There’s so much that I have done in the past couple days. First, there was Nara. Nara is a city outside Kyoto that is famous for the deer that are everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. I think we walked about 10 miles around Nara and there wasn’t one time we didn’t see a deer walking around. It was pretty spectacular. We got to even feed the deer, in which they proceeded to bite me. I guess they really wanted to deer cookies we bought.
We then headed towards the Todaiji Temple. The temple was full of amazing statues and a huge Buddha. It was insane thinking about how it was built back in the 1600s since it’s the world’s largest wooden building.
Moving onto Osaka, we left Kyoto at about 11 a.m. in the morning and headed to Osaka. Once getting there, we found out hostel and dropped off our stuff. After this, we met up with an old friend who studied abroad at WSU for a year and went to the Aquarium. We saw sharks, otters, seals, dolphins, and the usual sea animals. It was a pretty amazing aquarium especially since it was right by the ocean.
After the aquarium we went and had ice cream (melon flavored!) and okonomiyaki. We then said our goodbyes and headed back to the hostel we were staying at. Since we wanted to adventure around the area, we went to the mall close by and ended up getting some Starbucks and looking at the Christmas decorations that were up. After this, we headed back to the hostel and watched some shows and went to bed.
The next day we went to Osaka castle and the downtown area. At Osaka castle we were able to learn about the famous invasion that was done by the shogunate that eventually lead to his control of the country. It was an interesting experience, but I would have preferred if the castle still maintained some of its culture instead of being completely turned into a museum. After touring the castle, two Japanese women came up to us and ask us if they could take a picture of us individually in front of the castle holding this famous bear character called “Rilakkuma”. Apparently they were imitating a famous music video in Japan for their friend’s wedding. It was very…..interesting. I sometimes feel like a celebrity here. I think I have had my picture taken at least 100 times in the past 2 weeks. Apparently some of the Japanese people here think that foreigners are exotic and make for good pictures?
After this encounter, we went to the downtown area in Osaka that is famous for its food, comedy, and of course the Running Man! We tried to look for a restaurant that some friends recommended to us but got lost trying to find it several times. However, we found it in the end and were very satisfied. Overall, Osaka was a very fun town that had a lot going for it. I really enjoyed being there.
Now, onto Hiroshima. Today we went to the Peace Memorial Museum. However, after we were done looking at the Atomic Bomb Dome, some students who happened to come from a school that was 10 minutes away from my college in Tokyo came up to us. They were on a school excursion with two of their teachers. In order to practice English, they had to come up with questions to ask us about certain subjects about Hiroshima. It was hard finding an answer to some of their questions, like “What do you think of the atomic bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima in World War II?” and etc. How am I suppose to completely communicate my feelings on a touchy subject in simplified English? I know that the new generation of students probably aren’t as impacted by what happened in World War II, but I still feel somewhat guilty that their past ancestors were burdened by my country. But, I guess that goes both ways. There was a woman who was showing the students around that was one of the main English interpreters for the museum. She also was a survivor of the atomic bomb. She explained to us what had happened back then, and even told us that her deceased husband was one of the main directors of the museum and also acted as a translator for Caroline Kennedy. It was a very rewarding experience.
We then went into the museum and saw the many disasters of what the atomic bomb brought. I heard stories about kids dying in the fires, people drinking the black nuclear rain in desperate need of water, and the overall damage the bomb brought to the city. Some of the exhibits were hard to look at. I saw pictures of people burned and some clothes from school children that had died that were preserved. It was a very emotional day for me, but I’m glad I went. I will leave it there for now, but tomorrow I get to go to the famous shrine in the water in Miyajima and then back to Tokyo later that night (Yay for a 12 hour bus ride!). Until then, ja ne.
– Amy
Tales From A Gaijin 