There was a cool rock festival event this weekend that I went to. I got to see a couple of bands I started to listen to after coming to Japan, Kana Boon and ゲスの極み乙女 are the main two I wanted to see, but all of the performances were really good.
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I can't believe it's been almost a month since I left Tokyo. I can't even begin to talk about all of the things I did while I was away. I'll just talk about highlights a little bit. On the platform at Tokyo station before I left, a nice older lady gave me some chocolate, I got valentine day chocolate. In Fukuoka I went to EVO Japan, had Hakata ramen, and went to a little island called Shikashima. On my way back from the island I did something you shouldn't do when traveling and took a ride from a couple of strangers, but I didn't want to decline their offer to give me a ride back to the station after I talked with them a bit. It was really cute, it was a father, his infant son, and the grandfather all together. In Nagasaki I went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, it was such a surreal experience, and went to the top of Inasayama, the view of Nagasaki from up there was amazing. In Kitakyushu I went to Ganryujima and saw a really cool statue depicting the duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. From there I went to Hiroshima and went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the experience was just as surreal as in Nagasaki, then I took a day trip to Itsukushima and saw the tori gate in the ocean as well as the shrine there and hung out with the very friendly deer. The next day I took another day trip to rabbit island. The rabbits there were so cute, it was funny watching them chase people down for food. I made a complete lap around the island, and seeing all of the abandoned buildings from WW2 was a bit eerie. It'd be cool and scary to have a test of courage night there. On the way to Okayama I stopped at Fukuyama for a couple hours to see Fukuyama castle, and went to the castle in Okayama as well. Next stop was Himeji and like the previous two places, went to see the castle, but this time I was able to go inside the castle and see what it was like on the inside. It was amazing seeing the design on the inside, the stairs to go up and down each level were very steep but the view from the top made the climb worth it. The ticket for going into the castle included a ticket to the garden near the castle so I headed there after exploring everything and took a really peaceful stroll through there. Next stop on the journey brought me to Kobe, went to the Kobe animal kingdom while I was there, it was a lot of fun watching the bird show they had, and seeing the various animals that they had there. On from there I went to Osaka. I mostly spent my time wondering around the streets, I can't explain it well but it felt like Tokyo, but better. Tried a bunch of different street food and went to the Aquarium in there, as well as going to Osaka castle. It was a bit tough the day I went to Osaka castle because it was raining on and off all day. The inside of the castle was filled with a lot of historical displays about the castle which was really cool, but I preferred the way it was setup in Himeji castle more than there. Kyoto was next on the journey, but my first day there I took a day trip to Nara to see Horyuji temple, I had heard about in one of my classes back home and really wanted to see it, it was amazing being so close to it. Then before heading back to Kyoto I had to stop by Nara koen to see all the deer. I understand why their antlers are cut off, but it was still sad to see. It was amusing to watch some of the people there trying to give the deer some crackers but at the same time being terrified and running away from them. In Kyoto once more, I headed to Kinkaku-ji to see the golden temple, very amazing building. After that I braced myself for climbing the many steps to the top of Fushima Inari Taisha. It was a very tiring journey to the top, but the views of the city on the way to the top were amazing. At the top I tried praying at the shrine there, I hope I did it right. After getting back down I treated myself to some Ichiran ramen, It was an interesting experience. Moving forward on my journey I found myself in Nagoya to see Nagoya castle. Before leaving Nagoya I went to a science museum there and saw some cool things, and spent some time being cooled off in their cold room that simulates polar temperatures, we went through three different rooms, each getting colder, from minus 10c in the first room to minus 30c in the last room. I could actually feel my hair getting frozen. I was starting to get a little tired from the trip so I decided to make my last stop my last. From Nagoya I headed to Mt. Fuji. The first day I was there I was sad because it was overcast and couldn't see Mt. Fuji well from where I was, but I was able to explore a few of the caves in the area, in a couple of them I had to practically crawl to get through the more narrow spots. I was able to walk through part of Aokigahara on a trail between a couple of the caves. The forest is really beautiful, it's sad that there's such a stigma surrounding it. The next day I was very happy to find that it was a birght clear sunny day. I made my way to a couple of nearby mountain tops and got some really good views and pictures of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding area. Finally, I made the relatively short 2 hour bus trip from Fuji Q Highlands to Tokyo station and then finally from there back home. I'm tired, my feet hurt, and I'm going to take a nap now.
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Study abroad 2018-2019 blogAuthorMy name is John Webster and I'm a Japanese language and culture major at CSUMB. I studied abroad at Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan. Archives
August 2019
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