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
beer 富屋 The International Studies office here at the University of Wyoming is having a photo competition. They're looking for photos from anyone affiliated with the school who spent some part of the last year
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
photo editing Photo Editing Inari Shrine Playing around in software I previously only considered useful for browsing through my folders and folders of digital photos has taught me the value of even the simplest, automated digital editing. It can
couchsurfing Korea I packed at three in the morning and walked out my door at six, heading towards Sendai station to catch the first train to the airport. The sun comes up early in Sendai,
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
frisbee Ultimate Sendai Even as my feelings of what is home are changing, I'm getting out and around a bit here in Japan's Northeast. I've gotten in the habit of playing ultimate every Friday evening with
beer Home The place that comes to mind when I hear the word "home" in my head is starting to change again. さよなら While I've still got over a month left here in Japan, things
Adventures Yamadera: Wonderland Yet another trip to Yamadera. As always, the nature did not fail to disappoint. The greenery in this country really approaches quite ridiculous levels of vibrancy. At long last I was able to
Japanese What's in a Name Saturday I attended a gathering at the famed watering hole "Waterr", where everyone was suppose to be fashioned in red. I say this as an explanation for the lousy amounts of
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
Photo Journal Vegalta Sendai I went to a soccer game for the local team, Vegalta Sendai, with some friends recently. Here's the team's song being sung by its famously supportive fans.
couchsurfing My First Couchsurfing Couch I've moved into a friend's apartment and left behind my dormitory and thus had to change my couch description on couchsurfing. Still, I thought it would be fun to keep around a record
Adventures The Color of Leaves Half a year ago I got into Nobuyuki's car with fellow Tohoku research students Mike and Disa, and wound up at Yamadera (山寺:"Mountain Temple" -- read about it here and
Tohoku Journal What an ideal day smells like 5/24 was a hell of a day. It started, like most days do, at midnight, but I was still up for this one. Mo Saafingu A couchsurfer came by last night, and
jeju island Airline Tickets 帰国 Two different set of airplane tickets were purchased today. The first is for a return flight on August 14th, leaving Japan at 2:50 and arriving in Denver at 2:00 on
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
couchsurfing The Latest Part Food 食べ物 - Food Apples in Japan can cost somewhere over two dollars, each. That's pretty much enough to knock them off my regular eating cycle, but tonight I splurged. The only problem is,
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