Tokasan!

Yookoso, once again! Yesterday was such a blast as we all danced around, prayed in the temples and just got lost within the culture.

Every year, almost each major city hosts a large festival. Not only do they give people an oppurtunity to wear yukatas and jimbeis...

...but to enjoy food, music, and everybody's company!


There! That's what I ate. And I ate a lot of it. It's called Takoyaki, or Samurai Balls as I knew it back then. You do not even know how happy I was when I started eating. It has octupus inside and the sauce is just killer.


After the quick dinner we visited the Shrine. It's one of those things that's sort of a ritual so everybody pretty much flocked the area. I got a glimpse of a priest, continuously tapping the taiko and I think they were also doing some sort of service inside where everybody can just hop in.

Then we went to the horror booth! Hah, everybody knows how much I love Japanese horror so I insisted that we all went in (plus hey, it was part of our "homework" for our Religion class). It wasn't really scary but scary enough for a young japanese kid to almost start crying. I felt really bad! Good thing that dad decided to carry her in as she clung on to his shirt.

There were a lot of "minigames" you can do such as Goldfish catching. Kingyo, as it's called in Japanese.


But we loved dancing so much that we went back and danced some more! That was for about 40 minutes and my feet were hurting in a good way. Here's us!


We are going back there today. The festival lasts for 3 days and there's just so much to do.

Edit:
Alright, yeah we are leaving for Tokasan again - right now - so I need to go! I'm buying souveniers. Later guys!

Yakyuu

Wow, so as of today, 5 of my friends (from whichever part of the world) have been/are going to China. What is up, people! All of a sudden everybody's traveling, and to China at that! Whatever you guys do, hope all you guys are having fun because I know I am!

As you can see above, we went to a baseball game of the Hiroshima Carps. I can't really say I know much about baseball (or sports in general) but if there's one thing that stuck out, it was the crazy fans. Japanese people are totally hardcore. From start to end everybody was just cheering and doing all sort of ouendan. Then there was one point during the 7th inning where everybody let go of these baloons with whistle rings attached to them.


This was taken by a friend of mine and I didn't even know. But it's a pretty cool picture so thanks to Fumihiko! Those things are are the "carps" that we let go. You can only imagine thousands of them flying at the same time.

The game ended pretty late so everybody decided to go to McDonalds!


I got that Tamago Double Burger set (with drinks, fries AND nuggets) which was better than I expected, to be honest. I had to learn how to say Omochikaeri right at that time too. A very helpful vocabulary.

So we made it back to the university when all of a sudden, on our way up walking to the Seminar House, we see an enourmous inoshishi! They're wild boars basically but it was funny because somebody was just talking about it right before it happened. Nobody has actually seen one before, even Sensei (she has, served on a plate), so we were all laughing. It's a pig and it was so random! I did not dare take a picture because I was not in the mood to be running uphill with some boar chasing us all.

It's the Tokasan festival tomorrow! Can't wait to step inside the horror booth and see some crazy Japanese people. As usual, I'll be attacking with pictures so check back soon!

ps.
Here's one last picture, just because I feel like posting it.


This is a couple of blocks down the university, during one of our walks to a nearby restaurant. I think this picture represents how I see Hiroshima so far. It's the mix of rural, urban, beauty, history and hope.

Miyajima

Hey everyone! I just now got online because we didn't get any internet connection almost all all weekend. I was trying to steal some internet connection off some random source but it wouldn't let me. So yeah, everyone was pissed at that. But I am back and ready to share tons of pictures once again!

This weekend, we went to Miyajima. It's an island, just barely 10 minutes off the south side of Hiroshima. Miyajima is definitely a place you have to see once you get a chance to travel around Japan.


Like in every shrine or temples around here, there is a place for purification, such as this. Ideally, you're supposed to rinse your mouth and wash your hands as you enter. This probably was the root of why the Japanese are so clean in general. Just every single place that I have been so far, there is always a place to wash your hands. And the toilet? I already told some of you but that's a completely different post.

I don't really want to write about its history because I'm already writing one for our religion class (which is due tomorrow, by the way) so google it. The place is huge though and we were lucky enough to witness a traditional Japanese wedding, comeplete with tradtional attire.



So we did a short pilgrimage to the top where they have the buddhist temples. Miyajima is kind of like hawaii, where it goes uphill towards the center. So here's a snapshot on the way to the temples.



The island a residential and tourist area, but more on the a latter with all the shrines. However, the amount of history of Miyajima Island is just overwhelming. Here is the Daishoin, one of the most popular temples in Japan.



Just walking through the temples is somewhat uplifting knowing that the place had been part of a great tradition. There was one when we had to walk underground with all the sutras embedded on the wall. It was pretty scary but cool at the same time. As with almost any religion, there are also ways to express you wishes.



After the long hike, we were treated with a really nice Japanese Cuisine. Best sashimi so far! And you'd think that the serving was little with how they were put into small partitions but oh boy, were we full!



Everybody wanted to sleep after because the place is just too comfortable.. But then who wants to go to sleep if you can go shopping!



The day ended with us having some free time around the island and me, Amanda, Tracy, Biance and Monique relaxed in a small river where we just chilled out with our feet soaked in fresh cool water. I wasn't able to take a picture becuase my battery ran out. Say, 411 pictures? So I'd have to borrow Tracy's on that one. Then, my photo account just filled up! Apprarently, they have limits!

Well at any rate, that's my trip to Miyajima. I'd definitely go back someday because there is so much to see and experience. I didn't even get to ride the cable cars to the top of the mountain! I also bought postcards so if you want one send me an email, I have a couple left. Yeah, even if you're some random person, you can send me your address! Lol. No, please don't.