on my way to a train sttattion top board the "shinkansen" or bullet train as it's commonnly called.  This has been na dream of mine for several years now so it's exciting to finally nmake it happen.  I just hope I get there in time because i burned half an hhour figuring out that I was in the wrong station and needed to transfer to one on the other side of thew city.

Ok, I mnade it. On the Shi9inkqansen now after much confusion about which train to board and which car to get on as there are 16 cars and I don't have a reservd seat.  Just about everywhere I go I have to ask for directions which realistically helps my Japanese.  But it adds to a lot of confusion.  Tokoro de- Anyway...

I'm in car number three on the bullet train where sevceral people are standing but I was lucky enouygh to grab a seat after someone got off the train at one of our stos.  Hoooly cow the train is fasst.  I've never been so fast on the grounnd.  300mph and its quieter than an airplane.  Awesome.  The scenery is whizzing by uberly (yes uberly) fast.  5 minutes ago all I cdould see were skyscrapers.  Now its rice paddies and mounttains here in the inaka (countryside). In top of that, the air pressure h as changed overr aq dozen times in the last half hour.

If I haven't mentioned yet, I'm heading toward Hiroshima.  Yes Hiroshima the town obliterated by the atomic blast so many yearsYears ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll coveYears ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll Years ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll Cover a feww of rttrhe highlights since my last post.

Made lots of new friends in Okinawa.  Hiked the mopuntains in Nago and surfed with a Japanese friend.  Dont feel thatt Im done with that place yet.

Rebekha lost her phone in the aquarium so after explaining the situation to one of the assistants there, she got it back at lost and found.  So since we had left early, we decided to go through again.  Problem was, this was Golden week (a holiday in Japan where most of the country is off work for a week and travels throughout the country) and tourist descended upopn this place by the thousands.  AND we had already seen 3/4 of the exhibits.  Therefore, I ended up chasing Rebekha through the aquarium dodging Asian tourists oohing and awhing at the fish tanks.  Everrytime I would cattch up to her, she would hand me a macadamia nut.  This inadvertantly made me feel like the squirrel from the movie Ice Age.  I thought I was going to fall over with laughter when I watched Rebekha duck between a young couple.  The female had her arm in the air taking a picture and their was less than 3 feet between her and her boyfriend.  Rebekha pulled a strategic running back move and ducked under the girl's arm before flying out on the other side.  Needless to say, I was unabble to follow.

Osaka Castle/museum has been aroiund since the 1300s and its walls are as beautiful as its history is interessting.  It was once the site of many thousands of guns and a military fortress keyy to the rebufff oOf enemy advances.  We took tons of pictues at this place especially near thesurrounding moat with its beautiful stone masonry.

After a nightt in Kyto in a hostel where I made a Vietnamese friend for potential future visiting, we crashed fora  couple of nights on the floor of a college dormitory with a 20 year old Bulgarian student at Osaka University.  He was there studying Japanese politics, history, and langague but had only been in Japan for a month.  Nice guy and super helpful.  Our last night he showed us a yakitori bar where we socialized over beers with the rest of the Japanese patrons in the bar.  During our chat, I discovered that one of the guys was an acupuncture specialist who had his own clinic.  I may pay a visit.

Last night I stayed in a backpacker hotel called the Taiyo Hotel in Dobutsen-mae, very close to well-heralded Namba, Shinsaibashi, and Dotonbori.  A visit to these places reinforced their reputation.  Even on a Sunday night the streets were full of hustle and bustle and there was shoping, bars, clubs, and restaraunts everywhere you look, all illuminated with flasghin neon lights.  Of course what would any party district be without Pachinko and slot?  Pachinko places abound in Namba and one can find plentty of overwworked businessman chasing away the stress of the day 100 yen into the slot machine at a time.  And don't forget the women, Japanese women are some of the absolute most beautiful Asian women I have ever encountered but when it takes two Hours to dress yourself everyday as if you are going to the Wimbleton races, this is to be expected.  Also, such grooming begins at a very very young age and I'm often shockedd to see some of the attire these adolescent girls take on.

There are plenty more stories to share such as being asked if I was a hitchhiker twice whenn wandering down the street looking for the post office/ATM for an hour.  Or the time I met a Japanese guy in training to be a helicoiptr pilot who is also living in Okinawa.  BUt I think that will sufficiently cover this blog post.

I'm having a blast in Japan butt it's time to get off the train for Hiroshima.  Adventures abound and I'll catch up again soon.  Matta ne!