Heading Back Home
OK so I have been pretty lazy with updating the blog over the last two weeks...Sorry but I have been quite busy. I tried putting up pictures yesterday but it just would not work. I leave tomorrow at 2 pm Japan time (1 a.m. east coast) and I will be back in Louisville, KY at 6 p.m. local time. Honestly I am looking forward to come back home. I have had tons of memories, experiences, and just plain fun over the past seven weeks but it is definitely time to come back home.
As for Japan, I never climbed Mt. Fuji. This week is a Japanese holiday and so pretty much all kids and parents are not working and as a result it is the most popular time to climb. We could not get bus tickets Monday night and we were going to climb Tuesday night without Lee (he had to get a wisdom tooth removed) but Taylor and Sara opted Tuesday morning to not climb and did not buy tickets for me and Trout. They tried to get a hold of us but failed. Was pretty bummed because it really screwed up our Tuesday night but I got to climb Mt. Elgon so oh well. Gives me a reason to come...as if I could not find any others. Today we went to the Yasukuni Shrine. This was something I really wanted to go to. It is near the emperor`s palace and it is a shrine dedicated to all the war heroes of Japan. It is controversial though because it honors Japanese soldiers who are internationally known as war criminals--plus the Emperor comes every year and pays tribute. Was very interesting and today was also a special day because August 15Th is the day Japan surrendered to the US. So the shrine was full of protesters, arguing for world peace or others to still hate the US. Was quite crazy, there were riot police out and it was packed. But the museum next to the shrine was very interesting, especially WWII stuff because you get to see how the Japanese see the war. Basically, in their words they were against the war but were forced into it because the US put an embargo on oil and goods to Japan. They tried repeated attempts during the conflict after Pearl Harbor to have a peace conference but they claim that the US was just not very open to anything. It definitely reflects there current position on self defense only and their past history with samurai--the samurai were very tough warriors but they felt fighting was wrong--so you could see how this had formed there decisions. It also was quite interesting to see how little they talk about the atomic bombs. No pictures just a few short lines and dates on when they happened. I am pretty sure it will still take some time to get over these events. Plus did you know the japanses also had suicide submarines in addition to the kamakazi pilots?
But most of our time has been spent in Tokyo--it is a large city that is spread out with seperate centers so we have seen most of the big areas. When I get back I will put up all the pictures for everyone to see.
But until then goodbye Japan, Hong Kong, and Uganda. It has been fun and I hope it will not be the last time.
As for Japan, I never climbed Mt. Fuji. This week is a Japanese holiday and so pretty much all kids and parents are not working and as a result it is the most popular time to climb. We could not get bus tickets Monday night and we were going to climb Tuesday night without Lee (he had to get a wisdom tooth removed) but Taylor and Sara opted Tuesday morning to not climb and did not buy tickets for me and Trout. They tried to get a hold of us but failed. Was pretty bummed because it really screwed up our Tuesday night but I got to climb Mt. Elgon so oh well. Gives me a reason to come...as if I could not find any others. Today we went to the Yasukuni Shrine. This was something I really wanted to go to. It is near the emperor`s palace and it is a shrine dedicated to all the war heroes of Japan. It is controversial though because it honors Japanese soldiers who are internationally known as war criminals--plus the Emperor comes every year and pays tribute. Was very interesting and today was also a special day because August 15Th is the day Japan surrendered to the US. So the shrine was full of protesters, arguing for world peace or others to still hate the US. Was quite crazy, there were riot police out and it was packed. But the museum next to the shrine was very interesting, especially WWII stuff because you get to see how the Japanese see the war. Basically, in their words they were against the war but were forced into it because the US put an embargo on oil and goods to Japan. They tried repeated attempts during the conflict after Pearl Harbor to have a peace conference but they claim that the US was just not very open to anything. It definitely reflects there current position on self defense only and their past history with samurai--the samurai were very tough warriors but they felt fighting was wrong--so you could see how this had formed there decisions. It also was quite interesting to see how little they talk about the atomic bombs. No pictures just a few short lines and dates on when they happened. I am pretty sure it will still take some time to get over these events. Plus did you know the japanses also had suicide submarines in addition to the kamakazi pilots?
But most of our time has been spent in Tokyo--it is a large city that is spread out with seperate centers so we have seen most of the big areas. When I get back I will put up all the pictures for everyone to see.
But until then goodbye Japan, Hong Kong, and Uganda. It has been fun and I hope it will not be the last time.
posted by Bigfish24 at
10:39 AM
2 Comments:
Can't wait for you to come home!!!
I can't believe you didn't mention your b-day night or regail with the stories of the pony keg theft or the mini waterfall in Hong kong that Trout was afraid of! Those were my highlights...
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