Mom, You would NOT believe where I went today!!! A Workability job sight in Vietnam!! People with disabilities (due to Agent Orange) were artistically creating lacquer vases and wall-hangings. It kinda bordered on a sweatshop, but by Vietnam standards, seemed much more worker-centered...Well, I saw them taking breaks at least. I wanted to buy something (with you in mind) from these special hands, but I didn't bring my credit card. You're in my thoughts daily, but embedded within my way of being even more. XO Jason... read more

(Author's note: I was so thrilled to be greeted with 11 messages to my blogs, it is is hard to see the screen through the tears in my eyes. It means so much that you are reading my journey. It is difficult to respond with the way this program works, but I am connecting with each one of your messages, thank you. You really are all a part of it. I love you. This blog is a little on the lighter side. xo). As I sit on an airplane heading towards Vietnam, I thought I'd take a moment to share some tidbits about Japan that aren't in the travel guides. The People The Japanese people are super nice. The moment I would pull out a map, a passerby would stop and offer assistance, even if they ... read more

MiyaJima (7/27/10 to 7/28/10) I could have stayed much longer in Hiroshima: the weather was cooler, the area was small and easy to navigate and the nightlife was fun (I'll write about that later!) But Miyajima was calling. When I planned this trip, I wanted to take one day to quietly process, relax and unwind (a little pampering was on the menu too). So I booked a night at the Iwaso Ryokan on Miyajima Island near Hiroshima. My experience at the Ryokan and on the island itself was a treasure I will forever value. Miyajima is a must-add for any Japanese itinerary. I rank it up there with Cinque-Terra as one of my favorite spots in the world. I took a ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima and arrived before my room was ready, so I decided ... read more

I am sitting on a park bench looking at what is now known as the A-bomb Dome. Up until August 6, 1945, it was the Industrial Promotion Hall of Hiroshima. All of that changed when it became one of the few structures left standing in the epicenter of the first atomic bomb dropped on a city. Everyone inside the building disintegrated when the A-bomb exploded almost directly above it. The structure remains standing as a memorial to that event. The building itself has a five-story concrete cylinder center with brick and concrete wings squaring off around it. A metal dome, like a skeleton of half the earth with just the lines of lattitude and longitude remaining, stands on top, and a twisted spiral staircase creeps up the side. There were many windows, but they are now ... read more

7/20/10 to 7/22/10 Tokyo is noisy. Visual noise, electric noise, and earfuls of loud, synthetic audial annihilation. It is a city where every square inch of space is used for advertising, while cell phones and intercoms blare music, beeps, commercials and announcements. I like the sounds of thousands of wooden shoes and high-heels on the city pavements and escalators, however these rhythmical beats always seem to be interrupted by one woman in the crowd who uses her cell phone like a megaphone and has the laugh and nasally pitch of a ten-year-old who inhaled too much helium. With Temperatures close to 100 degrees and humidity exceeding 60%, the noise and heat have made sight-seeing in Tokyo quite tiring--but fun and exciting nonetheless. Thankfully, the subway and train systems are easy to manage, clean and well air-conditioned. ... read more