Thank you

I just wanted my final entry for my journey to be a thank you to my parents. They paid for everything for me and exposed me to so many new things that I never would have experienced on my own. I love them so much and am so grateful for all that they did for me on this trip! Thank you!!!

LA

On the way back home, I took a stop in Los Angeles to visit my friends, Chih-Ling and Noah. I got to go to Hollywood and figured out my hands are almost exactly the same size as Emma Watson's, mwahahaha, I am Hermione Granger!! Being even more dorky, I did a lot of pointing and ooohing and awwwing as I rode around the city. Apparently Elvis thought I was hot stuff and kissed me twice, shame it was Elvis in his older years. We went to the La Brea tarpits where Noah got to touch, taste, and smell tar while trying to rub it off his fingers on everything including his shirt. I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants! Also went to ArcLight and saw Sweeney Todd which was really bloody but I'm impressed by the singing. Jet lag has not been my friend since I've been back. Actually with my weird eating habits due to it, I've lost about 10 lbs! Then I sleep half the day. Ahhh well. The adventure of traveling....

Ode to Benny's Place

I meant to put this in some time ago, but here it is now. Benny's Place is a bar/restaurant near Motomachi that was a haven for my family because no matter what, we knew we could find someone to talk to in English there! Benny owns and runs the place and he was my hero when I first got to Japan because he found me the medicine I needed when I was really sick. Go-san runs the bar and is one of the most entertaining individuals to talk to in Japan. She is so much fun and a real sweetie! On top of that, there was almost always at least one westerner there, you tend to become familiar with the repeat customers very quickly. I really will miss the greasy, spicy, tasty dishes and conversation I could find at Benny's Place every Friday night.

Heading back to the US

As I draw my trip in Japan to a close, I think of the things I will miss and the things I won't and have to laugh.
Things I will miss:
-Certain grocery items (mainly noodles)
-Cheap prices on high quality alcohol
-Great quality service
-Clean, efficient public transit and cabs
-Funny noises people make here when they're excited
-Being able to say anything I want in public because no one really understands me!
-Certain dishes at restaurants here (mozzerella basil pasta, steamed chicken Japanese pasta, noodle soups)
-The nice man that runs a restaurant down the street and the people at Benny's restaurant

Things I won't miss:
-Shop Japan commercials and repeats of reruns to an extreme
-Anime/Manga that I can't read or understand
-Not being able to understand people in general
-Feeling like a giant, being unable to fit into clothes or shoes here
-The egg, caffeine, and tofu obsessions here
-The number of people here, crowded everywhere!

Overall, I'm really glad I got to be here and it was quite an experience!

Hiroshima, a day to remember

First, Emily, don't read this to Ainsley, it's too scary for her! Yesterday, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) 3.5 hours to Hiroshima for an overnight visit. We planned to do the A-bomb stuff our first day and then a castle and garden on sunday. We had an authentic Japanese meal first, I had tempura, which was nice. All the women wore kimonos. Then it was off to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which was extremely hard and set the tone for the rest of the trip. I have to say that I could never ever live in Hiroshima. I had a constant feeling of tension while I was there just thinking of what happened and the fact that the US was the one to do it. Everywhere you look there are reminders of that day. In the museum, they show a brief video providing a basic understanding of what happened and then you can read a history of Hiroshima until the bomb. Then they have a video of the bomb dropping and these models of the city before and after the bomb. I've read books on it but I still didn't realize the extent of the damage. Literally almost every building was flattened (I couldn't bring myself to take pictures in the museum, but I found these on another blog). There is information about why Hiroshima was picked (the deciding factor the day of was the weather was nicest there, talk about bad luck). There is more information about the bomb itself and the plea for peace. I was impressed by the overall message that agreed that Japan had done its fair share of bad things as well so this need for peace applies to them as well. It is all about "justice" for the victims, and by "justice" they mean never letting this happen again, not getting revenge. Then there's a gift shop, so I thought it was done, but alas no. They made a sort of model of walking through a building where you look at the buildings and see the damage outside and then they have dummies displaying the damage near the center (skin hanging off, burns, fires, etc.). Then they had relics from the damage, mainly charred and shredded clothing and a story to go with each. This was the hardest part for me (if you haven't read the book "Hiroshima" you should because no one, especially anyone in a country with the bomb should be ignorant of its effects). The stories were horrifying. The worst was a small pile of fingernails from a boy who had been near the center and his skin was ripped to shreds. His friend got him back home where he died hours later but he had been so thirsty he had tried to drink the pus from his wounded fingers. His mother took the nails to give his father who was still away at war. (The water was contaminated from radiation and people throwing themselves into the water to drown). Then it went into the aftereffects of the bomb on people, like the need for medical supplies, cancers, radiation sickness, etc. They even had the hair from a young woman whose mother brushed her hair and in 3 brushes it had all fallen out from radiation sickness. They focused on the girl who died at 12 from leukemia and had made paper cranes thinking it would cure her, making the cranes a sign of peace. Then they talk more about how the bomb works on a molecular level. You can watch movies on it as well but we chose not to. After that, you can see a stone coffin outside for the people who were never buried. From there you can see the only ruin still standing and preserved (an educational building I believe) which is very eerie. I do have one MAJOR COMPLAINT. There was a small group of young men in the museum and I am terribly ashamed of the United States Military because of their actions. They clearly were members of it and went through making fun of things and saying stuff like, "I still don't feel bad about it." I swear, if it wasn't a peace museum, I would have beat the shit out of them.
Today, we went to castle, which was destroyed in the bomb, but rebuilt and it's now a museum for the various leaders and such. Lots of swords and armor and at the top you have a great view. Then it was off to Shukkeien which is an absolutely beautiful garden designed for a former leader. I was in awe of it all and at the end I realized the horrible history behind it. Apparently it was leveled by the bomb except for one tree that is still there. People came there, seeking help but never got it and all died. There bodies were turned into the soil and the garden was all put back together again. Even when you walk around shopping you see little plaques or memorials relating to the bomb. I could never live there with that constant sorry, not to mention they talked a lot about all the radiation and unknown stuff about that so as you walk about town, you tend to wonder....

Another good dish

This was my lunch the other day. Shrimp wontons with noodles in soup. This honking huge bowl cost $7!! Wish I could get it in the US.

BEST MEAL EVER!!!!!!!

We just got done eating at this really fancy restaurant where no one spoke any English whatsoever except for one customer that was very helpful in explaining some things to us. I was fretting but we all got great dishes. It was very expensive but my dish was definitely worth it! I got a beef bowl with these fancy beef slices and rice. It was sooo small though! It came with some broth and soy sauce so I could mix it all together. The beef melted in my mouth!!! Drrrrooooollllll, so good. But it was $28 for my little dish. Then mom's was funny because it was $32 for this little tiny "steak."