Tokyo in 20 Minutes

We didn't exactly make it to Tokyo as Adam led us on a little southbound detour to Hiroshima. While I was a little bummed to not get to see much of Tokyo, it was pretty great to hang out with Adam for an extra day and night in Hiroshima. It was absolutely worth seeing too. Pretty controversial, but really really awesome to see the A-Bomb dome as I think its important we (young people who weren't around for WWII) see first-hand the effects of an Atomic bomb. After an exhausting day of traveling, baseball game and several Asahi beers later, we called it a night - sleeping a little later than planned the next morning. We only had time to take a train around Tokyo but to be perfectly honest, it wasn't too too different from Seoul. Yeah there is better architecture but in the end I'm glad I got to see other parts of the country instead. That being said I may NEVER post on this blog again as I logged well over 25hours editing photos last week and don't plan on picking up my camera again (until next weekend anyway).

p.s. sorry for flooding your inbox people who "follow" this blog. I LOVE YOU!

Okanamaksnaki (how do you spell this)

Easily the weirdest food I've ever eaten. Get this (in this order): thin pancake, bean sprouts, bacon, egg, noodles, cheese, weird sauce, dill (was that dill???). It tasted like Christmas, however. A Hiroshima specialty.

Hiroshima Carps Game

Japanese ballpark food.

Hiroshima Peace Park

I've had several people ask since I posted these pictures, "did people treat you weird/rudely/different because you were an American in Hiroshima?" and I feel I should address that question now. Japanese people, whether influenced by their religion or just innate outlook on life, do not seem to hold grudges. As a whole, I noticed that the Japanese were very calm, reserved, patient, kind and friendly. When I was walking through Peace Park, I kept thinking to myself..."I don't belong here...they are probably offended by my being here..." but it wasn't like that at all. An old man shared his crackers so I could feed the birds with him. I think the Japanese realize that individual Americans are not responsible for the Atomic bomb. (Especially ones under 30 years old.) It was such a stark contrast to seeing Pearl Harbor two years ago where it was all "THE JAPANESE DID THIS, THEY ARE TO BLAME, THEY ARE THE ENEMY!" Hiroshima was much more a place of love and a memorial to the families and individuals who lost their lives than pointing a finger at the United States. There is a lot I feel we can all learn from them.



A-Bomb Dome

Naoshima by Day

Umbrella:::Headlamp:::Moon

Same Same, But Different

If you will remember last year's Chuseok low tide photos, these may feel like deja vu...


If I had a hammer...I'd hammer in the morning...I'd hammer in the evening...all over this land...

Yo Campsite!

J and Eve found an incredible spot overlooking the bay/water of Naoshima for us to set up camp. It was a pretty unreal sunset (like every sunset in Japan...Land of the Rising[Setting??] Sun, you know).



teamwork.

Toilet Spider

The Infamous Naoshima Pumpkin

Superfast Jellyfish

Naoshima

On Tuesday (can you believe that was only two days worth of pictures...), we got up early and made our way to Okayama then Uno then took a ferry to Naoshima, a tiny island of the southeast coast of Honshu. We'd made plans to meet up with two friends of mine from Texas (each of whom I met completely randomly in Austin and had both done a year in Korea). Naoshima is a tiny fishing island that was converted into an International art mecca. It was tres cool.