Monday was a National Holiday in Japan, where all 20 year olds are dressed up (girls in kimono) and taken by their family to be registered at a temple and more or less given the right of passage into adulthood. I set out with Drew to explore the city and hopefully run into this celebration for the national holiday, where he could hopefully take part as a 20 year old himself! We did not find them at the temples as expected but saw later on the news that they had all gathered at City Hall! We did however see many girls running around the city dressed in Kimono and at least I, enjoyed a lovely day seeing a different side of the city.
Especially now being in Tokyo I am the teeniest bit homesick for my cosy little guest house at the World Friendship Center. It was such a pleasure (and luxury!) to stay so many days in the same place! I am not used to moving around as much as last time! But really leaving Hiroshima, I really developed a soft spot in my heart for the city during my stay and I think it really began to grow in me yesterday. We hiked behind the station up towards the Peace Bell (or dome maybe... not to be confused with the A Bomb domb). The mountainous hills that surround the city are so beautiful and the views up among them of the city were quite simply breathtaking. It was so incredible to look out and be able to see the tidal rivers, which make Hiroshima so distinct lead right to the ocean! We could also see the multitude of small islands, rising black and distinct from the Seto Inland Sea, we both remarked on what a distinct landscape it is to us from the US.
I asked Drew about a million questions and learned so much throughout the day about Buddhism and Shintoism, the government and society, the unbelievable complexity of the Japanese language (did you know that there are forms of Japanese that Japanese people won't even understand because it is only used when talking to the very elite, for example?? isn`t that crazy!!!), and even the hush hush (but very powerful and ever present) Japanese mafia. I learned that Hiroshima is actually the most corrupt city in Japan! So on one hand you have the mayor who recently won the Asian equivalent (more or less) of the Nobel Peace Prize and who continues the work of creating a city of Peace but is entirely underneath the City Council (i think that is right) which is controlled by the mafia. VERY interesting. the police force is so small because the mafia does their own policing! is this scary or responsible??? while you are not suposed to use the japanese word for them aloud...and i am not sure i should even write here (its like saying Voldemort in Harry's world) they are quite present and can be seen at bathhouses or on hot days showing their full body tattoos and cut off pinky finger! Everything I learned was very interesting and it made the whole day very enlightening and satisfying!
I also enjoyed my first Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (a food involving massive layers of cabbage, noodles, egg, and maybe a few other mysterious ingredients), served steaming hott and dribbled in what tasted to me not too far off from sweet texas BBQ sauce! It was great and I really enjoyed the restraunt and the whole experience since I have rarely treated myself! So thanks Drew! I have been so reluctant to spend a day with anyone besides myself and well, I really enjoyed the company since i have been missing my friends so much! this day definitely took the edge off missing everyone and now i really don`t want to leave Japan! it was quite fun to appreciate Japan with someone else! oh man i do not want to leave!
I took the bus last night leaving at 8pm (I almost missed it because I could not find the leaving place but a bilingual man on business there helped me get directions and walked me the whole way there just to help out! in the last 24 hours 3 people have offered and given me help like this!), The bus got in this morning at 7am and the 11 hours actually went by quite fast even though i was tired and sore all day today! I just kept pumping myself with caffeine so I would make it through! I really saw a lot of neat areas of Tokyo today and I am sad I was so tired during most of it! It was still a great day and while I missed my yummy guest house breakfasts this morning, I felt great appreciation for the Japanese convience store where I freshened up, brushed my teeth, almost got caught taking a picture of myself brushing my teeth, bough breakfast, and was even able to sit and eat it too! I had the yummiest chocolate chip bread today. I had`t been eating these patries since I don't equate pastries with Japan but it was yummy yummy! I have also finally found some vanilla yogurt I love too!
Okay well my fingers are officially frozen and I need to get some real sleep since I have a big day tomorrow and 2 big dates!!! One with the Studio Ghibli museum (!!!!!) and the second with some cute kitties at the Nekerobi Cat Cafe!!!!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Day 56: Reflecting
Today I went to Onomichi, a quaint port town, off the main tourist map. The trip there on the train was really pleasant and I have finally figured out how to check the timetables ahead of time, so I got there without a hitch. Onomichi is very well known though for its Temple Walk through the hillside neighborhoods, which takes you to 25 `old temples` in Onomichi (although there are many more), the Path of Literature, which takes you by several old dwellings of famous authors, and the Shimanami Kaido a 60km cycling path/highway that takes you from Onomichi across many small islands in the Seto Inland Sea to Shikoku Prefecture.
When I arrived just before noon I was freezing, but I broke into a sweat almost immediately when the sun came up and I began the steep uphill walk toward the temples. Only one temple area was really bussling and I mostly enjoyed the day reflecting on my trip. This trip feels so much different from my first trip and I will say knowing I have to go home and `figure out what`s next` is spoiling the bliss of travelling just a little. There were some great views and I sat down often to look out over the rooftops from up high. At one point a saw a beautiful little kitty sitting on a red bench maked `Lovers Sanctuary`. I sat down and to my surprise she walked right on to my lap, curled up and continued cleaning herself as before! She did not demand much attention but did purr loudly. This of course attracted the attention of many Japanese couples, who came over to talk to me and the cat! I found out later there are quite a few little `famous` cats around the Temple Walk and I think I saw my kitty featured on a postcard!
On this trip, I have also been trying to learn and use more Japanese. It takes me awhile after I learn something though to actually use it and it really requires me to be very forward since I am not assumed to speak Japanese and really I don`t. But the words are easier to learn now after hearing the language now for so many weeks and it is cool at least to learn a word and then here in speech around me. I wanted to be more polite so I have learned sumimasen (excuse me) and gomenasai (sorry). I am also trying to use a few other words and phrases that I am always needing to ask like toyre (toilet) and one, please (ichi, kudasai). I am waiting for a conversation to tell someone my name and age, I have been practicing this in my head: Watashi no nama ewa Megan des and Watashi wa nujushi sai des.... i think those are right. I`ve also learned to count to ten: ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shi-chi, ha-chi, ku, ju! I had sort of cast aside my phrase book but it is kind of fun to read and understand the structure of the language a little better, like I said before, now that it seems a little more familiar.
So while Japan has lost a little bit of its novelty now that I have been here nearly two months, there are so many things I just cannot get tired of and already know I will miss. Walking back from the Temples I cut through the shopping arcade. I really do not know when I will get tired of ducking into 100Y shops, buying things with strange cats on it, and trying yummy sweets! Right when I turned onto the shopping street was a convience store and I went in craving a sweet. Now, thanks to my cousin Amy, I have discovered my new favorite meal/snack (which I found out is actually considered Chinese food)--they are basically big puffy dumplings made of rice and filled with some kind of yummy meat filling. The best part is they come out steaming hot, which is perfect in the cold weather! Today, one shaped like a bunny (for this is the year of the rabbit---thats our year 1987 babies!) with little pink ears (I took a picture of me with it so I`ll get it up here soon) and then! I noticed a chocolate one, oh man oh man! Please never underestimate the power for something delightfully yummy to lead to pure happiness! It took me back to Totoro`s Neighborhood in Kyoto and the yummy green tea cream puffs! This yummy fluffy gooey chocolate dumpling could certainly compete AND was only 100 yen! it was yummy in that way that left me wanting another one immediately. If it hadn`t been the only one I certainly would have walked back. You can already count on me popping into every convience store I pass from now on looking for another one!
I also think I will miss the guesthouses I have stayed in and the architecture and design of Japanese houses. I really love the sliding doors and tatami floors and the japanese shower rooms and even the squat toilets--by far my preference for a public bathroom. I don`t think I have given enough credit on this blog to Japanese shower rooms. The best part is they are a ROOM! Only one guest house had a shower that won the award for smallest shower ever (it stole the title from my apartment in seguin`s shower). This one made me laugh because it had little drawings to show different ways to take a shower (sitting, standing on your hands--which was supposed to be the joke, but it showed a woman standing in there and I was like okay my head touches the slanted cieling when I am sitting!) But on the whole they are spacious! I like that they all usually provide something to sit on while showering and a removable handle and sometimes even a steaming hot bath to dip into after you are clean--its like a personal bath house! I will also miss heated toilet seats---ooooo---and heated rugs! Come on United States, get with the program! Heated rugs!
I am also going to miss the other little chance encounters with people as I go throughout my day. I wish I reached out more and offered up more Japanese. I should learn how to say, `Can I take your picture?` since I try to offer this sometimeswhen I see couples struggling to take their picture together--it seems only fair when I often need to ask someone to take mine.Or yesterday on the tram, a woman offered me her english and I learned she had been married to a US airman and lived in CA for 50 years, her husband had died 10 years ago and she had returned to Japan for a few years, because there was more for her to do here. It is the littlest things like a man saying thank you (in english) to me for holding the door open or a family who were pushing each other up the hill, mom in front, then dad, then daughter, i giggled and waved and the daughter gave me the biggest smile and the MOST enthusiastic wave!
Like I said in my blog post yesterday, I will miss the spiritual prescence and the mix of modern and anchient. I thought a lot today about the bombings and the wartime here in Japan since I am reading Barefoot Gen, a comic book about Hiroshima by an A-bomb survivor (comparable to Maus for anyone who has read this survivor`s account of the Holocaust). I learned in the museum that Kyoto was on one of the final lists of where the A-bomb would be dropped. It is terrible to think that you can be glad a bomb was dropped somewhere and not somewhere else but anyone who knows Kyoto would have the same thought--thank goodness it was not dropped there! But to think of all we are not getting to see today because of the war! Reading the introductions to the english translation of Barefoot Gen, it struck me again how enlightened the people of Hiroshima are in their perspective of the war at that time. They do not seem to place hardly any blame or fault on the allied forces but much more on the powerful eltie in their own country. They seem to try very hard to go beyond blame and fault and enemy and countryman and talk simply about peace: FOR EVERYONE.
But at the same time, I was sickened to read the exchanges between the president and others who were making the decision to drop the bomb. The US government treated it like a science experiment. After spending billions of dollars they wanted to prove that the bomb was useful and they were essentially choosing which city would be the best place to test it out. Many survivors can recount that they first saw little paracutes coming down before the explosion, which were scientific devices to gather information. It was at the least good to read that many of the scientists themselves protests the bombs use and particularly the use of it without warning. But it is truly disgusting to see how the decision was made to drop the bomb and how we intentionally made no real effort to gain surrender, since they really wanted to show the world how powerful the bomb. This is one reason they ordered a stop to bombing the cities that might be chosen... so that the destruction could be acounted to the bomb.
When I arrived just before noon I was freezing, but I broke into a sweat almost immediately when the sun came up and I began the steep uphill walk toward the temples. Only one temple area was really bussling and I mostly enjoyed the day reflecting on my trip. This trip feels so much different from my first trip and I will say knowing I have to go home and `figure out what`s next` is spoiling the bliss of travelling just a little. There were some great views and I sat down often to look out over the rooftops from up high. At one point a saw a beautiful little kitty sitting on a red bench maked `Lovers Sanctuary`. I sat down and to my surprise she walked right on to my lap, curled up and continued cleaning herself as before! She did not demand much attention but did purr loudly. This of course attracted the attention of many Japanese couples, who came over to talk to me and the cat! I found out later there are quite a few little `famous` cats around the Temple Walk and I think I saw my kitty featured on a postcard!
On this trip, I have also been trying to learn and use more Japanese. It takes me awhile after I learn something though to actually use it and it really requires me to be very forward since I am not assumed to speak Japanese and really I don`t. But the words are easier to learn now after hearing the language now for so many weeks and it is cool at least to learn a word and then here in speech around me. I wanted to be more polite so I have learned sumimasen (excuse me) and gomenasai (sorry). I am also trying to use a few other words and phrases that I am always needing to ask like toyre (toilet) and one, please (ichi, kudasai). I am waiting for a conversation to tell someone my name and age, I have been practicing this in my head: Watashi no nama ewa Megan des and Watashi wa nujushi sai des.... i think those are right. I`ve also learned to count to ten: ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shi-chi, ha-chi, ku, ju! I had sort of cast aside my phrase book but it is kind of fun to read and understand the structure of the language a little better, like I said before, now that it seems a little more familiar.
So while Japan has lost a little bit of its novelty now that I have been here nearly two months, there are so many things I just cannot get tired of and already know I will miss. Walking back from the Temples I cut through the shopping arcade. I really do not know when I will get tired of ducking into 100Y shops, buying things with strange cats on it, and trying yummy sweets! Right when I turned onto the shopping street was a convience store and I went in craving a sweet. Now, thanks to my cousin Amy, I have discovered my new favorite meal/snack (which I found out is actually considered Chinese food)--they are basically big puffy dumplings made of rice and filled with some kind of yummy meat filling. The best part is they come out steaming hot, which is perfect in the cold weather! Today, one shaped like a bunny (for this is the year of the rabbit---thats our year 1987 babies!) with little pink ears (I took a picture of me with it so I`ll get it up here soon) and then! I noticed a chocolate one, oh man oh man! Please never underestimate the power for something delightfully yummy to lead to pure happiness! It took me back to Totoro`s Neighborhood in Kyoto and the yummy green tea cream puffs! This yummy fluffy gooey chocolate dumpling could certainly compete AND was only 100 yen! it was yummy in that way that left me wanting another one immediately. If it hadn`t been the only one I certainly would have walked back. You can already count on me popping into every convience store I pass from now on looking for another one!
I also think I will miss the guesthouses I have stayed in and the architecture and design of Japanese houses. I really love the sliding doors and tatami floors and the japanese shower rooms and even the squat toilets--by far my preference for a public bathroom. I don`t think I have given enough credit on this blog to Japanese shower rooms. The best part is they are a ROOM! Only one guest house had a shower that won the award for smallest shower ever (it stole the title from my apartment in seguin`s shower). This one made me laugh because it had little drawings to show different ways to take a shower (sitting, standing on your hands--which was supposed to be the joke, but it showed a woman standing in there and I was like okay my head touches the slanted cieling when I am sitting!) But on the whole they are spacious! I like that they all usually provide something to sit on while showering and a removable handle and sometimes even a steaming hot bath to dip into after you are clean--its like a personal bath house! I will also miss heated toilet seats---ooooo---and heated rugs! Come on United States, get with the program! Heated rugs!
I am also going to miss the other little chance encounters with people as I go throughout my day. I wish I reached out more and offered up more Japanese. I should learn how to say, `Can I take your picture?` since I try to offer this sometimeswhen I see couples struggling to take their picture together--it seems only fair when I often need to ask someone to take mine.Or yesterday on the tram, a woman offered me her english and I learned she had been married to a US airman and lived in CA for 50 years, her husband had died 10 years ago and she had returned to Japan for a few years, because there was more for her to do here. It is the littlest things like a man saying thank you (in english) to me for holding the door open or a family who were pushing each other up the hill, mom in front, then dad, then daughter, i giggled and waved and the daughter gave me the biggest smile and the MOST enthusiastic wave!
Like I said in my blog post yesterday, I will miss the spiritual prescence and the mix of modern and anchient. I thought a lot today about the bombings and the wartime here in Japan since I am reading Barefoot Gen, a comic book about Hiroshima by an A-bomb survivor (comparable to Maus for anyone who has read this survivor`s account of the Holocaust). I learned in the museum that Kyoto was on one of the final lists of where the A-bomb would be dropped. It is terrible to think that you can be glad a bomb was dropped somewhere and not somewhere else but anyone who knows Kyoto would have the same thought--thank goodness it was not dropped there! But to think of all we are not getting to see today because of the war! Reading the introductions to the english translation of Barefoot Gen, it struck me again how enlightened the people of Hiroshima are in their perspective of the war at that time. They do not seem to place hardly any blame or fault on the allied forces but much more on the powerful eltie in their own country. They seem to try very hard to go beyond blame and fault and enemy and countryman and talk simply about peace: FOR EVERYONE.
But at the same time, I was sickened to read the exchanges between the president and others who were making the decision to drop the bomb. The US government treated it like a science experiment. After spending billions of dollars they wanted to prove that the bomb was useful and they were essentially choosing which city would be the best place to test it out. Many survivors can recount that they first saw little paracutes coming down before the explosion, which were scientific devices to gather information. It was at the least good to read that many of the scientists themselves protests the bombs use and particularly the use of it without warning. But it is truly disgusting to see how the decision was made to drop the bomb and how we intentionally made no real effort to gain surrender, since they really wanted to show the world how powerful the bomb. This is one reason they ordered a stop to bombing the cities that might be chosen... so that the destruction could be acounted to the bomb.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Day 55: Takin` it Slow
One of the best things about travelling alone is being able set the pace. After three long days of travel, today I allowed myself to take it slow. I had to get up early to Skype about a possible volunteer position but after that I took a nice, long, slow morning. I enjoyed talking with Barb and Drew over breakfast and then dawdled over the computer for awhile. When I finally stepped out to head to Miyajima I felt very happy to give myself permission to take it slow. I am glad I decided to stay here so many days. It changes everything to not have to move or worry about carrying my backpack. I also like having the time to get to know the area I am in, so that it feels familiar and I am able to walk around without a map.
I already feel so satisfied by my trip to Japan, I have very little agenda this time around, or I am quickly relaxing around the agenda I do have. I headed to Miyajima, which I had heard from many people would be very nice. I did not worry about trying to get everywhere or climb to the top of Mt. Misen (3-4hrs round trip) but strolled through the whole day. I strolled through the shopping area, tasting some of the local snacks, which included little leaf-shaped cakes filled with different things. I tried a chocolate filled one, pretty good (but not as good as the chocolate filled pancakes) and a green tea one---DISGUSTING! i was pretty disapointed. i was hungry for something that wasn`t dessert so I tried what was translated as `fish cake`, i picked the one with spring onion and hot pink ginger. I would call these an octopus stick maybe and while they were not fried in the traditional sense, it glisened with grease and afterwards thinking about it made me feel a little quesey.
After that I strolled along the coast snapping numerous pictures of the 16m Famous Floating Torri and the headed to the Itsukshima shrine that lies inland of the Torri Gate. This is also a `floating shrine` built into the ocean so that the water ebbs and flows beneath it. It was a beautiful sunny day to be walking temples. After temple overload in Kyoto, today I felt like I had been a long time away from Japan`s incredible temples and felt glad to be back at one. I reflected on the spiritual prescense in Japan and how much I appreciated how ubiquitous the temples are, even if I did not share the same exact faith. I enjoy leaving my offerings and prayers and thanks for safe travels all the same and just being apart of such a rich tradition.
Next I headed to Daisho-In Temple recommended to be by Barb. I loved it. I think I can easily say this was my favorite temple visit. I entered the complex for free through a beautiful gate and a long steep staircase. In the middle were the 600 sutras that you touched as you walked up. Along the way up I diverted down a path to walk among the 500 little statues of disciples each with a unique expression and holding a unique item such as a feather, instrument or book. As I walked among the little disciples, the strong scent of inscense burning from above wafted down along with the loud chants of the monks (which were being played on a loud speaker throughout the complex). At the top there was so much to explore. The whole place felt so active, with brightly dressed monks walking to and fro. The buildings were nestled among the mountain and this whole temple complex was filled with unique and interesting features. I was so mad at myself for not charging my camera, when my battery died almost immediately after reaching the main complex. One of the most interesting things I did there was go through a dark passageway underneath one of the temple halls. I went down at first and thought surely I wasn:t supposed to be in there since it was pitch dark after entering but when i came up a man with a Japanese spouse explained what to do. So I reentered keeping my hand on the left hand wall and walking along the edge. Then began to appear beautiful little gold Buddhist images each with a bright color behind its head. Looking ahead you could only see one or maybe two at a time and looking back on the last one. I looped my way around the temple, only getting scared once, and felt very proud of myself when I came out!
After taking a long time at Daishi-in, I walked slowly down back towards the town and came upon the 5-story pagoda I had seen from afar earlier. I entered the EMMENSE unfinished temple hall that went along with the pagoda. The open ceiling and walls were spectacular to observe, each post holding up the roof was an entire HUGE tree trunk (which I have seen at other large temple and gates and awes me each time). The open walls framed the rolling tree covered mountains behind it so beautifully I just sat and looked at them for a long while before finally heading back to the ferry.
I already feel so satisfied by my trip to Japan, I have very little agenda this time around, or I am quickly relaxing around the agenda I do have. I headed to Miyajima, which I had heard from many people would be very nice. I did not worry about trying to get everywhere or climb to the top of Mt. Misen (3-4hrs round trip) but strolled through the whole day. I strolled through the shopping area, tasting some of the local snacks, which included little leaf-shaped cakes filled with different things. I tried a chocolate filled one, pretty good (but not as good as the chocolate filled pancakes) and a green tea one---DISGUSTING! i was pretty disapointed. i was hungry for something that wasn`t dessert so I tried what was translated as `fish cake`, i picked the one with spring onion and hot pink ginger. I would call these an octopus stick maybe and while they were not fried in the traditional sense, it glisened with grease and afterwards thinking about it made me feel a little quesey.
After that I strolled along the coast snapping numerous pictures of the 16m Famous Floating Torri and the headed to the Itsukshima shrine that lies inland of the Torri Gate. This is also a `floating shrine` built into the ocean so that the water ebbs and flows beneath it. It was a beautiful sunny day to be walking temples. After temple overload in Kyoto, today I felt like I had been a long time away from Japan`s incredible temples and felt glad to be back at one. I reflected on the spiritual prescense in Japan and how much I appreciated how ubiquitous the temples are, even if I did not share the same exact faith. I enjoy leaving my offerings and prayers and thanks for safe travels all the same and just being apart of such a rich tradition.
Next I headed to Daisho-In Temple recommended to be by Barb. I loved it. I think I can easily say this was my favorite temple visit. I entered the complex for free through a beautiful gate and a long steep staircase. In the middle were the 600 sutras that you touched as you walked up. Along the way up I diverted down a path to walk among the 500 little statues of disciples each with a unique expression and holding a unique item such as a feather, instrument or book. As I walked among the little disciples, the strong scent of inscense burning from above wafted down along with the loud chants of the monks (which were being played on a loud speaker throughout the complex). At the top there was so much to explore. The whole place felt so active, with brightly dressed monks walking to and fro. The buildings were nestled among the mountain and this whole temple complex was filled with unique and interesting features. I was so mad at myself for not charging my camera, when my battery died almost immediately after reaching the main complex. One of the most interesting things I did there was go through a dark passageway underneath one of the temple halls. I went down at first and thought surely I wasn:t supposed to be in there since it was pitch dark after entering but when i came up a man with a Japanese spouse explained what to do. So I reentered keeping my hand on the left hand wall and walking along the edge. Then began to appear beautiful little gold Buddhist images each with a bright color behind its head. Looking ahead you could only see one or maybe two at a time and looking back on the last one. I looped my way around the temple, only getting scared once, and felt very proud of myself when I came out!
After taking a long time at Daishi-in, I walked slowly down back towards the town and came upon the 5-story pagoda I had seen from afar earlier. I entered the EMMENSE unfinished temple hall that went along with the pagoda. The open ceiling and walls were spectacular to observe, each post holding up the roof was an entire HUGE tree trunk (which I have seen at other large temple and gates and awes me each time). The open walls framed the rolling tree covered mountains behind it so beautifully I just sat and looked at them for a long while before finally heading back to the ferry.
Day 54: The Real Woodstock
Yesterday, I had planned to go over to Miyajima a supposedly quaint town across the Sento Inland Sea, famous for its HUGE floating Torii Gate. However, I decided I wanted to go ahead and immerse myself in Hiroshima and its significance by touring the Peace Park and Museum frist thing. I am staying at the World Friendship Center. Ron and Barb are the volunteers running the guesthouse and center (which holds a multitude of distinct english classes for the locals and other activities for hibakusha--A Bomb survivors). Barb told me the incredible account of how the Friendship Center was founded by Barbara Reynolds, which I won`t recount here but well I just feel so blessed to be styaying here and get so much information and advice I never would have gotten about the city otherwise. I heard this story over a lovely breakfast with the only other guest, who happens to be a student from an alternative college in Vermont (300 students only), who has designed his own study abroad program and is interning for 6 months at the Peace Cultural Foundation and staying at the Center temporarily.
I headed first to the Peace Museum where I was told by Barb to ask if I could get an english tour (given free by volunteers). They told me to go ahead and see the museum. After about 10mins a man approached me and I asked if he would still be available after I toured the museum and he said that was fine. The funny thing is he found me again over an hour later and he was shocked to find out I hadn`t even left the first room! He took a few minutes to explain the famous photo (one of the only) taken right after the bomb went off. It was taken my a reported, who says he struggled for 3 hours before he finally was able to take a photo. He,Yoshito Matsushige, wrote a book called `My Viewfinder Clouded with Tears,` which I want to look into. My guide also showed me to the examples of some 1000 letters written by various Hiroshima mayors to world leaders. Since the bombing of Hiroshima, every time a country has tested a nuclear weapon, the mayor writes a letter pleading with them to join in the fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The last one was written in October 2010 after a testing done on September18, 2010 to, guess who? Mr. Barak Obama. wow.
So I say that Hiroshima is the Real Woodstock because from the time of the A-bombing to now they have been dedicated to be the City of Peace for the world. And unlike Woodstock, which I loved for its hippy (I mean men walking around without shirts, peace signs everywhere, loooooong hair, motorcycles) and progressive feel, Hiroshima is DEDICATED in its very being to peace and the fight for abolition of nuclear weapons. It is incredible to be witness to this here.
I spent probably around 3.5hrs touring the museum. It was overloaded with the details that led up to the A-Bombing, the actual event, the shock afterwards, the recovery, the long term effects on people, and their continuing work towards peace today. It was a beautifully done museum and VERY informative. I also really enjoyed how non-biased it was. I learned things I had not known before such as the harsh conditions inflicted on the Japanese people by the goverment during the wartime leading up to the bombing and also that the US had occupied Japan for 6 or 7 yrs after Japans surrender and had kept a press code that kept information about what had really happened in Hiroshima from getting out for some time. This is why it took so long for many hibakusha to get treatment or even any kind of emotional support services (like the World Frienship Center offered and still does).
After the museum, I met my volunteer tour kind. He gave me a tour around the park. The most incredible part of the tour were the photos he showed me of the places were standing right now, but right after the bomb. I was taken to the hypocenter and shown the A-Domb Dome. This once modern building is preserved in the nearly exact condition it was found in after the bombing. It looks to me looks like a set from a play, and sets a stark reminder among the newly built buildings around it of how this was one of the only standing structures after the bombing on August 6th, 1945. Some other notable parts of the tour were the 1) Peace Clock, which strikes only once a day at 8:15am, the time of the bombing, so that no one will forget, 2) the Children`s Peace Monument, errected in honor of Sadako, the child who folded nearly 1300 paper cranes before she died from Lukemia due to radiation exposure from the bomb (I think many of us read a childrens story about her when we were young), and 3) the memorial hall, a place for survivors and others to sit and reflect. Here, while finishing a cup of coffee (from a machine that allowed you to choose how strong you wanted it as well as how much milk and sugar) a Japanese lady came up to me with a flyer and pointed from it to a tag on her bag with the same script. The attendant at the desk explianed to me that she was a survivor on a 100-day world tour. I knew it was quite possible to run into survivors in Hiroshima, especially at the park, but I was really dumbfounded to come face to face with her. She reached out her hand and I simply took it and said it is so nice to meet you. She smiled happily and seemed to understand.
I spent the rest of the day shopping...haha! I went to an 8-story 100 Yen store, a Japanese H&M type store and then bought some real Japanese fashion type clothes from a secondhand place for soooooo cheap! I came back to the center TOTALLY wiped out! Okay, well I just took a REALLY long morning, off to Miyajima! Think warm thoughts for me--its sooooo cold!
I headed first to the Peace Museum where I was told by Barb to ask if I could get an english tour (given free by volunteers). They told me to go ahead and see the museum. After about 10mins a man approached me and I asked if he would still be available after I toured the museum and he said that was fine. The funny thing is he found me again over an hour later and he was shocked to find out I hadn`t even left the first room! He took a few minutes to explain the famous photo (one of the only) taken right after the bomb went off. It was taken my a reported, who says he struggled for 3 hours before he finally was able to take a photo. He,Yoshito Matsushige, wrote a book called `My Viewfinder Clouded with Tears,` which I want to look into. My guide also showed me to the examples of some 1000 letters written by various Hiroshima mayors to world leaders. Since the bombing of Hiroshima, every time a country has tested a nuclear weapon, the mayor writes a letter pleading with them to join in the fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The last one was written in October 2010 after a testing done on September18, 2010 to, guess who? Mr. Barak Obama. wow.
So I say that Hiroshima is the Real Woodstock because from the time of the A-bombing to now they have been dedicated to be the City of Peace for the world. And unlike Woodstock, which I loved for its hippy (I mean men walking around without shirts, peace signs everywhere, loooooong hair, motorcycles) and progressive feel, Hiroshima is DEDICATED in its very being to peace and the fight for abolition of nuclear weapons. It is incredible to be witness to this here.
I spent probably around 3.5hrs touring the museum. It was overloaded with the details that led up to the A-Bombing, the actual event, the shock afterwards, the recovery, the long term effects on people, and their continuing work towards peace today. It was a beautifully done museum and VERY informative. I also really enjoyed how non-biased it was. I learned things I had not known before such as the harsh conditions inflicted on the Japanese people by the goverment during the wartime leading up to the bombing and also that the US had occupied Japan for 6 or 7 yrs after Japans surrender and had kept a press code that kept information about what had really happened in Hiroshima from getting out for some time. This is why it took so long for many hibakusha to get treatment or even any kind of emotional support services (like the World Frienship Center offered and still does).
After the museum, I met my volunteer tour kind. He gave me a tour around the park. The most incredible part of the tour were the photos he showed me of the places were standing right now, but right after the bomb. I was taken to the hypocenter and shown the A-Domb Dome. This once modern building is preserved in the nearly exact condition it was found in after the bombing. It looks to me looks like a set from a play, and sets a stark reminder among the newly built buildings around it of how this was one of the only standing structures after the bombing on August 6th, 1945. Some other notable parts of the tour were the 1) Peace Clock, which strikes only once a day at 8:15am, the time of the bombing, so that no one will forget, 2) the Children`s Peace Monument, errected in honor of Sadako, the child who folded nearly 1300 paper cranes before she died from Lukemia due to radiation exposure from the bomb (I think many of us read a childrens story about her when we were young), and 3) the memorial hall, a place for survivors and others to sit and reflect. Here, while finishing a cup of coffee (from a machine that allowed you to choose how strong you wanted it as well as how much milk and sugar) a Japanese lady came up to me with a flyer and pointed from it to a tag on her bag with the same script. The attendant at the desk explianed to me that she was a survivor on a 100-day world tour. I knew it was quite possible to run into survivors in Hiroshima, especially at the park, but I was really dumbfounded to come face to face with her. She reached out her hand and I simply took it and said it is so nice to meet you. She smiled happily and seemed to understand.
I spent the rest of the day shopping...haha! I went to an 8-story 100 Yen store, a Japanese H&M type store and then bought some real Japanese fashion type clothes from a secondhand place for soooooo cheap! I came back to the center TOTALLY wiped out! Okay, well I just took a REALLY long morning, off to Miyajima! Think warm thoughts for me--its sooooo cold!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Day 53: Friends, Museums, Public Art and Public Baths
Today started with a loud knock on my guestroom door, which I, pretending to be a rude American, ignored....repeatedly. Stuffing my earplugs deeper into my ears I rolled over and tried to push back the thoughts that there could in reality be some kind of emergency. But I had some feeling it was either a) the woman running the hostel or b) two Japanese women who the woman running the hostel had insisted I visit Naoshima with. I wanted to avoid this whole situation, so I pretended to sleep. It was 6:30AM for GOODNESS SAKES! Who wakes a guest up BEFORE 7AM?!?!?!
Finally, I got up and within moments she was at the door again. In broken english and lots of Japanese she explained something about breakfast at a restraunt where the other two girls were and a bus that left at 7:37am. Then something else at 9:30am and 11am. I wasn`t sure. I had decided the night before to spend the AM in Kurashiki since it was too dark to see the night before, then head over to Naoshima. I was feeling very stubborn about this plan and so I took this woman to be very pushy and rude. She left telling me to hurry. I didn`t want to hurry. I didn:t want to travel there with two Japanese women. I didn:t want to change my plans.
Just as I was changing she came back. This time she explained with A LOT more english and slower and I understood better. There would be a bus that left at 7:37am that would cut the journey to the ferry to Naoshima in half. It was 15mins walk from here. The other two women were eating breakfast now and taking this bus. She showed me how to get there and said this is what I better do. She told me to hurry again and left. It suddently dawned me (and even more so throughout the day) that she was really, really trying to help me and that I needed to let go of my plans and try to catch this bus, which left in 25 minutes. When I left the hostel I had to turn a 15min walk into a 10min one (with my fully loaded backpack) and also hope that the bus was running late. As I half walked-half ran, I thought only that if I make it, I make it, if not I don`t. But somehow I did, I even beat the bus (which was late) by a few minutes.. And there were the two women from my hostel, smiling and friendly, and surprising me with perfect English.
I immediately liked them both and we chatted on the bus. Yoko had better English and I also found out she studied in Mexico City (wow!) and spoke Spanish! Her accent was very good. Her friend was very excited to ask me questions and I found out on our journey had visited Tibet several times to sightsee but is also very interested in their situation. She and I shared the fact of currently being unemployed! Yoko and I shared not knowing much about our own pop culture (they quizzed me about U.S. TV shows)!
I think we all really enjoyed each other`s company and talking about our different countries. They asked if I had been to a public bath and I told them my story. We talked about how the Japanese like to bathe with other people but hate the idea of a nude beach and I said maybe we are the opposite, but that in the US we certainly do not like the idea of bathing with other people. We also talked about fashion and trends. Really they ended up being the sweetest girls and they made the trip to Naoshima (which included a bus to a train to a one hour wait to a ferry) a lot more fun, memorable, and certainly easier for me. I realized it was pretty improbable I would have made the transfers needed for this journey on my own. I told them it was quite a different experience to be with people who could read and communicate. When we went our seperate ways we waved enthusiastically as I left on a town bus to the museum and I just felt filled up from the experience and so happy and grateful to the woman who ran the hostel, who had killed my stubborness with sincere kindness and gotten me here!
I spent the rest of the day touring the art, which the island is famous for. I was not allowed to take photos at any of the exhibitions but I can say that the ChiChu Art Museum while austere and simple in its design (cement and metal) and holding only a small number of art pieces, it is the most unique and satisfying museum I have ever visited! I walked around smiling the whole way (you were not supposed to make any noise either). Some exhibits are visited only alone and I was escored by an attendant. It was incredible. Walking this underground museum designed by architect/artist Tadao Ando, lit only with natural light, was the experience and the art! Here is a link to google pictures of the museum so you can get some idea for what I am talking about.
From here I dipped into the Benesse House, which boasts its unique museum-hotel concept that allows guests to tour the museum after closing. I, however, as a non-guest was dispointed to find out the main attractions I wanted to see were guests only. The contemporary art collection in the museum was nice but was nothing to compare to the ChiChu Art Museum. One piece that really struck me though was called `World Flag Ant Farm` and consisted of a hundred or so world flag made from sand in seperate plexi-glass retangles (each one resembling a smallant farm) and connected with tubing. Scatterred through were close up videos of the ants who had dug tunnels through these flags,moving the different colored sand around. Today, the ants were dead but tunnels wove through the flags, collapsing some to a pile of mixed up colors. I thought it was rather original, to say the least.
Next on my agenda was the Art House Project, also by Benesse House. This was a half a dozen traditional Japanese dwellings, which had been turned into art installations. The two most striking were 1) a house whose Tatami mats had been replaced by a shallow pond, which was lit by many many LED numerals changing at different speeds. There was also a slight, rippling in the water to add to the effect, and 2) an installation by James Turrell (also featured at the ChiChuArtMuseum. I waited 5 or so minutes to enter with a group. I entered in total darkness, so dark I was shown to run my hand along the wall and I could not see the guide in front of me. We were guided to a bench and instructed to stare into the dark ahead of us and wait to see lights. My eyes began to do very strange things and the room appeared emmense. After about 10mins of straining my eyes at one small light light fuzzy images began to appear and move. It was very obscure but it appeared to be scenese of driving around the island, they moved pulling me into the scene. They ended and the small amount of light ahead began to be obscured by fuzzy black spots, almost as if in my eyes, obscuring the view. We were then after a few minutes told to get up and walk forward in the dark toward the light. The room still appeared emmense and I thought I had walked a long way towards the light when suddenly I cam up against a wall where the darkness ended and light began. Everyone stared into the light and we stuck our hands out into it and they appeared pitch black, my hand only, not my clothes. Finally, when we were allowed to turn back, it was no longer dark, even though nothing in the room had been changed and I could see the benches and the entrance and how small the room was. It was really pretty incredible.
My last stop was I <3 YU, Naoshima`s ecclectic (i taught by Japanese friends this word) public bath, where by no coincidence i met my Japanese friends in the middle of undressing. We were all much more bashful this time, or maybe only I was. A public bath is one of those places I am keen on not knowing anyone. But at least this was now my third trip to a public bath, I felt like a seasoned veteran---it was pretty unevetful (besides being painfully hottt) but I certainly wasn:t going to make any note-worthy mistakes after my first publicn bath experience!
It took me quite a bit to get back from the island and onto the Shinkansen (I splurged on the bullet train which would cut the trip to Hiroshima down to 35mins from 3 hours) but I arrived safely and EXHAUSTED at the World Friendship Center, Hiroshima, where I am gratiously being hosted by the two Brethren Volunteers there. I was connected with them through the BVS director, who is currently recruiting me for a position in Honduras.
Finally, I got up and within moments she was at the door again. In broken english and lots of Japanese she explained something about breakfast at a restraunt where the other two girls were and a bus that left at 7:37am. Then something else at 9:30am and 11am. I wasn`t sure. I had decided the night before to spend the AM in Kurashiki since it was too dark to see the night before, then head over to Naoshima. I was feeling very stubborn about this plan and so I took this woman to be very pushy and rude. She left telling me to hurry. I didn`t want to hurry. I didn:t want to travel there with two Japanese women. I didn:t want to change my plans.
Just as I was changing she came back. This time she explained with A LOT more english and slower and I understood better. There would be a bus that left at 7:37am that would cut the journey to the ferry to Naoshima in half. It was 15mins walk from here. The other two women were eating breakfast now and taking this bus. She showed me how to get there and said this is what I better do. She told me to hurry again and left. It suddently dawned me (and even more so throughout the day) that she was really, really trying to help me and that I needed to let go of my plans and try to catch this bus, which left in 25 minutes. When I left the hostel I had to turn a 15min walk into a 10min one (with my fully loaded backpack) and also hope that the bus was running late. As I half walked-half ran, I thought only that if I make it, I make it, if not I don`t. But somehow I did, I even beat the bus (which was late) by a few minutes.. And there were the two women from my hostel, smiling and friendly, and surprising me with perfect English.
I immediately liked them both and we chatted on the bus. Yoko had better English and I also found out she studied in Mexico City (wow!) and spoke Spanish! Her accent was very good. Her friend was very excited to ask me questions and I found out on our journey had visited Tibet several times to sightsee but is also very interested in their situation. She and I shared the fact of currently being unemployed! Yoko and I shared not knowing much about our own pop culture (they quizzed me about U.S. TV shows)!
I think we all really enjoyed each other`s company and talking about our different countries. They asked if I had been to a public bath and I told them my story. We talked about how the Japanese like to bathe with other people but hate the idea of a nude beach and I said maybe we are the opposite, but that in the US we certainly do not like the idea of bathing with other people. We also talked about fashion and trends. Really they ended up being the sweetest girls and they made the trip to Naoshima (which included a bus to a train to a one hour wait to a ferry) a lot more fun, memorable, and certainly easier for me. I realized it was pretty improbable I would have made the transfers needed for this journey on my own. I told them it was quite a different experience to be with people who could read and communicate. When we went our seperate ways we waved enthusiastically as I left on a town bus to the museum and I just felt filled up from the experience and so happy and grateful to the woman who ran the hostel, who had killed my stubborness with sincere kindness and gotten me here!
I spent the rest of the day touring the art, which the island is famous for. I was not allowed to take photos at any of the exhibitions but I can say that the ChiChu Art Museum while austere and simple in its design (cement and metal) and holding only a small number of art pieces, it is the most unique and satisfying museum I have ever visited! I walked around smiling the whole way (you were not supposed to make any noise either). Some exhibits are visited only alone and I was escored by an attendant. It was incredible. Walking this underground museum designed by architect/artist Tadao Ando, lit only with natural light, was the experience and the art! Here is a link to google pictures of the museum so you can get some idea for what I am talking about.
From here I dipped into the Benesse House, which boasts its unique museum-hotel concept that allows guests to tour the museum after closing. I, however, as a non-guest was dispointed to find out the main attractions I wanted to see were guests only. The contemporary art collection in the museum was nice but was nothing to compare to the ChiChu Art Museum. One piece that really struck me though was called `World Flag Ant Farm` and consisted of a hundred or so world flag made from sand in seperate plexi-glass retangles (each one resembling a smallant farm) and connected with tubing. Scatterred through were close up videos of the ants who had dug tunnels through these flags,moving the different colored sand around. Today, the ants were dead but tunnels wove through the flags, collapsing some to a pile of mixed up colors. I thought it was rather original, to say the least.
Next on my agenda was the Art House Project, also by Benesse House. This was a half a dozen traditional Japanese dwellings, which had been turned into art installations. The two most striking were 1) a house whose Tatami mats had been replaced by a shallow pond, which was lit by many many LED numerals changing at different speeds. There was also a slight, rippling in the water to add to the effect, and 2) an installation by James Turrell (also featured at the ChiChuArtMuseum. I waited 5 or so minutes to enter with a group. I entered in total darkness, so dark I was shown to run my hand along the wall and I could not see the guide in front of me. We were guided to a bench and instructed to stare into the dark ahead of us and wait to see lights. My eyes began to do very strange things and the room appeared emmense. After about 10mins of straining my eyes at one small light light fuzzy images began to appear and move. It was very obscure but it appeared to be scenese of driving around the island, they moved pulling me into the scene. They ended and the small amount of light ahead began to be obscured by fuzzy black spots, almost as if in my eyes, obscuring the view. We were then after a few minutes told to get up and walk forward in the dark toward the light. The room still appeared emmense and I thought I had walked a long way towards the light when suddenly I cam up against a wall where the darkness ended and light began. Everyone stared into the light and we stuck our hands out into it and they appeared pitch black, my hand only, not my clothes. Finally, when we were allowed to turn back, it was no longer dark, even though nothing in the room had been changed and I could see the benches and the entrance and how small the room was. It was really pretty incredible.
My last stop was I <3 YU, Naoshima`s ecclectic (i taught by Japanese friends this word) public bath, where by no coincidence i met my Japanese friends in the middle of undressing. We were all much more bashful this time, or maybe only I was. A public bath is one of those places I am keen on not knowing anyone. But at least this was now my third trip to a public bath, I felt like a seasoned veteran---it was pretty unevetful (besides being painfully hottt) but I certainly wasn:t going to make any note-worthy mistakes after my first publicn bath experience!
It took me quite a bit to get back from the island and onto the Shinkansen (I splurged on the bullet train which would cut the trip to Hiroshima down to 35mins from 3 hours) but I arrived safely and EXHAUSTED at the World Friendship Center, Hiroshima, where I am gratiously being hosted by the two Brethren Volunteers there. I was connected with them through the BVS director, who is currently recruiting me for a position in Honduras.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Day 52: Back on the road
After 6 weeks staying comfortably at my cousin`s on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, beginning an 8 day trip on mainland Japan felt a little like a bad decision to run away from home--as an idea it sounded like an exciting adventure but the reality makes you feel weary before you even begin. But I think it may have been starting the day on only 5 hours of sleep, which I supplemented with two hours of that really deep, intense nap sleep where I feel entirely paralyzed and believe my dream is actual reality but am somehow aware that my head is cocked at a weird angle and my mouth is hanging open. I woke up at one point to find my seat neighbor gone and for about 5 seconds had convinced my self that I had slept through my stop and was on my way to Tokyo.... then I turned and found that she had moved to have her own row...but I still faintly felt like i must have done something uncomfortable in my sleep like flailing dramatically or drooling or talking (although I guess she most likely would not have understood). I also have to mention that usually in these dreams I am paralyzed or I cannot stay awake, while simultaneously something really scary or pressing is happening like I am about to be abducted (i almost wrote kidnapped there...oops). However, this dream was much less dramatic. I was watching an animated film about Iron Man (thank you Vince Mackey) and I kept falling alseep. and I never fall alseep in movies, I remember thinking this and feeling really bad because the movie was actually good.
It took a few more hours but once on the train and headed through the beautiful coastal countryside of Japan, I began to find my rhythm again. I enjoyed having all day to reflect, listen to music, and transition from saying goodbye to my family to getting psyched up for my trip. It ended up being a much longer day of travel than I had planned (accidentally boarded a Local train from the airport instead of the the Limited Express) and I did not arrive in Kurashiki until after dark. Other than that it felt like the typcial initiation back into travel complete with a ride on a giant plane, meeting strangers on the train (some welcome and others not), suffering extreme bladder pain from drinking too many convienience store coffees, getting lost trying to find my hostel and graciously being taken there by locals, and then arriving to my destination in the dark, painfully hungry, and sweating even though its about 30 degrees out.
Thats pretty much it for now. I still have a few stories I need to find time to post about from my trip to the Yaeyama Islands and if you`re on facebook, I have recently posted all of my photos from Tokyo & the Kansai region (Kyoto, Nara, Uji, Osaka).
It took a few more hours but once on the train and headed through the beautiful coastal countryside of Japan, I began to find my rhythm again. I enjoyed having all day to reflect, listen to music, and transition from saying goodbye to my family to getting psyched up for my trip. It ended up being a much longer day of travel than I had planned (accidentally boarded a Local train from the airport instead of the the Limited Express) and I did not arrive in Kurashiki until after dark. Other than that it felt like the typcial initiation back into travel complete with a ride on a giant plane, meeting strangers on the train (some welcome and others not), suffering extreme bladder pain from drinking too many convienience store coffees, getting lost trying to find my hostel and graciously being taken there by locals, and then arriving to my destination in the dark, painfully hungry, and sweating even though its about 30 degrees out.
Thats pretty much it for now. I still have a few stories I need to find time to post about from my trip to the Yaeyama Islands and if you`re on facebook, I have recently posted all of my photos from Tokyo & the Kansai region (Kyoto, Nara, Uji, Osaka).
Monday, December 13, 2010
Believe the Path
So this morning i hopped on a plane to ishigaki island, part of the. yaeyama islands, the southernmost island chain in japan. ishigaki is the main island with an airport and a small city, it is considered the most developed. i am also planning to visit iriomote island, which is covered 90% by jungle and guidebooks keep referring to it as "Japan`s last frontier" and taketomi island which has one road, uses water buffalo for primary transportation and has generally preserved the traditional Ryuku cultre. Relatively, okinawa has not been part of Japan that long, which is why its culture and a visit here is considered so unique.
i was picked up my the owner of the guesthouse. when we arranged this i asked how i would find him at the airport. he replied saying it would really not be a problem. he must have thought this was a very funny question since the airport is tiny and i was the only white person there. ya no trouble finding me. he is korean and his wife is japanese. they met at a guesthouse in australia and ever since he has dreamed of running a guesthose in a beautiful place. now they run this guest house and live here with their two boys, 2 & 5. I told him about my family here in okinawa on our way and when we arrived he noticed the picture of VInce & Becca in my wallet. he exclaimed and looked hard at the photo chuckling, "they are so cute............ they are cuter than my boys" he said! haha... not sure you`re allowed to say that but it WAS funny.
he kindly took me to the grocery and showed me around the area in the car and pointed me to the nearest beach. when he was showing me the way on the map he said several times "believe the path" it took me a second to realize what he meant. "it will look like jungle," he said, "but believe the path. it is the right way." this phrase was in my head my whole walk to the beach. what a wonderful phrase! i wonder how he found that phrase. Believe the path. i won"t draw out a corny comparison to my life journey because i think we call all find the meaning of this phrase on our own but i love it: believe the path. sometimes it doesn't not look like the way you are going could possibly be the right path but believe in it, it will get you to the right place.
practically speaking i was thankful that he described it the way how he did, i was less likely to doubt the path as i passed cows and sugar cane and jungle and suddenly i popped out right on the beach. totally alone. whoa!
it was a beautiful spot even if sadly quite littered. here i am way out in the middle of NOWHERE and plastic bottles are still washing up on the shore?!?! i find a spot, strip down to my bathing suit (its SO warm!), grab my snorkel and plod into the water. i have been talking and talking about how much i want to snorkel. unfortunately i talk big, mostly for myself, hoping i can forget how terribly afraid of the ocean i am. so even in barely a few feet of water, when i get down to swim, my breath quickens to a panic, i am turning this way and that trying to see everything around me, frightened by my lack of peripheral vision, oh boy! i'm up and out of the water, trying to slow my breathing, now panicked by what i am walking on and feeling far from shore even though the water doesn't cover my knees. i'd like to think i'd do better with someone to hold my hand but talk to anyone who's been in the ocean with me---thats not an easy job.
i am not too hard on myself tho. going under water (epecially outside a pool) has caused me to panic since i was a kid. i almost failed many a swim test for this reason. i now recal screaming when my dad tried to take me snorkeling in aruba and tried to put me down... you know in the water. being in water, oceans in particular is legitimately my worst fear and one i have to actually face pretty often. i can now look at my dad and i's surf lesson in california as not only the scariest thing i ever done but also an accomplishment i can really be proud of. not only did like 5 waves legitatmely kick my butt but i was also constantly holding back a panic attack just from being out in the ocean.
i get back to shore and decide i need to take this a little slower and maybe lower my expectations a little. i have always felt happy and safe on the coast, sifting for shells and watching little creatures in the sand. i find so many beautiful little shells and some big ones too. this is nice. i lay out my towel and decide to do some sun salutations for courage. it works. this time i put my sandals back on. i feel safer when i don:t have to touch the bottom with my bare foot. i stroll through the water for a long time, getting comfortable wherever i am, just walking. finally i see some tiny little blue fish under the water. i decide to try or maybe create a new technique. since i feel so comfortable standing in the water, i stick my butt in the area, plunge my head under and turn my head side ways to look at my little blue friends. this is nice if not uncomfortable but is satisfying enough and doesn't make my heart accelerate. i walk around some more using my new snorkeling technique. the most swimming i did was to plop onto my stomach, knees practically to my chest but allowing my feet to float to the surface, arms at my side in chicken wing position, kinda swirling my hands like a guppies' fins. yep.
but i am happy and not scared so who cares how incredibly silly i must look. i search for and gather shells and lie on the warm beach and wak in the warm water until mid afternoon. i walk east to the bay and then west to Skuji beach (pronounced scoogie, which makes me smile every time i say it). i wish someone could have taken my picture here because it would have looked like i was walking on water. it is a beautiful sandy beach with shallow waters enabling you to walk right out in the middle of the ocean, or so it looks, in only a few inches of water. i walked around in this for a long time gathering even more shells, and enjoyed the warn late afternoon air.
tonight i treated myself to my second trip to an actual restraunt while travelling in japan. it seemed like a good place to sample local food since there are some cheap restraunts nearby and no conveinient stores to eat from. i ordered a noodle dish with vegetables and pork and it was so good (a surprise!). i sat alone (i mean the only one there) making notes in "The Gutsy Women travel guide" so it will be ready to mail to my friend Priscilla, while justin timberlake played in the background.
tomorrow i am going to explore more beaches and hit some of the main observations points on the north of the island.
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