3-31-07

Last day in Japan but unfortunately all my plans seemed to fall through. It`s not that I didn`t try to go see the Craft Village but when I got to the subway station there was no map and no taxis to ask to take me there. I wandered around for an hour or so before deciding that I could better find things to buy at the shopping district which is on the opposite side of Osaka. Unfortunately to get there I had to go through Umeda Station, a convergence point for a number of subway lines and rail stations. As I stepped out of the subway car and tried to find the next stop I was surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of people all going different directions. I thought I was ready for this but I clearly wasn`t. I don`t know exactly what it was but I was hit by the compounded daily interest of travel fatigue: the tired legs from walking everywhere, not being able to communicate, the austere living conditions, the lack of sleep, the utter foreignness of everything landed on me at the same time. I didn`t suffer a break down and start screaming or anything, just took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, which I managed to do but I wasn`t ready to go to a crowded shopping area. Something similar happened to me at the end of my trip to Vietnam, the population density of the area just got to me. Japan has been much better as people generally give you space but not today. It was just too many people, simple as that.

I took my time walking around Umeda Station, bought an SD card reader to upload pictures more quickly but it was still way over crowded. I knew I was through with the computer store when I saw this, I still don`t know what it is. Apparently you plug it into your USB port in your computer and something happens, maybe it lights up or something. All I know is you can`t eat it cause it`s plastic. But for 24,800 yen it had better wash my clothes for me.


I really thought I had my reverse culture shock under control but I obviously do not. I have it about as much under control as this pig-wearing guy has it under control. He and his friend were handing out flyers for something, after taking his picture I didn`t have the heart not to take one. I put it on a sign later on down the street.

So that`s about it, anticlimactic I know but I`ve been going at it for weeks now with little break. Tomorrow I`m out for Amsterdam and will probably hibernate after spending time with Marije who I hope will meet me at the gate, now that she has her flying wings. Amsterdam should be a blast, not just because they have canals and a Red Light District but because it will be a gateway into the other countries of Europe, some of which I`ve been to and other`s I haven`t been to. Oh yeah, and because Marije`s there too, haha.


And just because, here`s the giant Gundam covering in front of a fanboy`s dream building, nothing but Gundams and Gundam related toys. The walk up to the second floor even has a gigantic robot fist crashing through the wall.

They really don`t like you to take photos inside this building, as is the case with all of the toy or anime stores in Osaka. At first I was like `Why don`t they want photos?` until I went inside and realized `Oh yeah, cause the people who buy these things are wired a little differently`. I`ll be honest, most people are probably not going to understand what they see in these places anyway. The things people spend money on astounds me. Not that I haven`t had my fanboy moments, I saw Episode 1 the first day it came out and was excited as the next Frank Miller fan to hear that Sin City was getting the feature film treatment. But draw the line at dressing up in costumes to a movie theater or spending money on assembling the dream collection of`action figures`. I have better things to do, like going to the gym or going outside.


Anyway, back inside I managed to take a couple photos anyway. When have I ever listened to people telling me where and when I can take photos? And come on, everyone loves giant robots, especially ones that cost over $3,000.

WTF, $3,000? And it just stands there looking cool? For $3,000 it should do my taxes and tell me great I am. Once again, completely astounded at what some people will buy with hard earned money, money that could be uh, invested? Maybe, say, given to charity? Or maybe even used to (dare I say it) travel? Then again how can you resist a giant robot? If I ever, ever spend $3,000 on a giant robot I give anyone , I being of sound mind and body, the permission to beat me around the head and neck area umfercifully.

3-30-07

So tired . . want to sleep but must go on!

I swear, the longer I`m in Japan the more I feel like an endurance athlete. I want to see everything and enjoy it but I have little precious time left. It`s tough choosing what to see in Osaka considering I have museums, shrines, temples, a zoo, a peace monument and a shopping district to choose from. Luckily Osaka Castle looked like a winner (my third castle so far) so that`s where I went today, after seriously considering sleeping in more on account of my sore and tired legs. But there were sights to be seen, food to be eaten and photos to be taken!

First and foremost was to get to Osaka Castle which proved easier than I expected as the transportation in Osaka is efficient but also confusing. There are so many different train lines and subway stations it`s hard to get them correct at times. After a false start I managed to get to the right platform which took me almost to the foot of the Castle. I still had to walk about 10 minutes but it was a leisurely walk, and look at the castle! Gold gilded, surrounded by a moat and beautiful. Sure it`s a reconstruction (psssh, reconstructions, give me Kumamoto Castle damnit!) but it`s a really nice one. Much of the wall surrounding the castle is original, the blocks are interlocking and held together without mortar, much like Borobudur in Indonesia. The layout itself is amazing, a past warlord had to lay siege to the castle by damming the river and flooding the area.




Outside of the castle were a few begging monks. If I hadn`t read about them first I would have thought they were cosplayers. But no, these guys were for real and so were their hats. Part of me wanted to go up to one and say `Are you Cain? Can you help me?` but that would be culturally inappropriate wouldn`t it? About as culturally inappropriate as eating while walking down the street? Maybe not.




Inside the castle was an impressive permanent exhibition of scrolls, paintings and videos (in Japanese) describing the history and heritage of Osaka Castle. It`s quite amazing, the history of castles is always interesting but Osaka Castle was struck by lightning, had the surrounding area flooded, and went through a civil war. However, the most impressive part was the special exhibition focusing solely on the armaments of ancient Osaka. Now we`re talking. As I mentioned in a previous post I love ancient weapons as most men (adult children) my age do. Not only were there swords but there were full suits of samurai armor, most of which in styles I had never seen before. I mean, when was the last time you saw a helmet like this? Hells yeah!

There were so many suits, so many examples of armor that I couldn`t take pictures of all of them, despite the plentiful `No Photos, No Videos` signs. Of course there was no enforcing of this policy, there never is where large groups of tourists are, the Vatican taught me that much. There they actually have people yelling at you to not take photos but people do it regardless. I always thought they should have the Swiss Guards lay the smack down on picture takers, at least then they could stop looking so funny in their Michaelangelo-designed uniforms and actually get to do something instead of pointing tourists in the right direction of the restrooms.


Anyway there were so many cool things that I actually bought a book on the special exhibition (first time on this trip) just so I could see them all over again. Because honestly, when is the next time I`m going to find a samurai helmet with bivalves on either side? At first I thought they were supposed to be donkey ears, but that didn`t really seem right as you can`t truthfully strike fear into the heart of your enemy by looking like a donkey. Muscles are much scarier cause they . . . grow underwater? I`m still working out why they put bivalve shells on the helmet.



Of course there were plenty of swords and halberds as well, some made by the best sword smiths in Japan at the time. As I gawked and drooled over all of them one in particular caught my eye. A famous sword maker titled `Osaka Masamune` was given permission to use the chrysanthemum crest on the nakago (the tang of the sword which is inserted into the hilt). Upon looking closer to the sword I realized `Sweet jumping jihad, that`s our family crest!`



It`s hard to tell in this photo so I did my best to clear it up and enlarge. Even then it could be another crest, but it`s pretty damn close. I know it`s difficult to see in this photo but if you`re family, you`ll recognize it. This now makes me re-evaluate my family crest hypothesis. Is it a cherry blossom of chrysanthemum? Did we come from peasant blood or samurai blood? I still have no idea but you got to admit this is pretty freaking sweet. Too bad my uncle working on our family genealogy is working on the non-Japanese heritage. Don`t we have any retired Japanese family with a obsession with genealogy? Why can`t we have any Japanese Mormons in the family? I would try to look up this example in the book I bought but it`s back at the hotel. Later I will check it out and see if I can`t get a better picture.

After the inside of the castle I went outside and found . . . a monkey! Jesus they`re everywhere aren`t they? This one was doing the usual Japanese monkey tricks, jumping over things, standing at attention and bowing. But this guy could also walk on stilts and jump over things while on the stilts. I`m working on getting the video online. This monkey was pretty cool but he couldn`t compare to the other monkey that was right around the corner.






Hell, this monkey can juggle knives while pulling off a balancing act! Street performers just love to hang around Osaka Castle. I was able to catch part of a mime show as well and the same monkey show but in a different location. After all this sight-seeing I still had time to stroll through the gardens around Osaka Castle and see some of the cherry blossom trees. Unfortunately most of them are still not in bloom or just stating to open their blossoms so it wasn`t as impressive as I would have liked it. I know, just know that as soon as I leave Japan I`m going to turn on the TV somewhere and see all the places in Japan I`ve been under a veritable carpet of cherry blossom petals and it`s going to be absolutely breathtaking. Whatever, I still got to see them which is more than I can say for the other 99.99% of the world population.

Oh yeah, I also (finally) got to eat squid on a stick. And you know something? It`s delicious! I don`t know why I never tried it before with all the other strange things I`ve eaten. Speaking of eating, I got to try a local (Osakan?) dish that looks like the cross between a pizza and a frittata and tastes unlike anything else I`ve had. I found out it`s called okonomiyaki and is about as Osakan as food gets around here. Except I`m still trying to figure out why they put mayonnaise on the top of it, probably the same reason they put mayonnaise on the octopus balls.

3-29-07

Osaka is the second largest city in Japan (after Tokyo) and it is HUGE! I arrived today and quickly found the information building and found a real cheap place to stay but had to take the train to the other side of the city to do so. But no big deal, got a cheap room and started to explore. I found the Tsutentaku Tower (big metal thing pointing upwards) and went to the top to `ooohh` and `aahhh` with the other locals who did the same thing. I ended up buying another one of those ridiculous commemorative coins that you can get your name stamped into, that makes a total of 4 so far, 4 medallions that are cool, but utterly useless. At least I can`t be accused of any crimes I commit while over here since the date is also stamped into it. This one happens to have a picture of Billiken so that`s pretty cool. I knew he looked familiar but couldn`t figure out from where. His feet are all worn down by people rubbing them for good luck, kind of like the statue of St. Peter in Rome. I wonder who grants more wishes?

After that I noticed lots of flashing lights and since I respond great to binary stimulation I followed them to the Shinsekai district which (unknown to me at the time) is one of Japans scaaaary places meaning that people don`t bow as much or something stupid like that. Either way, there are tons and tons of computer, DVD and gaming shops around here. It`s overwhelming, one big main street flanked on either side with lots and lots of lights, buildings draped with Gundam posters and lots of people. I stopped for some fried octopus balls (balls made out of octopus, not the actual balls of an octopus) and had a great conversation, in English, with the vendor which basically involved me recounting whether or not I had slept with any Japanese girls yet. `Nihongo ga wakarimasen, sumimasen` I told him, `I don`t speak Japanese, sorri` which struck me as particularly funny since I had translated Bislama into Japanese. Nice enough guy though, his topic of conversation should have tipped me off to where I was, which brings me to . . .

The computer/media shops. They are typically about 5 stories tall and advertise selling DVD`s, comics, etc. I`m a curious kind of fellow so I go in to see what these places are selling, only to find that it`s all pornography. And not just any normal, vanilla pornography, oh no. This is not your father`s porn, this is the crazy kind of demented shit that ferments in the mind of a 33 year old still living in his mother`s basement who is thinking about starting his own business but can`t stand the thought of breaking out on his own. I don`t even know if this stuff is on the internet . . . ok I know that it`s probably on the internet but have never seen, nor have I ever tried to find it. I knew that animation is just another medium over here but good lord this shit is twisted. I managed to take a few pictures but then decided against it, not because multiple-appendage porn would look suspicious but because I thought about what would happen if I die over here and my camera is admitted into evidence, I can see the scenario now.

Policeman 1:`Well ok, let`s check out the last few things he took pictures of before he died, the poor bastard.`

Policeman 2:`Hey hey, look at this! Sick son of a bitch came over here for some shopping! Let`s go defile his memory by showing this to his family`

Policeman 1: `Yeah, but lemme see it for about 15 minutes first`

The crazy thing is that it`s not just one, or two, or ten of these buildings, there`s like blocks and blocks of them! Ridiculous! It`s worse than Vegas! At first I thought to myself `No, surely not all of these shops can be so lurid, so scandalous!` but after my 5th or 6th time going into these places and seeing the same vacant expression of the store clerk I realized that yes, all of them are the same. Except some sell costumes. After reading more about Osaka and the districts, this part of the city is apparently known as some kind of haven for anime watching, manga reading, cosplayers. The kind of place where the really insecure kids in the States think they would be cool if only they could come to Japan. Well, it`s not that kind of place. Most of the clientel are business men which makes it even more creepy since they all dress the same. It`s like seeing the same salary man in every DVD store. Of course it probably doesn`t help that I`m in the most run down internet cafe ever with non-smoking sections right next to the smoking ones. Remind me to stay away from places where the toilet is the cleanest smelling room of an establishment. And beware of green Fanta. Who the fuck in their right mind would make a green Fanta?! I`m going to have to wash my clothes just to get the smoke out of them. Tomorrow I`m going to see the castle and other parts of Osaka that don`t involve pornography.




But first, behold the sensation of Kyoto Station.

It`s a trash can that climbs up stairs! It`s a stair climber that holds waste!And it`s coming to get you!


Quick, someone call the giant stone Buddha!

3-25-07

This whirlwind style of tourism is fun but it is exhausting! The problem is that there is so much to see in Japan but I only have so much time and even less money with which to do it. The solution, of course, is to race from one site to the next taking enough time to admire the scenery and trying to enjoy myself at the same time. Of course I enjoy myself, it`s the reason I`m still traveling after (how long has it been?) 4 months. But there is so much to write about and I am yet so weary from doing it all, so its going to be captions again.

I managed find the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum and surrounding buildings quite easily. It`s really quite hard to miss, there are signs all over the place just like in Kumamoto and Nagasaki in English showing where local sites are. The mass transit system also makes it very easy to get from one place to another, it seems like it was designed around tourist attactions and historical sites.

This statue is supposed to symbolize a huge cement coffin for the bomb victims. But looking through there is an eternal flame at the other end of the memorial. Many people come through here to set down flowers and pray.


Day after I arrived it rained. And rained. And rained. This normally wouldn`t be such a big deal except I wanted to get to Kyoto ASAP. So I decided to see as much as possible and then decide what I was going to do, even though this has been my plan pretty much my entire trip. I started out at the Atomic Bomb Dome, as it`s called, though it`s really the remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It has been preserved to look exactly the same way it did immediately after the blast and is now a World Heritage Site. To be honest it looks horrible, the skeletal structure of the roof is the result of the metal melting off during the first few seconds of the atomic bomb blast which was detonated directly overhead.


I was able to go the the Atomic Bomb museum and I have to say I don`t know which one is better, the one in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. They both present similar material in differente ways. I`m tempted to say it`s "same same only differente" except I can`t stand the phrase as it became a kind of catch-all during my travels throught South East Asia. I don`t know how many shirts I saw with it as the logo or even as the name of at least 2 guest hosues. Both of them do have diplays of watches and clocks that are frozen at 11:02 and 8:15am, broken from the respective exploding bombs. One of the most heart-wretching stories that I have ever read was in the Hiroshima museum though. A little boy died in the blast and his father buried him and the boy`s treasured tricycle in the back yard because there were no proper burial sites. Years later the boy was exhumed and placed in a proper grave and the tricycle was dug up and donated to the museum. It`s the most touching thing I`ve seen in years, a completely rusted-over tricycle the Dad buried so his son could use it in the after life.

I also got to see the Children`s Memorial which was inspired by Sadako, a young girl who contracted leukemia after the bomb. It was surreal, I had read the story about Sadako and the thousand paper cranes when I was like in 4th grade and never imagined I would see her exhibit, let alone the actual cranes she made.

These cranes weren`t at the Children`s Memorial but inside the Bomb Museum near the end as part of the exhibits talking about those affected by the bomb who survived the initial blast.

After the Museum I wandered around and took photos of the clock tower, and other things. By this time the rain was really coming down and I still had to see the Hiroshima Castle. It`s a replica so that kind of bummed me out (the original was destroyed by the Atomic Bomb) but the exhibits inside more than made up for the lack of authentic building materials. Not only were there English videos explaining the rise of Hiroshima but on the third floor (or was it the fourth?) there were multiple displays of Samurai swords, katanas, wakizashis and tantos. The coolness factor was almost overwhelming, here were the relics every 15 year old boy would die for. Behind glass cases were the stuff of legends, Samurai movies and Saturday mornings spent in front of the television. Not only were these authentic swords but they were beautiful, simply breathtaking. They were so clean and unmarked, it was hard to believe they had ever been used at all, and I instantly coveted them.

This one in particular, I have no idea what it was called because all the writing was in Japanese Kanji. But it`s a remarkable piece, I just stood and stared at it for I don`t know how long. I`ve tried looking it up online, on wikipedia, nothing. It`s obviously some kind of long two-handed sword, but it`s straight, not bent like a katana or wakazashi.









It also has some amazing engraving of a dragon on it which makes me think it was ceremonial and not carried onto the battle field.

There was also a small display on the forging of katanas which was all in Kanji so I didn`t understand it but the physical examples were really neat, making swords takes a lot of time and work, often employing many people for one weapon.




Since it was still raining hard and I had no umbrella I decided to check out the Renoir`s at the Art Museum. However, I wasn`t about to pay 1000 yen for admission so I ducked into an internet cafe to try to wait out the rain. Unfortunately the rain lasted for the rest of the day.

Then lots of fun things happened (saw a wedding, World Heritage Shrine, fed/got bitten by deer, ate oysters) and eventually made it on the bullet train to Kyoto, city of buses and trains. Kyoto has one of the largest train stations in Japan and a great public transportation system. It`s cool and has a TON of Unesco World Heritage sites. It`s enough to make ones head spin at the number of things to see, let alone figure out the logistics of how to see them all. I had two days to see half a bajillion sites that are preserved national treasure, culturally important and just plain rad. Of course I didn`t see them all, I need to save some for the next time I visit Japan. I`m going to skip the things that don`t look good and focus on the ones that do look good in pictures.

Near Amida Hall in Kyoto is a huge pile of rope that was used to help raise large pieces of timber up to construct a temple. Normally this wouldn`t be a big deal except that the local rope wasn`t very strong and there wasn`t enough. After requests from the rulers, young women of the area cut off their hair and sent it in to be made into rope. The photo on the right? Rope made of human hair, in my opinion way cooler than clothes made of human hair. In case you were wondering, Ripley`s Odditoriums (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odditorium) sometimes have clothes made of human hair. It must itch like crazy.

Since I`m a big fan of traditional crafts (and Kyoto is the traditional crafts center of Japan) I decided to go to the Traditional Crafts Museum. There were so many beautiful examples of bamboo baskets, tea sets, bento laquer sets, I almost didn`t want to leave. I thought it would be nice to pick up a set of these origami-looking lanterns but then noticed the price. There was no way I was going to pay $250 for one of these, it would be so hard to pack on the plane. The actually look like rip-offs of David Brill`s design for similar orbs made out of origami.

I managed to see Nijo Castle, Ryoanji Temple (the best example of a Zen garden in Japan), and the Imperial Garden which was absolutely gorgeous, filled with apricot, plum, and cherry blossoms, all of which blew my mind. I seriously spent over an hour taking pictures and wandering around in a daze muttering `Pretty . . . flowers` like some kind of metro-sexual Frankenstein`s Monster.

Here are some now. I have a lot more, so many more actually, but will have to post them a little later. Or maybe I`ll start a web album,

http://picasaweb.google.com/taylorokamura

3-23-07

This is going to have to be one of those `Look at the pictures, read the comments` entry cause honestly I can`t remember all the things that I did in Nagasaki. I`ll have to recount my experience through photos.

First off I arrived in Nagasaki a little later in the after noon so I didn`t have too much time to walk around after finding a hostel to stay at. I`m finding that youth hostels in Japan are more restrictive than I would like, imposing curfews, allowing only one shower a day (very strange in Japan) and charging for everything from fresh sheets to using the kitchen facilities. But nothing a little beer can`t help right? Or maybe a lot of beer, perhaps 2 liters of Asahi out of a vending machine? Unfortunately vending machines in Japan require you to insert a Japanese drivers license before making your purchase, damn.


I had a map of Nagasaki but I`ve found that if I just start walking around interesting things will make themselves known to me. Lo and behold, a giant Buddha on a turtle appeared on a hill! I think in some cultures a turtle is supposed to support the universe on his back like Atlas and the globe. But it`s been a long time since I studied mythology so I`m probably wrong. Either way, the inside of the turtle is a shrine that isn`t all that impressive and is kind of a let down considering there`s a Buddha on the turtles back. Sometimes I like to imagine what would happen if the Buddha came to life and started attacking the city.




This is the hypo center of where the atomic bomb struck Nagasaki at 11:02 am. It was detonated high above the city with a fatality rate of 100% within a km radius of the blast. The black monolith was the first structure erected after the blast. Around this area are many bomb-related exhibits like the Peace Statue, Peace Park, Victims Memorial and the Atomic Bomb Museum. I found that all the bomb sites are extremely peaceful and are great places to just sit and think for a while. I thought it was nice that these kids were taking a picture.





This is the Peace Statue in the Peace park near the hypo center. One arm points upwards to warn against nuclear weapons and the other points out symbolizing eternal peace. I met a nice Australian woman here but her two daughters were really going at it with each other. I thought `Oh how nice, a relaxing family vacation.`










Here is a likeness of the Peace Statue rendered in paper cranes strung together. This was inside the Atomic Bomb museum and I walked past it not really noticing it. I did a double take and had to walk back to understand what it was. Paper cranes are supposed to represent prayers for the deceased and for the cease of nuclear arms.






My family has always thought that we had family members who died in the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the Atomic Bomb Museum there are internet terminals with databases of the victims and audio and video testimony. I searched for `Okamura` and found quite a lot of individuals.








This table is in the middle of the Victims Memorial center and is a place where visitors can put paper cranes in memory of the victims. I took a page from my journal and made a crane for the table. Mine is the small tiny one next to the pink cranes on the right.









There is also the Sanno Shrine that was blown in half by the atomic bomb farther away from the hypo center in what is now an apartment complex. It is still standing on its one leg. I love this shrine, the symbolism is unmistakable.

3-20-07

I caught a train to a city called Dazaifu on Dave`s recommendation. Dazaifu is known for it`s culturally significant sites, huge shrines, Zen gardens and little sweet cakes made of bean paste. Little did I know, however, that the day I arrived was also the Plum Blossom Festival Ceremony Day (not really sure what you call it) where large groups of kids danced together in groups. I guess nothing says "Plum Blossoms" like costumed dance numbers? The whole day people were walking around in full makeup, walking around waiting for their group to be called. The music the groups danced to was a mix of traditional Japanese music with hip hop thrown in. This made things very interesting and allowed the dancers to really have fun, I could tell that these kids were having a blast, as I know I would be if I were still doing choreographed dance numbers. Ah, competitive dance.


After watching some of the dances I decided to try some of the street food. But I soon became distracted by a monkey. Wait, a monkey? It`s in a kimono? And jumping through hoops? What the hell is this? Apparently the Plum Blossom festival also means monkey shows. The funniest thing about the whole show is that the monkey actually bowed on command to the adoring crowd.



Eventually I found my street food and had another food day. The bean paste cakes were hot and so good, Dazaifu is known for their cakes (called umegae-mochi) and there were long lines of people eager to get their hands on these hot little things. And look, is that a flower imprinted on it? Less well know but equally as good were these kinds of pancake s covered in condiments (ketchup, mayonnaise, fried onion?) and served on un-snapped chopsticks on a rice cracker. I have no idea what it was called but it tasted great. Right, after eating lots of food I went to the Kyushu National Museum which looks like a huge wave from the outside. It focuses on Japanese culture from the perspective of other Asian civilizations, dealing with trade, religion and technology. Going to this museum really brought all of Asia together in comparison and made me glad that I had been to all the countries in South East Asia that I had gone to as I recognized most of them in the exhibits. Unfortunately I couldn`t take any photos inside which sucked as the displays were amazing. I knew katanas were beautiful swords but had no idea just how beautiful.


Tired from walking around the museum I found a shrine with some Zen gardens at the Komyozenji temple which was very peaceful. There was almost no one there and I was free to wander around and hang out on the rice straw mats.








Then it was off to find my guesthouse but not before passing by an ox cart that was handing out free sake, which I mistook for water. Imagine my surprise when I swallowed a big mouthful of sweet rice wine when I expected water. But it was good sake, probably the best sake I`ve ever had which isn`t saying much because my sake consumption is about a thimble-full just to celebrate the New Year. I noticed a couple men in the crowd who had obviously been drinking from the dark shade of red covering their faces.

Luckily I was able to get a spot at a local bed and breakfast and met up with Alex, a teacher from New York. He`s been teaching overseas but English and not mathematics, as became painfully obvious when he asked me for 1000 yen since he was broke. Of course I gave it to him (because he caught me off guard) but I though man, you come to Japan and run out of money? Hello! It`s expensive here! He tried to get a work Visa here but for some reason it didn`t work out. He also applied for the Peace Corps but was rejected for some reason. After all the fun people I`ve met in the Peace Corps, I really have to wonder why he was rejected.

Anyway, after Dazaifu I went to Kumamoto via Fukuoka. I literally had zero information on Kumamoto other than my grandma`s family is from there as well as Toyoda-san. I also heard there was a castle. So I came in on the bus, got a nice room for a couple nights and started walking around. Well the castle is impossible to miss, it`s huge and majestic and considered one of the best castles in all of Japan. The following morning (today) I was able to go inside and see just how majestic it really is. Let me tell you something, whatever you are doing you need to drop it and come to Japan and see this thing. It is HUGE! Huge and beautiful and clean and tall and a stunning example of Japanese architecture and lots of other things as well. I can`t remember everything that I read about it so I`ll just put up some pictures.
Castle very big, me very small!

And this is on the inside, there are walls outside of this leading in. Man, I wish I could express the scale of this this. Sure it`s not as big as Angkor Wat but it`s still huge. And it was able to hold off an army during Japan`s last civil war, pretty impressive. There`s lot so turrets, loop holes for shooting enemy troops, storage facilities,




and flower gardens. Even during war they had to tend to their flowers. The flowers on the inside of the castle are pure strains and have never been cross-pollinated before. Unfortunately, this Higo Camelia was the only species in bloom. There are 4 different flowers on the castle grounds, each one with a different way of planting and cultivating it.






There were other flowers outside the castle, but I don`t know what they were called. Here`s one anyway, that`s the castle in the background.





After the castle I wasn`t finished with the area so I went to the art museum and the Traditional Craft Center which is so Awesome. They make bamboo baskets, traditional wood furniture, porcelain, hand-made paper, knives and all sorts of really cool things, some of which I tried to make in Vanuatu. I really wanted to buy everything they were selling (especially the gold inlaid iron work) but it was all way to expensive. In the end I bought some hand-made paper and little things to give out as gifts.



Afterwards I went to the local park and found some girls eating lunch under a tree.











Thanks for sticking with me so far (assuming you`ve read it all). Last (but funniest of all) I found a woman selling cabbage in broad daylight. Long wan klia ples ia! Ating ol man i wantem pem kagaj blong hem.

Right, I`m exhausted. Tomorrow it`s back to Fukuoka, then Nagasaki.