Misadventures in Translation

How was your spring vacation? I bet it was incredibly lame. You may have seen college females drunkenly flashing everyone in Cancun, but I saw… On second thought, maybe your spring vacation was better. In one week I went to three different islands, two world heritage sites, two castles, three major metropolises, and one volcano. Prepare to bath in the radiance of my life.

My epic journey began on March 24th in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district at 9:00 PM. Fifteen and half hours of riding on a night bus put me and my friend, Natalie, in front of Hakata Station. Fukuoka doesn’t have a lot to see, but it was worth visiting for a least one day. Fukuoka is better known for being a party town than a good tourist area. However, we ate some of Kyushuu’s famous tonkotsu ramen, visited Fukuoka Tower, and took a stroll through one of Fukuoka’s good parks.

As I’ve said before, Japan loves to make sure each town has a tower for Godzilla to tear down. Or maybe they like to give couples a good place to go. Everytime I visit the observation level of one of these towers, young couples are always hogging the view.

The nightime view of Fukuoka.

For more photos from Fukuoka, click here.

On the 26^th, we took a two-hour train ride over to Mt. Aso. Mt. Aso is one of the world largest calderas. From Aso Station, we took a bus up to the Mt. Nakadake Cable Car Station. Mt. Nakadake is still active and still erupts from time to time. The sulphuric gases in the air were a little irritating. It was like being surrounded by thousands of rotting eggs.

Kyushuu Island is noted for their unique JR Railway trains. The Aso 1962 is one of the well-known trains that took us from Kumamoto to Aso. It was funny to watch the train geeks take pictures of the train arriving and the inside of the train. There were even some people who were recording the sounds of the train. If there is something that will keep you living with your mother and never getting a girl, it’s being a train geek.

Nothing like the smell of sulphur.

Geology is boring in both English and Japanese.

 

 

For more photos of Mt. Aso, click here.

We left the caldera and made our way to the famous onsen town of Beppu. The geothermal heat in the area really heats the water up. I like going to onsens, but the onsens in this town are hotter than the surface of the sun. I can normal stay in the onsen for a while, but I had to get out before I was cooked like a lobster. The town of Beppu also had the Takasaki Monkey Park. The monkeys here are so used to humans that you could easily touch one if you wanted to.

Feeding time was a stampede of monkeys. Hundreds of monkeys came running down the side of the mountain.

The sign says, “The tall promontory mountain is this way.”

For more photos of monkeys, click here.

We also went to the Kannawa Hells. The Kannawa Hells are basically big steaming vats of water, however each one has a unique character due to the elements in it. Some are light blue, some were blood red, some where whitish, and one was just a big, bubbling mud pit. Kinda boring. I should have went to Cancun.

 

Tori at the Ocean Hell.

The Ocean Hell.

Cherry blossoms make me a little fruity. I didn’t think there were flowers in hell.

The Blood Hell was disappointingly not bloody enough.

Hell is nothing but boring, bubbling mud pits.

On the 28th, we took a bus and ferry from Beppu to Hiroshima. When compared to other Japanese cities, Hiroshima is very well designed. The streets are wide and the downtown district is very lively. It’s surreal to think at one point we had wiped the city off the face of the earth. In Hiroshima, we went to the Atomic Bomb Dome, The Atomic Bomb Museum, Mitaki-ji, and Hiroshima Castle.

The Atomic Bomb Dome at night.

Hiroshima at night.

What has Japan done to me? I guess the peace sign is appropriate for this photo.

For more photos of the A-bomb Dome, click here.

A picture from the Peace Memorial Park looking at the A-Bomb Dome. You can barely see it, but in the middle of the picture is the Flame of Peace. The flame will remain ignited until the last atomic bomb is destroyed.

A recovered watch stopped at 8:15, the time of detonation.

For more photos of the A-bomb museum, click here.

In Hiroshima, we also we went to a lesser-known temple in the area called Mitaki-ji, “The Three Waterfall Temple.” It was a nice peaceful area. It was nice to go someone not crowded with tourists. Here are a few photos from the temple grounds.

The Mitaki-ji grounds had some nice bamboo. I decided to show off my monkey climbing abilities.

For more photos of Mitaki-ji, click here.

Just like many of Japan’s other castles, Hiroshima Castle was rebuilt after World War II. Many people were in the Hiroshima Castle Park having the usual springtime cherry blossom picnic.

I’m getting tired of cherry blossoms. They’re all around me, I hear about them on the news everyday, and everyone keeps talking about them. Maybe I’m not Japanese enough to really appreciate them.

For more photos of Hiroshima Castle, click here.

On the 29^th, we took a ferry over to Miyajima to stay the night. The next day we visited Itsukushima-jinja, the large gate, and Mt. Misen. Miyajima is considered one of Japan’s three most beautiful sites. Thanks to part of the island being a nature park, the island hasn’t been ruined with annoying tourist development.

It’s funny to tell Japanese people I like to eat deer since deer are sometimes considered sacred animals.

The view of the ocean from the top of Mt. Misen.

Wildlife is too tame here.

This is the Reiko-do Eternal Fire Hall. The fire in here is said to have been burning for over 1200 years and is the same fire used to light the Flame of Peace in the Peace Memorial Park.

For more photos of the Ootori, click here. For more photos of Itsukushima Jinja, click here. And for more photos of Mt. Misen, click here.

On the 30^th, we returned to Hiroshima and then took a ferry from the Port of Kure to the Port of Matsuyama on Shikoku island. I wish I could have stayed here longer, but the start of school prevented that. Since I was in the area, it was worth just hoping over to the island to say that I’d been there for a day. Dogo Onsen is the most famous onsen in Japan. It has a long history and was used at the model for the onsen in the anime, Spirited Away. Although a little touristy, Dogo Onsen was a good experience.

For more photos of Dogo Onsen, click here.

While in Matsuyma, we also went to Matsuyma Castle. Matsuyama is one of the oldest original Japanese castles. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, it was a weekend, and the park was full of cherry blossom watchers. A common springtime event is to plan a picnic with your friends and have it under the cherry tree. I knew this was a popular activity, but I didn’t realize how popular until I witnessed it first hand. Matsuyama is a huge castle. While in Ehime, we also tried out sanuki udon. I guess I’m turning Japanese because I’m starting to listen to recommendations to try the local dish. It’s supposed to be the famous dish in the area, but my barbarian, foreign tongue could not detect any difference between the special udon and all the other udon I’ve eaten.

For more photos of Matsuyama Castle, click here.

After that, we went back to Hiroshima to catch the bus back to Shinjuku. We were waiting at the shinkansen exit at Hiroshima station for our bus home, but evidently not at the right place to see the bus. Fortunately, the bus driver called me and I was able to find him at the bus stop before departure. Another 10 hour bus ride later and we were back in Shinjuku.

At school, I’ve had to talk about my vacation too many times. Next time, I’ll write a summary in Japanese and send it to everyone as a memo. It’ll save my throat a lot of pain.

So, school is a lot of chaos. In Japan, the teachers do not stay at the same school for years on end. The ones that stay at the same school are the secretaries, nurses, and tea lady. There are three new teachers and a new principal. One of the new teachers replaced the young guy at my school. She used to work for a company, but decided to change to teaching. I’ll have to find out more about her motivations later. Her English is spot on since she has done exchanges in New Zealand, England, and America for a total of about 2 years. My new principal has nasty, creepy teeth. When he talks to me, I can’t help but stare into the abyss.

March 7th was the Shingen-ko Festival. It is a big festival in Kofu in which about 4000 people dress up as samurai and do parades all day. I basically hung out with my friends all day watching all the activities. I could have participated in the festival, but I never heard about the sign-up. There’s always next year… oh, wait. Nevermind. Kofu was the home of Takeda Shingen, a famous samurai. NHK (Japan’s national television channel) recently produced a show called Furinkazen. Furinkazen was the slogan of Takeda Shingen and is a shorten form taken from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It means “Swift as the Wind, Silent as a Forest, Fierce as Fire and Immovable as a Mountain.” Thanks to the show, more tourist are coming into the Yamanashi area.

Takeda Shingen with his troops. Samurai support JR Railways.

 

Tom Cruise ain’t got nothing on me.

If Natalie wants a J-guy, she won’t have any problems.

For more photos from the Shingen-ko Festival, click here.

This past weekend (March 14th and 15th), I stayed over at my former principal’s house. On the 15th, I participated in a festival in his town. It required me dressing in a yukata (a summer-time kimono) and wearing some sexy make-up. Along with other people in the village, I helped carry a 400 kg spiritual thingamabob from one temple to another. Not only did we carry it, we had to stop every so often to dance a little jig with it on our shoulders. Parents would take their kids under the spiritual thingamabob and back for good luck/health. It’s two days later and my shoulders are still killing me. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I don’t have any pictures from the festival. Too bad, because I was super hot in my make-up.

Now, for your Japanese moment of zen:

Sasuke is a crazy obstacle course show that comes on the Tokyo Broadcasting System. It puts American Gladiator to shame. Only two people have actually completed this crazy course. One is Makoto Nagano, a fishermen. Recently, Sasuke has been translated for English speaking audiences and is known as Ninja Warrior in the U.S.

If you can’t see the video, click here.