hiroshima Miyajima Revisited It's been over a year since my family visited me in Japan but only half a year since I posted about our time in Hiroshima and Miyajima. Since then I visited my Uncle
hiroshima Hiroshima and Miyajima Hiroshima was great. We stayed on the bay, bounced our way across the waves in a boat or two, and had a fancy meal up on the twenty second story of a hotel
fireworks Back to Tokyo お台場 Jenn finished her two weeks in Japan with one last ride on the bullet train, headed back to Tokyo. We said goodbye to her at our fancy hotel on a man-made island
deer Toudaiji and Temaki Zushi 東大寺 An hour on a train put us in Japan's first capital, Nara. It boasts the largest wooden structure in the world, Toudaiji (東大寺Great East Temple), and is also famous for the deer
golden pavillion Kyoto Day 2 - After Inari After the shrine, Jenn, Dad and I joined back up with Mom and John to go visit a castle right in the middle of Kyoto, 二条城 (ni-jyou-jyou, 'Second Street Castle' -- I'll just
japan journey Kyoto - Fushimi Inari Shrine 伏見稲荷大社 After a full day of Kyoto tourism on day one, day two found my dad, Jenn, and myself up a bit earlier than Mom and John who wanted to get a bit
Ginkakuji Kyoto - The Silver Pavillion 銀閣寺 After Kiyomizu and a spot of lunch at a cute little cafe we went off to our last major tourist destination for the day. This time around it was somewhere I'd never
japan journey Pure Water Temple 清水寺 Our first day in Kyoto was hardly going to end with just one spectacular site. In fact, I'm sure as the day went on we all began to wonder if it would
japan journey 三十三間堂 My family made it to Japan, and after a night of rest we set out to see Kyoto. Kyoto, and the region around it, Kansai, is sightseeing central. The first thing we saw
Adventures Hokkaido Sapporo Sapporo was a great relaxer after the bustle (and zombies) of Tokyo. Jenn and I were put up in a great apartment of our own thanks to couchsurfing, and nearby we we
Adventures Couchsurfing I sat down to write about what's been going on lately, mostly in an effort to not forget (as always) and ended up writing a bit here and there about my experiences couch
Adventures Tokyo Day 2 - Zombies Sometime during the morning the number of people sleeping in our hostel went from three (an Austrian(?) girl got stuck with us, poor thing) up to five. Jenn and I got up in
japan journey Tokyo Day 1 Continued After dropping off Jenn at the hostel to recuperate from her journey of well over 24 hours I find myself once again in a dimly lit place with British people and their beers.
asakusa Let's Do The Timewarp Alright! Thailand! Let's talk about that! ...In a week or two. You might not remember (I definitely didn't until I saw some pictures on my harddrive), but before heading to Thailand I did
Adventures Sendai Stays the Same Well, it's all over. Class starts in two days here at Tohoku University and as I start to register for classes and get back to a life in the lab I'm simultaneously fleshing
Adventures Laundry List This post goes up right when my plane leaves Japan. Yay! Packing was fun. Here's what I'm taking on my three-week Thailand expedition. All of it is getting stuffed into an Osprey Aether
hiroshima Highlights from Limbo Weeks of travel with family and friends across what felt like all of Japan ended three days ago when I finally arrived back home in Sendai. Since then I've been anxiously getting things