Tuesday, May 8, 2007
First Post
Hello Everyone,
I am going to be updating this blog on a semi-regular basis in order to share with you what I am doing on my trip. At the moment, I am at a friend's apartment in Osaka Japan.
What have I done so far?
I arrived in Tokyo on May 4th.
Tokyo is a very large and densely populated city. Some of the places I went to over the next few days include...
Yasukuni Shrine:
(A momunment to the horses that died for the Japanese imperial efforts in Asia.)
Yasukuni is a controversial Shinto Shrine that pays tribute to many Japamese soldiers who fought in WWII, including some class A war criminals. The place has a very militarist, nationalistic feel which is very atypical of most of Japan. Over the past few decades there have been various controversies over the shrine, but I won't go into detail here.
I also visited the world's busiest intersection in Shibuya:
The rest of my time in Tokyo was spent meeting with friends old and new:
On a side trip from Tokyo I went to Yokohama Bay and China Town. This is the famous place were Admiral Perry landed on his mission to "open Japan". As you can imagine, the city is more Western than other Japanese cities with many open spaces and wide roads...
The Yokohama Chukagai (Chinatown) is a great place to walk around and sample different foods. I found a store that supposedly made the best nikuman in the world. Nikuman is a steamed meat dumpling. Naturally I had to try it...
Another side trip I took was to Kamakura. Kamakura was the capital of Japan between 1192 and 1333. It is less urban than Tokyo and was not as badly damaged in the end of WWII. Kamakura is known for being a very traditional place, and probably has the highest concentration of genuine Shinto followers.
I visited the famous giant Buddha and even got to go inside!
There was also a peony garden open for display with some very beautiful flowers.
The biggest treat of the day was stumbling upon a traditional Shinto wedding, here are some pictures and a short movie clip.
On my way back to the train I picked up a very Indiana Jones like hat for about 10 bucks. I always wanted a hat like this, though I'm not sure when I'll wear it...
Well, That's all for now. I'll do my best to keep updating regularly.
Eyal
I am going to be updating this blog on a semi-regular basis in order to share with you what I am doing on my trip. At the moment, I am at a friend's apartment in Osaka Japan.
What have I done so far?
I arrived in Tokyo on May 4th.
Tokyo is a very large and densely populated city. Some of the places I went to over the next few days include...
Yasukuni Shrine:
(A momunment to the horses that died for the Japanese imperial efforts in Asia.)
Yasukuni is a controversial Shinto Shrine that pays tribute to many Japamese soldiers who fought in WWII, including some class A war criminals. The place has a very militarist, nationalistic feel which is very atypical of most of Japan. Over the past few decades there have been various controversies over the shrine, but I won't go into detail here.
I also visited the world's busiest intersection in Shibuya:
The rest of my time in Tokyo was spent meeting with friends old and new:
On a side trip from Tokyo I went to Yokohama Bay and China Town. This is the famous place were Admiral Perry landed on his mission to "open Japan". As you can imagine, the city is more Western than other Japanese cities with many open spaces and wide roads...
The Yokohama Chukagai (Chinatown) is a great place to walk around and sample different foods. I found a store that supposedly made the best nikuman in the world. Nikuman is a steamed meat dumpling. Naturally I had to try it...
Another side trip I took was to Kamakura. Kamakura was the capital of Japan between 1192 and 1333. It is less urban than Tokyo and was not as badly damaged in the end of WWII. Kamakura is known for being a very traditional place, and probably has the highest concentration of genuine Shinto followers.
I visited the famous giant Buddha and even got to go inside!
There was also a peony garden open for display with some very beautiful flowers.
The biggest treat of the day was stumbling upon a traditional Shinto wedding, here are some pictures and a short movie clip.
On my way back to the train I picked up a very Indiana Jones like hat for about 10 bucks. I always wanted a hat like this, though I'm not sure when I'll wear it...
Well, That's all for now. I'll do my best to keep updating regularly.
Eyal
# posted by EyalsTravels : 6:01 PM
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Hey dude. Kickass hat.
I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm gonna keep this brief, but I found that abandoned city/island I told you about. It's called Hashima Island. Here's the link to the wiki article on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunkanjima
Be careful if you decide to go there. It looks pretty Silent Hill esque.
I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm gonna keep this brief, but I found that abandoned city/island I told you about. It's called Hashima Island. Here's the link to the wiki article on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunkanjima
Be careful if you decide to go there. It looks pretty Silent Hill esque.
Thanks Jake!
Try to tone down the language a bit as some of my former students may read this.
It looks like travel isn't allowed to the island but I'll look into it when I'm in Kyushu.
Try to tone down the language a bit as some of my former students may read this.
It looks like travel isn't allowed to the island but I'll look into it when I'm in Kyushu.
I'm not with a tour group right now. I'm just going places and meeting up with friends. I'm actually at Russ's apartment right now.
Hi Eyal -
Thanks for the awesome pics and for taking us along with you on your trip.
Be well and have fun.
aggie
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Thanks for the awesome pics and for taking us along with you on your trip.
Be well and have fun.
aggie
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