carolineh

Thursday the 5th of July was one of the more uneventful days of my stay in Japan. Lentle had classes and so I was alone again to explore Japan. I traveled to Sannomiya station, and my plan was to try and find the 'Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution' a.k.a. the Earthquake Museum. Kobe was struck by an earthquake that measured 6.8 on the magnitude scale in 1995, which was at that time the second worst earthquake in Japan in the 20th century. Internet told me that I needed to go to Nada or Iwaya station, but I figured that I'd also be able to walk there from Sannomiya station in about 30 minutes. In the end I only found a rather deserted park called the Earthquake Memorial Park. I thought the Museum would be located ... read more

My first full day in Japan was a Tuesday, which meant that my friend Lentle had to go to university, and so I had to face this new country all by myself. To not make things too complicated on my first day, I decided to stay in Kobe and explore around the city centre a bit. The day started out not so well. I had wanted to shave my legs before going out (Japanese warm weather required skirts) but my electric razor just went 'prtl prtl prtl'. It was totally unusable! I was afraid that my razor had died during the trip, but looking back now I think it's because voltage in Japan is 110V versus 230V in Belgium ... but I didn't know that at the time. Even though I knew it was rainy season ... read more