I debated titling this, "Hiroshima is the bomb" but even I have my limits.
Before I begin this post I realized that I forgot one thing about our stay in Kyoto. Rebecca had wanted me to try a yaki-niku restaurant, where they give you raw meat and you have a little grill and you grill it yourself. Sounds good, right? Well, we got the meat (beef) and it was about 60-70% fat, if not more. If you don't know, I am rather picky about the fat content of my meat. I think the restaurant staff realized this after a bit and so they gave me a pair of fat-cutting scissors, with which I could get the majority of it off, but there was still quite a bit of fat marbled in the meat. I was cooking the meat a lot, even letting it flare up a bit, but I still gagged a bit when eating it. I think Rebecca thought I was just being picky. And I guess I was. However, it was proven that my pickiness has certain motivations, when I became violently ill that night at 2 am. I seriously felt like I was going to die. My entire GI tract was rebelling against my body for the cruel treatment it had been put through. The stomach would not stand for it! The intestines would not put up with it any longer! There were warring factions and students singing "Le Internationale" and debates on which form of government the new nation of the Independent Organs of Erica's Digestive System would use-- I think they were leaning towards a system of Soviets when finally the revolt was squelched.
The next day we stuck mostly to American food.
Also the night before, we went to this really neat cultural presentation in Gion corner in Kyoto. Gion is the really old district in Kyoto where there are still geishas and meikos (apprentice geishas). It was really beautiful. I wish we could have seen some geishas; we did see one in the presentation though. I won't spend too much time going through what we saw though, because I remembered that my camera took videos and I took one of each of the main parts of the presentation. I'll upload them to the youtubes once I get home.
The next morning was our last morning in Kyoto. I really wish we could have spent more time there-- if I could rearrange our schedule, I would have spent an extra day each in Tokyo and Kyoto, and less time in random small towns. Actually I would have been fine with half our time in Tokyo, half in Kyoto, and a day in Hiroshima. Anyway, we tried to find the Steam Locomotive museum, which I was really excited about-- for 200 yen you could ride a real steam locomotive!! And as you all know, I really like trains. We ran all over trying to find it, even asking two people (Rebecca asked a lady if she knew where the "old train" museum was) and then it was closed when we got there! I was really sad.
We went to Hiroshima by bullet train again. There wasn't much to do when we got there, so we kind of just rested. The next morning we got up early and went to Miyajima, which is an island right off the shore of Hiroshima. The main thing at Miyajima is Itsukushima Shrine, which is supposed to be one of the three best views in Japan. You've probably seen a picture before-- it's an orange gate seemingly floating on water. Miyajima is also known for its oysters (we could see bamboo "islands" used to harvest oysters on the ferry there), and I had some fried ones. They were so delicious and tender-- probably the best oysters I've had in my life!!
After we got back we went to Peace Memorial Park and the A-bomb dome in Hiroshima. The A-bomb dome is located not far from the target of the atom bomb, and so it wasn't completely destroyed since the blast came nearly directly above it. It's left exactly how it was right after the explosion as a reminder.
We saw a lot of pictures and video of the aftermath of the bomb. It was truly horrific. It made me kind of ashamed to be American, to be from the country that released this terror. And I found out that the U.S. decided that they would use the bomb on Japan (not Germany) well before Germany surrendered. Now, this is probably partially because Japan attacked us, but I also think that it's because they are so different. A lot of Americans have German ancestry. It's much easier to hate the Japanese. And the immense amount of hate that Americans must have felt towards them in order to do this, not to mention the internment camps, is just mind-boggling. I wish that I could say that we've gotten better, but it's nearly the same as how many Americans feel about Arabs. I've heard many arguments as to why it was okay to drop the bomb (from "they attacked us first" to "it ended the war faster, and less people died in the end as a result"). The latter is the only one I think is even worth commenting on. First of all, Russia was poised to invade Japan and end the war soon anyway-- we just didn't want the Soviets to be the ones to end the Pacific war and so have some control in that sector. Secondly, even if more people died in the end, but less civilians died, and they died in slightly less horrible of a fashion, without radiation sickness and cancers going on for decades afterward... I think it still would have been better to have traditional war rather than dropping the atomic bomb.
Also, I know other countries have done their share of atrocities as well. Especially in the 1930s-1940s. Japan itself had the Rape of Nanking and tons of medical experiments and poor (to say the least) treatment of prisoners. Germany had the Holocaust, the USSR had the purges... seriously, what was wrong with people in those 20 years? Was there something in the air? Was it just the aftermath of the depression? I mean, I know atrocities go on all the time. It seems there's always a genocide somewhere in the world. But this was several places at once, and (I hate to sound elitist, but) these were established countries that should have known better. And I think that's really the thing, why I am disappointed with America's actions then and with some of them now. I feel like we should know better. I think highly of my country, deep down, and I feel like we have a lot of potential. And then we muck it all up and do stuff like this. And when we do, it's that much worse, not just because it's my country, but because I expected so much more. It's like when you're little, and your parents are ashamed of you when you mess up instead of getting angry, because really, they're not Iraq's parents and they can't control what he does, only what you do. And they don't care if Iraq's friend hit you and if he is threatening you, they are just disappointed that you hit him and took his cookies. Because you should know better, America. I mean, didn't you learn anything from that time you nuked Japan?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Kyoto-vision (Fri-Sun)
A quick blast from the past, here's the weekend update (even though it's Wednesday here):
The first evening in Kyoto I mentioned we went to a really awesome karaoke bar. It was a five story building completely filled with karaoke rooms! They had a phone book sized book full of foreign songs, mostly English, and it was only $30 for two people for two hours, plus drinks. I got a "lime sour," which is a lime flavored shochu highball. Shochu is potato liquor, I think. It was delicious. The place was called Super Jankara, or SUU-PA JAN-KALA, as we like to refer to it. (Rebecca would like me to note at this point that it is in fact only I who refer to it this way.) (Also note that this is how it is written/pronounced in Japanese katakana, so I'm not being super offensive, only mildly so.)
The next day we went on the "Kyoto Morning" tour, where we saw Nijo Castle, the Golden Pavilion Temple (we saw this instead of the Imperial palace because it was closed on weekends or something), and Kitano Tanmangu. Nijo Castle was really neat. It was where the shogun lived in the 1600's or so. (Rebecca's note: Nijo [not the castle] was Genji's secondary residence.) The neatest part about the castle was the "nightingale floor," aka security system against ninjas. The floor is nailed in so that the boards creak against the nails when someone walks along it. This sounds like birds chirping and alerts the shogun that there are freaking ninjas in the hallway and that there needs to be a smack-down. Also there are thicker tatami mats where the shogun sits so that ninjas cannot go under the floor and stab him from underneath. Damn ninjas, worse than roaches.
Then we went to the Golden Pavilion, which was gorgeous. We walked around a lot-- we've been doing a lot of that. The bones in my feet feel like they are about ready to break. (Also I have a poison ivy/oak/sumac/something rash on them-- I have no idea how I got it; we haven't been walking in any grass or anything.) Anyway, they recently renovated the Golden Pavilion, and it took three freaking kilos of gold. Wow. Then we went to Kitano Tanmangu, which is a shrine built to appease an angry bureaucrat. Rebecca and I are old hats by now at praying at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The main difference is that you have to clap before praying at Shinto shrines to wake up the gods, but not at Buddhist temples, because the Buddha is always listening.
In the afternoon we went to Nara, which is a city near Kyoto. At Nara shrines and temples (there are a cluster of two there-- one shrine and one temple. One family built both, because most Japanese people consider themselves both Buddhist and Shinto. They're compatible because Shinto focuses more on this life, whereas Buddhism focuses more on the next) wild deer run around. They are protected because they are considered messengers of the gods. That and because tourists like them and like to buy little deer crackers to feed them and gaudy little deer-shaped baubles to take home. The first temple (I don't remember either of their names) I will refer to as Giant Freaking Buddha Statue place, because there was, as you may guess, a giant freaking Buddha statue. It is the largest indoor Buddha statue in the world. Also there was this little hole in one of the support beams and it was said that if you can fit through it, you can get into heaven, because it is the same size as Buddha's nostril (don't ask, Japanese people are weird). Well, I tried. And I failed. Because of my big ol' J-Lo ass. When I backed out of the hole, there was a group of tourists standing around either laughing or being very concerned, including a group of Spanish-speaking women laughing and saying "No paso! No paso!" Ha, ha, very funny. I'm sure you would fit much better, thirty-year-old pregnant lady.
The deer were pretty much awesome. They followed you around if they thought you had food (and apparently got angry if you didn't give them food that you had). The bucks kept nudging us gently with their antlers (and keeping some of the does and fawns from getting deer crackers) and one even started to eat my shirt and nip us in the butt! We got lots of pictures feeding, petting, and generally playing nice with the deer. They were really friendly and it was a lot of fun-- like petting zoos as a kid. Only deer are cuter than goats. Maybe.
The shrines and temples all have different focuses. One of them people went to in order to pray for smarts and passing tests. There was also a statue outside the building of Giant Freaking Buddha Statue temple that was supposed to represent one of the Buddha's students who was ADD or something and was banished. If you rubbed the statue and then touched the part that ailed you, you were supposed to feel better. (I touched my feet.) Also, there are big pots of burning incense whose smoke is also supposed to cure you/make you better, depending on where on yourself you wave the smoke to. Anyway, depending on the focus of the temple, you can buy little talismans and charms to protect and help you. Rebecca bought one for doing better in school, I got a general talisman for Tauruses, and I got a "recovery from illness" one for my cousin.
Since we have internet in the hotel here, I'll try to post about the last couple days, in Hiroshima and Miyajima.
The first evening in Kyoto I mentioned we went to a really awesome karaoke bar. It was a five story building completely filled with karaoke rooms! They had a phone book sized book full of foreign songs, mostly English, and it was only $30 for two people for two hours, plus drinks. I got a "lime sour," which is a lime flavored shochu highball. Shochu is potato liquor, I think. It was delicious. The place was called Super Jankara, or SUU-PA JAN-KALA, as we like to refer to it. (Rebecca would like me to note at this point that it is in fact only I who refer to it this way.) (Also note that this is how it is written/pronounced in Japanese katakana, so I'm not being super offensive, only mildly so.)
The next day we went on the "Kyoto Morning" tour, where we saw Nijo Castle, the Golden Pavilion Temple (we saw this instead of the Imperial palace because it was closed on weekends or something), and Kitano Tanmangu. Nijo Castle was really neat. It was where the shogun lived in the 1600's or so. (Rebecca's note: Nijo [not the castle] was Genji's secondary residence.) The neatest part about the castle was the "nightingale floor," aka security system against ninjas. The floor is nailed in so that the boards creak against the nails when someone walks along it. This sounds like birds chirping and alerts the shogun that there are freaking ninjas in the hallway and that there needs to be a smack-down. Also there are thicker tatami mats where the shogun sits so that ninjas cannot go under the floor and stab him from underneath. Damn ninjas, worse than roaches.
Then we went to the Golden Pavilion, which was gorgeous. We walked around a lot-- we've been doing a lot of that. The bones in my feet feel like they are about ready to break. (Also I have a poison ivy/oak/sumac/something rash on them-- I have no idea how I got it; we haven't been walking in any grass or anything.) Anyway, they recently renovated the Golden Pavilion, and it took three freaking kilos of gold. Wow. Then we went to Kitano Tanmangu, which is a shrine built to appease an angry bureaucrat. Rebecca and I are old hats by now at praying at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The main difference is that you have to clap before praying at Shinto shrines to wake up the gods, but not at Buddhist temples, because the Buddha is always listening.
In the afternoon we went to Nara, which is a city near Kyoto. At Nara shrines and temples (there are a cluster of two there-- one shrine and one temple. One family built both, because most Japanese people consider themselves both Buddhist and Shinto. They're compatible because Shinto focuses more on this life, whereas Buddhism focuses more on the next) wild deer run around. They are protected because they are considered messengers of the gods. That and because tourists like them and like to buy little deer crackers to feed them and gaudy little deer-shaped baubles to take home. The first temple (I don't remember either of their names) I will refer to as Giant Freaking Buddha Statue place, because there was, as you may guess, a giant freaking Buddha statue. It is the largest indoor Buddha statue in the world. Also there was this little hole in one of the support beams and it was said that if you can fit through it, you can get into heaven, because it is the same size as Buddha's nostril (don't ask, Japanese people are weird). Well, I tried. And I failed. Because of my big ol' J-Lo ass. When I backed out of the hole, there was a group of tourists standing around either laughing or being very concerned, including a group of Spanish-speaking women laughing and saying "No paso! No paso!" Ha, ha, very funny. I'm sure you would fit much better, thirty-year-old pregnant lady.
The deer were pretty much awesome. They followed you around if they thought you had food (and apparently got angry if you didn't give them food that you had). The bucks kept nudging us gently with their antlers (and keeping some of the does and fawns from getting deer crackers) and one even started to eat my shirt and nip us in the butt! We got lots of pictures feeding, petting, and generally playing nice with the deer. They were really friendly and it was a lot of fun-- like petting zoos as a kid. Only deer are cuter than goats. Maybe.
The shrines and temples all have different focuses. One of them people went to in order to pray for smarts and passing tests. There was also a statue outside the building of Giant Freaking Buddha Statue temple that was supposed to represent one of the Buddha's students who was ADD or something and was banished. If you rubbed the statue and then touched the part that ailed you, you were supposed to feel better. (I touched my feet.) Also, there are big pots of burning incense whose smoke is also supposed to cure you/make you better, depending on where on yourself you wave the smoke to. Anyway, depending on the focus of the temple, you can buy little talismans and charms to protect and help you. Rebecca bought one for doing better in school, I got a general talisman for Tauruses, and I got a "recovery from illness" one for my cousin.
Since we have internet in the hotel here, I'll try to post about the last couple days, in Hiroshima and Miyajima.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Mt. Fuji、HAKONE, Kyoto
QUICK post because it's 100 yen for 10 minutes on internet here. (Sorry about the weird capitalization, I can't help it.) Yesterday we saw Mt。Fuji, which was pretty neat. We went about halfway up the mountain and took pictures and went to a little shrine there. The tour guide told us that about 100 people jump off of it a year to kill themselves. Fun！Then we went to Hakone, which is a hot springs area . We stayed at a hot springs resort and went in one. You a hot springs resort and went in one. You had to be naked, which was kind of nerve wracking, especially around all the skinny middle aged Japanese ladies. I kept imagining them saying to each other, "Oh, my Ｇｏｄ， Ｊｕｎｋｏ， ｌｏｏｋ ａｔ ｈｅｒ ｂｕｔｔ． Ｉｔ ｉｓ so big. She must be one of those rapper guys' girlfriends." Or something. Anyway, it was nice once I took off my glasses so I couldn't see and pretend other people couldn't see me either.
Today we rode the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. I love the little choo-choo! Or the not so little choo-choo, as the case may be. The ride was super smooth, like riding in an airplane. But every time another one passed us, the whole train rocked with the force of the wind coming off the beginning and end of the train. I got an awesome picture of the train, but I couldn't find picture of the train, but I couldn't find any postcards of it, which made me sad.
After we arrived and checked intot he hotel, we went back to the station to search for said postcards and eat. Then we took the subway downtown to the Manga Museum. We had a mini-adventure searching for it, so we bought a map. The museum was pretty cool; we saw teh exhibits and read manga for awhile (there was a huge wall of manga with a fair amount of English ones)
We then had another adventure finding the shopping arcade and eventually ducked into a subway station to try and find a map only to find that it wasn't a subway station; it was the shopping arcade! We shopped around and then found a phone book for the karaoke place we wanted to go to (the guide book said it was cheap and had a ton of English songs). We finally found the place, but it was super crowded, so they directed us to another place which was owned by the same people and was super awesome!
Today we rode the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. I love the little choo-choo! Or the not so little choo-choo, as the case may be. The ride was super smooth, like riding in an airplane. But every time another one passed us, the whole train rocked with the force of the wind coming off the beginning and end of the train. I got an awesome picture of the train, but I couldn't find picture of the train, but I couldn't find any postcards of it, which made me sad.
After we arrived and checked intot he hotel, we went back to the station to search for said postcards and eat. Then we took the subway downtown to the Manga Museum. We had a mini-adventure searching for it, so we bought a map. The museum was pretty cool; we saw teh exhibits and read manga for awhile (there was a huge wall of manga with a fair amount of English ones)
We then had another adventure finding the shopping arcade and eventually ducked into a subway station to try and find a map only to find that it wasn't a subway station; it was the shopping arcade! We shopped around and then found a phone book for the karaoke place we wanted to go to (the guide book said it was cheap and had a ton of English songs). We finally found the place, but it was super crowded, so they directed us to another place which was owned by the same people and was super awesome!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Arrival in Japan; Tokyo
First of all, to explain the name of this blog-- it's from a sign we saw in a bakery above cornbread. It amused my sister and I greatly. (And yes, it reads "a [space] corns," not "acorns.")
I arrived in Japan Tuesday afternoon (here-time). The flight went really well; I had the best airplane food I've ever had, and that includes the time I got moved to first class because they messed up my original flight plan. Also there were about 12 movies playing simultaneously, and you got to pick which one you wanted to see. I saw Horton Hears a Who! and Penelope (in which Christina Ricci has a pig's snout but James McAvoy loves her anyway, and it's all about self-acceptance), and I'd recommend seeing either. Oh, and I randomly ran into a girl I knew from IMSA at the Tokyo airport-- apparently she lives here now. How weird is that?
Then we got settled in the hotel. It's really fancy-- I feel kind of out of place. It has western style toilets but with all the mechanized options, such as different bidet settings and stuff. The first time I used one it kind of startled me, leading to this exchange:
Me: "Hey Becks, what does it mean when the toilet whirs?"
Rebecca: "Aw, it just wants to be your friend."
Me: "Yeah, but I am worried that its way of making friends is to shoot water up my [rear end]."
It wasn't, for the record. You have to ask nicely to get it to do that. :p
The first evening Rebecca and I went to Roppongi, which is the nightlife district. We had soba noodles and then did karaoke for a short time, then went home because I was very tired. The next day we had a tour in the morning. We went to Tokyo Tower, the Imperial gardens, and Asakusa Temple, a big important Buddhist temple. The ashes of the Buddha are supposedly interned there. They were all pretty neat, but I wish we could have spent more time strolling the gardens, even though only a small portion of them were open to the public. We had the afternoon to ourselves and we had some difficulty figuring out what to do. We finally went to Electric City, aka Akihabara, aka the place where all the nerds go. It's mostly electronics stores and anime/manga places. We saw two girls in maid outfits and cat ears handing out flyers for a maid cafe. I also had curry at the "normal" spice level, which was delicious even if my stomach hated me later.
Today was our free day, which we had more ideas for. We saw a traditional tea ceremony, which was really neat even if the tea was super strong and I had no idea what was going on for over half of it. We got to ride the train there (before we went everywhere on the subway), which I of course loved because it's like a more modern version of the El. Then we went to Harajuku, which is the super trendy area. I wish we could have gone on a weekend, when everyone dresses up ridiculously, in Gothic Lolita and other strange styles, and there are cosplay gangs. And everyone basically just wants to pose for tourists' pictures. Ah well. We strolled through a garden in the honor of Emperor Meiji and saw another temple/shrine, and then went shopping. We of course spent way too much money; everything is so expensive in Japan! I'm hoping once we leave Tokyo things will be a little better. I wish I could have spent more time in Harajuku but we were getting tired and my feet hurt, so we headed back after stopping at McDonald's. Which probably sounds pretty lame, but 1) it was really cheap and 2) they have teriyaki burgers, which are way better than anything at McD's in the states. (Although I kind of wish I'd gotten a Happy Meal so I could have gotten a little stuffed pokemon.)
Tomorrow we are off to see Mt. Fuji and Hakone, then Kyoto the day after!
I arrived in Japan Tuesday afternoon (here-time). The flight went really well; I had the best airplane food I've ever had, and that includes the time I got moved to first class because they messed up my original flight plan. Also there were about 12 movies playing simultaneously, and you got to pick which one you wanted to see. I saw Horton Hears a Who! and Penelope (in which Christina Ricci has a pig's snout but James McAvoy loves her anyway, and it's all about self-acceptance), and I'd recommend seeing either. Oh, and I randomly ran into a girl I knew from IMSA at the Tokyo airport-- apparently she lives here now. How weird is that?
Then we got settled in the hotel. It's really fancy-- I feel kind of out of place. It has western style toilets but with all the mechanized options, such as different bidet settings and stuff. The first time I used one it kind of startled me, leading to this exchange:
Me: "Hey Becks, what does it mean when the toilet whirs?"
Rebecca: "Aw, it just wants to be your friend."
Me: "Yeah, but I am worried that its way of making friends is to shoot water up my [rear end]."
It wasn't, for the record. You have to ask nicely to get it to do that. :p
The first evening Rebecca and I went to Roppongi, which is the nightlife district. We had soba noodles and then did karaoke for a short time, then went home because I was very tired. The next day we had a tour in the morning. We went to Tokyo Tower, the Imperial gardens, and Asakusa Temple, a big important Buddhist temple. The ashes of the Buddha are supposedly interned there. They were all pretty neat, but I wish we could have spent more time strolling the gardens, even though only a small portion of them were open to the public. We had the afternoon to ourselves and we had some difficulty figuring out what to do. We finally went to Electric City, aka Akihabara, aka the place where all the nerds go. It's mostly electronics stores and anime/manga places. We saw two girls in maid outfits and cat ears handing out flyers for a maid cafe. I also had curry at the "normal" spice level, which was delicious even if my stomach hated me later.
Today was our free day, which we had more ideas for. We saw a traditional tea ceremony, which was really neat even if the tea was super strong and I had no idea what was going on for over half of it. We got to ride the train there (before we went everywhere on the subway), which I of course loved because it's like a more modern version of the El. Then we went to Harajuku, which is the super trendy area. I wish we could have gone on a weekend, when everyone dresses up ridiculously, in Gothic Lolita and other strange styles, and there are cosplay gangs. And everyone basically just wants to pose for tourists' pictures. Ah well. We strolled through a garden in the honor of Emperor Meiji and saw another temple/shrine, and then went shopping. We of course spent way too much money; everything is so expensive in Japan! I'm hoping once we leave Tokyo things will be a little better. I wish I could have spent more time in Harajuku but we were getting tired and my feet hurt, so we headed back after stopping at McDonald's. Which probably sounds pretty lame, but 1) it was really cheap and 2) they have teriyaki burgers, which are way better than anything at McD's in the states. (Although I kind of wish I'd gotten a Happy Meal so I could have gotten a little stuffed pokemon.)
Tomorrow we are off to see Mt. Fuji and Hakone, then Kyoto the day after!
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