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!