Blogs from Japan, Asia - page 796

(Translation down below) Il est 5H00 du matin... dans une heure je prend le taxi qui me mènera à la station de Nagoya, d'où je prendrai le bus qui me ramènera à la source de ce voyage, me séparera du monde dans lequel j'évolue depuis maintenant 4 mois. Je n'ai pas dormi et ai mangé trop de blé d'inde, tout ce qui me restait dans mon garde manger... Je ne veux plus être dans ma chambre... disons que ce n'est plus ma chambre, elle est vide, propre, déjà prête pour quelqu'un d'autre qui prendra ma place dans 2 mois. Et le cycle continue, les débuts et les fins se succédant. Et je ne suis qu'un élément de toute cette histoire, qu'une goutte parmi toutes les larmes déjà coulées pour les amis et les amours séparés. Je ... read more

I am in Japan!!! A long way from Adelaide, Australia, but here I am in Shizuoka for a year teaching at an English Kindergarten while seeing and experiencing as much of this crazy, mixed up, amazing country as I can! And this truly will be a stretch of the memoirs, as I have a major back blog (ha ha get it!!) of journals to write and since this trip to Kyoto I have been to Disneyland, Tokyo, Hokkaido, and back to Kyoto again! For all those that are not living as aliens in Japan, gaijin is the special name we foreigners are given, and it literally means alien- our identification card here is called our alien registration!!! Does it make any one else think of Third Rock from the Sun- great show!!! Anyway, back to Kyoto, ... read more

Eve, Rusty and I planned a trip to Kamakura, about an hour outside of Tokyo to see the giant Buddha statue and visit the beach. Kamakura was once the capital of Japan so it has many shrines and temples, but having seen one too many temples in recent months, we opted to make the trip for Daibutsu- the giant bronze Buddha statue. The Great Buddha Shrine was a 10 minute walk from the local train station, on top of a hill facing out towards the sea. The Buddha is over 10m high and was cast in the 13th century. The Buddha was once housed in a wooden building, but it was destroyed along with the town of Kamkura in 15th century by a massive tidal wave, leaving the Buddha standing alone. The Buddha statue was impressive, ... read more

Awesome... read more

What a difference a year makes. Around this time last year, Kathy and Netty invited me to climb the tallest and most venerated mountain in Japan: Fuji-san, as the locals affectionately call it. At the time, I thought Mt. Fuji was too far, the trip there was too expensive, and I could think of at least a million more enjoyable things to do than hiking up a mountain in the pitch of darkness just to watch the sun rise from the summit. Moreover, I couldn’t understand why my friends would want to endure the experience. True, climbing Mt. Fuji is a challenge many people from all corners of the globe undertake, but when much more splendid mountain hikes back in the countries which issued our passports. Why not wait until returning home and then hike all ... read more