Voyage Junkie

Near the garden sits Hiroshima Castle.  It is of course entirely rebuilt, as it was blown to bits during the bombing.  While the castle was renovated (a few times, actually), the grounds around it remain a testament to the bombing.  Remains of buildings, trees, and other structures adorn the grounds.  People play and picnic in the grass among the ruins, or sit on the old, broken stones and read.  It is a vision, and a testament to what this city has been through.  The castle functions as a museum, upon entering which you must "Please drop the mud of the shoes bottom with the mat,and enter" (sic).  The castle museum holds a lot of ancient history from the area and just a little of the bombing, so it was a nice way to ease into our hard day of facing up to the atomic destruction our country heaped on Japan. Below is a former great fountain that stood near one entrance to the castle grounds.  It is now a home to new trees.  It is a very large structure, and it is obvious how i

We headed to Hiroshima via shinkansen  on April 5th.  After a few cold days in Kyoto and Nara we welcomed the southerly trajectory and the warmth it offered.  First order of business: explore the city.  We had picked a wonderful hotel to stay at, in the heart of downtown right off an old trolley line (still running, and packed all the time).  We took advantage of this and spent our first evening walking the city, taking in shops, sights, and my first taste of Okinawan cuisine. The next morning was beautiful and held the promise of a warm day.  We decided to tackle quite a bit in the first day, as we only had two full days to spend in Hiroshima. The first part is covered here.  We went to a beautiful garden complex called the Shukkeien , which literally means the "scale model garden."  It is modeled after China's  Xihu , or West Lake.  The garden evokes, in miniature, a multitude of terrains, aesthetics, and scenic views.  To the left is a view of one of the many tea hou

Matt here.  It's been a while.  Just wanted to tell you about a conversation I had today with an old friend. Last year I worked with a very kind and knowledgeable man who traveled to both of my junior high schools as a school psychologist.  He and I had the same long commute to my once-a-week school, so we often talked on the bus ride home.  I'm at a different main school this year, so I'm commuting to both now.  To my surprise, about five minutes into my trip home my old friend got on the bus I was riding.  It turns out he's working at the neighboring school this year, so we share a commute again. We got caught up, and as we were discussing our new placements and situations, he said something that I thought deserved to be heard by more than just your humble narrator.  (What follows is my poor translation of our dialog.)  "My salary is reduced this year," he said.  I asked him to explain.  "I get paid from two sources.  The first is the prefecture, the

Nara: home of tame deer, hundreds of stone lanterns, and the biggest bronze Buddha in the world.  We ventured to this smaller city on Monday, April 4th, after our two days of Kyoto adventures. To the left, I meet a friend! To the right is the famous 5-story pagoda, just one of many old and beautiful buildings in the first temple complex we found upon reaching Nara. We walked into the foothills and as far as we could see stood stone lanterns.  Paper was being cleaned off them the day we visited.  I think recently there was a festival when all the lanterns were lit, which would be a breathtaking sight, simply judging from how many lanterns there are.  We meandered, taking in cherry blossoms, stone carvings, and many shrines with amazing architecture.  The craftsmanship of these places is unbelievable.  Nara is another site that delivered the ancient Japanese aesthetic in bounds.  It was incredibly peaceful (except for the deer chasing anything that looked like food) and otherworld

We headed to the Ginkakuji , or Silver Pavilion Temple, the next day.  It is a Zen temple first built in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa (the 8th Muromachi Shogunate, if that means anything to anyone except Matt).  He modeled it after his grandfather's Kinkakuji , or Golden Pavilion Temple.  Both are considered World Cultural Heritage Sites and National Treasures.  The last time Matt visited Japan he stopped by the Golden Pavilion and was greatly unimpressed, so we decided to see the Silver Pavilion instead.  I can't speak to the pros or cons of the Golden Pavilion, but I will say that the Silver Pavilion was one of the more breathtaking and awe-inspiring sights I've seen in Japan, so I am happy with our choice. We went with our friends Alan and Steve again, and two more people (Jake and his wife Rieko, friends of Alan who live in Tokyo) met up with us there.  They had hung out with us the other night at the Kannon temple and the Kiyomizu dera , and it was fun to see them agai

The day after our visit to Hikone, on 4/2, we headed to Kyoto.  Our destination: the incredibly famous Fushimi Inari shrine, featured in movies like Memoirs of a Geisha.  For kilometers upon kilometers of mountain terrain, vivid vermilion torii gates stand, donated by thousands of people and organizations.  It is a magnificent sight.  The actual shrine at the bottom of the mountain is used for services - in fact, there was a service going on when we arrived, and I thought it must be irritating for those people who would like to worship being ogled at by tourists - and the gates through the mountains are placed on a route through various dedication sites and shrines to Gods and Goddesses.       The small shrine to the right is for the God of White Precious Stone, or White Jade.  People will buy small torii , write messages on them, and climb to a particular shrine, and leave the torii .  Thousands of small gates adorned the multitudes of shrines we saw on our walk.  Small vendo