whoooohooooooo!!!! so I'm finally caught up! so i will try to go into more details as it is fresh from today, although i may be numb from all the typing to try to catch up.
This Morning we had a pleasant surprise of meeting back up with Nobuo for breakfast and he all had a traditional Japanese breakfast at the diner we met him at... Even better to prove this guys' integrity and unmatched kindness, he bought all of our meals... Seriously what a fantastic guy!!
we then headed to Kyoto by train which took awhile and met up with another super awesome possum guy named Tomoya... He works at a okonomiaki shop... he was off work so he came with us and sat down with us... It was awesome, the middle of the table was a flattop grill and they fried our stuff right in front of us! Tomoya was super animated and such a blast to be around! we headed our separate ways after eating and ran around kyoto until we got to a pretty famous temple/shrine in which i kinda got lost and cost us quite a bit extra time. P.S. Tyler and Sam bought me what is called an "Ohni" mask, which translates to Beast... just ask me sometime and i will show it too you.. just a few hours ago we got to the nielsons and have been chilling with them, enjoying the fellowship of yet another one of Sam's frinds... well goodnight to all, and hope you don't go into overload of my random babblings... you may just get stupider by reading my blog.. :-)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Osaka the amazing
So we woke up and headed straight to Osaka! with a bit of bribing, Tyler talked me into spending like 25$ to go into this museum...for the record it was probably the coolest thing... not ever, not even my top 5...but just stinking cool!!! i took like 1.5 gigs of video and pictures of it...i seriously made my day!!! we meandered around for a bit and had lunch...and then we went to the Umeda tower that evening. We watched it for sunset, went inside for coffee and watched the city turn to night life. We then went back to the top of the lookout and had a great view of the city!!! we then went to stay with the Trims, a Kaufman family friend that is a missionary here in Japan. we cashed out pretty early and had a big day ahead of us (aka today)
sorry for the short notice and extremely short and choppy posts... I'm trying to catch up... :-)
sorry for the short notice and extremely short and choppy posts... I'm trying to catch up... :-)
whoops, day before the hiroshima and military base...
ok so i totally skipped a day, the day before that, we went to miyajima, an island ...we literally went to this island and saw the Torri gate (spelling), a shrine, and we ended up hiking in the mountains and had lunch with the deer. we sat around munching our food while two little deer while they were super friendly to us... we don't know why though... :-) we had quite a bit of time left in the day...so we hopped onto the shinkansen (the really fast train) and headed down to the south island to get some famous hakata raman...(and for Sam to say that he made it off the Main island of Japan). so we went down there and hung out for a bit... We came home to the Mcdonald house and had super and a super chill evening, discussing life, careers, spiritual issues and the like. it was pretty awesome to say the least.
First leg of the trip, to the McDonalds
So we previously stayed up super duper duper late with Essie and Abby, spending as much time hanging out, because we knew time was short... We played Donkey Kong and sat in the kitchen laughing and carrying on. We woke up early that morning (8am) and headed to Hikone Castle, it was super awesome, words cannot describe... If I were a Shogun Lord, i would totally take that castle over anyone that we had seen so far... so many traps, tricks, and just plain good defenses... P.S. funny side story, i bought an umbrella with a handle of a ninja sword hilt...we thought it was going to rain that day so i toted it on my back the handle sticking out... I got a tons of reactions from everyone! most people laughed, most kids said cool in Japanese, and we all heard many whispers of "ninja" nearby...i felt pretty sweet to be honest... so early afternoon we hopped on the train again and headed to Iwakuni to Meet my friend's (Ben and Maggie Browning) parents (who I have never met before).... So funny story, I met Ben and Maggie literally like 2 months ago, and they heard I was going to Japan, and were said that I should go and stay with their parents and to hang out with them...so we did... we stayed 2 nights with them..and they were an absolute RIOT!! incredibly gracious hosts! we got off the train and they took us to see the iwakuni castle (like the 5th castle we have seen on this trip... and still just as cool!!) we saw the legendary Iwakuni bridge, which back in the day was only a crossing for Samurai....so of course we played a game of Samurai ninja or ninja as other people know it.... and saw Iwakuni White Snakes, and some other things... They were sooooooo happy and ecstatic to have us there... We soon found our that Bill works on a military base teaching kids in the school. They said that most Americans on base stayed inside the base and didn't travel outside it much and all around had a negative outlook on life... so it was refreshing for them to have four young guys with high energy and great lookouts on life! we had an absolute blast to say the least with them...They took us out to the Chicken Shack, (despite the name, it was incredibly upscale and nice) it was way up in the mountains and a completely different feel and atmosphere to it. it was awesome to say the least...we came home with the McDonalds and had hot chocolate and cookies and brownies for the evening... we went to bed then..
the next morning we got to tour the military base for the morning, we went to Bill's classroom and met his physics class, saw the video editing class, and headed to the food court...in which we ate Subway and Burger King for lunch...it actually threw my system for a loop as I am now used to non-greasy, non-American food... we then took off at 11am and headed to Hiroshima... We went to the Peace Museum, Peace Park, and the Atomic Bomb Dome. Talk about mixed feelings, an American Military Base in the morning, in which all the people don't go outside the Base and have a negative outlook on live in Japan...and the Afternoon in a Museum in which shows that Japanese's side of the Atomic Bomb being dropped. It really put a new perspective on the use of the Bomb. It blatantly said a few things about America that is not published in our textbooks or said...but if you read into it, could be interpreted. It also focused mainly on the tragedy it caused and why disarmament should be done and not used anymore. It really was interesting and you have to go there to get the feel of it. It was sobering to say the least. we also walked around the park and saw the memorials from the different countries of people that died by the bomb. I was thankful to be there and experience the museum.
the next morning we got to tour the military base for the morning, we went to Bill's classroom and met his physics class, saw the video editing class, and headed to the food court...in which we ate Subway and Burger King for lunch...it actually threw my system for a loop as I am now used to non-greasy, non-American food... we then took off at 11am and headed to Hiroshima... We went to the Peace Museum, Peace Park, and the Atomic Bomb Dome. Talk about mixed feelings, an American Military Base in the morning, in which all the people don't go outside the Base and have a negative outlook on live in Japan...and the Afternoon in a Museum in which shows that Japanese's side of the Atomic Bomb being dropped. It really put a new perspective on the use of the Bomb. It blatantly said a few things about America that is not published in our textbooks or said...but if you read into it, could be interpreted. It also focused mainly on the tragedy it caused and why disarmament should be done and not used anymore. It really was interesting and you have to go there to get the feel of it. It was sobering to say the least. we also walked around the park and saw the memorials from the different countries of people that died by the bomb. I was thankful to be there and experience the museum.
Next post
New Years days was super super chill...we went to church and hung out all day and went to bed early.... a well deserved easy day...
So the day after was actually Sunday, so we went back to church and after our church service we traveled to see the second largest Buddha in Japan. It was interesting to see how other people worshiped.... that is to say the least...we have visited many many shrines and it seems to all be the same...its traditions, that are followed almost blindly, because that's what has been done in the past. once again for supper some of the Kaufman friends came over and made us YakiSobu, P.S. the food here is AMAZING!!!! later after supper i made good enough friends with their kid Ise that he gave me 4 of his beloved pokemon cards! i felt super honored!! so later we had several snowball fights and ended up lighting off fireworks before seeing them off for the night.
since this is short, I'm going to do a few more days on here :-) basically each paragraph is a day...
ok so this was one of the coolest things i have ever done...we went snowboarding... on the biggest mountain (that is snowboardable) in the Mid region of Japan... It easily blows away by far anything in the entire Midwest...to be honest, probably the Midwest combined.... it was soooooo awesome!! I hung out with a Japanese kid my age named ryyunoske! he spoke very very little English and i spoke very very little Japanese, but we had a blast despite our language barrier!! towards the end of the day we all headed up to top and sat for a little bit as we watched the starting to set on the snow covered awesomeness... there was a few inches on the branches and the light glistened off of them, there was even a rainbow from where we were sitting..seriously it made the top five nature scenes i have viewed firsthand...absolutely gorgeous... so then we snowboarded to our resort fulfilled and left for home pooped, tired, and worn out.(yes i do realize they all mean the same thing).
the next day we took it pretty easy, by this time a Kaufman Friend Nobuo came and spent the night...and we woke up to him making us breakfast...seriously this is one of the coolest and nicest guys i know!! we went to a giant second hand/thrift shop and did some looking and exchanging of good that were previously boughten there. We went and ran around Toyama and went to an old park the Kaufman kids used to romp around on in their wittle bitty days... they relived some of their child hood memories running around like monkeys on slides and monkey bars. We arrived at home with yet another meal made for us foreigners while the Kaufman family went out for dinner and to be alone as their family... the house was oddly quiet, and I kinda didn't like... for that time, I missed the Kaufman family... We packed all of our stuff and prepared for our insanely busy trip... good night to all
So the day after was actually Sunday, so we went back to church and after our church service we traveled to see the second largest Buddha in Japan. It was interesting to see how other people worshiped.... that is to say the least...we have visited many many shrines and it seems to all be the same...its traditions, that are followed almost blindly, because that's what has been done in the past. once again for supper some of the Kaufman friends came over and made us YakiSobu, P.S. the food here is AMAZING!!!! later after supper i made good enough friends with their kid Ise that he gave me 4 of his beloved pokemon cards! i felt super honored!! so later we had several snowball fights and ended up lighting off fireworks before seeing them off for the night.
since this is short, I'm going to do a few more days on here :-) basically each paragraph is a day...
ok so this was one of the coolest things i have ever done...we went snowboarding... on the biggest mountain (that is snowboardable) in the Mid region of Japan... It easily blows away by far anything in the entire Midwest...to be honest, probably the Midwest combined.... it was soooooo awesome!! I hung out with a Japanese kid my age named ryyunoske! he spoke very very little English and i spoke very very little Japanese, but we had a blast despite our language barrier!! towards the end of the day we all headed up to top and sat for a little bit as we watched the starting to set on the snow covered awesomeness... there was a few inches on the branches and the light glistened off of them, there was even a rainbow from where we were sitting..seriously it made the top five nature scenes i have viewed firsthand...absolutely gorgeous... so then we snowboarded to our resort fulfilled and left for home pooped, tired, and worn out.(yes i do realize they all mean the same thing).
the next day we took it pretty easy, by this time a Kaufman Friend Nobuo came and spent the night...and we woke up to him making us breakfast...seriously this is one of the coolest and nicest guys i know!! we went to a giant second hand/thrift shop and did some looking and exchanging of good that were previously boughten there. We went and ran around Toyama and went to an old park the Kaufman kids used to romp around on in their wittle bitty days... they relived some of their child hood memories running around like monkeys on slides and monkey bars. We arrived at home with yet another meal made for us foreigners while the Kaufman family went out for dinner and to be alone as their family... the house was oddly quiet, and I kinda didn't like... for that time, I missed the Kaufman family... We packed all of our stuff and prepared for our insanely busy trip... good night to all
Major major catch up time!!!
ok, so i realize that i am WAY!!! behind! so i am going to post each 2 days as a post, so it's not one ginormously long blog, so you can skim them easier and skip all the bad parts. :-)
anyways so after our huge day of snowboarding and skiing at Hopp-one, but we woke up really late and had lunch with the Kaufman neighbors, they made us Udon and brought it over to the house. They were super cool! the one thing I have found out about here in japan is that the people here are EXTREMLY kind to foreigners, as long as you are polite as well :-) .... all the neighbors had been quarreling about who is going to be making us dinner when. Also we have met soooo many people here just because the Kaufmans said they were having American friends in...Seriously, if you know what the Sauder house is like in America (people constantly in and out, a central hub of Social madness), it's just like that except in Japan. So we took a good rest because at 5pm, we hit the slopes again!!! we did a night ski from 5pm - 9pm.... it was amazing! i got to hang out with one of Sam's friend named Takkuya. He was a crazy and very very outgoing individual! he even jumped off the ski lift into a giant pile of powder with Essie and Abby (don't tell their parents thought) :-) during our break, i realized i lost Sam's ipod he so willingly entrusted me with on the slopes, it had fallen out of my snow gear. At the end of the trip, i had concluded that Takkuya was very very ornery, and my point was proven on the way home. He offered to buy me and Sam drinks from the vending machine, but he only gave us two options. Atsui or Sumui (spelling may not be right) basically hot or cold...(i didn't know the difference and he wouldn't let sam translate for me) so we both ended up with hot drinks and i was thankful.... ....until i tasted it... I got sweetbean soup in a can...i nearly choked with disgust when i tasted a chunk in my mouth...it literally was bean soup with beans....gross.... Sam received a pancake flavored drink, and Takkuya bought himself a Corn Soup... we went home and crashed big time.
New Years Eve was a pretty fun day... we strolled around and went to a Raman shop and got a few anime rentals for the evening because someone *cough* *cough* (Abby-chan) wanted to pull an all nighter... we spent the day meticulously and methodically planning our week long insane traveling trip all over the rest of japan (which I am currently on and which is why i have failed at blogging.) I literally have been so tired that as soon as we get to our host home, we shower and crash, only to take minimal time to facebook and email people. that evening we had more people come over and made us some pretty sweet Tempura food..and oh boy was it phenomenal!!! we started to settle down and watched and anime movie when we realized that it was nearing midnight...so we turned off the movie...why would we turn off a movie nearing midnight you ask? because we had to do the Kaufman (kids) tradition for New Years... ... ... jump into the Sea of Japan with our swimsuits!!! so we all got ready and ran the distance to the beach and waited until midnight and jumped it...it actually wasn't that bad... although it was nuts that there was about 18" of snow on the beach.... what a day....
anyways so after our huge day of snowboarding and skiing at Hopp-one, but we woke up really late and had lunch with the Kaufman neighbors, they made us Udon and brought it over to the house. They were super cool! the one thing I have found out about here in japan is that the people here are EXTREMLY kind to foreigners, as long as you are polite as well :-) .... all the neighbors had been quarreling about who is going to be making us dinner when. Also we have met soooo many people here just because the Kaufmans said they were having American friends in...Seriously, if you know what the Sauder house is like in America (people constantly in and out, a central hub of Social madness), it's just like that except in Japan. So we took a good rest because at 5pm, we hit the slopes again!!! we did a night ski from 5pm - 9pm.... it was amazing! i got to hang out with one of Sam's friend named Takkuya. He was a crazy and very very outgoing individual! he even jumped off the ski lift into a giant pile of powder with Essie and Abby (don't tell their parents thought) :-) during our break, i realized i lost Sam's ipod he so willingly entrusted me with on the slopes, it had fallen out of my snow gear. At the end of the trip, i had concluded that Takkuya was very very ornery, and my point was proven on the way home. He offered to buy me and Sam drinks from the vending machine, but he only gave us two options. Atsui or Sumui (spelling may not be right) basically hot or cold...(i didn't know the difference and he wouldn't let sam translate for me) so we both ended up with hot drinks and i was thankful.... ....until i tasted it... I got sweetbean soup in a can...i nearly choked with disgust when i tasted a chunk in my mouth...it literally was bean soup with beans....gross.... Sam received a pancake flavored drink, and Takkuya bought himself a Corn Soup... we went home and crashed big time.
New Years Eve was a pretty fun day... we strolled around and went to a Raman shop and got a few anime rentals for the evening because someone *cough* *cough* (Abby-chan) wanted to pull an all nighter... we spent the day meticulously and methodically planning our week long insane traveling trip all over the rest of japan (which I am currently on and which is why i have failed at blogging.) I literally have been so tired that as soon as we get to our host home, we shower and crash, only to take minimal time to facebook and email people. that evening we had more people come over and made us some pretty sweet Tempura food..and oh boy was it phenomenal!!! we started to settle down and watched and anime movie when we realized that it was nearing midnight...so we turned off the movie...why would we turn off a movie nearing midnight you ask? because we had to do the Kaufman (kids) tradition for New Years... ... ... jump into the Sea of Japan with our swimsuits!!! so we all got ready and ran the distance to the beach and waited until midnight and jumped it...it actually wasn't that bad... although it was nuts that there was about 18" of snow on the beach.... what a day....
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