a trip to Hiroshima prefecture, and some thoughts.

at our classroom in Arida, we don't have summer vacation, so I decided to take August 5th-8th off to go to the Chugoku and Kyushu regions. (as it happens, we decided to take a week off for vacation anyhow... so no class this week!)

from the 5th-7th I stayed in Hatsukaichi city, Hiroshima. it's about a half hour train ride to Hiroshima city. I got to Hiroshima city by bus at 4:30 am on the 5th. then I went to a manga cafe and slept for 2 hours, and got washed up, etc. (the combination of night bus and manga cafe is a great trick for time-and-money-wise people travelling in Japan :)

then I went to my hostel in Miyajima, Hatsukaichi and right at 9:30 I went on a kayaking tour to Itsukushima shrine. along with Kinkakuji, it's one of those famous Japanese sights you have probably seen in a calendar.

I returned on the night of the 6th... because the ferry there and back was only 300 yen!

well, obviously the main reason I wanted to go to Hiroshima was to pay my respects to all the people who suffered during August 1945 and many years after at the hands of the American army. it was quite moving to stand at the ruins and think about the past. 

this is one of Hiroshima's famous sights, the Genbaku dome. people gathered here for peace rallies and to display origami cranes.

It was beautiful to see so many people in one place, all wishing for one thing, world peace. there were people from all over the world there. One thing I was really happy to do was float a paper lantern on the river, at 6pm. 

my wish was to overcome what Canadians have done to the Japanese in the past and live in peace! the atrocities of war are something we mustn't forget. 

all of the lanterns and the people watching made a lovely sight. (taken with my SLR)

after going to the genbaku dome and before returning in the evening to float my lantern, I wandered all over Hiroshima...

went shopping

 found some interesting parts of town...

 hiked up a small mountain

 through a small wood with some crazy trees

to the other side of the mountain

Hiroshima is a beautiful city and prefecture... hopefully I'll be able to return someday :)

it's too hot and this is how I deal with it

yes... too hot. too, too hot.

but this is normal for japan in july! I sometimes ask my students if it's humid today... they always say "no, it's pretty dry today. just really hot." well dang, it feels humid to me. still nothing compared to june/july humidity, I suppose...
whatever.

I don't care because I found a fun and economical way to cool off (fun and economical ways are the best ways). there is a river in Kanaya (still in Aridagawa town but 30 minutes by bike inland) which is fun to go swimming in.

and I recently got a GoPro (an underwater sports camera), so I made the following video for you.

just so you can see exactly how awesome this river is!

enjoy.

tanabata, shirahama (a deja-vu moment)

Tanabata
the Japanese summer wish-making festival, based on a japanese folk tale.
Make a wish by writing it on a coloured piece of paper, and tie it to a bamboo stalk on or before July 7th. on the evening of the 7th, we burn these bamboo stalks in the hopes that the smoke will carry the wishes to the stars. my wish was to live permanently in japan, but days later I wanted take it back and wish not to sweat so much. do you have any idea how hot it is here? when I walk out of an air conditioned room, it is like walking into a sauna. anyhow... my wish is made and that's that :) I guess I'm doomed to be sweaty forever in japan!
at the classroom we did wishes in english with the kids. for the younger ones we had them write what they wanted to be when they grow up.

this little boy wants to be a dinosaur.

(I do, too.)

the finished wish tree

after that, I had to burn the wishes. gladly... I will burn these wishes... hee hee

As a certain N. Furtado would croon, fire to ashes, all good things come to an end, amiright?

the next day (july 8) we went to shirahama and I got my swim on.

we did some sightseeing! shirahama is a delightful little summery town

this is where I had a deja-vu moment. exactly 3 years and 11 months ago I came to this spot with Machiko and some others. there was a shop there giving out kombucha samples. I drank the same kombucha given to me by the same man as 3 years and 11 months ago. it was a complete trip. my only regret is not wearing the exact same outfit (pants and t-shirt, which would have been too hot anyhow)

by the way, this is Tatsuya--he used to teach at the JEC in van.

he's staying at our classroom for 1 month to help out and learn how to be an english teacher.

It's humid here. (HOW HUMID IS IT?)

Wow. Really humid. The rainy season isn't quite letting up yet. I'd give it another week or so..
Today i was in Wakayama city for my chat box lessons, and it rained until about 3, and then stopped. In the office we had the air conditioner on "dry" setting, so it felt very, well... Vancouver. And when I noticed it had stopped raining (even the streets and sidewalks had dried up), I decided to open the window and stick my hand out... you know, for science.
I stuck my hand out and it was like being sprayed by a water mister! I withdrew my hand and was like holy bejeebus, my hand is practically wet... It was weird though. Probably on account of the rain, it wasn't that hot today, maybe 21-23℃. It was just... clammy. Yeah, that's the word for it. I'll have to write that down.
Right now I'm going home by train, which is obviously air conditioned, but after that I will ride my bike through the lukewarm, clammy sauna and back home.

osaka again 笑

hello all.. I'm doing quite well here in aridagawa. it's been getting quite hot recently. today it's 27℃ although it will be getting a lot hotter in the weeks to come. in osaka and tenri it's 30℃ today =＿= ｼﾝﾄﾞｲﾖ
 I am still having fun teaching the kids in aridagawa and my class in wakayama 3 thursdays a month. I may start another job a couple times a month. it would be tutoring high school kids at Machiko's friend's juku. ganbare! p(~ o~)q

last weekend i went to osaka again. there was an event at Konohana grand church so I went from the 22nd to the 24th to help and prepare for it. me, Machiko, and Robert (from the JEC in vancouver) stayed there 3 days and 2 nights. even though i'm not tenrikyo, tenrikyo people have always gone out of their way to help me, so i'm always happy to help them back :)

on the evening of the 22nd i went out to check out osaka station but all the shops were closed so i just strolled around for a bit. osaka station is on the opposite end of the city and it took me 30 minutes to get there from teradacho station near the church, where we were staying.

on the 23rd i actually had some free time in the afternoon so i walked from the church to tennoji station. it only takes about half an hour to walk there, but it was SO hot that i bought two whole bottles of tea (so over a litre i think) and downed them both... I could have gone for another, actually haha.
it reminds me of when we were in europe in 2001 and each of us bought a 2 litre bottle of water to drink every day! I like japan's tea better though. it's just plain green tea, no sweeteners or flavour. none of that "green tea with pear, peach and acai" or whatever they sell in canada!

here is a shop, a women's clothing store i found in a mall near tennoji... oh dear. note to all namers-of-shops: urbandictionary is your best friend.

sooo sunday the 24th was the actual event itself. the event was the retirement party for the current head of the women's association, Konohana branch (tenrikyo fujinkai konohana shibu). the new head of the women's association for Konohana will be the current reverend's wife. 13 songs of the tenrikyo service were performed and then a bunch of women made speeches. after that there was lunch, tea, and door prizes.

all in all there were nearly 900 prizes... including a tv, and a bluray player!

this is the Yuho church minister.

this is me and a girl called Yachiyo who was the MC.

went to osaka and kyoto too. also, cake.

On May 27th, Machiko, Mr. Nakaie and I went to Kyoto. we went to the aquarium, Kiyomizu Temple, and Kinkakuji the golden pavilion. I have linked to a picasa album of photos.

On May 20th I went to Osaka with my student Shiro-san. we were going to see the Tutankhamen exhibit but the wait was 4 hours--so we went to see the kaiyukan aquarium... which is enormous... too bad, I really wanted to see the exhibit. oh well.

that night we had a party and I made some cake. Machiko's sister in law, Yoriko, actually brought vegan brownies for me too. so i had brownies and cake! there was actually too much cake, and some of it went to waste :( I'll try to post the recipe later.