From the Midwest and Around the World

     Well, I left the island of Honshu and rode a train across the Great Seto Bridge to Takamatsu on Shikoku Island. In Takamatsu, I went to Ritsurinkoen, which is registered as a national treasure in Japan. It was probably my favorite garden so far: very quiet, and a lot of walking space as well as many meditative spots. I would have liked to stay longer and explore more, but due to the restrictive train schedule, I had to move on.       I then transferred to another train and rode it through the heart of Shikoku towards Kochi. I just have to say that the blurry pictures I took from the train would not do the beauty of rural Shikoku justice. There were cliffs, deep valleys, and beautiful rivers. Someday, I wish to return and maybe bike or hike across the whole island.    Today's blog was mainly pictures...and I didn't have a lot to say. Tomorrow, I am going to visit three temples here in Kochi, so I will pro...

   Today, I went to Korakuen in Okayama, Japan. It is a traditional-style Japanese garden and is considered to be one of the three most beautiful. As soon as I arrived, I was approached by an English-speaking guide and I accepted his help. As a solitary traveler in a foreign country, it is nice to have people to talk to in English every once in a while...since my Japanese brain muscle gets tired.    The park was very beautiful, even though it was a bit cloudy that day (the weather report called for a 60 percent chance of rain while I was in the park, but thank goodness it did not rain!). My guide was very nice and he asked a lot of questions about American culture, my reactions to Japanese culture and food, etc. He was very surprised about how much I knew about Japanese culture, so I have a feeling that most of the Americans/English speaking foreigners he interacted with were typical tourists (this is not a bad thing, obviously...because I would certainly be mo...

   Hello everyone! It gets harder and harder to update, especially since I've fallen behind a bit in my posts as well as I've had a few busy weeks recently.    About three weeks ago, I visited Kyoto with some of the Japanese students who were studying English here at JCMU. We visited Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple. Because much of Japan is very open (and semi-secular) about religion, but their faith is based in polytheism, there are many shrines (both large and small) and a lot of temples. It is not uncommon to see a very small shrine squeezed in the alley between two houses. As a Christian, I also have not gotten a chance to see inside another religion's house of worship.    Yasaka Shrine has a large white and bright orange gate. When you walk inside, there are food-booths and a lot of mini shrines. There is also a place where one can buy protective charms (usually about $10 or more), "mikuji" (which are fortune sheets...I will talk about t...

   This post will mainly be for those who have never studied Japanese (language and/or culture). I apologize to those who have. However, the topic of Japanese bathing customs is always interesting when compared to the typical American bathing experience.    In America, most people choose between a shower and bath. A bath generally with a more leisurely connotation, but they both follow a similar pattern. Person gets into their preferred method, wet themselves down, soap up, and then rinse. However, the traditional Japanese bath is a little different.    I recently was able to experience a traditional Japanese bath in Osaka. This particular one was in a business hotel. First off, there was only one bathing room, so there were different times for men and women to bath. Upon entering the bathing area, there is a small changing room with lockers, hair brushes, and hair driers. Once you take off your clothes, you enter the actual bathing room. A line of stools...

   I visited Hikone-jo (Hikone Castle) today. With my student ID, I get in free... Unfortunately, since it is winter here, things are kind of gray and muddy. However, the view was wonderful!      However, the climb up to the main castle was a haul (as it should be deduced due to the view).        The castle was also really intimidating, but in a different way. However, the stairs inside the castle leading to the top were little death traps. They could not be called stairs because they were more like really steep ladder steps. I went up forwards...but I had to go down backwards. With my luck, it was not hard to picture myself falling down flat on my head. But here is a picture of the exterior of the castle. I will probably go again and get more pictures:     It was a really good experience and now I am preparing to Skype with some friends from college who also did JCMU a few years ago. I also ha...

   I hope everyone enjoyed not having to read my blog during my brief hiatus. Well, I'm back to bother you all again. It is Sunday evening after an interesting, restful, and spontaneous weekend. First off, let me tell you about the rest of my week. Before I started class in level two Japanese, I took a lot of walks outside on Monday and Tuesday...and I have not posted the pictures yet...so here they are: This is the road outside JCMU.  This is a view of the beach from a roadside park just between Hikone and Maibara (the next town over) <---- Another view of the mountains across the lake Obligatory picture of waves---> <-----It was really windy this morning and these poor ducks were just riding the waves. Here is a rock that is considered holy or attached to a diety  (forgive the Wikipedia explanation)---> The town you see here is Maibara and the Mountain behind it is Mount Ibuki---> <---Another look at Maibara <-...