Holiday time!

(This post is a day late; I meant to put it up yesterday but forgot. I've been in Kyoto 2 nights now but I'll write about that later!)

This is my first update written on the shinkansen! (not posted since there’s no internet, but that’s just a formality). The trains are one of my favorite things about Japan. It’s so easy to get anywhere across the country and to get there in style. I love it when those Nozomis pull into the track; so sleek and beautiful and once you get on the ride is so quiet and smooth despite the fact you’re going over 100 kph! Japan is also a really great country to see by train, as its quite an eclectic yet beautiful mix of lush green mountains, quaint towns full of rice fields, and expansive cities. I was definitely impressed with the European train system but I think the Japanese railway system rivals it in both quality and connectivity.

Monday was my last day in the lab. I didn’t realize how sad I would be! My lab experience has been really great and everyone I worked with was great. I cleaned up my desk and bench (especially sad since I have neither of these back at UF…), sold my bike back to the same store I bought it from (3800 yen for a summer “rental” is a pretty decent deal), and gave a seminar on my results. I also gave the lab some framed pictures from my trip as a way to say “osewa ni narimashita.” That evening everyone came out to dinner at a yakitori restaurant. We had some amazing chicken (even gizzards and hearts!) and some great side dishes as well. Miyakawa-san also picked out some great sake to go with my meal. The lab also gave me a really sweet card and Dr. Iguchi’s family gave me a beautiful mug. It was a great way to say good-bye to everyone! A few of us also went to karaoke afterwords, we did some AKB48 and Madonna (of course!) and had a blast. Another late night for me (1:30 AM sleep…) but thankfully I was packed and my larger suitcase was shipped to the Narita airport that afternoon (so I didn’t have to carry it around this week)

In the morning I cleaned up my apartment, made sure I had all of my stuff, and took the train bound for Nagoya and then got the Shinkansen for Tokyo there. I relaxed for a while in Tokyo and talked to some of the other JSPS-ers there before grabbing lunch at a convini with Peter and Mel. We then had the closing ceremony and presentations. JSPS-ers from all of the groups (US, UK, Germany, France, and Canada) gave presentations on their summer experience. I’ll avoid making comments in regards to the presentations, but let’s just say I was a bad kid and sat in the back with a British guy and we passed notes to each other J We had one last dinner as a group with TONS of great food and a chance to talk to new and old friends. Then the group had one last karaoke session (my third session in five days!) and then I spent some time with a few Americans drinking beers and chatting.

Even though it was another late night, I got up at 7 on Wednesday to get to Tokyo station to get the Shinkansen for Hiroshima. It was a 4-hour train ride and I wanted to make sure I got into town early enough to see everything I wanted to. The ride was relaxing, I got to sleep for a while and watched some Blackadder on my laptop. By the time I got to Hiroshima and checked into my hostel it was around 1:30. I realized, however, that I needed to convert my last USD to yen and decided this would be the best time to do it when the banks were sure to be open. The hostel people told me where some banks were and as I got there I realized I had no idea how this was going to work! I walked in and saw there were desks with numbered signs and people waiting in couches, and I quickly realized that I wasn’t just going to be able to walk up to a counter like in the states. Fortunately one of the employees ran right over and I showed her my $20 and told her I wanted to exchange. I then got a number and after a couple of moments was being helped by one of the clerks. It was a rather long process (much longer than the airport) but in the end I succeeded in my goal and was on my way to the Peace park.

Hiroshima is a big city (about 1.5 million people) but the main area for tourists is not terribly big, and I was able to walk there from my hostel in about 20 minutes. At the north end of the Peace Park is the A-bomb dome, the only building near the epicenter of the bomb that was standing after the blast. After walking around the dome and thinking about what it meant, I explored the rest of the park. It was beautiful and full of memorials to those lost in the bombing. My favorite was the children’s memorial, which was made in part of the memory of a young girl who died of Leukemia. When she got sick she decided to fold 1,000 paper cranes because of a legend that if you do so you will get one wish. This memorial is full of brightly-colored cranes that people continue to bring in honor of her and the other children who lost their lives.

My last stop in the Peace Park was the museum. The first half of the museum was mainly dedicated to a history of Hiroshima, the wars leading up to World War II, and how the US came to the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. It was really well-done and I learned a few things that I didn’t know about the bomb and why America made the decision. The second half was much more intense, as it focused on the aftermath of the bombing, most notably those who died and how they died. There were some harrowing photos of burn victims and intense descriptions of the sicknesses that people got from the fall-out. What really did it for me was towards the very end where they had a display dedicated to the young girl who died of leukemia (see previous paragraph). I had heard of her story before but to see her picture, read about her life before and after getting sick, and seeing some of the cranes that she had folded herself made me almost lose it. After this experience I sat on a park bench for a few minutes, thinking about the girl and war and the decisions we make as countries and as individuals. It was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in a long time.

After metaphorically catching my breath, I walked to the castle and the surrounding park. The castle wasn’t too exciting (I’m kind of over castles…) but the garden around it was nice. By this time I was pretty tired and sweaty so I went back to the hostel to shower and relax. For dinner I went to a tapas restaurant that was recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. I had some sangria, some excellent tapas, and black squid ink-flavored paella. Not a bad way to end my first day of holiday!

On Thursday I took a day trip to Miyajima, a small island in the inland sea. It was a 20-minute train from Hiroshima and then I took a ferry from near the train station. The main attraction of Miyajima is a really cool shrine that is right on the shore. At high tide the waters surround the shrine so it looks like it’s floating. As with every shrine, you have to enter through the torii (gate), and this shrine’s gate is actually free-floating and it’s out in the bay. Historically, people who wanted to visit this temple had to enter by boat after going under the floating gate. Now there are other gates so people can walk to the shrine, but the giant, orange floating torii is still there. I got there just as low tide was starting, so there was no water around the shrine and you could walk out quite a ways towards the gate; at its lowest you can stand under the gate. The shrine and its torii are absolutely beautiful and even with low tide the ocean provides a lovely backdrop. The quiet little island is also full of tame deer, which just kind of makes the whole experience a little more interesting.

From a small park, I took a hiking trail to the summit of Mt. Misen. It was only a 500 meter climb over 2.5 km of walking, but it was INTENSE! Lots of huge stairs and the humid weather really wore me out. I took a break about half-way up, but once I made it towards the top I was so glad I did it! The view of the sea was breathtaking. I sat up at the top and ate lunch (there was a small restaurant there, of course) and enjoyed the view before making the epic journey back down. It was a lovely hike but my calves are not happy with me today J By this time I was pretty tired so I went to a nearby temple to sit and relax in for a few minutes. By 4pm a lot of the crowds were leaving, but I knew high tide was at 7:30 and I wanted to stay to see the water get closer to the shrine. I’m really glad I did because I got some amazing photos of the torii floating in the water and got to relax by the quiet beach as the crowds had dissipated. All in all it was such an amazing day and was definitely one of my favorites here in Japan. After a shower and some relaxing I had Indian food (what?? I needed a break from Japanese food…) and then slept like a pro.

Day 3 of my holiday and I’m heading back to Kyoto. There are some temples and maybe a garden on the north side of the city that I’m going to try to see today, and maybe the castle garden if I have time. Tomorrow I’m making a day trip to Nara and then Sunday I’ll go to the west side of town where there is an amazing bamboo garden and some more temples. Can’t believe my stay in Japan is nearly over :I but I’m glad for these few days to do more exploring before going home!