Traveling (The Not-Kyoto Post!)

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't do too much traveling around the whole country, largely due to time and money issues. But I *did* get the chance to leave Kyoto city several times throughout the semester, so here's a look at some of what I did:

Minakami: I visited Minakami before KCJS started, to meet up with some of my just-graduated Wash U friends who were doing JET/grad-school in Japan. I stupidly didn't take any pictures, because one of my friends looooves taking pictures so I always leave that job to her. But now I regret that, obviously. Anyway, Minakami was a pretty small, quiet town, a nice and relaxing way to ease into Japan. The surrounding mountains were awesome though, and pretty big (well, to me at least). Minakami's famous for its hot springs and its winter sports - skiing, snowboarding, etc. I didn't get to try the winter activities, obviously, but I did get to go white-water rafting for the very first time! I got a great view of the mountains too. And afterwards we went to a public bath, also another first for me. I'm sure most people are aware of Japan's huge bathing culture, but I will say this - I was still kinda surprised about how open and unabashed people were about the nudity. It seemed like such a natural and normal thing to be walking around strangers completely naked, which felt interesting. But I am glad that I'm Asian and can fit in relatively easily. I imagine foreigners will draw lots of attention, especially considering how much attention foreigners on the street can draw.

Nara: After Minakami, I still had a couple of days before the start of KCJS, so I stayed at my friend's apartment in Nara. I was pretty exhausted at this point, so I spent a lot of time lazing about (watching Lost, haha), but I did manage to do some sightseeing at Todaiji, home of a massive Buddha statue. I don't think it looks that big in my picture, thanks to my mad photo skillz, but the man in the lower left corner should give you an idea of the scale of the statue. Todaiji was also full of adorable wandering sacred deer that will bite your hands/butt if you have food in your hand, so beware.

Incidentally, I loved Nara, and I went back several times for field trips and to visit my friend. It had a close, cozy feeling, more so than Kyoto, but it was still a lively and distinct city in its own right.

Vicious beasts at rest...
There were lots of tourists that day

Tokyo (Disneyland): We're jumping ahead to Halloween, when I went to Tokyo Disneyland for a weekend with my Wash U friends. I had gone only once to Disneyland, with my mother (i.e., laaaaaame), and one of our friends had never gone at all, so we walked and waited in line for hours to get to all of the main, most famous attractions. I was dead-tired by the end of both days, but it was *totally* worth it. Definitely one of my favorite memories, although technically not too Japan-related. Also, this was the one time I got to see Tokyo - our hostel was in Tokyo, so I got to glimpse some of the city during the hour-long train ride. Tokyo definitely has a different feel from Kyoto - it's so much larger, busier, and more crowded. I really like the small-town atmosphere of Kyoto/Nara, but I'd like to go to Tokyo and explore more someday

Alas, the only decent photo from Disneyland.

Kobe: In December, I went to a Daft Punk concert in Kobe with two KCJS friends. Tickets were $80, but well worth the price. I didn't take any pictures of Kobe itself, and I had gone only for the concert, but I liked what I saw of the city. Because of the earthquake in '95, everything in the city looked so *new* and clean. It really did look like a recently-built city. Anyway, the concert was amazing (hope you can glimpse some of that from the choppy video), and I feel like Japan was the perfect place to see a Daft Punk concert. The guy standing next to us on the train was wearing rainbow-bright clothing and accessories and, best of all, huge plastic-rimmed glasses frames with no lenses. Rock on, brother.