Blogs from Fukushima, Japan, Asia

Hotel lodging pros and cons: · They sometimes have coin laundries with washers and dryers. On the other hand, if they don’t and all your clothes are dirty, it might cost you $50-75 to get your laundry done. (And that’s if you only have things washed and folded, not pressed and no dry cleaning.) Anyone who travels with clothes that must be dry cleaned is nuts anyway. · They offer buffet breakfasts, where you can get just fruit and toast if you want. And their coffee is usually better. On the other hand, Japanese breakfasts are amazing! · Gives you the chance to go out and find your own food at local restaurants. On the other hand, Japanese dinners, often served in your tatami mat room, are amazing. About the ryokans: · In the US, some ... read more

We promptly dropped our stuff and hurried on out to Tsurugajo Castle where we toured the grounds and admired the vista from the top of the castle. On our first night here, we decided to hunt out a place to eat local food. It seemed everywhere was closed, so it limited our selection. In frustration we stopped with hunger pangs into a mom and pop Sushi place. No english speaking people or menus with pictures or in English. After some finger pointing at some Sashimi on the glassed in counter, we were able to get a dish of Sashimi and an order of Saki. We watched Sumo wrestling while we ate! How good is that! We were still hungary, so we left. Lol. Hit up another place that was abit more to our liking. We had ... read more

Between the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the Great East Japan Earthquake last year, a lot has been said about the effects of natural disasters on the health and well-being of the communities that are affected the most. Much of the dialogue has revolved around how to rebuild these communities using limited (and sometimes nonexistent) financial and logistical resources from NGOs and foreign governments. While these discussions are immensely valuable, and usually succeeded by an initial outpouring of aid and volunteerism from the international community, they are usually somewhat short-lived. But, unfortunately, it often takes years, if not decades, to rebuild the lives of those who have lost their homes, loved-ones, and livelihoods. This is especially true in the case of Japan, where it is still unclear how long people will continue to feel the ... read more

Hey, So been super busy this week. Went snowboarding for 3days! was so much fun! the snow was awesome, cold at times but can be very warm during day.!! Did a 2hr lesson in snowboarding with andrew as my interpreter! and went from there to the slopes! First day was a big learning curve with a few spills, and day #2 went much better. But i did manage to roll my ankle a couple of times!. Yep i did a small injury! not too bad but i decided to stay away from the snow on day3 just incase i did some more damage, did not want to spoil the rest of the trip. Crane kept at it while i chilled out inside and ventured out to take some photos. Was super windy that day and couldn:t ... read more

Mahalo from Hawaii! Well the Hawaiian Hotel Fukushima to be precise. It's a giant hawaiian themed hotel 2 hours from Tokyo with massive swimming pools, water park area, onsen and dinner included (yesssss!!) It's all been built indoors, and Sanae came up with the idea a few weeks ago back when I was dwelling on how to pass my time during the rainy season that never really materialised. So Sanae and I picked a date and packed up a Kahuna (Just Yumiko for this outing) and ventured off through the rain (It was actually raining for once, I was so happy) to the depths of Honolulu run entirely by Japanese. The first day was spent running amok, pushing little kids out of the way on the slides to make full use of our one day waterpark ... read more