I first saw the Ryozen Kannon. It is a Buddhist shrine, with a 24 meter tall statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Buddha of Compassion), that is dedicated do those Japanese who died in World War II. Additionally, at the shrine, is a memorial for the more than 48,000 foreign soldiers who died on Japanese soil, and in front of the shrine, is a place where one can leave incense to honor the death of the Unknown Soldier. Though I could have gone up into the statue, I felt that I shouldn’t (and it was too hot!). Behind the shrine are two “Buddha’s footprints”, carved into a great stone slab.

From there, I waked to the Yasaka Shrine. It is a Shinto shrine, that respects the Shinto deities Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Kushiinadahime-no-Mikoto, and Yasashira-no-mikogami. (Shinto mythology can get a little complicated, so if you don’t want to research who/what these deities are, that’s perfectly fine.) July is when the “Gion Matsuri” festival is held and when I visited today, it was during “Eki-jinja nagoshi-sai” which means “Citizen purification”. There was a long line waiting for the purification (if I am incorrect about this, please let me know), so from what I can tell, that religious tradition still exists.

From there, I walked down the Shoji-dori and up an alleyway to see the Nishiki Market.  It has been operating for centuries (though I couldn’t find out how many) and there are families who have sold goods there for many generations. I took some general pictures of the market, as there were stalls where they had signs indicating no photography.

From there I continued on and took a right on Karasuma-dori all the way up to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Grounds. Alas, I didn’t exactly do my homework and didn’t realize that in order to gain access to INSIDE the palace, I had to have had a reservation. Instead, I walked up the grand way to the main gates and took a few pictures along the way. These pictures looked probably somewhat similar to how someone, in the Edo period of Japan, would have seen the grounds.

After that, I walked past the Kyoto Manga Museum. I could have gone in and see the cosplayers in the mini-courtyard, but I didn’t think hard about it and I couldn’t take pictures for “commercial purposes”. While this site isn’t commercial, I figured it would be safer if I left my options open. So, I can only tell you that Japanese cosplayers make most international cosplayers look like they are playing dress-up.

Later on in the day, I went to Co Co Curry for dinner. Amazing stuff. It’s not Indian or Thai curry, but it was still delicious. It had two different kinds of meats and I really don’t know what they were, but they were good!

My day in Kyoto ended with me crashing out after drinking only one can of something called Chu-hi. It was grapefruit flavored, but it was STRONG!

So tomorrow evening, I should most likely post what I did here in Kyoto, and what I did in Tokyo during my stopover there.

Until the next post!

One would expect some sort of logic, when traveling a few of kilometers: take the bus or tram. I didn’t! I walked the roughly 3 km (about 1.6-ish miles) through almost 100-degree heat, with sub-tropic humidity. I got to see Nagasaki fairly well that way and I think I like 10 pounds on that walk alone! (I’m actually not sure, I haven’t weighed myself since Tokyo, on July 27^th)

The hot walk was in deep contrast to the cold child I received when I saw the Atomic Bomb Museum. I know I was walking in almost 100-degree heat and probably moved into an environment that was 25 or so degrees cooler, but it felt like it was much colder than that as I was viewing the museum.

I have seen some of the footage that was looping around the museum, from TV programs and an old film I saw in high school, and it was pretty grotesque. What I hadn’t seen before was the pictures of people who were turned into very charred corpses in an instant, or the bloody uniforms of workers and of soldiers who were peppered with small pieces of glass that hit them at high speed, after the glass was broken and forced through the air by the blast. As I looked at all of that, I felt sick and cold, which I think was a far worse form of embarrassment that I have ever experienced.

The museum put most of the shocking history of the blast at the very front and as I walked through the rest of the museum, it gave an overview of events from before World War I and through World War II. It doesn’t discuss the role that Japan had during World War II, but that wasn’t the scope of the museum, I think. The museum was, from what I can understand, for showing the horrors of atomic weaponry. Since there hasn’t been nuclear bomb used in battle since Nagasaki (as far as I know), I think that it makes sense the museum would try to explain why using nuclear weaponry should be illegal.

There are no pictures for this post; I didn’t think to take any while in the museum. It wasn’t until after I left that I realized none were taken and going back didn’t feel like an option, this time.

Nagasaki has become a bustling town. If someone didn’t know there was a nuclear blast there, and didn’t see the signs about the museum or Peace Park, they wouldn’t have any inkling of an idea that it had happened. A strong city, Nagasaki has become. And strangely liberal too, compared to the rest of Japan. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly like Boulder, Colorado, but I think that the comparison wouldn’t be completely incorrect.

There were many things that I didn’t do while I was in Nagasaki and I will need to go back to experience them. Compared to Tokyo, it does move at a slower pace: one that is strong and deliberate.

If I am not heard of in 12 hours, I’m okay just without internet.

See ya next post!

But, before I started that tour, I was walking to China Town to try a place for breakfast that we recommended to me. While walking, I came across the Spectacles Bridge, which was built in 1634 (yes, I walked across that older-than-the-USA bridge) but a Buddhist monk. It’s name was taken from the fact that when you look at the bridge, when the river is calm, it looks almost like a pair of spectacles.

The place I was going to, in China Town, was called “Tia”. The cost was a little higher than I expected, but I did get what I paid for.  They had a breakfast that was eggs, fruit, fruit juice, THICK toast (with preserves that are pretty much jellied pieces of apple), and a salad that I’ve never had before but I won’t hesitate to have again.

From there, I continued walking in the same direction (I have no idea what direction, streets don’t always (maybe never?) follow the cardinal directions) to find the Clover Garden, since they were close to each other. But, looking at the cost (500yen, about $5.50) and considering I’m fairly low on funds, I decided I’d pass on that one and head to Oura Catholic Church.

As I’ve come to expect now, I got lost trying to find the Church; eventually, I DID find it. As I was attempting to read a posted sign, my eye caught the sight of a restaurant. Usually that’s normal, but this was a little different: the restaurant was under a church! I don’t know what type of church, but there it was, a restaurant underneath. Those who live in Denver (or know of the place) know there’s a nightclub built inside of an old church. Strange how some ideas pop up, eh?

Oura Catholic Church is the oldest surviving church in Japan, having been built by French missionaries in 1864 and after it was built, “secret Christians” who had kept their faith during the ban on Christianity that lasted from 1614 until foreign interaction was allowed again in 1858 (though missionaries weren’t allowed back in until 1873).

Walking down the hill from where I saw the two churches, making my way to the Atomic Bomb Museum, I came across the former Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank Nagasaki Branch building, which was one of the first stone buildings with Western architecture in Japan. After seeing the old bank building, and while walking across a footbridge across a busy street, I noticed the Nagasaki Harbor and the many buildings on the mountainsides, so I snapped a few pictures (please see the gallery link below to see the picture of the bank and of Nagasaki Harbor).

Further up the major road I was following, I noticed a busy intersection near where I realized was Dejima. I snapped a few pics to show that even in a relatively small down (about 500,000) the town is still big and dense. And since I was close to Dejima (which was the specially built island where the Dutch maintained their trading port between Japan and pretty much the world.), I figured I’d walk around it to get a feel as to what it was like.  According to what I have heard, the city had grown around the artificial island and recently, they started (or did they just finished?) creating a small moat around it to make it an island again.

From there, I continued to head up to the Atomic Bomb Musuem, but I will talk about that in my next post.

To see all photos from Nagasaki, please see Japan – Nagasaki .

I walked to the subway station and made my way back to Ueno. I wanted to get there by 7:15-ish, to reserve my tickets to Nagasaki. I wasn’t sure it was going to be open, since I’m used to how it is in the States with offices usually opening at 8am. But, it was open and busy! Through some broken English, Japanese, and pantomime, I got my tickets: train leaving Tokyo Station at 8:33.

Since I was at Ueno, and not Tokyo Station, I went and got on the JR train to Tokyo Station, via the Yamanote line. As I was getting in line for the train, I noticed there were more people than I had noticed before. It began to dawn on me that I was hitting the beginning of rush hour. “Oh shit,” I thought. If I got packed into the train, there was no way I was getting out. Thankfully, I wasn’t packed into the train and was able to get out just fine.

I waited in the waiting area, near the entrance to the shinkansen lines (shinkansen are the fast trains here), until I saw that my train had appeared on the “soon to depart” board.  I got up there and went to a food kiosk that was open on the platform, bought a sandwich and a bottle of Georgia coffee.

While waiting, after getting food and drink, I saw a battalion of older women dressed in pink uniforms appear near the gates of the train that had just pulled in. After all the passengers disembarked, they all almost-ran in and starting cleaning. I have never seen cleaners move that fast before: sweeping, cleaning, emptying ashtrays, quick vacuum here and there, and cleaning the windows. When the train arrived, there was about 15 minutes until departure. When they were done, there were 5 minutes to spare for boarding, which was plenty of time for all of the passengers to board. Besides myself, I saw two other gaijin (non-Japanese, foreigner) waiting for the train.

We pulled from the platform on time, the train moving gingerly, and gradually coming up to about half-speed. First stop was not too far. The part I heard about Tokyo and didn’t understand is that the urban sprawl is HUGE. For about an hour (maybe longer), there was no break in “city”. Municipalities changed, I’m sure, but there was just city.  After that, the density was less and I started seeing fields. Soon after seeing fields, we passed by the life-sized replica of a Gundum! It was about five stories tall and seeing it, I could imagine many of those walking through an urban area or in fields. Sadly (thankfully?), the whole thing was made out of plastic and wasn’t operational.

The train pulled into Osaka about 11:39 and everyone got off (since it was end of the line).  I went to the shinkansen platform to head to Hakata, got a bento lunch, and we pulled away from the platform on time at 11:59. A stop or two down, a new passenger boarded and sat next to me, clutching a porn magazine. At the next stop, he moved across the aisle and I’m not sure why. The next stop after that, he had to move back because the ticket holder of the next seat showed up. Two stops after that, the passenger next to me got off and so did the ticket holder of the seat he moved to.

The train arrived at Hakata on time, at 2:39pm(yes, trains are always on time here) and I walked to the next train. The next train was not a shinkansen, but it was fairly nice: wooden floors, black leather seats, it was like a modified version of Californian fusion Japanese design, where the lines were more elegant than experimental (not that experimental design is bad). The train pulled away, on time, at 3:01.

While we were moving from the platform, I found out one reason why there was no shinkansen traversing the islands: the tracks are stable, but not smooth enough for high-speed travel. The other reason, I think, is that the train moves up and over mountains, so I guess the older slower trains have better torque.

Halfway through the trip, the tracks ran very near the coast and wow the Sea of Japan (sorry everyone from S. Korea!) is beautiful! Even though it was raining.

We pulled into the station at 4:55 and I hadn’t realized it, because while the shinkansen had some messages in English, the slow train didn’t and I was doing my best to follow and understand it and missed the last message. So when I saw everyone getting off I asked an attendant if we were at Nagasaki (“Nagasaki desuka?”) and we were. Whoops!

When I had walked through the station gate, out into Nagasaki, I realized my phone was gone. I was gone maybe 5 minutes and when I got to the “Lost and Found” they already had my phone! I really like the efficiency of JR Rail!

I had gotten turned around and didn’t know where to go (getting lost in this country is VERY easy for me, it happens DAILY), so I went to the information booth and found a nice woman who spoke enough English to help me and she told me to take the tram to a certain stop then walk a couple of minutes to get to the hostel. Funny part: when the stop came I think I pissed off the driver because I didn’t have my money ready and held up the train for a couple of minutes. When the machine gave me change when it shouldn’t have, he just firmly waved me out (I didn’t even pick up the change). I’m sure it won’t be the last time something like that happens!

After getting drenched walking for a bit, even though I was using an umbrella, I made it to the hostel, got checked in, and unpacked and started settling for the night.

Compared to the day before, this day was easy. Yeah, I had to travel, but at least I didn’t have a hang over.

Monday night, I ended up drinking with Jamie (hey man!), from the UK, until 4am. I was going to wake up at 9:30 that morning, so I could check out at 11am. Well, I woke up at 8 instead with an awesome hangover. I managed to get out of bed and check out at 11. But, I was still majorly hungover.

Around noon, another gal I met, Ali, from the UK, and I went to a tonkatsu shop (friend pork), which was really good. Halfway through the meal, my stomach was telling me “I’m gonna be sick!” so I slowed down for a few seconds, then it decided to flip-flop and say “just kidding! This stuff is good!”

After lunch, Jamie helped me get my JR Exchange Order turned into a JR Rail Pass and we tried finding an ATM that would work with my card.  I tried at two 7-11’s before I saw the sign that said that MasterCard was no longer supported. FUCK! So, decided to try Japan Post, as they have ATM’s.  Ends up that Japan Post is my best friend, at least with being able to let me pull money from my account! Hehe.

Earlier in the day, a little before lunch, a Canadian named Chase introduced me to a Parisian name Lochman. He had no place to stay that night and I was just told, by Ali, about a capsule hotel that was pretty cheap (2200yen, about $25), so I offered him to join me and he agreed. At about 6:30pm, we headed to Ueno, to find the capsule hotel. Well, I misread my own damn directions and only stayed in Ueno, when we needed to head to Asakusa. HAHA!

We ended up finding the place, checked in, and we each experienced a communal bath for the first time.  Took a shower, in front of a showerhead that was along a wall with other showers. The shower took place sitting down, which was new for me (but I heard about it before). After the shower, we got into the bath nearby (like a small pool) that was heated pretty well (I’d say about 103 degrees Fahrenheit) and any aches and pains that I had before, were gone! I think I need to do that again!

We got dinner at a MOS Burger (good place, by the way!) that had a good interpretation of the American hamburger (but not identical). After food was had, we headed back to the capsule hotel and hung out in the communal room where there were people eating, or checking email or Facebook, or just sitting watching TV.

Everything worked out, but I was half-braindead the whole day and thanks to Jamie, Ali, and Lochman, I was able to get everything I needed done, done. And, while the day was stressful, it was great!

More about my day, today, traveling to Nagasaki!

Honestly, this is a short post, just to show photos.

To see all photos from Roppongi, please see Japan – Roppongi, Tokyo .

I’ve heard of this place since high school and I’ve always wondered what it’s like. It’s different than what it was, back in the 1990’s, but it’s still amazing. There are less electronic shops, but the ones that are there are still strong, including the Yodobashi-Akiba building!

I’m not sure if it’s one company that owns the building or if it’s a building that houses multiple shops, but it’s still impressive!  They sell any and probably ALL consumer electronics. They also have a Tower Records, a golf store, multiple restaurants (they all smelled really good!), toy store, and anime EVERYTHING (DVD’s, models, collectors items, etc.). Also, on a sub-level, they have a Japan Post office.

I tried to figure out a way of taking pictures of different floors and of the merchandise sold, but there was way too much to photograph! While walking through, you are hearing sales men loudly announcing their sales, some extolling the features of the products being sold, etc. There were many sounds: computer game demo’, anime being played on numerous widescreen TVs, music being played… it was close-to-overwhelming! This much I have to say: the best way to know about it is to really experience it!

Next to the Yodobashi-Akiba building, was a location of Big Echo, a karaoke chain. Next to that was a business that I think sold pornographic DVD’s or had video strip sessions; I wasn’t sure because I looked in and noticed a lot of Japanese salarymen buying drinks, from the vending machines, in the lobby, and I think waiting for services. I’m starting to understand that there is an interesting sex trade going on here, without a sex trade going on. Possibly more on that later.

Overall, Akiba was what I hoped it was: an electronic geek’s dream (random: as I type this, there’s a guy riding a Harley that drove by- the low rumble of that engine is unmistakable). The prices were a bit higher than equivalent goods in the USA, but there is a higher duty on electronics here, if my understanding is correct.

Seriously, if you’re a tech head or an electronic geek, this place is almost the equivalent of a Mecca.

To see all photos from Akihabara (Akiba), please see Japan – Akihabara (Akiba), Tokyo .