Last Days In Japan

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:06:24 -0700

After I finished my finals, I had an extra afternoon to explore around. After hearing about it from friends and reading about it online, I knew I had to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine. It’s a giant shrine, sprawling over Inari Mountain in Kyoto, and is most famous for it’s thousands of gates, or torii. The torii are so dense in places that it is more like walking through a tunnel through the forrest than anything. Enjoy the photos.

The Luminarie in Kobe

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 12:13:12 -0700

Some friends and I spent a Saturday in Kobe, and ended it at the Luminarie, a giant holiday display of lights in the middle of the downtown. We also visited Harborland and the Port Tower. Enjoy.

Mom Comes to Japan

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:18:04 -0700

My mother visited me in Japan for a couple weeks, giving us a great opportunity to do some more sight-seeing. We went to Kansai Gaidai’s festival, visited Namba, as well as a few temples. Enjoy the photos!

Hiroshima

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 03:17:05 -0600

I visited Hiroshima last weekend with my Dynamics of Modern Japan class, and got to visit the Peace Park. We took the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima, and hiked through the city to the Peace Park. Walked through the museum, and then the class got a special presentation about the atomic bombing from a survivor. Needless to say, it was rather powerful.

After the presentation, I worked my way through the park, visited the Children’s Peace Monument, the National Peace Monument, and the A-bomb Dome. All in all, a good but tough day.

Exploring Osaka

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:18:29 -0600

*updated with two more photos*
I got to spend a few days bumming around Osaka these last weeks. Visited Osaka Castle, saw some Taiko drummers, and went to Shinsaibashi and America-muri. Enjoy the photos.