Ueno Park
Street Food In Ueno
Sushi Near Tsukiji Fish Market
Meiji Shrine
Huge Plate Of Yummy Fish
Heian-Jingu Shrine
Cherry Blossoms In Kyoto
Shabu Shabu
Kinkakuji Temple
Kiyozumi Temple
Okonomiyaki
Trent being Trent
Our New Little Friend
Children's Memorial At Peace Memorial Park
Atomic Bomb Dome
Shower With A View
Miyajima
Bento Box At The Baseball Game
Could these balloons be a worse shape?
Baseball!!
We just returned from a ten-day vacation to Japan. We left 7:00am Friday morning. It was an early flight but lucky for us it is only a 3 1/2 hour flight to Narita airport. Before we landed, both of us were amazed by the amount of farmland and beauty we could see from the sky. It was a strange feeling to see so much land after being on Guam for so long. It was actually kind of relieving in the same way a open field probably looks to a caged dog. When we arrived at the airport, it was a total culture shock. Being ignorant Americans, Joey and I expected everyone to speak English. No, not really, but we did luck out most of the time (emphasis on MOST).
After an hour bus ride to our hotel in Shinagawa, we checked into our hotel and took the public rail system to Ueno park. It was a beautiful park with hundreds of cherry trees in bloom. We got to Japan about a week past the "peak" of the blossom time but the trees were still covered in what seemed like an infinite amount of blossoms. It was one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life. A popular activity for the Japanese people is to sit under cherry blossoms and have a picnic. Joey and I went to a near by convenience store and grabbed some snacks so we could join in like some real Japanese. It was the perfect way to start out a vacation.
We spent the next four days in the Tokyo area traveling by rail to different cities every day. We probably walked over five miles every day exploring what each city had to offer but the sore feet were well worth it. We visited places like Ginza, which offered high end shopping, where I felt like I couldn't afford to even enter the shops. We also went to Harajuku, which is famous for the crazy fashion styles. There were several high school age girls dressed up to the extreme. I cant explain it but close your eyes and imagine Japanese cartoons in real life (or google Harajuku girls). I still don't get it but as the saying goes... Don't judge it 'till you try it. I guess I'll never know :)
After Tokyo, we took the bullet train to Kyoto. This was a great city which had an old-school feel to it. It was actually nice after the crazy streets of Tokyo. They had some very cool temples and shrines that we visited. Kyoto is known for its number of temples/shrines and its colleges/universities. There are thousands of religious sites and 13 colleges/universities in one city. They say that if you throw a coin in the streets of Kyoto it will either hit a monk or a student. We didn't try but I bet those college students wouldnt mind some money being thrown at them. We went on a morning tour where we visited four sites. The first site was a castle that the Shogun used to live in hundreds of years ago. It was very interesting to see how and why the castle was setup the way it was. Things were (and still are) very traditional and ceremonial. All aspects of life are designed around tradition. The second site we visited was the Emperors palace. The buildings were amazing and incredible inside the palace. Again, things were laid out in a traditional fashion but because the palace is still used by the imperial family, things are a little more modern in some buildings. The third site we visited was the golden pagoda. It is a stunning three-story pagoda covered in gold leaf. Thats some expensive siding. It is a beautiful site with amazing gardens and ponds. Defenitly one of the highlights of the trip. Our last stop of the tour was at the handicraft store. Basically a place to drop tourists off and take their money. Overall it was a really good tour and well worth the time.
After Kyoto, we went by train again, to Hiroshima. This was probably my favorite city of the trip. When we got there, we visited the peace memorial park and museum. It is a very somber and emotional place. There is a great contrast between the thousands of Japanese children playing and running around the park and the history of the site. It is impossible to write the emotions that one experience at that place. Learning about the history of the atomic bomb and the residents of Hiroshima is heart wrenching. I would encourage everyone to visit there one day. It really makes you think about humanity and the consequences of human action. With everything happening in the world today, I am worried for the fate of our planet. The entire time were were at the peace memorial, a quote from Albert Einstein kept repeating in my head
"I know not with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones."
I don't know if world peace is possible, but I hope the world can wake up and act civil toward one another.
After that depressing rant, here's a story of a friend I made in Hirishima. Joey and I were sitting on a bench taking a break from walking when a few Japanese kids came up to us. One of them came up to me and said "Hello, my name is Sema Isimaru. I am a sixth grade student learning english. What is your name?" Then he akwardly shook my hand. I could tell he was nervous but he proceeded to interview me with the cutest questions ever. Here is an example of some:
"my favorite Japanese food is sushi, what is your favorite japanese food?"
"my favorite color is red, what is your favorite color?"
"I live in Tottori-ken, Japan. Where do you live?"
All of these questions were asked with a thick Japanese accent, a nervous stutter, and the innocence only a child can have. He then thanked me an gave me an origami crane he folded himself. It was accompanied by a short history of the significance of origami cranes. It is said that if you fold 1000 cranes, a wish will come true. Cranes are the symbol for peace and hang by the thousands in Hiroshima. I will never forget Sena and the crane he gave to me.
In Hiroshima we also got to visit Meiji shrine. It is a short train ride to a ferry station. We then took the ferry to an island where they have a Tori gate that seems to float in the ocean. Its actually anchored to the ocean floor but it's a very cool site to see. On that island they had a bunch of deer that act more like tame pets. They would come right up to you and wait for some food. We even saw some take maps and papers right out of peoples hands and start chowing down on them. They also had some great food. They are known for their grilled oysters, which were awesome. We also had maple manju. Basically a maple shaped cake with sweet bean in the middle. If you think that sounds awesome, it gets better. We found a place that puts them on a stick, dunks them in some batter, and fries them in hot oil. DELISH!!! I could have eaten about a dozen of them. Thinking back now, I wish I would have because that's probably the only place on earth to get them.
One of the highlights of this trip for me was going to a Japanese baseball league game. We saw the Hiroshima Carp play the Tokyo Swallows. It was a night game and just our luck, it was raining. But that didn't stop us from having a great time. We bought some cheap rain coats (like garbage bags with a couple buttons and a hood) and had a great time. We ate a bento box (no hot dogs for us) for dinner and watched the home team get crushed 5-0. I think we might be bad luck because until we went to a game, the Carp were on a six game winning streak. Sorry guys.
There is so much more we did on our trip but this post is already WAY too long. To sum it up heres some highlights and lowlights.
Highlights:
The awesome food, Cherry blossoms, beautiful scenery, the food, lights and sounds of the nightlife, seeing so much history, the people, the food, spending every day with Joey, street food, taking off my shoes after a long day of walking, did I mention the food was awesome?
Lowlights:
Smelling poo every 50-75 feet on the streets, going from Guam (pop. 60,000) to Tokyo (pop. millions) was a bit overwhelming, we experienced 2 earthquakes in Tokyo, ummm...I really cant complain about anything else. It was the perfect vacation.
Thanks to everyone who helped us out and gave us suggestions on where to go and what to do. Our trip would not have been the same without you.
We just returned from a ten-day vacation to Japan. We left 7:00am Friday morning. It was an early flight but lucky for us it is only a 3 1/2 hour flight to Narita airport. Before we landed, both of us were amazed by the amount of farmland and beauty we could see from the sky. It was a strange feeling to see so much land after being on Guam for so long. It was actually kind of relieving in the same way a open field probably looks to a caged dog. When we arrived at the airport, it was a total culture shock. Being ignorant Americans, Joey and I expected everyone to speak English. No, not really, but we did luck out most of the time (emphasis on MOST).
After an hour bus ride to our hotel in Shinagawa, we checked into our hotel and took the public rail system to Ueno park. It was a beautiful park with hundreds of cherry trees in bloom. We got to Japan about a week past the "peak" of the blossom time but the trees were still covered in what seemed like an infinite amount of blossoms. It was one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life. A popular activity for the Japanese people is to sit under cherry blossoms and have a picnic. Joey and I went to a near by convenience store and grabbed some snacks so we could join in like some real Japanese. It was the perfect way to start out a vacation.
We spent the next four days in the Tokyo area traveling by rail to different cities every day. We probably walked over five miles every day exploring what each city had to offer but the sore feet were well worth it. We visited places like Ginza, which offered high end shopping, where I felt like I couldn't afford to even enter the shops. We also went to Harajuku, which is famous for the crazy fashion styles. There were several high school age girls dressed up to the extreme. I cant explain it but close your eyes and imagine Japanese cartoons in real life (or google Harajuku girls). I still don't get it but as the saying goes... Don't judge it 'till you try it. I guess I'll never know :)
After Tokyo, we took the bullet train to Kyoto. This was a great city which had an old-school feel to it. It was actually nice after the crazy streets of Tokyo. They had some very cool temples and shrines that we visited. Kyoto is known for its number of temples/shrines and its colleges/universities. There are thousands of religious sites and 13 colleges/universities in one city. They say that if you throw a coin in the streets of Kyoto it will either hit a monk or a student. We didn't try but I bet those college students wouldnt mind some money being thrown at them. We went on a morning tour where we visited four sites. The first site was a castle that the Shogun used to live in hundreds of years ago. It was very interesting to see how and why the castle was setup the way it was. Things were (and still are) very traditional and ceremonial. All aspects of life are designed around tradition. The second site we visited was the Emperors palace. The buildings were amazing and incredible inside the palace. Again, things were laid out in a traditional fashion but because the palace is still used by the imperial family, things are a little more modern in some buildings. The third site we visited was the golden pagoda. It is a stunning three-story pagoda covered in gold leaf. Thats some expensive siding. It is a beautiful site with amazing gardens and ponds. Defenitly one of the highlights of the trip. Our last stop of the tour was at the handicraft store. Basically a place to drop tourists off and take their money. Overall it was a really good tour and well worth the time.
After Kyoto, we went by train again, to Hiroshima. This was probably my favorite city of the trip. When we got there, we visited the peace memorial park and museum. It is a very somber and emotional place. There is a great contrast between the thousands of Japanese children playing and running around the park and the history of the site. It is impossible to write the emotions that one experience at that place. Learning about the history of the atomic bomb and the residents of Hiroshima is heart wrenching. I would encourage everyone to visit there one day. It really makes you think about humanity and the consequences of human action. With everything happening in the world today, I am worried for the fate of our planet. The entire time were were at the peace memorial, a quote from Albert Einstein kept repeating in my head
"I know not with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones."
I don't know if world peace is possible, but I hope the world can wake up and act civil toward one another.
After that depressing rant, here's a story of a friend I made in Hirishima. Joey and I were sitting on a bench taking a break from walking when a few Japanese kids came up to us. One of them came up to me and said "Hello, my name is Sema Isimaru. I am a sixth grade student learning english. What is your name?" Then he akwardly shook my hand. I could tell he was nervous but he proceeded to interview me with the cutest questions ever. Here is an example of some:
"my favorite Japanese food is sushi, what is your favorite japanese food?"
"my favorite color is red, what is your favorite color?"
"I live in Tottori-ken, Japan. Where do you live?"
All of these questions were asked with a thick Japanese accent, a nervous stutter, and the innocence only a child can have. He then thanked me an gave me an origami crane he folded himself. It was accompanied by a short history of the significance of origami cranes. It is said that if you fold 1000 cranes, a wish will come true. Cranes are the symbol for peace and hang by the thousands in Hiroshima. I will never forget Sena and the crane he gave to me.
In Hiroshima we also got to visit Meiji shrine. It is a short train ride to a ferry station. We then took the ferry to an island where they have a Tori gate that seems to float in the ocean. Its actually anchored to the ocean floor but it's a very cool site to see. On that island they had a bunch of deer that act more like tame pets. They would come right up to you and wait for some food. We even saw some take maps and papers right out of peoples hands and start chowing down on them. They also had some great food. They are known for their grilled oysters, which were awesome. We also had maple manju. Basically a maple shaped cake with sweet bean in the middle. If you think that sounds awesome, it gets better. We found a place that puts them on a stick, dunks them in some batter, and fries them in hot oil. DELISH!!! I could have eaten about a dozen of them. Thinking back now, I wish I would have because that's probably the only place on earth to get them.
One of the highlights of this trip for me was going to a Japanese baseball league game. We saw the Hiroshima Carp play the Tokyo Swallows. It was a night game and just our luck, it was raining. But that didn't stop us from having a great time. We bought some cheap rain coats (like garbage bags with a couple buttons and a hood) and had a great time. We ate a bento box (no hot dogs for us) for dinner and watched the home team get crushed 5-0. I think we might be bad luck because until we went to a game, the Carp were on a six game winning streak. Sorry guys.
There is so much more we did on our trip but this post is already WAY too long. To sum it up heres some highlights and lowlights.
Highlights:
The awesome food, Cherry blossoms, beautiful scenery, the food, lights and sounds of the nightlife, seeing so much history, the people, the food, spending every day with Joey, street food, taking off my shoes after a long day of walking, did I mention the food was awesome?
Lowlights:
Smelling poo every 50-75 feet on the streets, going from Guam (pop. 60,000) to Tokyo (pop. millions) was a bit overwhelming, we experienced 2 earthquakes in Tokyo, ummm...I really cant complain about anything else. It was the perfect vacation.
Thanks to everyone who helped us out and gave us suggestions on where to go and what to do. Our trip would not have been the same without you.
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