One summer in Japan

I'm Back!

2006-08-05T23:37:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

Well, I am now back to little old Roswell, NM. My adventures in Japan are now over, but I am still going to try to post more from the last few days I was in Japan. I know that I haven't posted in a while, but hopefully now that I am not as busy, it will be easier. Of course it is not the same as if it had just happened, but there are still some interesting stories that I haven't told yet. And, even if you are not interested in the stories, you might want to at least look at the pictures. I will try to post date each entry so it will be easier to see when events happened relieved to each other. This means that this will remain as the most current entry, even if it is not the last posted.

Till next time,

Josh

Kyushu day Four: Kirishima and Aoshima

2006-07-11T00:15:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

Well, I made it through the night, and, to my disappointment, there was no knock on the door in the middle of the night telling me that the mountain was about to blow. I was holding out hope, but that didn’t happen, and when I woke up, the same little cloud was still blocking my view of the peak of the volcano. I did make it up for the sunrise, but soon went back to sleep for about an hour before heading back to Kagoshima. The ferry goes across the bay 24 hours a day, but the busses in the tourist areas had not started yet (it was still pretty early). I found the bus stop that I had used earlier, and figured out that I could make it halfway to the train station before the buses started. I started walking and after about 30 minutes of walking the fairs wheel came into view and I knew that I was getting close.

This was my view of sunrise from the end of the hall of the youth hostel

I got son the express train, and then decided that I would make a quick stop in Kirishima on the way to Miyazaki. I jumped on the local train, and then on the bus to the famous shrine in Kirishima. It was about a 20 minute ride, even though it was a tiny town, but I was soon hiking the short distance through the wood to Kirishima-jinja Shrine. It was one of the largest shrines that I have seen since I have been in Japan. I took a few pictures, but I was only there for about 20 minutes before I decided to head back down to the bus stop. I had wanted to go find some waterfalls that I had seen in a travel magazine I got in Kagoshima, but nobody could figure out where they were. I decided to go to the Kirishima information desk and see if they knew anything. He could not tell me any information about that, but he did tell me that I would have to wait over an hour for the bus to come to take me to the train station. Then, I would have to wait another hour at the train station to catch the local train out of Kirishima. So much for a short little pit stop.

I was about to leave the office when I noticed a picture of some different waterfalls. I asked him just out of curiosity where those were, and he told me that they were only about a five minute walk from the office. I took the little walk since I had so much time to wait for the bus to come. I found that the only way to get to the waterfall was to walk through a “restaurant” which was just a few tables next to the waterfalls. I walked through, because there was only a couple of people at one of the tables, and I hoped that I would not get into any trouble. They weren’t nearly as nice as the ones that I had found the picture of, but they were still very nice. I then walked back out to the information office and took a quick soak in the foot hot springs and tried to have a conversation with the older couple that was there, and the one older lady that spoke three or four words of English. I soon had to leave to go back to the bus stop. I decided I would rather get there a few minutes early and wait, rather than take the chance of having to wait another tow hours for the next bus.

After waiting the hour for the local train, I made it to the next large station where I could get on the express train again. I didn’t get into Miyazaki till it was already 4:30 and the Ocean Dome, which I had really wanted to see (it is the world’s largest indoor water park and only 2,000 yen ($20)), closed at 5:00. The lady at the information desk could see that I was really disappointed, and made the suggestion to take the train south to Aoshima Island. It was already late so I just grabbed a train timetable and ran back to the train terminal. While I was on the train headed for Aoshima Station, I realized that the train situation was as bad as in Kirishima, and because I realized that, I wouldn’t be able to go to Beppu anymore. Now I was really frustrated with myself. The only good thing was that I had found a night train I could take back to the northern part of the island and I wouldn’t have to pay for a motel (I have to be in Miyajima by tomorrow afternoon and that is why I couldn’t do either of these things in the morning).

Aoshima is the small island to the right

I decided I would walk around the beach near Aoshima till I had to get to the night train at 11:45 in Miyazaki. While I was walking along the beach, I realized that I had been carrying my swimming trunks around Kyushu the entire weekend in hopes of staying at a hotel with a pool, and had not used them once. I found something that looked like a restroom, but, just my luck all day, there was only Japanese writing on the entrances (no little stick figures with and without a dress). Of course it was in the middle of nowhere, and I could tell that the only person in sight wouldn’t speak any English and I was right. I finally managed to a get him to point to one side, and that was good enough for me. I got changed and walked down the beach, and I had been walking so long, I wasn’t even sure exactly where I was anymore. Then, to my surprise I found a white guy walking down to the water, and decided that I would ask him because he might be the only person that would find that would speak any English there.

It turned out that he was a German guy that had learned how to speak English perfectly while he was in Hong Kong. He showed me on the map where I was on the beach, and said that he was going to go for a swim. I decided that I would go in even though I didn’t have a towel. By this time, I didn’t really care. The water was great. It wasn’t cold at all, and we were able to go out pretty far before the waves got to high. We talked for a while as we swan around, and I learned that he had been traveling all over the world since he was just a bit older than me. He now worked in Miyazaki, and took the 20 drive to the beach every day after work. It sounded like a pretty nice life to me. The sun was starting to go down, and he said that he was leaving so I decided to get out too. He said that he had a friend that might be able to give me camping gear if I wanted to say on the beach.

Here is sunset from the bridge to Aoshima

We headed over to the friend’s house, and it turned out that he was German to and he was famous in the area for making pottery. After we all talked for a while, we decided that the night train would probably be the best option. I offered to take me back to Miyazaki, but I just wanted a ride back to the island (earlier, I went a bit further on the train because I knew I would have extra time, and decide I would just walk back to the island). We made it there just in time to see the sunset. I walked across the bridge and took a quick walk around the island. It was small, but I knew if I didn’t walk to fast it would be pitch black before I got back to civilization. It was a nice walk and I could see the waves crashing against the reefs.

I headed back to the train station, but since I had read the time table wrong, I had to wait half an hour for the train. I decided that I would get out at the first train stop in Miyazaki and walk back to the main station because I still had quite a while before it would be 11:45. I found something to eat and then went into Mr. Doughnut, because they were the only place open. I bought a few doughnut and found a table near a power outlet and started trying to catch up on the blog entries that I completed. I finally got on the train at 11:30, and found that I could have been using my computer the entire trip on the train. This was the only train that I had made reservation, and I had been put in the first seat, which has a little bit less space than the others. I soon that that there was a little outlet, which made up for the lack of space. Now that I am done with this entry I am going to bed because it is already after midnight and we will arrive back at Hakata station at about 6 tomorrow morning.

This was my view of Miyazaki from a bridge as I walked to the train station

Till next time,

Josh

For Map Click Here

Stats

Day:
Busses - 2
Trains – 7
Shrine – 1
hot springs – 1
Boats - 1
Oceans - 1
Islands - 1

Trip:
Buses – 7
Trains – 21
Trams – 2
Castle – 2
Bridge – 2
Streetcars – 5
Subways – 2
Museums – 2
Volcanos – 1
Hot Springs – 2
Boats - 2
Shrine – 1
Oceans - 1
Islands - 1

Kyushu day Three: Kumamoto and Sakurajima

2006-07-10T22:55:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Monday has come and gone, and I am now more than halfway through my little vacation. Since I was running around until so late last night, I decided I would do the opposite tonight and check into a hotel as soon as I could this afternoon. This morning, I went to Kumamoto Castle. The castle complex was huge. I thought I had found the castle when I found the first guard/lookout tower because it was at the edge of the complex, and I couldn't even see the main castle from here. I finally found the main castle, paid the entrance fee, and went in. The main castle looked even bigger for the base of the castle walls than from the entrance. I soon found that there was an entire school taking a field trip to the castle, and they were just getting ready to go inside the castle. I knew that I wasn’t going to stay long, so I decided to go in so I would be ahead of the group. I was halfway thought the first floor when the let the kids go. The all came running in at the same time. There were very few signs in English and I had been to many similar castles before so I was going pretty fast. Still thought, by the time I was to the third floor, there were already kid coming down from the top. I bet by the time that I was ready to come back down, all 150 students had made their way to the top and back out. After taking a few more pictures of the outside of the castle, I headed back to the streetcar that took me back to the train station.

From the train station, I took an express train the short distance to the Shinkansen station. I took the newest Shinkansen in Japan to Kagoshima. I was very nice on the outside and inside. Even though I was just in the regular non-reserved car, it felt like first class. This train was even faster than the express trains, and after only one stop, we were soon in Kagoshima. From there, I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do, but it was too early to go to the hotel and check in. I knew that I wanted to go to the southern point of the island, but at the information desk, the lady told me that that it would take a few hours to on a train, then half an hour on a boat, and finally another couple hours on a bus. I would then have to do all that in the reverse order. I decided instead I would just look around Kagoshima. I took a city tour bus (it gave an automated tour in English and Japanese) to the observation point for Sakurajima. Sakurajima is an active volcano and the main reason I wanted to go to southern Kyushu. To my disappointment, even though the sky was clear, there was one cloud around the top of the mountain, so I couldn't see the peak. The breeze was blowing, and the clouds were always moving, but the clouds stayed around the peak the entire afternoon. I left the observation point, and took the bus down to the ferry port and paid the small 150 yen fee.

When I got to the information center at the other side of the bay, I found out that there was a youth hostel it was only 2650 yen per night. That sounded good so I decided to check it out and see if it was late enough to check in. It was only a ten minute walk from the port, but it was still very hot and the ten minutes took forever. I got to the hostel and the lady at the desk didn’t speak a word of English, but I still was able to get a room. It was a very new experience for me. It was the first time I have gotten a hotel room, and not gotten a key. I went up to my room and picked out my bed from the eight bunk beds in the room. There was an air conditioner, but I could not find any controls to turn it on so I unloaded my clothes and computer (I figured it was safe because there was not another person in the entire building), and I left the room and headed to the visitor center. It was already five and the center was closed so I just looked around the lava field by myself.

I knew that I later wanted to go to Beppu which is a famous stop for hot springs. I had never been so I decided to go to a small hot spring place here that was almost empty. I made my way to the back and found the men’s side of the hot spring. There were two guys leaving, and there was only one left in the main room. I had read on the internet that you are supposed to shower first, and only get in the actual hot spring after you are completely clean. I started washing, but I guess that I was not washing nearly hard enough. An old man, the only person in the place, came over to me and took my washcloth and showed my by washing my back as hard as he could. My neighbor had that had lived in Japan had tol this was not completely unusual, but I was happy enough when he was satisfied and went back to his own stool. From then on, I scrubbed as hard as I could. There were two differen areas with water coming in from the hot springs, and then another smaller area off to the side. The other man had finished washing before me and I saw that that he would get in one, and then jump in the one off to the side and then get back into the first one. He went back and forth a few times then left, and I decided to get in the first one. It was much hotter than most of the hot tubs I have been in before. I then went and hoped in my the one off to the side, and silly me, I didn’t feel it or anything before I went in. But it took me about a quarter of a second to realize that it was cold water. Only then did I look in the back corner and see the blue colored faucet. I went back to the first one and to my surprise, it now felt much less hot than the first time. I now got up my nerves, and went to the other main area in the room. It seemed like it wad another ten or fifteen degrees hotter than the first one. I was glad that I was alone now because I only lasted there for about 30 seconds before it got too hot for me. I stayed in the cooler of the two for the rest of the time till I decided to leave.

I ran back to the hotel to drop off my dirty/sweaty clothes before going back to the waterfront to watch the sunset. After I walked down the path till I even found a “beach.” It looked like they had just brought a few truckloads of sand in and put a sidewalk around it. It was still very nice. I had my iPod, so I turned on some Jamaican music and pretended that I was on a beach in the Caribbean. Since I was going to be able to go to bed so early, I wanted to get up see the sunrise. I had asked another girl for a good spot when I dropped off my cloths, and decided to check it out now before it was completely dark. It was a long hike, and I just decided that I would be able to just see the sunrise for the end of the hall and the view was almost as good. I got some microwave pizza, and heated it up before heading up to my room (there was now one other guest, but I still had the entire room to myself), and trying to catch up on my blog entries. It is just too bad that there is no internet here. Well, it is time for bed now, and I have to sleep now if I ever want to make it up for sunrise.

Till tomorrow,

Josh

Click for Map

Stats

Day:
Busses - 2
Streetcars – 2
Trains – 2
Castle – 1
Volcanos – 1
hot springs – 1
Boats - 1

Trip:
Buses – 5
Trains – 14
Trams – 2
Castle – 2
Bridge – 2
Streetcars – 5
Subways – 2
Museums – 2
Volcanos – 1
Hot Springs – 1
Boats - 1

Kyushu Day Two: Yoshinogari-Nagasaki

2006-07-10T10:06:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Well, another busy day has almost come to an end. It is especially sad to see this day go because I didn't get t o go to half of the places I had planned to. I missed the Village that was created to look like Holland in the 1700’s (actually I stopped for about ten minutes, but all I saw was the end of the fireworks show and they were already closed. Oh well, I guess I will just have to come back some time. I could have spent the night there, but by the looks of the hotel, there was no way that I would be able to afford it. I also missed Sasebo, which is where the U.S. Navy has a naval base. I just read about it in the news because there was a new anti missile ship came in the last couple of days. Having said all that, I got to many places.

I started off the day a little late (I was on the internet too late last night trying planning the day) by going to the US consulate. For some reason, I had the idea that they would be open seven days a week. I was wrong, and all I found when I got there was a bunch of Japanese police wearing bullet proof vests. I didn't see a single American in or around the place. I wasn't a completely lost excursion; the consulate was right across the street from a park. The park had a lake with a beautiful bridge to an island. I could have rented a paddle boat in the shape of a swan, but I decide to pass this ti

me. The best part of the park was the band. When I got off the subway, I heard the bass drum almost immediately, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. As I came into the park, I could see that there was a marching band going down the path away from me. I followed if for a while, but I wasn't catching up very fast, and they were going on the opposite direction of the consulate. After I walked around the consulate and realized that it was closed, I walked back into the park just in time to see the band coming towards me. They had gone all the way around the lake, but just as I started to get close, they stopped for a water break. I waited for them to get water and then they lined up again. The conductor gave a few commands in Japanese, but they were obviously very similar to the commands that we used at my high school. The funniest part was when he started them marching because he said "mark-time mark," which is the exact term that we use. It seemed like a very mixed group, some of them could have been in middle school while others looked like they were eight or nine years old (it might have just been my perception). One thing they did have in common was their instruments. Beside the base drum and a snare, everyone was either playing a recorder, or a strange instrument that was held like a saxophone, but had keys exactly like a little electric piano. I followed them as I made my way back to the subway, and pretty soon, they had a whole line of little kids marching along behind them.

I took the subway back to Hakata Station where I got on express train for a short time before taking a local train to Yoshinogari. The experience was different than traveling on the main island because instead of very old, very slow trains, even the local trains were quite fast and had leather seat pads and head rests. I arrived at Yoshinogari and it was so hot. I had been worrying that it would be raining the entire time I was in Kyushu, but instead it was almost as humid as Alabama and the temperature was higher. I got off at a shiny new train station (also unusual for such a small town), started trying to find the way to get to Yoshinogari.

As soon as I found the large map of the area, a lady came up and asked if I was trying to get to Yoshinogari. She gave me directions and for 200 yen kept my backpack for me (I of course removed the large envelope with my money and passport and stuck it behind my belt). I walked to 700 meters to the Yoshinogari, and that it was a very English friendly place. They had a talking guide for both Japanese and English so, even though I couldn't read the signs, the signs would be read to me. Yoshinogari was one of the first settlements in Japan and was thought to be inhabited almost 1700 years ago. From all the archeological information that had been found on the site as well as information from around Japan during the same time period, Yoshinogari was reconstructed as accurately as possible to look like the town as it did back then. There are even people playing role of people that would have lived at the time. The was one lady weaving, and another cooking traditional foods; she even offered everyone tea. I am not sure what kind of tea it was, but the bottom fourth of the cup was filled with something solid. The funny thing was that it tasted more like American tea than the Japanese tea I have started to become used to. I was walking back to the visitor center when I decided to pull the envelope with all my important papers out. To my horror, the entire cardboard envelope was soaked all the way through (like I said, it was very hot and I had been in the sun for the past hour). The only thing that wasn't wet was my passport. As I tried to dry everything out, I realized that I had about five minutes to get back to the train station or I would have to wait another hour for a train. I now jogged all the way back in my dark jeans and my dark blue shirt, and I think it is safe to say that the passport would have been gone too by the time I got back to the train station if I hadn't carried the envelope back. I made it back and felt l was going to die and I had just enough time to catch my breath before the train showed up.

I took the local train for a few minutes before hoping back on the express train headed for Nagasaki. This trip was long than I expected, but it gave me time for a nice little nap. We arrived in Nagasaki, and I soon found the information office and got an English map of the city and got directions in half English, half Japanese, which I am beginning to understand (nobody understands that I don't know a single word of Japanese, so I just nod along and get most of what they are saying from their had gestures). I jumped on the street car bound for the Nagasaki Peace Park. I accidently passed the stop so I had a little hike to get back to it. The main statue was enormous, very large and water was flowing all around it.

I looked around a while before heading over to the Atomic Bomb museum. Half of the museum was about the bomb that hit Nagasaki, and the other half was for nuclear warfare in general and all the bad affects it has had on humans. Neither part was very pro-American, and even claimed that the president knew that Japan was already going to surrender and used both bombs to justify all the money spent on the Manhattan Project. As in Hiroshima, there were many accounts from different survivors, both Japanese and foreign. These stories were all very moving, and some of the pictures were hard to look at for more than a glimpse. In the second part of the museum, they had videos of people from around the world that had been affected my radiation. There people from Russia, Germany, and even a lady from the US that had lived in Nevada near one of the test sites, and had three miscarriages so far. There was also a timeline of atomic research from countries around the world and the years that the thousands of atomic and nuclear bomb tests since the mid 1940s. I never realized the huge number of tests that had been performed both by the US, and by other countries around the world. The US alone has detonated over 600 atomic/nuclear weapons since the first one in New Mexico over 60 years ago. The museum finished with the current promises from countries around the world to reduce the number of weapons, but told that it was still not nearly enough.

By the time that I finished the tour of the museum, it was already 6:00 but I still wanted to see the Glove garden, which had once been the garden of Thomas Glover. I had actually never heard of him, but all the pictures I had seen showed the garden to be a very beautiful place. I got good directions, but it still took me over 45 minutes to finally find the place, only to find that it had closed at 6:00. I went all the way back to the train station to find out that since I had made that extra trip, I had missed all the express trains, and I had to take a local train to Sasebo. While I was on the train I was talking (or making lot of hand gestures) to a lady, I managed to learn that I would only have 20 minutes in Sasebo before the last rain, local or otherwise, would leave for the night. I had planned to go to Sasebo and then to

Huis Ten Bosch, but the main reason I wanted to go to Sasebo was so that I could use the ATM on the Naval Base (I read online that I could use my ATM card there). There was no way that I could get to the base and back to the station even if they let me on the base (which I was still not too sure they would do), so I decided to just go to Huis Ten Bosch.

Because of the fact that it was a local train, it took about twice as long as the express train and by the time that I got to Huis Ten Bosch, they had locked the gates too. I could have stayed the night, but by the looks of the hotel, it would have taken all the money I had for the one night. I did make if for the very end of the fireworks show which was a nice treat, and while I was walking back to the station, I met some Americans. It was quite obvious by the loud English and after finding out that they were marines from the base I started asking them about getting on the base. The girl said that they could probably sign me on to the base, but while talking to them I found that the guy had used his ATM card from a small credit union fine at the ATM in the post office, just not very many other places. This meant that I didn't have to go to Sasebo, and I still had time to get off the train after a few stops and transfer to a train that would at least be in the direction of where I had planned to stay for the night. I had a nice conversation in English for the part of the trip that we were on the same train and learned that the guys "old man" lived in New Mexico, and he had traveled all around during the summers while he was younger. He had even been to Roswell a few times, and commented about how big of a deal the town makes of the UFO incident (he even mentioned the alien street lights).

After saying a short good-bye, I hopped on the next local train that was headed for Tosu, where I figured I would spend the night. It was a good place because, from there, I could take an express train right to Kumamoto where I had originally wanted to stay. The ride on the local train was very long (I had already gotten spoiled by the express trains), but I finally made it to Tosu. To my surprise, there were still express trains running to Kumamoto, even though the ones on the other line had stopped many hours earlier. I decided that I would take the train so I would not start out the next day behind schedule. This meant though that I didn't arrive in Kumamoto till after 12, but I had already looked up a hotel so I thought that I was still ok.

I walked out of the station, but the hotel was not where it was supposed to be. I walked into the first hotel that was close to where I thought the other one should have been, but learned the rooms were 11,000 yen ($110) per night, when the one I was looking for had single rooms for 4,500 yen. I asked man at the desk if there were any places cheaper close by and he was very helpful and gave me a map and suggested the Route Inn across the street, where the rooms where 5,000-6,000 per night. I was studied the map while I walked across the street, and found a name that looked very familiar. The internet said that the hotel was 3 minutes walking distance from the station so I decide I would save the money and just go to the one I had planned on. After wandering around the streets of Kumamoto for about 30 minutes I finally gave up. I turned around and headed back to the station, and finally decide to ask a girl riding her bike down the street for help. She couldn't understand too much, so she called someone on her cell phone and between the three of us, she said that she thought she knew of a place for about 5,500 and I would have been happy that now even though I was quickly running out of money. We went in and soon found out that the rooms were over 7,000 yen, but he called the Route Inn and told us that they had rooms for 5,500 so I thanked the girl and headed over. When I finally got to the room it was already past 1 am, and I was dead tired from hiking around all day. I started this blog entry, but was way too tired to finish it and just went to bed.

Till next time,

Josh

Click for Map

Day:
Streetcars – 3
Trains – 8
Subways – 2
Museums – 2
Bridge – 1

Trip:
Buses – 3
Trains – 12
Trams – 2
Castle – 1
Bridge – 2
Streetcars – 3
Subways – 2
Museums – 2

Kyushu Day One: Iwakuni

2006-07-08T12:36:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

The first of my five day tour of Kyushu is now over, and I actually spent very little time in Kyushu itself. I finally left the lab last night (actually this morning), and got a little sleep before getting up and heading to the bus station. I missed the first bus to Saijo Station, but the second one was only 15 or 20 minutes behind so I just waited for that one. I arrived at the station just in time catch the rapid local train that was bound for Iwakuni. I wanted to try to use the ATM at the Marine Air Station here, but I also wanted to see some of the sights that the guys in the lab had suggested in Iwakuni, which is a way down the road on the other side of Hiroshima.

The rapid local was much better than the regular local and we made it to Iwakuni in less time than it would have taken me to get to Hiroshima if I would have taken

either the regular local train, or the bus. I left the train station on a bus headed for Kintai-kyo Bridge. It was built in the 1900s, and it is one of the most unique bridges I have ever seen. It is considered one of Japan’s three great bridges. As I was getting my money out for the entrance fee, a Japanese girl came up and asked if I needed my help. It turned out that she was getting married to an American guy this weekend. They (the couple and his parents) were all touring the bridge, and we had a short conversation as we crossed the bridge.

I walked the short distance to the White Snake Park. Next was a short ride on a tram to the top of the hill above the bridge. This was the location of Iwakuni Castle. It was very nice, but much smaller than Hiroshima castle which I saw just a few weeks ago. There were still many interesting artifacts about the culture of the time, and there was a great view of the valley till the fog came in and I couldn't even see the lower tram station. After taking the tour and getting my picture taken a very nice lady I went back down the mountain. I told the people at one of the little shops at the base of the mountain that I would buy some ice cream on the way back down and I wanted to keep my word. They had more flavors of soft serve than I have ever seen. I wanted to get strawberry vanilla swirl, but they only had vanilla/green tea, and strawberry/mango (and of course the flavors my themselves). Since they didn't have what I wanted, I decided to try something new. I asked the lady if the pumpkin was good, but she suggested the pumpkin/red bean combination. I didn't get a chance to have that every day, so I would try it. I would try to describe it, but I can't compare it to anything I have ever had before. I tried to go back over the bridge, but the man said no food, so I had took some more pictures while I finished the ice cream before heading back over the bridge and back to the train station.

I had spent much more time than I wanted at so far, but I still wanted to go to the Marine Air Station. When I got back to the main bus/train station, I ran into an American lady that said she worked on the base and told me that they probably wouldn't let me on, and the credit union would be closed anyway. I thanked her for the information and jumped on the train headed for Kyushu. I had wanted to stop at the bridge connecting the two islands, but it was already afternoon, so I decided that I would just have to take pictures from the train or on the way back. It turned out that the train went in a tunnel to get to Kyushu, so it will have to be on the way back. By the time I had made all the necessary connections, I finally got into Kyushu around 5:30. I found out that I had to go even further, to Kokura, before I could buy the Kyushu rail pass (5 days on any train for 16,000 yen, we will see if it turns out to be worth it).

The station in Kokura was huge, and every person that I asked where to get the pass sent me in a different direction. I finally found the place, and they had closed at 6:00, 20 or 30 minutes earlier. I got the attention of one of the ladies inside to see where else I could get the pass because I didn't want to stay the night in Kokura, and she was nice enough to get me the pass even though they were closed. I watched a singing group for a bit before jumping on the train headed for Hakata Station in Fukuoka. I was able to take the express trains now, so the trip was much faster and much more comfortable (there were leather seats, and tray tables, and even a snack cart that came through every once in a while). I had left my umbrella on two different busses so far today, but managed to catch the driver before left. This time, I left it on the train, and by the time that I realized it, it was too late. I know this must happen all the time because wherever I go, even if the place is empty, there will be five or six umbrellas. I looked down, and there was one leaning against the wall all by itself, and after waiting a while to make sure nobody was coming back for it, I took it to replace mine because I figured that I would need it soon.

I got the Hakata station only to find that it was even bigger than the station in Kokura. It is the main train, bus, and subway station for the largest city in Kyushu, and one of the largest cites in Japan. After finally finding an exit that lead to the outside, I was relieved to see right across the street was the Comfort Inn I found on the internet and the place I was planning to stay for the night. They had free internet, and a free breakfast, and the rates were pretty good for a nice hotel in a big city. I went in and to my disappointment, found that they only had smoking rooms left. I decided I would check a few other places and just come back if I couldn't find one. The person at the front desk gave me a map and told me the best place to start looking. The first few I tried were very expensive, but I finally found a nice one that was the same price, just without the free breakfast. It had started to rain, and I wasn't sure if it was the typhoon hitting so I decided I should just get off the street.

After getting everything settled, I looked outside and it had stopped raining so I decided I would go out and explore. I got directions to a famous street I had read about, and headed off on the subway because I couldn't tell from the map exactly how far it was. I got out of the subway station onto a street with the river running right next to it. On each of the bridges that cross the river, there were three or four musicians that were playing and singinf for tips. Between the street, and the river, there were hundreds of little restaurants. As I walked down the line, I saw that most of them were serving fresh seafood, and most of the fish were the ones that I have only seen in aquariums. There were even a few places that had tubs of eels and a grill, and you just pay 1000 yen and pick your eel and they kill it and cook if for you right there. I walk a ways further past all the restaurants till I got to a big sign that said "Canal City."

I didn't recognize the name, but I looked on the map and realized I was 3/4 of the way back to the hotel. I decided I would take a look around before I walked the rest of the way, and I soon as I got close, I could tell that it was one of the places I had seen pictures of on the internet, and had decided to skip because I couldn't tell exactly what it was from the description. On one side was a Hyatt hotel, and then there was a small canal with a fountain in the middle. I was able to catch the last of the water show and it was very impressive. Maybe not in size, but in quality was as almost as impressive as the Bellagio fountain show, and that is saying a lot. On the other side of the canal was huge shopping center that was five stories tall, with a surprising number of stores that I recognized. They had everything from GAP to Sports Authority, and restaurants from very nice places to KFC and Wendy’s. Most of the stores had already closed so I just looked around for a while before heading back to the hotel for the night. I planned tomorrow’s trip, and am now headed to bed. I hope I can get everything done, but I might have planned too many things for one day

Till next time,

Josh

Click for map

Stats
Day:
Buses – 3
Trains – 4
Trams – 2
Castle – 1
Bridge – 1

Trip:
Buses – 3
Trains – 4
Trams – 2
Castle – 1
Bridge – 1

Highs and Lows

2006-07-08T08:34:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

ell, another weekend is here and I can believe it. This week has flown by faster than any since I got here. Right now I am on the train to Kyushu, still trying to figure out if it was such a good idea to bring the computer. Man, it makes my backpack so heavy, but I don’t think I could have made it so long without it(my memory card will be filled after the first day). Anyway, this week has flown by, but we have done much during the week, some good, and some…well…not so great.

The biggest chemistry new was an iodohydrine reaction that we did in the middle of the week. The iodohydrine is a main component every single one of the target molecules that we are trying to make. Because of this fact, we need a lot of it, and it is much easier to make it here because we do not have to make one of the main reagents. Luckily, Dr. Yamamoto bought it so that we wouldn’t have to go through all the hassles that we had in Alabama (I think we finally got everything worked out, but it is nice to skip that step). The only reason that we didn’t do this in Alabama is because the epoxide is very expensive (about $300 for 25 g.). We did a small scale reaction with a couple of grams of epoxide and everything worked fine so we did a larger scale reaction with 25g, and thing worked fine again(our yield was about 18 g. (less than 50%), but still not that bad). We knew that we would need a lot of it, so we decided to do a very large scale reaction with 50 g. of the epoxide. I figured we would get somewhere around 40 g. of the iodohydrine, and you can’t imagine the feeling I had when we finished the workup and only had 15g. I don’t even have words to describe the feeling. This was about a 20% yield, which meant we had lost about $480 worth of starting material somewhere between the beginning and the end of the reaction. Besides the monetary cost, it was more than half of the epoxide we had ordered, and it took over a month for it to get to Japan, so we can’t even get more before I leave. We have managed to recover a bit more but we are still only have about 25g. and have little hope of getting much more from the reaction. We have enough Iodohydrine for the chemistry here, and I guess we are just going to have to figure out the rest when Gabi, Yamamichi, and I are back in Tuscaloosa.

That was not the only thing that happened this week. I started the recrystallization of another new imidazole before I left last weekend, and when I got back, I was amazed to see some huge crystals. They are probably the largest ones that have ever come out of one of my recrystallizations. I was very excited (this was before the iodohydrine incident), and I couldn’t wait to take pictures and post them. I then talked to Dr. Arduengo and learned large crystals usually still have to many impurities still. Smaller, whiter crystals were better, and I would have to break up my pretty crystals and do another recrystallization. I was going to do that till I had all the trouble with the iodohydrine.

I finally got to the recrystallization Friday morning, and to my surprise and almost disappointment the new crystals were as big, if not bigger than the first ones. We had to start a reaction with it so we didn’t have any other choice but to use them. I just took some of the large crystals out and to use, and we will see next week whether nor not the crystals were good. I was in the lab till after 12 trying to get the reaction started, but now that it is going, I am getting out of here. As I have mentioned before, there is a chemistry conference that is only in Japanese, so I am going on a little trip. This time, I have decided to go to Kyushu, the large island below the main island. There is a typhoon somewhere, but the forecasters can’t figure out exactly where it is going to go. First, they said it was going to hit the east part of Kyushu. Then it was the west part of the island. Now, it looks like it will be Korea or China. I am just going to take my chances and see what happens.

Till next time,

Josh

Fish, Fish, and more Fish

2006-07-04T13:07:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

It has been a while since I only talked about food, but last night I had another new experience. Sometime last week, everybody was talking about another party. I guess that some of the guys were having a big test yesterday, and afterward, everybody

was going to go out to eat. They came over and asked if I wanted to go and told me it was like yakiniku. I had so much fun when we had gone there I decided I would spend the 3,000 yen and splurge for the night. The time finally came to go to eat, and when we started driving, I realized we weren’t taking to same route. I asked the guy that was sitting next to me if we were going to the same place, and all he managed to tell me was something about fish. Fish isn’t my favorite food, but I figured they would have to have more than just fish.

When we got to the table, I started getting a little worried when I saw the large fish that was staring at me. I was informed that it was raw red snapper, or sashimi (sashimi is any type of raw fish). I have always tried everything at least once, so I decided that I would do that this time too. The taste was not so bad, but I didn’t really care for the texture. I had a few pieces with soy sauce and even had a few pieces with wasabi. I knew that the wasabi had to be pretty bad because as soon as I agreed to try it, the table was almost silent, and when I finally took the bite, everyone started laughing. It wasn’t that bad, but I didn’t find anything too special about it.

Next, there was more fish. They kept bringing out more and more plates throughout the night, and many of them were fish. There were two different kinds of fish soup, and one dish was fish with “special sauce,” which had the consistency of mashed Jello. I wouldn’t even try that one once; that or the dish that the described to me as a mixture of bones from the sashimi, but I tried the rest of the food. There was some shrimp in little patties and fried that was ok. I really enjoyed having the chicken and spaghetti even if it was cold. We finished with some fish rice.

I thought that we were done with dinner because the waitresses had started taking the plates away. Then they brought out a big plate of fruit. I was so excited, because I only ate a few bites of most of the fish dishes. We all started eating at the fruit and I found one type of fruit that I had never had before. It was a small, brown piece of fruit that had a thick peal on it. We were all talking about different fruit and the differences between Japan and the United States. Then one of them say that I had eaten a grape, peel and all. He told the rest of the and they all assured him that he must be mistaken. None of them could believe that I would eat grapes with the peal still on it. One of the guys even tried to get me to stop because it was so bad for me.

I got one last surpise as we were walking out. There was a man with a fish net over the aquarium. I asked one of the guys about it, and they just told me that what is how they serve the fish so fresh. They keep it in the aquarium till they have to kill it. Oh well. It ended up being a great time for everyone. I would still rather go to the yakiniku place for 3,000 yen, but I was glad that I did it at least once. I have to go get back to the chemistry.

Till next time

Josh

Omi-Jima Island and Akiyoshi-dai

2006-07-02T11:30:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

Today has been a very busy day. It seems like this morning was a very long time ago. The day started off at 5:45, because I decided that I would go back to sleep for a bit when the alarm went off at 5:30. I got up so early because I had wanted to see Omi-Jima Island for sunrise, but when I got up and it was raining, I decided to wait a while before I left the hotel. I got up and planned the day all out so that the same thing wouldn’t happen as yesterday and checked out of the hotel by 6:20 and headed over to the bus station. I had planned to walk the 30 min to the bridge to the island, but I found out that there was a train that would go almost the entire way for only 160 yen, so I decided it was worth it because the train was going to leave around 6:30.

When I got off the bus I headed the short distance to the dock on the mainland where the sightseeing boats left, but found that the first tour didn’t leave till 8:40 so I decide that I would look around the dock and the island to see what I could find. I felt like Darwin exploring the Galapagos Islands because I found so many new bugs that I had never seen, and some of them were about as big as iguanas. On the dock, when I was looking around, I saw something out of the corner of my eye which at first I thought was a cockroach. It was out of sight but I soon found that the entire dock and anything near the water had tons of these ugly little bugs. The most unusual thing to me is that they were out in the middle of the day. I then headed over to the Island, and on the way I found some kind of bird. I am not sure if it was a hawk or an eagle, but they were all around too; at one point I stood in one place and counted 14 on the ground and on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. After I crossed over to Omi-Jima, I found some spiders that I admit scared even me just a little bit. They were almost as big as tarantulas, and very brightly colored. I walked a little bit further and saw what I thought was a crab, but it got away before I could get a good look. I started around the rock pile it had run into, and found some more, but I knew they were not crabs because there were no claws and it didn’t even look like they had a shell. I was just another really big bug; one was bigger than a tarantula.

After I had walked for almost 45 minutes, and realized I was not going to get to the rocks I had wanted to see, I started trying to find a bus. I found a bus stop and after staring at the timetable for a while, I realized that the bus would be coming by for the only time that morning in just a little bit. The bus pulled up, and the bus driver, trying to be helpful tried to find out where was going. I had the hardest time explaining to him that I just wanted to ride the bus and look around. Finally he gave up on trying to understand and continued his route. At the next and final stop of the route, a school girl that spoke some English got on and we went through the same thing again for about another 10 minutes, but she was finally able to understand and explain it to the diver. On the way back to the mainland (it was already 8:50), I explained that I wanted to go on the boat, but later I wanted to go to back to the Island and I asked if there was a different route that went to the other part of the island. She explained to the bus driver and he smiled and nodded, and he changed his route little to take me back to the dock, and when we got there, he made a list for me of all the time that the bus for the other would stop at the dock. I am very thankful for their help even thought I never actually took that bus.

I walked over to the dock the dock and bought a ticke

Sandan-kyo Valley

2006-07-01T10:45:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Well, I got up early this morning to start off a really busy day. I wanted to get up because I had to get the first bus to Hiroshima. I knew from looking last night that I would miss the first bus to Hagi, but I was pretty sure that I could make it to the second bus which would put me in Hagi early in the afternoon. It was 6:30 and I knew I had a bit of time to pack, and then make it to the bus stop sometime around 8. I packed one change of clothes and decided that I would check and see the exact time I had to be at the stop. I looked at the timetable I had from two weeks ago, and realized something very disappointing. Even if I took the first bus to Hiroshima, I would miss the bus for Hagi by 15 min. I would have to take the next bus and I wouldn’t get there till 7:20 pm and I would have missed out on an entire day. This was not good, but there was not too much I could do about it.

I got to the station, and decided that even though I didn’t really like the idea, I would have to go to Sandan-kyo Saturday instead of Sunday. The reason that I didn’t like this is because I had seen the coolest pictures of Omi-Jima (about 10 min from Hagi) at sunset. If I went tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to stay till sunset, but I couldn’t lose the entire day. I found the bus for Sandan-kyo, and I only had to wait 45 minutes. I got on the bus and mad the two hour bus ride, while it was raining on and off the entire time. This weather made the bus ride very nice. The trip was through the mountains of Japan with the clouds and the fog surrounding the mountains. For the last part of the trip, the road ran next to the river. We finally got to the end of the line (my stop was the last one) and I got out and found a tiny town where probably only a few hundred people live, but not a person in sight. I finally found map with pictures and found the where I was compared to the waterfall. I got to the head of the trail, and found a sign with a circle with a line through it. I know that in the US that means don’t enter, but I couldn’t read the sign. I hoped it meant something else here and walked past it. I later found out that it said no cars beyond this point.

I started walking and I found that because of the rai

n, the river had been flowing much faster than it usually did. I was noise was almost deafening. It was a bit frightening because the little bar that was there to keep people from falling in, was about a foot tall, just tall enough to trip me, and if I would have fallen in, there would have been no way that I would have ever been able to swim in the river because it was flowing so fast. I would have been really fun if there was a raft though. They did have a boat that went to down the river, but the water was flowing to fast so it was closed for the day.

Almost an Entire Month Gone, Only One Month Left

2006-06-30T21:33:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Time has really been flying. It is now the end of my fourth week in Japan and my time here is halfway over. We have been very productive this week. I have gotten much chemistry done, even though I have spent a ton of time on the computer trying to figure out how to see the rest of the country in four weeks. So far, it is not looking like I will be able to see the entire country, but I am going to see as much as I can. I have also been trying to decide whether or not I really want to l put Windows Vista (beta) on my computer. I already got Office 2007, and I am using right now because with this new version, I can post straight to my blog from word. Pretty cool.

This week has flown by, but we have gotten much accomplished. We have started on a new mesityl, and I think that I will be a pro; I have done so many (it is actually only my third). They are getting easier, because the procedure is almost the same for all of them, and I had already done the reaction a few times before I got here, and Gabi taught me well.

We started another small scale reaction for a different alcoholate, and this one is a better because it takes about half the time of the other one. A disadvantage is that one of the reagents is air sensitive, and I didn’t make a note of that when I watched Gabi to the reaction. This time I forgot and pretty soon I had a big mess because it was absorbing all the water from the air. But it is not a mistake that I will make again. We just started the workup, and should be able to finish it the beginning of next week. Hopefully everything will still work, I have my fingers crossed.

The most exciting thing was large scale reaction that we started of the same alcoholate reaction we have already done. There is nothing big about the reaction, but because of the air sensitivity issue we had with the other reaction, we decided that it should be started in the dry box. This meant I got to work in the dry box for the first time ever. For those of you who done know what I am talking about, a dry box or glove box is a sealed container that is filled with N₂ and we use it to work with air sensitive materials that come in contact with any O₂or H₂O. I have seen Gabi working in the dry box a million times, but I have never actually done anything. All I did was some measuring and I put a reagent in the flask, but it was still fun for me. Yamamichi had to do the rest because it was working with syringes, and I don’t think either of us wanted me doing that (one hole from the syringe in the gloves, and the entire thing would have been ruined).

I have decided on my plans for the weekend. I want to start my heading to Hagi, and then rent a bike and go to Omi-Jima Island and hopefully see it at sunset and maybe at sunrise if I am lucky. I think that on Sunday I will go to the Sandan-kyo Valley and see the Sandan-kyo Falls. They look really nice from all the pictures. I have all the bus routes so it should be pretty easy.

Just an Update

2006-06-27T18:23:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

Note: Sorry that it has been so long since I updated the blog, I have been very busy. As you will probably notice I have backdated the last two entries to when they were from, instead of when I actually got time to posting them.

Since I got back from the trip last weekend, almost all of my time has been spent in the lab. We started out the week by finishing all the purifications from the week before, and then started one of the alkylation reactions. This is a bit exciting for me because the molecule is finally starting to become more complex. And if you squint and look at in just the right way, it is starting to look like one of the target molecules. The only problem is that these reactions take FOREVER. Or at least forever from me. This one actually takes almost an entire week. And to make it worse, we only have the equipment to have one of these reactions going at a time.

To keep me from getting bored Yamamishi (in Japan people mainly go by their last name), decided we would do another reaction to make some starting materials to do a different alkylation. I didn’t mind, the procedure was very close to the reaction that I have now done at least five or six time so I though “oh, piece of cake.” I will get this done in a little over a day, and then have some free time. By the end of the second day of purification, I was starting to get a little frustrated, but I don’t give up very easily. I did get worried till I told Dr. Arduengo what we were trying to do and he told me that they had always had trouble with this reaction. He helped us get it more pure, and then Gabi and Dr Arduengo. told me that the melting point of our compound is below room temp. so we would never get crystals, and be able to keep them cold enough to filter and wash them. Oh well, I learned a good lesson this week.

It started raining Thursday night and has been raining off and on since then. It has been very nice; accept for the times when it has been pouring while I walk home. I started looking around trying to get a picture of while it was raining, and I found a spot in the chem. building where I can see the place where I am living. You probably have to zoom in too see it, but it is to the upper left of the pond.

(click to see large size)

It stopped for a bit on Saturday and I decided that I’d better get my laundry done before it started again. I put on my last clean pair of socks that morning, so I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer. I figured it would be exactly like doing it in my dorm but I was wrong. First, there were about seven or eight choices in vending machine, and all I wanted was a little package of soap. They were all little boxes with only Japanese words, so I am still not too sure if it was soap that I bought. Washing the clothes went fine, but the drying didn’t go so well. I put the clothes in the dryer, and came back 30 minutes later to find the dryer had stopped and the clothes were still soaking wet. I learned that for 100 yen (about a dollar) you get ten minutes of drying time, but most of the Japanese people have little things to hang their clothes outside. Well, I didn’t have a way to hang them outside so they have been all over my room, and the clothes I put on this morning were still damp. Oh well.

Sunday came and it was raining again. I thought that I told the guy I went to church with that I wanted to go again, but I waited out in the rain for 20 minutes and Decided that I must have been mistaken. I tried to call him that morning, and realized that I still don’t know how to make the phone work. I had the number, but I pushed every button, and never got a dial tone. I talked to him later that day and he said that he didn’t even go that morning. Later in the day, I went to the Yukata festival. A Yukata is a kimono that girls wear in the spring. I didn’t think many people would be there because of the rain, it was actually pretty big. There was a stage with bands playing, and there were tons of little booths selling all types of food. I actually had some kind of Egyptian kabob, and it was great. Inside they had displays of photographs and calligraphy, and there were some people performing inside as well. There was a magician, a person juggling, and someone balancing spinning plates. All-in-all, it was a pretty good time.

Well, I guess that is it for now, hopefully I will have enough time that I will be able to make more frequent updates.

Till next time,
Josh

PS I am still trying to figure out what to do this weekend, if anybody has any suggestions or any thought, please feel free to tell me. Right now, I am trying to decide on one or two of the following:

Those of you that know me know I always have trouble making up my mind so tell me what you think.

End of the Weekend

2006-06-19T08:49:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

I know it hasn’t been very long since the last time, but I finally made it to church. I though I would make a quick entry and tell you all about it. Last night, after I got back from Hiroshima, I called the American guy that I met last week. He said that it wasn’t too late to get a ride in the morning. I went out this morning to go meet him by his dorm, and to my surprise he was already at the door. I turned out the person giving the ride had to be there earlier that Brian thought.

We got to church, and the moment I walked through the door, I knew this church would be a little different. Just like at the entrance to my dorm there was a big rack for shoes. I was told that I could use slippers if I wanted to. I later found that that most of the Japanese people just went bare foot or in socks. The service was on the second floor of the service, and after I filled our as much of the guest card as I could, I made my way up there. Soon, the singing started, which was kind of awkward, because even the songs that I recognized, I couldn’t sing along with because they were in a different language. Once the preaching started with the translations, everything seemed normal, or at least am much as could be expected. I had taken my Bible, and so I could follow the outline that had been translated and read the passages my Bible. Since it is Father’s Day, the message was about how God is our Heavenly Father, but does many things that an earthly father does like corrects us when we are disobedient out of love.

Following the service every week they serve a meal, and because it was my first time, it was free for me(it is usually 200 yen). It was noodles with something in it, I am still not sure exactly what it was. At first I thought it was some kind of meat, but it didn’t taste like anything I had ever had before. There was some type of powdered something that all the kids were pouring on the dish and at first I thought, “Oh, I should try it even though I don’t know what it is, because if the kids like it, it must not be too bad.” Instead I asked Brian, after studying the bag for a bit, he told me that as much as he could figure it was powdered squid. I politely passed when they latter asked if I wanted any.

Later that afternoon I decided that I would go to YouMeTown. I got the idea that it might be easiest to learn the symbols of Hiragana and Katakana the same way the kids do, with little books where you trace the letters. I found the ones with the simple math and with the reading, and after about half an hour, I finally found the right one. I got that book, a notebook, and a Japanese-English dictionary. We will see how much I use them. After I pick up some groceries, I headed out, but not before picking up dinner. I thought that since Subway was so good yesterday, I would try McDonald’s today. I walked in an after minimal had gestures, I managed to order a No. 1, exactly the same as back home. I got back to my room and couldn’t wait to try it. I tasted exactly the same; I think they must use the exact same ingredients for the fries and the bun, and even the meat. And the best thing was that it didn’t cost that much more than in the US. Well, I better get to bed, I got in late last night and the weekend is when I am supposed to catch up.

Till next time,

Josh

Josh goes to the big city (just click on any picture to make it bigger)

2006-06-17T22:29:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

I finally went to the out on my own. Today, I went all the way to Hiroshima. Many people, like me, probably thought that Hiroshima University is in Hiroshima itself; actually it is in Higashihiroshima which is about 40 miles to the east of Hiroshima. And without a car or any other means of transportation, it was time to take a little trip on the bus. Besides the fact that I have used the public bus system very little even in the US, most bus drivers know little to no English, so I thought that just the trip to get to Hiroshima would be very interesting. Well, there was trouble from the very beginning.

I had a list of stops and times from Dr. Yamamoto. I picked the one that I was told would be right in front of the dorm complex because it should have been the closest, but then I couldn’t find it. When I finally did find it, I realized that I didn’t know which side of the street I should be on(there were two stops right across the busy street from the other). None of the Japanese symbols looked like the ones for the stop that I was supposed to be at, so I decided to cross the street, and hope that there aren’t any jaywalking laws in Japan aren’t enforced like in the US. I finally got to the stop after being stuck in on the median for a bit due to traffic, and then, by pointing at the paper and hand gestures that was indeed at the right spot to go to Hiroshima. After a very quiet bus ride (I think talking on the bus must be against the law because I didn’t there a word spoken for the entire 50 minutes) it was time to get off and pay. I had been told by an American that the bus ride for this trip was exactly 1000￥ so though I would just give the diver a 1000 yen bill, but I thought wrong again. I first had to get change and then put the coins on a little conveyer belt, and the bus diver managed to get out that the fair was only 800 ￥.

I was now off the bus and on the third floor of the Sago department store, and let me tell you, when they make a department store in Japan, they really make a store. The size of each floor is only a bit larger than in the US. The difference is that there were ten floors. I knew that there was an English book store in some part of the store, I just couldn’t remember exactly were it was, but after wandering around the closest three floors, and having little luck, I gave up on finding it.

I decided that I would first go the castle, and save the best, the peace park, for last. I was soon reminded of the safety of Japan when I walked outside and saw two kids that were probably seven or eight riding there bikes down the street of downtown Hiroshima (pop. 1.1 million). I passed the art museum, which would be for the trip back and ventured into the underground walkway. It seems that instead of having the pedestrians cross the street, at busy intersections they just make a tunnel to walk below the street. I came out on the other side right outside the castle walls. I read the little plaque telling about the castle and walked decided to explore the surrounding neighborhood. I found what I thought was a huge temple and took a few pictures before heading back to the castle to look inside. There was a little man inside, and like many other places, I had to take off my shoes before looking around inside. On the plaque it said that 10,000 soldiers were stationed at the castle at one time, and while I was looking though these two small building, I couldn’t figure out how 10,000 could fight from this small place let alone life there.

After leaving I decided to look around on the other side and see if I could get closer to the temple I had seen earlier from far off. While walking around the mote that protected the castle, I saw that many coy live in the mote along with many turtles. I finally got back to the base of the “temple” and read the sign that said “Hiroshima Castle” and then felt very silly. I had been looking around the outer walls and fortifications before and “huge temple” was actually the castle. After walking around the huge interior and the five levels, I could see how 10,000 soldiers lived there. I was not allowed to take any pictures of the inside museum part of the castle that told about the construction of the castle and the history of the castle and the samurai that had once lived there. The construction and engineering was quite fascinating. The castle, against the advice of many, was built on a silt island between two rivers. This made for a great defense but an interesting engineering challenge which was overcome over four hundred years ago. And in the four hundred years that followed, the only thing that could destroy the castle was an atomic bomb.

Next, I went to the Hiroshima Museum of Art. I know very little about art, but I had even heard of the very famous painters in this surprisingly large collection. I really liked the painting of Millet, Pissarro, Monet, and other Impressionism painters. I even the pictures they had from Renoir, Seurat, Cézanne, and van Gogh were very nice, but I still have trouble appreciating Picasso. One of the galleries in the main building and the entire second building was for Picasso and a few other abstract artists. I stood and stared at the pictures for a long time like the rest of the people trying to figure out what was so special about them, but I couldn’t figure it out. If there are any art lovers out there that can explain their appreciation for abstract paintings, please help me out here.

After wandering around the museum for a couple of hours, I decided it was time to find the peace park. After getting lost for a bit, the A-bomb dome came into view. This building was formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industry Promotion Hall, and was almost right below the place where the atomic bomb went off. Due to the fact that the bomb produces waves of destruction, the ruins of this building were left standing, unlike many of the surrounding neighborhoods. The building has been left exactly as it was after the bomb went off. It is right across the river from the peace park and the bridge in the shape of a “T” that the used as the guide for the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb.

After walking across the bridge I walked into the peace park and to the place there paper cranes are collected. I remember in elementary school reading the book of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It told the story of a girl who was suffering an illness caused by the radiation of the bomb. She was told that if she could make 1,000 paper cranes, she would be healed of her illness. She spent every day making cranes, but died just short of the 1,000^th crane. Now people from all over Japan and all over the world bring cranes in memory of her and the others that died either directly, or from the side affects of the bomb.

I then made my way to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. It is a round building that is completely under ground. From the front doors, visitors immediately after receiving a guide enter into the main hall. A ramp leads around the main hall, and along the ramp, there are different facts about the Hiroshima before the bomb, facts about the destruction, and facts about the city since. In the center is the Hall of Remembrance. The upper portion of the walls is a 360^oview of the city from the hypocenter. The picture is made of 140,000 tiles which is the estimated total number of victims that had died by the end of 1945. On the lower portion of the walls are the names of the neighborhood in 1945. The lower the name is on the wall, the closer to the hypocenter. As I left, I entered a room that just has monitors with a constantly changing list of names of victims that died along with their photos. After going up the escalators back to the top floor, there is a library where there are the tesimonies of the survivors along with their pictures and other photographs in their collection.

After leaving the Memorial Hall, I walled throught the rest of the Peace Park. One thing that surprised me, was the large number of tourists that were speaking English, which was a change from university where even the people that are from the US mostly speak Japanese in regular conversation. Another surprise were all the groups of older Japanese people that were visiting the Peace Park. I wanted to save the best for last and visit the atomic bomb museum last. Unfortunately, I had waited too long and just missed the time that they shut the doors. I guess I will just have to go back sometime before I leave.

Since I had missed that, and still had a bit of time before I wanted to head back to the bus station, I walked to the Shirakami-sha Shrine, which turned out to be a small empty building that looked very out of place next to the rest of the high rises that surrounded it. The only activity at all was a small Japanese woman that walked up as I was reading a plaque in from. She only paused for a moment an made a slight bow and then hurried off as fast as she had come. I learned from the plaque that was outside the shire was built on the place on the reefs where the signal fires used to be lit to keep ships from running aground on the reef.

I soon realized there was very little to see here so I decided that I would just wander around the city. It didn’t actually cross my mind at first that maybe I shouldn’t just wander around in a big city, where I didn’t know my way around, and I could talk to anybody and ask for help in the event I did get lost. That thought only entered my mind when I started walking around a huge mall, and came out I realized that I had come out the wrong way and I was just a little lost. After wandering around a little more, I found the a place that I never expected, a Subway restaurant. I walked in and got my 15 cm. turkey breast sandwich just like always, and amazingly it tasted exactly like the ones it get back at home. It was the perfect end to a great day.

I then just had to get back to the bus station before I got stuck in Hiroshima for the night. I wandered in the general direction where I thought that the Sago department store and after a bit, things started to look more and more familiar. I made it back to the third floor and the fear hit me again. With 15-20 different gates at the station, it happened to be the one place where everybody was rushing around, and I didn’t see anybody around that could help me. I finally found something at one of the gates that said Hiroshima International University, and the first person I tried to talk to spoke English pretty well. He told me that this was in fact the place to get on the bus to go to Higashihiroshima. He told me that was the bus that he was talking and he would tell me when to get on(it turned out that there were many routes that used that gate, and a different bus would pull up every five minutes, and only per hour would take me back). For some reason the bus did not stop at the place at the top of the hill where I got on, but I got off at the university and was happy enough just to be back somewhere familiar. I know that I went on forever and that is probably enough for you and for me.

Till next time

Josh

Great weekend

2006-06-12T20:38:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Well the busy weekend is finally over, and now I am back to the week so I can take a rest. I wish it would have lasted a little longer, but that's how it always is. And there is always next weekend. Saturday was actually pretty uneventful.

Then Sunday came and all the people from the lab were in a softball tournament. There were so many people from the wanted to play, they had one entire team, and then some of the people had to go with other groups in on two other teams. For those two of the teams, the tournament didn't go so great (they got out after the second round), but for the third team, they ended up making very far and came in third. I bet that probably 95% of the people in the lab were on one of the teams. Even Dr. Yamamoto's son got in on the fun and scored once. I have mentioned it before, but I think I will mention the atmosphere of the game again, which is completely different than most sporting events in the United States. Instead of the competitiveness and trash talking that I am used to, there were just a bunch of kids that wanted to have fun. Half the time, when the batter got up to the plate, he would bow to the pitcher and the pitcher would bow respectfully back. And of course I have to say something about the food, which was nothing out of the ordinary, accept they there were some chicken nuggets, and rice balls. And the rice balls are wrapped in sea weed with a nice surprise in the middle. When I first saw it, I thought "oh, a cherry, that is weird, I have never had anything sweet in my rice." And then I tasted it and realized it was a pickled cherry, which has one of the most unusual tastes. I have decided that I wouldn't particularly care to have one again any time soon.

This is the group picture from after the games

It was a day of a lot of fun, and a lot of sun. I am so sunburned after being out in the sun all day. All day, if I touch my nose or my cheeks, for five minutes after I am asking myself why did forget sunscreen because it burns for at least that long. It is kind of funny because it has broken the language barrier a little. I know exactly what someone is saying as soon as someone points at my face with a smile on their face. I just smile back and say, "I know, I know."

One more thing on the subject of food. I am thinking about changing the title of the entire blog to One Summer of Eating in Japan, because that is all I talk about, but that is one of the most interesting things for me. And when I eat three times a day, there is at least something new at one of the meals every day. But this has to top them all so far. After the game, I guess for a victory dinner of sorts, we went out for Japanese bar-b-que/buffet or "yakiniku."

I don't even know were to start. There are regular tables, but where we sat, you take off your shoes and sit on little mats around the table. In the middle of the table there is a little charcoal grill. You order, and they bring out plates full of raw meat (still no raw fish), and then you get to put in on the grill yourself. They have all kinds of vegetables and every kind of meat (beef, pork, chicken, meatballs, pepperoni, sausage), and it is cut every way possible (thin and round, little cubes, thin rectangles, and then some is just randomlys liced). After it is grilled, you put dip it in miso sauce or soy sauce, and eat it. It is all you can eat meat, and rice, and soup, and ice cream. I wish there was something like that where I live because it was so good and so much fun. The only thing that I hesitated about was the fact that you use the same chopsticks to put the raw meat/chicken on the grill as you use to take the food off the grill, which are the same ones you eat with. There is nothing even to wipe them off on and since each plate is closest to one person, that person cooks that type of meat for everyone. I thought for sure I was going to get sick with food poisoning or something, but it has been 24 hrs. and nothing.

I finally got back to my room and started watching Gladiator, my favorite movie ever, and fell asleep halfway through. I woke up though bright and early very disoriented. At first, I thought I must have overslept and someone was shaking me to get up. I then thought did I leave the door unlocked because how else someone could be shaking me. I then thought wait, I think it is the bed that is shaking and I wanted to know who was shaking my bed and why they had barged into my room without knocking. When I was sat up I realized it was just an earthquake. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, but I decided since no one was moving around outside, I might as well go back to sleep(the thought that it might be bad no one is moving never crossed my mind). When I woke up a couple of hours later, I tried to figure out if it was all just a dream, so I turned on the TV to listen to the news, and guess what. I still couldn't understand Japanese so it did very little good until they showed many clips in a row of different security cameras shaking and no armed robbers or anything. I came in and found out on the internet it was a 6.2 quake and the only person that got hurt was an 82 year old walking a dog in Hiroshima.

That was enough for one weekend; I have to see if I can top it next weekend, I am thinking about going out of town for the first time in Japan. Wish me luck!

Till next time,

Josh

One week in

2006-06-08T09:58:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

Well, today is one week that I have been here, and I am really starting to like it. The chemistry stuff is about the same, and I have none of the stress of trying to do the school stuff at the same time. I can communicate with most of the people in the lab and get by without talking to others. And my biggest fear is all but gone.

The thing that I was most scared about when I got here was the food. A neighbor said that all I would be able to eat was "raw fish, raw fish, and more raw fish." This gave me much concern because both of the times that I tried sushi, I could barely swallow one piece. I thought that I would come back looking like a starving person that had just been through a famine. The first day I got here, I went to the cafeteria for my first meal, and had some chicken curry. It wasn't the greatest, but I thought to myself, at least I won't starve. As it turns out, since then I have not had the curry again, and I have not had the same thing twice (besides rice, which I have had for every lunch and dinner accept two). The most surprising thing is that the curry turned out to be the worst thing here. I am beginning to like the food here better than the great "Fresh Food Co." back in Alabama.

A couple of days ago I had some of the best chicken I have ever eaten. It was seasoned like a grilled chicken, but much moister. I have eaten chicken most of the time, but am starting to even move away from the wide variety of ways to serve it. Yesterday, we went to the cafeteria, and I asked someone what one of the items (which appeared to be some kind of breaded chicken to me) was and I thought he said pumpkin. I thought to myself, he must just be confused, or I must not be hearing him right, so I asked again, and the reply was the same. I decided that I would be adventurous and try whatever it was, and guess what. It was pumpkin, for the main dish. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was great. The miso soup and had some tofu in it, but I am even beginning to thing tofu is ok.

For dinner, we went out to a Japanese restaurant for the first time. It had a big 24 hrs. sign on the top so I guess it is something like IHOP (just no pancakes). The menu was very different than one from the US. The menu was one that folded up like I am used to but on each flap was one type of meat at the top of the column. Under the main meat down the page was each of the different pictures of ways to have it (topped with cheese or some kind of red vegetables or green vegetables with egg). Then you just had to choose the sized (small, medium, large, or extra large). I chose the pork and almost had the green vegetables and egg, like one of my friends, but decided on cheese instead. We called the waiter over, and in about two minutes, he brought out our steaming food (I got the meal with some kind of salad and miso soup). I then realized that the egg was raw and was very glad that I had chosen the cheese. The meal was so good, I could eat there every night (it is just a little too far though), and my entire meal was 430 yen or about $4.

Well, that is enough talk of food for now; I am starting to get hungry.

Till next time
Josh

Fun Chemistry

2006-06-06T17:12:00.000+09:00

Caution: what you are about to read could quite possibly bore you to death unless a large part of you is a nerd.

Hello All,

Well, if you didn't think that it could get any more boring, it just has. I think I will talk about chemistry because that is all I have been doing all day. Yesterday we started our first reaction since I got here(the rest of the time I was just sitting around playing on the computer and posting blogs(and getting ready to start)). This reaction was to make mesityl imidazole, which was not to special to me because we did the same reaction a couple times last September.

After we started the reaction the real fun started. The rest of the guys (and girls) in the lab were making chromatography plates, which would usually be a pretty boring job. But not here. They were having so much fun, I decided I would try my hand at it for a bit. What you have to do is measure out the silica and then mix it with water by shaking it in a flask. I don't think I have ever seen anyone shake anything as hard as they were shaking the silica gel. I tried my best, put my whole body into it, but it was never enough. At least everyone, including me, was having a good laugh at my poor attempts to shake this little flask. Then you have to quickly poor it into a mechanism that allows the gel to be pored across the pieces of glass evenly. That was the easy part and I managed to do it with very few laughs. I let someone else spread it out, because I didn't want to mess them up, but as soon as the gel get spread out over the plates you have to rush in and pick them up and start banging the on the bottom so that you can get all the imperfections out before it dries. Again, the laughs started as I was not hitting the piece of glass hard enough. I was afraid I was going to break it, something that one of the guys next to me did. Well, after trying a few times, and messing up at least two or three plates, I decided to leave it to the professionals.

When we came in this mooring we had to finish the work up from the reaction that we started yesterday and I had another first. Even though the reaction was the same, the work up/purification was very different. The workup included doing a chromatography column, which even though it looked pretty easy, I still managed to make a few mistakes. To do a chromatograph column, all you do is put a piece of cotton at the bottom of a tall skinny piece of glass tubing and then pour sea sand on top of that, then silica gel (the same stuff as in the chromatography plates), the more sand, then the mixture you are trying to separate, then more sand and then a bunch of solvent. The idea is that gravity will pull the different compounds in the mixture down at different speeds due to the fact the layers of filters will slow each compound down differently. You then separate the solution coming out the bottom and test each one to see if it is the product that you are looking for.

The picture on the left is before we added our stuff was added, and the picture on the right is most of the way through the process, you can see the different solutions we separated out in the different flasks.

Just a little Scare

2006-06-05T17:31:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

Well, the weekend is now over, and, as usual, I got very little done. I did figure out some computer things and managed to get to the store by myself, but I didn't learn Japanese as I had hoped. Maybe next weekend.

I am still a little to scared to travel too far by myself so I stuck to the lab (for internet), and my room for most of the weekend. I did see the Constant Gardener, with was a pretty good movie. It was the only one out of the many that I didn't see while I was one the plane (mostly because I know that I could watch it later).

The only thing of any interest that happened this weekend was last night. In case you don't know, in Japan, Sunday is the main "holiday" as they call it. Most things are closed and nobody is out. This also meant that the people in the lab that help me get around stayed home. I have a key to the lab so I came in to check my email since I had nothing else to do. I also wanted to get something set up so I could have church services recorded so I could watch/listen to them sometime (there are very few Christian churches and I haven't found one that has services in English). After I had messes around with that for a few hours, I decided to go home and watch a movie at about six. I went back to my room and stuck the key in the door just like always, and I heard the key, just like always and turned the handle, but the door was still locked. After trying about ten times, I started to get worried, but I am persistent so I tried another ten or so before I gave up. Luckily there is Japanese student that is here for two months and I went up and asked him for help. He came down and couldn't get it to work either. He asked if I had paid the bill, and I really got scared because I hadn't talked to Dr. Yamamoto and to figure out everything yet and I hadn't paid anything. We went down to the main desk in another building, but it was closed because it was Sunday and it was after six. I started trying to figure out were I could sleep for the night, maybe on the floor of the lab or something. But then he found a number and called someone (that only spoke Japanese) who came and they talked for a while and it started looking hapless. Then the manager called someone else and finally he got the master key and unlocked the door. And as soon as he opened the door, the key started working again. After that I took a five minute bath(I was afraid to look the door again), ate my butter and jelly sandwich, watched my movie and went to bed at 10:00 dead tired(I still don't think I am completely over the jet lag). Well that's about it and I have to get back to chemistry.

Till next time
Josh

Eating in Japan

2006-06-04T14:50:00.000+09:00

Eating in Japan

Hello All,

Since I got here, eating has been one of the biggest adventures. Just trying to figure out what is what is one the biggest problems for me. When I was looking up the school on the internet, they showed pictures of a display case with at least what type of meat in English. I thought with that, everything was going to be ok, until I talked to our next door neighbor. She lived here for eight years and said that the only thing to eat is raw fish. I am not a huge fan of Sushi so that kind of scared me.

Then when we first went to the cafeteria, that was what most of the things were. But this was at lunch and I hadn't eaten since I got off the plane so I would have had just about anything. I ended up getting the curry and rice with a salad. It was ok, not too great, but not too bad, except the salad. I put some sesame seed dressing on it and it is hot and sweet at the same time. My taste buds didn't particularly care for that. But I had seen McDonald's(the same just with smaller portions and a bit more expensive) earlier that morning and decided if it got too bad, I would just have that for every meal(and then make a documentary if I gained any wait , I even thought of a clever name, "Supersize Me"). That night we went back to the cafeteria and I had chicken with rice and something almost like ranch dressing on my salad and I thought I was in heaven. Food that was really good and it only cost me 400 yen (about $3.50).

Then yesterday, for lunch we went to the cafeteria and when they were telling me what everything was, on of the things they said was hamburger. You would not believe how excited I got. It turns out that it is kind of like meatloaf, but still not too bad. I just found out though from our friend that used to live here that it might have been kangaroo. Oh well.

It was Saturday so everyone went home early and I was left by myself trying to figure out what I was going to do for dinner. We went to You Me Town (something like Wal-Mart) on Friday so I decide I would go over there, because that is where I saw McDonald's. Anyway I walked over there, passing a few restaurants because I knew that I could never order by myself. I walked in and started looking around and found that there were a few things that were familiar, even if the writing was in Japanese. I found Kellogg’s cereal like Frosted Flakes and Coco-Crispies. I also found snack foods like Doritos and Pringles (which were like $2.60 for the little snack size), and candy like Mentos and Kit-Kat that came in both the traditional chocolate and the unusual fruit flavor. The funniest thing though had to be the soda with "Made in America" in big letters. It just looked like some store brand of soda, but it seemed like something special. I think I am going to stick to good old Coca-Cola, which I have scene comes in a citrus flavor that I will have to try sometime.

Well, after I had wandered around the store for about an hour just looking, I decided I would get some Doritos, some Juice, and some doughnut. Then on the way out, I decide to get something from the bakery part of the store. Everything was freshly made from bagels to freshly made doughnuts (just more expensive than the ones I bought in the package). I decided on something that resembled pizza. It had crust and cheese and many vegetable (even corn) toppings, and then some kind of meat. I also bought something that was like a toasted sandwich (the students I went with the first time called it a bagel but it was not round) with cheese, tomato, and meat. After a short trip back to my room I found out that the food was actually really good. Who would have guessed I would have found food I really liked.

All this talk about food has made me hungry so I am going to go eat. I think I am going to try 7-11. I read online from another exchange student that they make good lunches (at least better than the US). We will have to see.

Till next time

Josh

My new home

2006-06-03T14:15:00.000+09:00

Hello all,

I am back, and had a few more minutes to continue about my trip to Japan. Well, I finally got to my room and found out some of the biggest differences from the United States. When I first walked through the door, I found out that you have to ware slippers in the building. You pick them up when you first walk in and there is a little shelf where you put your shoes (I guess nobody ever steels shoes). Anyway I walked up to my room and found even more interesting things.

The room was pretty small, I guess about the size of an average size for a dorm room, just a bit smaller than my double room in Paty. Inside I found a kimono for me, and I am still not exactly sure when I am supposed to wear it. The room has a pretty nice air conditioner with a thermostat; the only problem is that the remote is in Japanese. I got it to where all I have to do is set the temp and now I all I have to figure out is what a nice temp in Celsius is so I don't have to keep turning it off. There is no real storage space accept a small metal locker, but I managed to fit all my clothes in as long as the kimono is not supposed to go in there. I also found out that they leave you a fresh kimono and fresh sheets if you change them and leave the old ones outside the door.

As I mentioned before, there is no internet line so I think there will be little to do in my room besides DVDs that I brought. A TV was provided, but of course, only Japanese stations with Japanese words. I was trying to look the menu to see if there was a way to change it to English but since the menu is in Japanese I have had very little luck. I got really excited when I found news from the BBC and when I was flipping through the channels and even more excited when Condoleezza Rice came on in English. Then two seconds later it was dubbed over in Japanese. Oh well. I did find that I can download the news in the lab, video from ABC and audio from NBC (they won't let you download video outside the US).

The only thing else worth mentioning is the bath room. There is a urinal like usual, but the toilet is a squatting one (I am not sure exactly how to use it, but I found a regular one in the chemistry building). Also there is a tub, and on the door there are a few instructions. The sign says:

1. Don’t touch the gas knob
2. Hours for taking a bath are 1800 to 2100
3. Make sure you wash and rinse yourself before getting in the tub
4. Leave the plug in because someone else might want to use the water after you are done.

I am still trying to figure it all out. That’s enough for me today.

Till next time,
Josh

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

2006-06-02T06:45:00.000+09:00

Hello All,

After the months of waiting and preparing I am finally in Japan. Hopefully I will be able to keep the journal updated even thought I do not have internet in my new room. And hopefully I will not go insane from not having easy access to the internet for two months.

First, I will start with the trip over here. I was pretty uneventful, but still interesting as it was the first time for me to be traveling overseas. From El Paso to LAX was just as boring as any other plane trip that you could think of. I got to LAX and had to show my passport more times that I ever thought I would while I was still in the country. Then I got to the gate and realized that probably 90% of the people that I would be traveling with were Japanese, which was not a problem, I just assumed there would be more Americans on the plane. After I got on the plane, I found out that there would be plenty of entertainment for the trip over, but I don't know what I would have done for such a long trip without it. There were five or six movie channels and then about the same number of music channels, and all the movie channels just had the same movies that just repeated over and over (I think I was watched almost every single one), and then there channels with a camera out the front of the plane and one with a map of exactly where on the globe we were. We also got two meal good sized meals on the trip. I was going to be adventurous and try the Japanese food on the plane, but I decide that I would stick with western food as it might be the last time for any for a few months.

Nice view from the plane outside Salt Lake City

Something that was interesting was the route that we took. About ten seconds after we took off, we were over the Pacific Ocean, and I assumed that there would be very little to look at so I stopped looking out the window. Then about an hour later I looked out the window and to my surprise, we seemed to be over land, and it was as far as the eye could see. Then I looked at the camera pointed out the front of the plane and it showed water. Then I looked at the map and we were going straight north. I felt the urge to go tell the pilot that Japan is to the east not north of LA, but I resisted. As it turned out, I guess the pilot decided to take the scenic route to Japan and we ended up flying over Alaska and then nearly over Korea before coming back south to Japan. When I we finally landed I had to go through customs and everything which was actually a lot more simple than I thought it was going to be.

My first look at Japan
(and the first look a something besides clouds for about 10 hours)

I then had to figure out the train system. I found out how nice the Japanese people can be in trying to figure it out. After looking lost for a while a man came up to try to help me. He spoke English very well and even said that he had been to NM once (of course abq.). He then told me that I would have to wait for a little over an hour to get on the train. He said that he would help me get it changed, and said he would go with me to the train office while his friend watched out bags. My American instinct kicked in and told me not to trust him and definitely not let his friend watch my stuff while I was away, but they were big bags so I resisted the urge. To make a short story even shorter, he helped me get to Hagasi Hiroshima an hour soon than I would have and my bags were just fine. He even helped me on the train because part of our rides overlapped.

I finally got to my stop after changing trains a few times and falling asleep many more. I got finally met Dr. Yamamoto after talking to him many times only through email. We took a short trip (in his hybrid car), where the only thing that was interesting was trying not to freak out every time he turned into the left-hand lane. Well, I don't want to go on forever this time, I'll tell more about the room I am staying in my next post

Till next time,
Josh

Pics of the Planes and Trains
Just click on the pics for a biger size
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(if you really want pics of the automobiles just ask)

Plane 1 (El Paso to Salt Lake City)

Plane 2 (Salt Lake City to LAX)

Plane 3 (LAX to Osaka, Japan)

in train 1(aiport to main station in Osaka)

This is the city of Osaka, where right next the the high rises, there are rice fields.

Train 2 (Osaka to Fukuyama)

Train 3(Fukuama to Higashi Hiroshima)

That's all Folks!