Chikurin-in Gumpoen Yoshino-cho

... listata maailman hienoimpien junareittien listalle...

Takaisin Osakassa oltiin viimein kello 20.30 aikoihin ja käytiin vielä nopeasti pyörähtämässä Osakan-aseman lähellä olevissa valtavissa kaupoissa, etsimässä hiukan kaikenlaista tavaraa jatkoa varten. Nyt on pakko alkaa latautua jo tulevaan...

Jaahas ja tästä alkaa nyt todellinen humuviikonloppu! Tiedossa on kolme päivää silkkaa juhlaa, joten päivityksissä saattaa esiintyä pieniä viivästyksiä... :-)

... mitään ihmeempiä suunnitelmia, niin tehtiin pikapäätös suunnata Kobeen katsomaan Lumiere valoteosta, jota on paljon mainostettu joka puolella Japania. Kobe Lumiere on muistomerkki vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreille ja se järjestetään aina joulukuussa. Vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreja oli kaiken kaikkiaan melkein 6500 ja aineelliset vahingot aivan järjettömiä, että mistään pikkujutusta ei ollut kysymys.

Matka luotijunalla Osakasta Kobeen kesti ...

... and saw the sights there. First we walked around the hypocenter, now a park denoting where the bomb was detonated. It was very moving to walk through the area and read the signs recounting descriptions of what had been seen there the day the bomb went off. From there we went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which was gritty, emotional, and incredibly moving all at the same time. We had been told that Nagasaki's memorials were more raw and impactful than Hiroshima's, and ...

... thank god I'd lost my apetite at that point. Just you wait til you see what I have lined up for you when you come to Ayr, missy! I can't promise I'll feed you to the deer but I'm sure I'll think of something equally interesting, wait til you see the locals that roam my town.

Atsushi tooks us for a farewell dinner to their favourite place, a place where the owner ...

... deer. They *re EVERYWHERE! They b*sic*lly run *nd w*lk *round wherever they w*nt *nd h*ve no problem just w*lking up behind people *nd sticking their he*d in other peoples b*g looking for food. Cr*ziness. Afterwords I w*ndered *round town *nd took * bre*k by * courty*rd sort of thing in front of * 5 story p*god*. I w*s just lying down w*tching the huge crowds of school children petting, feeding *nd running *w*y from *ll the deer when next thing I knew I'm ...

Once again, photos can wait for now. Sorry but I get tired :P This morning we were up early for breakfast at 7:30am, and then off to the Shinkansen to Kyoto, which takes about 25 minutes. At Kyoto we changed onto the JR Nara line, which took around 40 minutes to get to Nara, and had some beautiful scenery along the way. It wound through some less suburban (I can't really say rural, because it still had a farm-in-the-middle-of-a-city-feeling) areas and past some cool bamboo forests ...

Greetings from the Woooorld of Tomorrooooow! It's Sunday morning here while all you chumps are still stuck in Saturday night. So passe. No, actually, it is a little rough adjusting here. I get really homesick when I'm just alone in my tiny little apartment. I cruise the subway to the Big City (Umeda) to feel better ...(free internet - my apartment isn't hooked up yet). So, here's what's ...

... the park and determine if its worth it I'll check it out later in the trip. I had to grab another memory card for my camera as I was running out of space again. After a couple days of taking pictures (mostly of Osaka) the card was corrupted. I'm still not sure what happened. I was able to exchange it but I did lose most of my pictures of Osaka...so you'll just have to imagine what the city looked like.

... me to see Abe san, the Prime Minister in Japan who was giving a speech in the mall near her home. That was fun, and it was just the two of us. Communication is sometimes difficult, but when it is just the two of us, she speaks some English and I speak some Japanese, and we are able to communicate ok. But then, Tin (the other student) and her Japanese friend joined us at her house for dinner. Dinner was amazing, but since Tin is almost fluent ...

Kobe is not so far from Bentencho so we managed to get here quite a few times, especially as Tracey and I both worked near here on occasion. Its a very "gaijin friendly" area and even has a foreign food store, quite a popular place for the foreigners to reside - not just cause of the easy access to minties of course! Kobe was hit quite badly by an earthquake way back in 1995 and so much of it is new and sparkly buildings. It also means that each year they ...