Challenge

I was talking to my best friend Gladys yesterday and she was telling me to make full use of my stay here in Japan, to go out whenever I can and shoot some pictures. Admittedly, I have been holed up lately either in my room or in the students's room in the university preparing for my first presentation in the seminar and the field work in Tokyo.

So I am posing a challenge to myself. I said in Instagram that I would be posting at least one picture a day. But here in my blog (that probably no one reads), I want to do some kind of project, similar to what Julie from "Julie and Julia" did. I would post the details soon, and I hope my plans and my resolve won't fizzle out. :)

Old books

I love the smell of books. I sometimes go to bookstores just to browse the titles of the books, and pick up a book in random and smell its pages. I love the smell of old ones, too, although they can smell like dust or some other. Old books with their frayed and dog-eared pages feel like old friends. They hold secrets, they have evoked laughter or sadness or even boredom at one time or another.

New books are quite expensive, and I haven't really warmed up to the idea of buying and reading ebooks, which can be cheaper. I was looking for a second-hand bookstore in my area so I just googled "second-hand bookstore Kansai" and I found Wantage Books Kobe. It sits just across Shin-Kobe Station. I had to rely on the map provided here. They are open only on Saturdays and Sundays, so I set off one Saturday to look for the shop. And what I found was love! You can buy books for as low as ¥100.

I am surely going back there again one of these days.

A trip down memory lane: Kamakura, Kanagawa

I went to Tokyo in the second week of June and instead of soaking up the sights and sounds of fast-paced Tokyo, my friends decided to bring me to Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, about an hour away from Central Tokyo. Kamakura is an old political center of Japan, similar to Kyoto and Nara.

Our first stop was Meigetsu-in, a Rinzai Zen temple known for its pretty hydrangeas, which bloom around June. It is also known as the Temple of Hydrangeas.

Our friend Shingo made reservations for a two-hour Kaiseki-ryōri lunch in a restaurant in Kamakura. The ambiance in the restaurant was very Zen. We were seated in a room with a view of a nice garden. Lunch was very elegant.

After lunch, we went to see the Great Buddha of Kamakura, which has an interesting history. The ticket says that the Buddha statue was cast in 1252 and originally housed inside a large temple hall. However, the temple buildings were destroyed several times by typhoons and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since 1495, the Buddha has been standing in the open air.

Shingo lived in Kamakura as a child and we went to his pre-school which was beside a pond. He was trying to push down the turtle in the pond, and he said that he used to do that when he was studying there.

Abandoned Fukuchiyama line

My friend Ian asked me if i want to go hiking, and my first response was, "define hiking". I am in no condition to hike (I have never been in a condition to hike haha), but he sent me a link of the place we were going to visit, it was mostly on level surface, but he said that if we still have energy we can go up the hill.

The destination was an abandoned section of the Fukuchiyama line between Namaze and Takedao stations. It was said to have been abandoned some 25 years ago. There are tunnels, a river nestled in the mountain, big rocks, paradise really.

Hiking buddies

After lunch we decided to go up the hill where there is a nice stream, so I went up with them thinking, okay, maybe it is not that far, but after around 50 meters haha, I was already panting so I said, I am just going to wait for them in the picnic area. It was quite slippery, going down, and I did not want to slide all the way down so I used this time to take pictures of grasses and flowers, so people would think that it is on purpose that I am going down in sitting position. :))

Baguio kind of life

I have always been in love with Baguio. I'm crazy about its weather, its food, its second hand shopping scene. Now I'm in Japan living in a place that is a bit similar to Baguio, except perhaps, for the traffic and congestion that has characterized Baguio in the last years. I love that my school is in the mountains, and that when I go up my apartment, I can see the lights of the houses at night. When I have classes in the evening, I am greeted by the myriad lights in the distance. I am thankful. :)

Miyajima

After a day of touring Hiroshima, we spent a night in a backpackers inn near the port to Miyajima. Early the next day, we boarded a ferry to the shrine island. I was quite excited because I recently saw the second Wolverine movie and there was a part there where he stayed at Miyajima.

Hiroshima

Once every school year, the Kobe University offers its foreign students a chance to go on a subsidized field trip to chosen areas in Japan. Last year, we chose to go to Hiroshima with our fellow scholars from Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The trip was organized by their very accommodating Japanese tutor so we did not have to worry about anything! Because of its historical significance, Hiroshima is a must-see place in Japan. The city was virtually decimated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" was dropped in Hiroshima. The important places in Hiroshima highlight this moment in Japan's history and its commitment to peace.

Submarine outside Kure Maritime Museum

Battleship Yamato

Hiroshima Castle

Atomic Bomb Dome

Atomic Bomb Dome

Peace Memorial