Blogs from Japan, Asia - page 791

We arrived in Japan on August 6, the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Isn’t that ironic? We were on the ship sailing for one day in between our stay in Korea, and our arrival in Japan. That day of sailing might have been the best ever. If you look on a map, you can see all of the tiny islands around Korea and Japan. We had to sail through all of those, and it was so pretty. So we saw land the entire day basically. That day, we also passed under the Kurushima Bridge, which was pretty cool and really pretty to see. The land around it was so pretty. That night, we anchored right in the middle of the ocean, and we could see all the lights and cities of Japan. We ... read more

Ein Erlebnis der besonderen Art ist eine Besteigung des Mount Fuji allemal. Immerhin ist dieser 3776 m hohe Vulkan im Shintoismus ein heiliger Berg und eine aussergewöhnliche Erscheinung ... er ragt aus einer Ebene heraus und überblickt weite Teile Japans. Warum nicht noch steigern und im Land der aufgehenden Sonne den Sonnenaufgang vom aus Mt. Fuji erleben? :-) Gesagt, getan. Mit ein paar Arbeitskollegen machte ich mich um 21:30 Uhr von 2300 m auf den Weg zum Gipfel. Natürlich hatten nicht nur wir diese Idee. Wahrlich tausende "Bergsteiger" (nein, dieses Wort passt nicht) "strömten" (ja, dieses Wort passt!) in Richtung Level 10 (= Gipfel). Der Grund dürfte darin liegen, dass die Besteigung nur im Juli und August erlaubt ist und das Wetter für einen Sonnenaufgang bei klarem Himmel einfach wie geschaffen war. Stück für Stück schritten ... read more

I have officially completed my first week here in Japan and have gone from wild, techno-crazy Tokyo to the calm countryside of Kagoshima. The difference is stark. There are no flashing lights down here, no smog hovering over the city, no sky-scrapers. There are lots of mountains, trees, farmland, ocean and tradition. My first four days here have taken me through a range of emotions, many of which I hadn't expected to feel this early in the game. At first I was ecstatic that my area is so rural, abounding with nature and hiking potential. The people are wonderful. Even if I can't understand most of what is being said at any given time, a smile goes a long way. The food is pretty good too and the foreigners that have already been here for a ... read more

2006/8/2 Tomomi cried. I walked into work today, and she said hello like usual. And for a few minutes I worked on preparing my lessons before she asked me if I was quitting the company. She said it in this really casual way, in a really soft voice. And then I said yes, and she started crying. I think was a combination both of knowing that she’d have to deal with angry parents again, and that she’ll miss me (no, I’m not egotistical enough to automatically think everyone will me, but she said she would—in as many languages as she could muster while crying). Anyway, then I started crying, and we were both crying, and I’m shocked. Japanese people don’t cry in public; and usually not about business either—another reason I think she might miss me. ... read more

At last, it came time for me to face Fuji. I knew it was one of those things that I wanted to do, and I heard that they even have a path up the mountain, which steeled grandmothers and resolute old Japanese men routinely ascend. How hard could it be? It was Aydin's last weekend in Japan, and since I wanted to see him once before he headed back, I decided to go to Tokyo. Of course, I didn't plan ahead, ended up missing both the bus and the train up, and so had to wait for the following morning. Which meant I had to take the bullet-train, at around four times the price of overnight bus. Curses. So I was stuck in Kyoto for the night. I called up a friend and had a nice ... read more