June is coming to a close and since I recovered from the mumps, it has felt like I have been moving non-stop. That is good though, since it feels like I am making the most of what little time I have left here.
Jon came to visit again. We went to Odaiba. It was raining that day so not too many interesting pictures for you. But we also went to Yokohama where I found another boat to take pictures of! Hurray!
New boat!
We also went to China Town. Why can't I remember to take a picture of something before I eat it?!
Fashionable!
Ok so before heading to the main event of Jon's trip here, we saw a musical play. I say musical play cause it had songs during the scene changes, but really no where else. No one breaks out into a song in the middle of a scene and everyone starts dancing to it. But anyway, it stared my favorite girl idol group, so I had to go see it. It was indeed lame. But I enjoyed it. I REALLY enjoyed how much I understood. It made me feel like I have been learning a lot since getting here. Plus, the characters made for Jun Jun and Shige-san were perfect. These girls have been doing acting for a while now, and Ai-chan has certainly come a long way since trying to save the earth in a very very lame musical in 2004. There was a lot to love about the play, but I shall spare you all. I will leave it on this: ironically each girl had one outfit that really made me go 'Fashionable? Really, guys?'.
The next day we hopped on a Shinkansen...
Shinkansen!
To go to Hiroshima!!
Hiroshima styled Okonomiyaki! Nummy! Notice I ate some first >.<
Big batch of them being made
Actually, we got off at Hiroshima, got lunch, and threw our bags in a coin locker to head to Iwakuni (in Yamaguchi-ken) to check out a super cool bridge.
Is this not cool?
Up and down
It is built like this because whenever the river would flood it would wash away the bridge. So an architect in the 1600s decided to build solid stone blocks to support wooden arches that would wash down the rive rather than be destroyed. They would pick up the arches and return them to the stone pillars when the water subsided. Pretty smart, huh? Unfortunately this is not the original. They did not have money after WW2 to repair the bridge, and in 1950 a typhoon came through and destroyed it. They rebuilt it exactly the same 3 years later. And thus Stephanie went to Iwakuni!
There is a nice park on the other side of the bridge. There is also a castle way up on the mountain. Talk about defense.
What is a Japanese park without a temple?
Irises in bloom =D
Stray Kitty! It stopped raining and this kitty came out and started rubbing against my legs. It is a crime to feed them. There was a sign that said so...alas, I had to just shower it with affection.
Coolest water fountain ever!
The mighty Toori!
It was low tide, so I walked out to it.
The shrine after high tide.
A cute little fawn. The deer here are not afraid of people. But unlike Nara, you cannot feed them here. They ask you not to. But I did see a deer try to enter a shop! I guess that is one way to get food.
And like Nara's, they will eat your map. Luckily I was heading to the boat to leave.
You can climb mountains and take trams across Miyajima, but what really impressed me was the clarity of the water. Japan polluted a lot during the 1960s. You still cannot swim in many of the rivers.
Now to the main event! Miyajima!!!
So big!
We went into the shrine that is looks out to the gate and I got a picture with it.
Before we left the tide got higher. Here is what it looks like at high tide.
The shrine before high tide.
The rest of the trip was spent in Hiroshima.
The A-bomb dome. It was only a 150 meters away from where the bomb detonated on Aug 6th 1945. It is the only building to remain standing since then. They decided not to demolish it since it was still mostly intact.
Hiroshima Castle! It is nice to see a non-white castle. The white castles to me seem like giant targets...
Only one guard....so easy to get in >.>
We returned to Tokyo and tried our luck at an amusement park. Unfortunately 3 of their major (IE fun) rides were not running. Luckily, at Japanese amusement parks you can just pay by ride. So we hopped on the coolest looking one that was not closed for the day.
The bandit! This ride is quite long. I actually decided to ride this one because when Morning Musume had a TV show, they had a segment called Screaming CM where they would try to advertise their latest singles/albums/DVDs etc while screaming on Japan's most infamous roller coasters. It was quite funny. I tried advertising a bit while on it. I don't see what is so hard about it Abe-san!
That link will give you an idea of what it is like.
Finally, we have some more kit kats!
Citrus flavored. It was DE-licious. I am not sharing. (Hiroshima)
Strawberry cheese cake from Yokohama
Wasabi from Shizuoka. Actually, I have not tried this yet >.>
Bitter Almond. That was some DARK chocolate. It was almost evil.
Aloe and Yogurt flavored. I can live with out this.
Sweet! I would have wrestled the deer to get the map back. Now that would have been a picture!
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