jasonyang

The next morning, the group managed to sluggishly make it to the Tsukiji Market by 10AM. If there is a time you decide to eat sushi, THIS is the place to go to. Tuna is the king of the crop. Restaurant owners come in at 3AM to bid on the cuts of Tuna. We wanted to go to Sushi Dai (2 hour wait on the port), to eat. But we managed to settle for street food. (see photos) After the market, we headed over to the Asukusa district and headed over to the Kannon Temple. This is the OLDEST temple in Japan. Kate and I decided to dress in full Kimono attire to tour the temple. We visited the temple and said our prayers and then made it to the Tokyo Skytree. It is the tallest ... read more

Today was the last day in Taishan for Kate and I. Her father really wanted me to visit the village where he himself grew up from. Before him, his father lived there. And before that, his father lived there. The rural village was roughly only 30 minutes away and he told me when he lived there, there was a community of 200 people. Now, today since he still owns the original home, the village only has about 10 people. Upon arriving there, I noticed that the village has been kept in the same shape as it was 100 years ago just like how it was founded. The houses were extremely old, limited running water, and poor infrastructure. (see photos). Her father wanted to bring me here to pay respect to the Lin ancestors. Upon entering the ... read more

For the past two days, I learned about why there was a high ranking Tibetan official continuously visiting the compound. I’ll discuss why in a bit. Kate’s father was hosting an awards banquet to celebrate the history of Taishan on the second and third night. Apparently, I learned that China government officials have tried to stop other companies from doing business by delaying permits, interfering with local festivities to stop the promotion of Taishan’s heritage. They do this because the officials may come from another town or village and wants to direct the attention to their hometowns. Her father finally got the permit and with the help of local businesses, will be hosting their first cultural banquet. The second night consisted of dinners with government officials, but I’m just gonna skip all that boring stuff. The ... read more

Today, Ralph and I had to get back to Japan ASAP. We figured it was a holiday and the train stations were going to be packed. Not only were the train stations going to be packed, but also the ferry station that had to get us over back to Japan as well. We headed out of Seoul around 9AM and I snapped a few more photos of Seoul and Busan. We take the ferry across the boat and end up back in Fukuoka. Later for dinner, we end up finding a traditional Japanese restaurant to eat at and then Ralph and I ended up exploring the city a few more hours after that. Happy holidays to everyone back at home! I am excited to go back home to LA. I got a 5 hour train ride ... read more

The alarm rings at 8:00AM for us and we quickly packed to head out to the Osaka Castle. Before going to the castle, we stopped by and ate at Japan's most famous burger chain called most Burger. See photos on how different the portion is vs. the USA. The Osaka Castle sits on top of the main city of Osaka, and has 3 moats. I don't know why it has 3 separate moats, but just imagine storming the castle and climbing the walls, only to find out there are two more moats to cross over. The castle itself has some great restoration work done on it. The place was packed with tourists and the castle itself originated from the 16th century. After getting a few photos of the castle, we sat down and then this happened... ... read more