It’s been such an amazing week. Dave was off work so we spent a long weekend in Tokyo and then enjoyed the rest of the week relaxing and exploring. Couldn’t have wished for a better week… just sad that it’s come to an end and Dave has to go back to work tomorrow.
Here’s a sneak peak at our trip to Japan, the view from Tokyo Tower…
I’m working on sorting through my Kyoto photos and stumbled across more photos of maiko (apprentice geisha). As you may know, seeing the maiko was the absolute highlight of my trip so I couldn’t help but share another photo with all of you.
I’ve taken thousands of photos in really amazing places, but this one is my absolute favorite. I realized this as I was going through some of my photos and came to this one. As soon as I saw it, I filled with joy and pride and I could remember the exact moment that I took it.
Dave and I were on a trip with his parents in Kyoto. We split up with them for a bit because I wanted to head to Gion to see the geisha and maiko. We spotted this gorgeous maiko in an alley just behind the old famous geisha school in Gion. We had been perched there for ages, waiting patiently, as if we were stalking our prey. We spotted her from a ways back and tried to contain our excitement so that we could get a photo before the other tourists could block our shot. She walked expressionless and looked into my camera as I took her photo. Out of all of the places I have been, this moment and this photo is by far my favorite.
I got so inspired after seeing this photo that I decided to ask my blogger friends what their favorite travel photo is. Here are the results… Continue reading
We didn’t have a lot of time in Osaka so we walked around the shopping district. We saw lots of interesting things.
Osaka was so crowded and Faith and I both noted that the cultural differences between Japan and Korea were very apparent. In Korea, people have no problems pushing right by you, but politeness was out in full force in Osaka. Even through the crowds, we weren’t pushed once and people actually apologized for the tiniest bump!
We also came across a peace parade.
My January trip to Japan was one of my favorite trips because I got to see a lot of really neat things in Hiroshima, Miyajima and Osaka, but also because I got to spend a lot of time with Faith before she moved back to the States.
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A few weeks ago I started blogging about my trip to Japan in January. Unfortunately, life happened and between traveling back to Korea from the US, getting sick and getting readjusted back into life on this side of the globe, I have gotten off track. If you need a refresher, here are some links to my other posts about Japan:
I also think I’ve been putting off posted about Day 3 because it was the day we went to the Atomic Bomb Dome. How can I possibly do this place justice? It was such a humbling experience.
Hiroshima has been on my radar for as long as I’ve lived in Korea, but despite already having been to Japan 3 times before this trip, I just never made it there. I’m so glad I got to go because I am forever changed after seeing the devastation that took place.
Before
Epicenter
After
The actual bomb dome was really an amazing site. It was sobering to see the mangled metal and the crumbling walls.
The museum stole the show and tugged at my heartstrings. Hard! A large portion of the museum was dedicated to the children that died that day.
Statues showing children with melted skin dripping off their bodies
Parents went searching for their children, many finding nothing, some only finding a shoe or lunchbox that belonged to their child. The museum displayed clothing that was worn at the time of the explosion.
And a little boy actually died on this tricycle. The parents buried him and the tricycle together, but later donated the tricycle to the museum.
Between the dome and the museum, there was a memorial to the children that lost their lives that day. Thousands of paper cranes had been folded. All of the artwork on the outside of the cases are made with paper cranes. And hanging inside the cases are huge collections of paper cranes. It was a beautiful tribute!
Our day at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima was beyond words and I am so glad that I was able to have that experience. It was emotionally exhausting, but well worth the visit.
On our second day in Japan, we took the ferry to Miyajima. I was told that the island was a must see, but that the only way to the island is by ferry. I was really nervous because I suffer from motion sickness. Fortunately, the ferry trip only lasted about 10 minutes. We were able to use our JR rail passes on the train to the ferry station and on the ferry so we were really happy about that!
The island is famous for its Floating Torii gate. It gets that name because during high tide it appears to be floating in the water. We had a nice view of the signature orange gate from the ferry. Click on the photos below to see the full size image.
One of the first things Faith and I noticed about the island were the wild deer roaming around. Be warned. They are not as sweet as they look!
This deer wouldn’t take no for an answer as this man ate his fishcake on a stick. I’m fairly certain I found it much more amusing than he did!
Back in January, I spent a few days in Japan with my friend, Faith. Faith and I met two years ago at our EPIK orientation and have been friends ever since. We both really wanted to see Hiroshima so off we went!
On the plane to Osaka, we sat next to a Korean high school student that was going to Osaka all alone. She was really sweet and carried around a notebook. She asked everyone she talked with to write down their names. She wanted to take a picture with us so I took one too!
Being from America, I’ve gotten used to paying for food on planes if I want a snack. Even on a budge airline (Air Busan), they provided us with a meal… and our flight was only 1 hour 20 minutes.
When we got to Osaka, we immediately made a beeline for the bathroom. We were not prepared for what we saw there. It was amazing!
We headed straight for the train station to get our Rail Passes. To anyone planning to travel around Japan a bit, I HIGHLY recommend getting a Rail Pass. They must be bought outside of Japan so plan accordingly! Japan is expensive — especially transportation! The rail pass covers any JR train, bus or ferry so we definitely got a lot of value out of our rail passes.
The train from Osaka to Hiroshima was so nice!
Once we got to Hiroshima, we headed straight to our hostel. We were really happy with our hostel! It was really conveniently located and easy to get to. We booked a private room for 2 at J-Hoppers Hiroshima and we slept on mats on the floor. It was surprisingly comfortable!
After we dropped our bags at the hostel, we went exploring around Hiroshima.
We found a really great restaurant. We had fried rice and fried dumplings and it was all amazing! The owners of the restaurant had a little boy that was so adorable. He spent a lot of the night pretending to be shy and then coming to entertain us. And when we left he shrieked “Byyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” at us.
I let Faith do all of the photography for our trip to Japan because she brought her DSLR. When I saw them on Facebook, I noticed she had played with the colors on some before posting them… a lightbulb went off in my head. I took the original photos she had given me and decided to do some editing of my own.
When we were in Osaka, we walked through the shopping district and came across a river. The view was really pretty so we took a few photos. There were a lot of shadows and as novice photographers, it was hard for us to really capture the moment.
After playing around in Lightroom, I transformed the photo above into one I’m really happy with. What do you think?
I am off work Friday – Wednesday for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). I am heading to Japan in the morning and I get back to Busan around noon on Monday. The actual Chuseok holiday falls on Monday and Tuesday. I don’t really have anything going on during that time, but on Wednesday I have ear surgery and I took off work on Thursday and Friday to recover. Sooo… I have the next 10 days off. It’s the longest amount of time I’ve had off work at once since coming to Korea just over 6 months ago. I’ll post pics from the Philippines and Japan when I get back.
さようなら
Sayōnara!
Life Outside of Texas 