Thanks to a holiday and one vacation day we had a 4 day weekend in Japan. It felt like a month. We somehow decided that we should do as much as humanly possible and spent each day/night in a different city. I’m officially wiped out.
We started our trip with Hiroshima. I know, I know, I said that I was hoping for no more depressing weekends after Auschwitz. As sad as it was, I think a trip to Japan would be remiss without visiting the memorial park at Hiroshima. We made the time in Hawaii to visit Pearl Harbor and I think it’s beyond important for people to see the true devastation of war. I actually think the world's leaders should be required to visit all these sites.
Did you know that not one sitting US President has ever visited Hiroshima or Nagasaki? Maybe Obama should have made the time to take Hiroshima up on their invitation on his last trip to Japan. Maybe after seeing the tattered bloody clothes of innocent children, some lucky enough to die instantly, others forced to live out their few final days with the majority of their bodies charred beyond recognition and in agonizing pain, would make him focus a bit more on working towards nuclear disarmament. For those of you who still think he can do no wrong, maybe you should visit too and read the letter from the Hiroshima mayor to President Obama regarding the nuclear testing we were performing just this year.
Needless to say, it was an emotionally taxing morning.
After walking through the grounds we caught a boat for our ride to Miyajima to visit the famous Shinto shrine and pet some insanely tame deer that wander around the town…
We had a train that night to Himeji and set off the next morning to see their famous castle. I still don’t think they should call it a castle, but whatevs. Well, it turns out that the main and most amazing building is actually under construction and completely covered with scaffolding. Whoops.
The area was still nice and best of all Jules got to dress up like a samurai…
From there we actually went back to Tokyo. We had a visiting wife to pick up and karaoke to sing in the actual room where the scene from Lost in Translation was filmed…
The next morning we surprisingly all made it to the train and were on our way to Haikone to visit the hot springs. Except when we got there it was raining and the springs were actually a lot farther than we thought they were.
Luckily the traditional room at the Ryokan we were staying was very nice, looked out onto the river and actually made a nice place to spend a relaxing afternoon reading and napping. Dinner was amazing that night and we enjoyed getting the traditional experience even if we missed the springs.
The next morning we walked through the town, did a little shopping and then started a series of train hopping that would eventually get us to Kamakura. We made it in time to see the great Buddha and one other shrine before closing times…
We decided to just call it a day since it was already getting dark and caught an earlier train back to Tokyo…where we all went to bed!
This weekend we’re headed to Fukuoka. Not the most exciting town in Japan, but that’s where the Grand Sumo tournaments are held in November! Cannot wait!! SUMO-SUMO-SUMO!!
Photos from the weekend...
No comments:
Post a Comment