Blogs from Miyagi, Japan, Asia - page 3

Another early morning for me, but I'm already getting used to this routine! Today was the day I went to visit 2 of my junior high schools; First Jr. High and Tamagawa Jr. High. As soon as I walked into the staffroom I could tell this was going to be another busy day. All the teachers were busy so it was a bit hard to get my schedule from them. Essentially, they told me to talk to the English teachers and see if I could join their class! So by the time I was told this, first period had already started but I spoke to one of the assistant teachers (who I was very happy to see again!) and she said she'd ask the grade 7 English teacher for me. Since I had nothing to do ... read more

Hello everyone! As I said in my first post, I went to the MOFA at 10am. The meeting was very straightforward, and the people were extremely nice. (I won't bore you with all the details of the meeting.) After the meeting, I headed off to Tokyo station where I planned to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai. To my surprise, the first shinkansen was fully booked to Sendai so I had to wait 30 minutes for the next one (which was alright because this gave time to get some lunch). The trip up to Sendai was smooth. Once in Sendai, I made my way to the hotel and checked in. From there I hurried to the station again to catch a train to Shiogama. But of course, with the luck I was having with transportation, ... read more

Today is our last day traveling through disaster zones. We took a train, then a taxi into Sendai, Japan from our hotel. The taxi driver drove us into a business complex, located near the ocean in Sendai. Buildings were demolished to the ground, only a handful of structures survived. Driving through the streets we saw bicycles mangled together, a trumpet laying on top of debris, jeans displaced and a statue that survived the tsunami. The statue formed into a shrine created by locals. People came to the shrine and left a small porcelain Japanese cup with tea inside it, green tea I believe. Also, two fresh and vibrant bouquets of flowers were placed on the floor of the shrine, a stuffed animals and other items people placed. A bouquet of wilted flowers laid amidst the debris, ... read more

There is a famous painting by the Japanese artist Hokusai depicting a giant tsunami. What was an image on a woodblock print has become a reality. We received word yesterday afternoon of the catastrophe in Japan. It looks like the worst of the damage occurred in the Sendai area. We were there in October of 2009 and recall the drive in from the port to the city. The topography there is very flat land open to the sea making the area very vulnerable to tidal waves. We are currently docked in Manila, Philippines. These islands were put on tsunami alert and our Captain made an announcement about it. Fortunately for Manila and for us, the tidal wave struck the east coast of these islands and we are on the more protected west coast. We are fine ... read more

We had the grande plan to wake up early this morning and take a bus to the Akiu Onsen and Akiu Otaki waterfall. The waterfall is supposed to be one of the most scenic in Japan and it was only a 90 minute bus ride so we figured why not? The bus, as it turned out, only went to the waterfall twice a day... And there didn't seem to be any indication as to WHEN the bus would be returning in the direction of Sendai station. So rather than risk taking a 90 minute bus ride to the middle of nowhere, with a chance that we might not be able to get back, we decided to hop off at Akiu Onsen resort area and find ourselves a nice onsen to chill in instead. It was a ... read more