Southern Japan: COMPLETE~!!! :D

What an intense 2 weeks. I've learned a lot on this past trip to Okinawa and mainland Kyushu. I took a REALLY long trip with a friend to the south (but in retrospect, maybe it was too long). At any rate, I'm really glad I went.

Btw, there are several links to my photobucket galleries in each of the prefectures I've visited. Please check them out and comment on them if you want. :) Enjoy~!!!

My Thoughts About 沖縄 (Okinawa):

I visited Naha and the Yaeyama Islands. It was such a surreal place with many areas showcasing the magnificence of Okinawa's natural beauty. By far, my favorite place was Taketomi. It literally was like a dream paradise. So many beaches, all of which are accessible by bike, tons of good food, and at least one or two people at their house playing a sanshin (Okinawa's snake shamisen) and/or singing. You seriously hear music while you're going around the island. The waters were crystalline blue and the sunsets seemed to peacefully explode in the sky. People in Okinawa, in general, are really chill people. I've never felt so relaxed traveling. I loved my beard and mustache especially during Okinawa week because everyone else had a beard and mustache! I totally blended in - there was a strong feeling of home. I'd go back to Okinawa in a heartbeat - especially the Yaeyama Islands.

My Thoughts About Mainland 九州 (Kyushu) Prefectures:

I was able to visit all of mainland Kyushu's prefectures. After the trip, I can honestly say that Kyushu is probably the coolest place in Japan as of right now. Just like Okinawa, people in Kyushu were exceptionally peaceful, helpful, and kind individuals. Not only that, but the food was amazing. Visually, the old and the new coexist in harmoniously. Everything in Kyushu seemed so balanced. My favorite place was Nagasaki because it's metropolitan and historical simultaneously. Not to mention the fact that the catholic community is HUGE. Being in Nagasaki made me wonder why I never applied to live there. I should've done my research (but Kyoto's awesome, anyway). On a side note, the Dontaku Festival in Fukuoka was interesting, but definitely not exciting. I wouldn't want to see it again, nor would I recommend someone to see it. A festival like Gion Matsuri would be time and money well spent.

My Overall Assessment:

I love Okinawa, especially Taketomi. I love Kyushu, especially Nagasaki. You should go. Don't go to Dontaku Festival - it's not worth it.

And now for the logistics of the trip (with links to picture galleries). Enjoy.

April 24 - Fri.

After school, I stayed at my friend Taka's house because he was going to drive me to the airport the following day. His family's pretty awesome.

April 25 - Sat.

Landed in 那覇市, (Naha)
Checked into hostel - Base Hostel
Dinner at Afro Nest
Window shopping on 国際通り (Kokusai-dori)

April 26 - Sun.

Booked a Naha tour & went to:
万座毛 (Cape Manza)
沖縄美ら海水族館 (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium)
熱帯ドリームセンター (Tropical Dream Center)
今帰仁城 (Nakijin Castle)
ナゴパイナップルパーク (Nago Pineapple Park)
おきなわワールド (Okinawa World) & 玉泉洞 (Gyokusendo Cave)
Shopping on 国際通り (Kokusai-dori)

April 27 - Mon.

Went to首里城 (Shuri Castle)
Took a boat to 石垣島 (Ishigaki)
Checked into hostel - Yashima Youth Hostel
Shopping on 市役所通り (Shiyakusho-dori)

*** CLICK HERE FOR NAHA PIX

April 28 - Tue.

Glass Boat @ 川平湾 (Kabira Bay)
Played around 米子焼工房 (Yoneko Yaki Kobo)
Snorkled @ 米原 (Yonehara Beach)
Dinner @ まーさん (Maasan)
Drank @ the hostel

*** CLICK HERE FOR ISHIGAKI PIX

April 29 - Wed.

Took a boat to 竹富島 (Taketomi)
Checked into hostel - 竹富ゲストハウス ジュテーム (Taketomi Guest House Je t'aime)
Rented a bike and went around:
コンドイ浜 (Kondoi Beach)
カイジ浜 (Kaji Beach)
集落 (Ryukyu Village)
なごみの塔 (Nagomi Tower)
Lunch @ HaaYa Nagomi Cafe
Random biking through the Ryukyu Village
Rode a 水牛車 (Water Buffalo Cart)
More random biking through the Ryukyu Village
Hung out at Kondoi Beach till sunset
Hung out and drank @ Take-to-Me bar @ hostel

*** CLICK HERE FOR TAKETOMI PIX

April 30 - Thu.

Took a boat to 西表島 (Iriomote)
Checked into hostel - 西表自然学校 (Iriomote Nature School)
Cruised up 浦内川 (Urauchi River)
Hiked to マリユドゥの滝 (Mariyudu Waterfalls)
First onsen experience @ 西表島温泉 (Iriomotejima Onsen)
Hung out with the owner & kids @ hostel
Ate dinner @ hostel

*** CLICK HERE FOR IRIOMOTE PIX

May 1 - Fri.

Bus to 由布島 (Yubu Island) site
Walked Yubu Island @ low tide
Played around the garden, saw some animals, ate stuff
Took a water buffalo cart back to bus loading site
Bus to port back to Ishigaki
Flew to 福岡市 (Fukuoka)
Checked into hotel
Dinner @ ramen stand for Hakata Ramen

*** CLICK HERE FOR YUBU ISLAND PIX

May 2 - Sat.

Train to 太宰府 (Dazaifu) area
太宰府天満宮 (Dazaifu Tenman-gu)
Train then bus to 福岡タワー (Fukuoka Tower) & ROBOSQUARE
Hung out @ 大濠公園 (Ohori Park)
Dinner @ udon shop

May 3 - Sun.

Hung around 博多 (Hakata) for the 博多どんたく (Hakata Dontaku Festival)
Dinner w/ some new JET friends

*** CLICK HERE FOR FUKUOKA PIX

May 4 - Mon.

Bus to 大分県 (Oita)
Train to 臼杵磨崖仏 (Usuki Stone Buddhas)
Check into ryokan in 別府市 (Beppu)
Dinner with JET friends
Onsen

*** CLICK HERE FOR OITA PIX

May 5 - Tue.

Bus to 血の池地獄 (Blood Pond Hell)
Train to 宮崎県 (Miyazaki)
Bus to 鵜戸神宮 (Udo Shrine)
Checked into ryokan - すずや旅館 (Suzuya Ryokan)
Dinner @ local izakaya

*** CLICK HERE FOR MIYAZAKI PIX

May 6 - Wed.

Train to 鹿児島市 (Kagoshima)
Bus to 指宿市 (Ibusuki)
Bus, train, then boat to 桜島 (Sakurajima)
Played in a dinosaur park
Hung out at a lava rock park...thing...till sunset
Checked into hostel

*** CLICK HERE FOR KAGOSHIMA PIX

May 7 - Thu.

Bus to 熊本市 (Kumamoto)
But to hostel
Bus to 阿蘇山 (Mt. Aso) & the crater
Onsen

May 8 - Fri.

Train to 佐賀県 (Saga)
Walked to 吉野ヶ里 遺跡 (the Yoshinogari Site)
Headed over to Ashley's apartment
Dinner @ Jaya's apartment w/ her family & other Saga JET friends

*** CLICK HERE FOR KUMAMOTO & SAGA PIX

May 9 - Sat.

Train to 長崎市 (Nagasaki)
Took the street car to hit up:
大浦天主堂 (Oura Catholic Church)
Chinatown
崇福寺 (Sofuku-ji)
東明山興福寺 (Tomeizan Kofuku-ji)
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims
Atomic Bomb Hypocenter
Nagasaki Peace Park
浦上天主堂 (Urakami Cathedral)
日本二十六聖人殉教地 (Site of the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan)
Train to Fukuoka
Spent the nite @ an internet cafe

*** CLICK HERE FOR NAGASAKI PIX

May 10 - Sun.

Bullettrain back home

Kimi's Visit

It was awesome, my first overseas visitor - my really good friend Kimi visited from Vegas~!!! It was her first time visiting mainland Japan, so it was a week of me playing tour guide. Here are the things we did:

April 6 - Mon.
Kimi landed. My teacher and I picked her up from the airport and then had dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

April 7 - Tue.
We went around to look at cherry blossoms. They were in full bloom just in time for Kimi's visit. After that, we walked around Fushimi Inari to look at all the torii gates. Meandering throught Yasaka Shrine to fool her, I surprised Kimi with a trip to Gion for a maiko (apprentice geisha) make-over, her belated birthday/Christmas gift. She was really surprised~!!! We took a bunch of photos as we walked around Gion. Later that night, we met up with my good friend, Kohei, and his fiancée (a friend, too), Natsuko, for some awesome yaki-niku. BBQ beef is so f-ing delicious. I could never be vegetarian.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS

April 8 - Wed.
Went to Uji for some tea shopping and to see Phoenix Hall and Uji River. After that, we hit up Kyoto for some random shopping and people watching. For dinner, I took her out to a yakitori shop I frequent.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS

April 9 - Thu.
Took a day trip to Toei Uzumasa Eigamura Movie Museum. It was actually pretty neat. It was my first time going there, but I think it meant more to Kimi because this was the actual set where they filmed some old Japanese samurai TV program she used to watch when she was growing up in Hawaii. After playing around there, we passed through Koryuji before finally hitting up Golden Pavilion (of course, a must see if you're visiting Kyoto for the first time). Did more people watching in Kyoto and had dinner at Mos Burger. YEAH~!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS

April 10 - Good Fri.
This day was temple hopping. We went to Kiyomizu-dera, the Hall of the Lotus King, and Nishi Hongan-ji (the mother Buddhist church that Kimi belongs to in Hawaii). On the way, we stopped by this small bakery and had carrot cookies. We ate at a donburi shop and ended the day with coffee at Doutour. Thumbs up for all the staples of Japan, right.

April 11 - Holy Sat. We had a bunch of time, so we headed to Nara to check out Todai Temple and play with the deer in Nara Park. Check out this rad photo! Who else can say they fed a deer under a blossoming cherry tree?

After that, we made our way to Osaka to mess around Dotonbori. We met up with Kohei again for okonomiyaki and takoyaki. We also just walked around the shopping areas in and around America Village.


April 12 - Easter Sun.

HAPPY EASTER~!!! CHRIST IS RISEN~!!!
After going to church, I met up with Kimi around Osaka Castle. We walked pretty much the entire castle grounds and even ate food at the vendor booths. Finally, it was time for us to head back to the airport so Kimi could catch her plane back home.

This was an awesome week. Good food, good sites, good times, all shared with more than good company. Btw, I never used so much Japanese in one week. Yeah for practice~!!! :D

EARTH HOUR 2009

Yeah, I turned off all my stuff right at 8:30pm. Alright, now it's the opposite side of the world's turn. HAPPY EARTH HOUR EVERYONE~!!!

LOCATION: Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Again, not making fun, but...

Ok, let's lighten the blog's mood with more Engrish (yes, Engrish) from my students. This stuff = golden material. Refer to the first set of Engrish.

SENTENCES:

1. Who is playing the piano in boy?

2. Do you know she what to doing?

3. I know she doing is Mary!

4. My home in the much book.

5. They names baby & Taro.

6. Well, this year's resolution is "Beaf."

7. Here is daby name the Taro.

8. I like is winter more somer.

9. No, down is resolutions.

10. We have to do yo know resolutions.

11. Burger it's hard for me Yuki.

12. I can spiekes English.

13. Wornig the U.Stars homestyk.

WORDS:

language - larguagen

* You know, I really don't understand your larguagen.

right - helse

* Turn left. No wait, turn helse!

delicious - drilciecur

* I'm in the mood for some drilciecur sushi.

borrow - doreew

* May I doreew this throwing knife?

Friday - froday

* Thankfully, the 80's Party is on froday.

A Simple Hug - A Heavy Realization

Japan seems to amplify emotions like no other experience can.

My buddy Kohei, his friend Kazu, and I hung out last Saturday night. After walking around looking at the illuminated garden at a temple, we decided to go to dinner together. We had such a great time, joking around, talking about all sorts of stuff (all in Japanese of course...crazy, I can actually hold a conversation in Japanese), drinking, and eating.

Finally, it was time to ship out to catch the last trains. In the subway, right before Kazu boarded his train, he told me it was nice to meet me and how much fun he had. He then moved in for a hug. I was thrown off guard by the gesture, but returned it equally. He boarded the train, and we waved at him as it took off. My first thought, "That was very American of him to do that." (Yeah, I know other people in the world hug, too, that was just my first thought, though).

Since then, I've been in a state of contemplation.

Living here in Japan for this long has desensitized me to something I've been told I'm really good at - hugging. To me, it's more than just an action - it's language. A hug can convey love and truth. A hug can tell a lifetime story. A hug can lift days, months, years of emotional turmoil. A hug is important for stability, security, and self-awareness.

I've grown up utilizing this language in my everyday life, so why was it so easy to forget?

To tell the truth, that hug felt really good. It felt sincere. Maybe because it was a received hug? Take my American/English-speaking friends here, for example. We've hugged before. In retrospect, I think for some of them, we wouldn't have hugged unless I motioned to do so. Nonetheless, we did hug or had some kind of physical language/interaction with each other. However, those times were in the midst of traveling or some major event; the things being experienced at the time blocked out the recognition of feelings in general.

This time, though, it was an easy, laid-back day. I had all the time in the world to notice anything and everything. Maybe it was shocking because Kazu's a Japanese citizen. I've been accustomed to seeing people here bow, or wave, or nod, or NOTHING at all with one another (and yeah, that's WITH friends). Then all of a sudden, someone says goodbye to me the way I would someone else that WASN'T Japanese? What the hell's going on!

Seriously, in that moment, I think the memory of every hug I've given to people in my life hit me all at once. I felt like I was home, but at the same time, my heart felt very heavy because it was looking for something it has been yearning for all this time.

Something so simple can make you think about your whole life.

Something so simple can make you feel so loved.

Something so simple can make you feel really lonely.

March 19 ~ 21

Ok, it's event list time. Enjoy~!!!

19 March:
Attended an elementary school's graduation ceremony. Later that night, I went to an enkai and karaoke bar with my other elementary school's teachers. Yes, that means I drank more. I think most Japanese people get drunk WAY too fast, btw.

20 March:
Headed out to Nara to hit up 法隆寺 (Hōryū-ji) with my buddy Kohei and his cool friend, Yasu. Afterward, we had a たこ焼き (takoyaki - octopus dumpling) party and Kohei's place - Kohei's super nice fiancée, Natsuko, joined us.

The Chūmon (Inner Gate)

The 5-Tier Pagoda

Me w/ Yasu & Natsuko

The Takoyaki

21 March:
Went to my friend's boyfriend's joint photo exhibition. Later that night, I met up with Kohei and his really cool buddy Kazu. We trekked to 高台寺 (Kōdai-ji) to experience 花灯路 (hanatōro), or "flower and light road," which is the spring version of the Light-Up event in autumn (refer to the EC Reunion Part I). Later, we went to a 焼き鳥屋さん (yakitoriyasan - BBQ skewer bar) called すみ家 (Sumika)...yes, we drank. I drink a lot in Japan...that's good AND bad.

Kazu & Me (...man, the lighting sucks...)

The Food

四郷千両太鼓 Weekend

Last weekend (Saturday, March 14th), my friend Asako invited me to her home town in 和歌山県 (Wakayama prefecture) because the group there, 四郷千両太鼓 (Shigo Senryo Daiko), was having a concert. Shigo was the group my older sister Kamille joined when she was a JET ALT back in the day. It was also the beginning of her love for taiko.

Anyway, it took almost 3 hours and 3 train transfers to get from my apartment to 和歌山県. But that was after I went to Uji - 15 minutes from my house in the opposite direction - to get some omiyage for Asako's parents and for Shigo. I didn't mind though; it was all for taiko. Btw, here's a random picture of Asako's mom's hina matsuri doll collection.

Crazy, huh? Pretty awesome, I say.

Interestingly enough, my "day trip" to Wakayama turned out to be an over-night stay, hence why I got Asako's parents omiyage. They graciously allowed me to crash at their house, which by the way is less than a 5 minute walk from Shigo's dojo. CRAZY~!!! I bought omiyage for the group, too, because I was invited to their after-party to mingle, eat, drink...and play...maybe?

There was a VERY small problem on the way there. You see, I had used my ICOCA card which is similar to the Kanto region's SUICA card and Hokkaido's KITACA card - a debit like card for riding the trains so you don't have to fumble around with coins and bills to buy train tickets. I didn't realize that the area I was going to was SO 田舎 (rural) that the card wasn't acceptable anymore. Thankfully Asako was there to help me through that (I met up with her and her baby, Mio, in 橋本市 [Hashimoto City], the city where my sister lived).


I didn't have time to drop my crap off at the house, so I brought everything to the concert hall in かつらぎ町 (Katsuragi Town). There, Asako and I ate bentos (from her parents' bento shop) before the concert - it was DE-LE-JUSS bento times~!!!

The concert was pretty awesome. They played a few original pieces, some kids performed a piece, and a number of pieces made famous by 鼓童 (Kodo), the world's premier taiko ensemble, were performed. Anyone who lives in Japan and plays taiko knows that virtually ALL the taiko groups in Japan play 2 or more pieces from 鼓童. But I was indifferent to that; just being able to be AROUND taiko is a blessing. Check out their original piece entitled "Mドリーム" (M Dream).

I was able to briefly meet the 2 ALTs that were currently performing with Shigo. They were pretty nice people. I was hoping to get to talk with them a little more, but they had a prior engagement and was unable to attend the after-party.

After the concert, we finally headed to the house where we relaxed until Shigo was finally done cleaning the concert hall, packing up, and unloading the gear back into the studio. I didn't head over to meet them at the dojo till about 12:30am.

There was beer, bento, sushi, beer, fried-food platters, beer, pizza and beer. Everyone seemed so nice ESPECIALLY because they knew I was Kamille's younger brother and that I'm a seasoned taiko performer. Everyone was busy laughing, drinking, smoking, eating, and drinking when they started passing around the comment papers from the audience.


Yes, they read EVERY single one of them. While they were reading, I took a picture of their cool HUGE okedo odaiko. They finally finished reading all the comments at around 2:30am. Seeing that my beer glass was empty, one of the group's top players, Hiroshi, asked me to sit next to him as he poured me more beer and talked all night about our passion for taiko. He's a pretty cool cat; I'd love to hang out and play taiko with him in the future for sure. I didn't get to sleep until before 4:00am. What a night~!!!

What a DOPE drum~!!!

Me & Hiroshi

When I finally woke up just before 12:00 noon, Asako's mother prepared a GIGANTIC lunch. I should've taken a picture, but I wasn't fully awake enough to remember to bust out my camera. We had オムライス (omelet rice), clam soup, 焼きそば (yakisoba), tofu, grilled ハマチ (hamachi), 海老天ぷら(shrimp tempura), サツマイモ天ぷら (sweet potato tempura), and some kinda snail meat. You think that's enough food~!!? It was so good AND all homemade from their shop (their shop is part of their house)~!!! I couldn't finish it all~!!!

They sent me away with some homemade sushi. Man, that was good, too.


Finally getting back home, I was inspired to really get off my thinking block and get to work. I'll be on an artist-kick for a while...I hope. WISH ME LUCK~!!!