Trip Round Up and Photos!

So, my trip is over and it is time to evaluate what I thought of it all. But, first, I would like to present my photo albums from this trip. I formed these albums from the pictures as I took them -- the most editting any of them has is a 90 degree rotation. They are raw, not all are pretty, but they are pretty solid representations of how I view these places. I hope you will enjoy them! Also, I added comments to lots of them, so if you read the blog posts from each place, or read them while scrolling that day's pictures, you will get a lot more out of them than taking either on their own. (Basically these gallerys are my "gift" for my 50th post! Although I would have put them up, anyway...)

Osaka - http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielisCertus/Osaka
Kyoto - http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielisCertus/Kyoto
Hiroshima - http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielisCertus/Hiroshima
Kobe - http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielisCertus/Kobe
Nagoya - http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielisCertus/Nagoya

As for the trip itself, I rather enjoyed myself. There was not a city I did not enjoy immensely, nor a place I regret visiting. There are things I would like to have done or seen in these cities, but I feel if I had tried to shove them in I would have pushed it too far and messed up that part of that trip. More importantly, however, I have come to appreciate Tokyo a bit more. All of these cities are gorgeous and different, but Tokyo clearly is as well. Now that I have seen some of the other big cities of Japan, I can see where it is that Tokyo stands - it is the largest, most varied and diverse of them all. Each of these cities feels like it has one or two really neat things about them, that make them unique and special, whereas Tokyo has everything, does everything, and is typically pretty good at it all. Osaka is kind of a quiet, yet large port city, Kyoto is all ritzy shopping and temples, Hiroshima is a small, stunningly beautiful city, Kobe is just kind of large and exciting for that reason, and Nagoya...it's pretty, and has some variation to it, but mainly I feel like it wants to be a modern city, like Tokyo, but is a tad too small, and does not pack any sort of punch -- basically it is a nice, non-intimidating place. Tokyo has areas that incorporate each of these aspects, even if they are contradictory, because it is composed of a bunch of small cities and towns. It is basically like a patchwork quilt of things, the patches don't look like they belong together, but eventually you get used to looking at it and can appreciate it for what it is.

Anyway, although I did enjoy each of these cities, the first three are without a doubt the most worth visiting. In fact, if I had known how much I would enjoyed Osaka, I think I would have convinced Ben to stick with the original plan - going from Hiroshima to Kyushu and looping back up, we only didn't do this because it would have meant another day in Osaka, which is typically considered dull and boring. I can see why it is, as it is very much like a tamer Tokyo, it isn't very exciting or active. However, it still has stuff going on and the tame aspect is its real appeal.

This whole trip was still missing something, besides the southern island paradises, and that is Japan's quiet towns and villages. I hope to correct this by visitng some of the villages later on this year, though I can't guarantee I'll have the opportunity. I thought I had more to say, but I really covered everything pretty well in my individual posts. Later this week I'll put up my post on first semester, there's a few things that may or may not happen before class. Basically, I should be returning to my standard, somewhat infrequent, post schedule soon. So, that's all for now!

Kobe is for BEEFCAKES

Well, today was explore Kobe day! It was also the warmest day of the trip, so far. Ridiculous! We took a short walk around the island, followed by a long walk to lunch -- which was a pretty lovely cafe. The design and food was kind of Euro-styled (with some Japanese highlights) and the dishes and service were clearly Japanese. What I mean by this is that the building was quaint with bright colors, it had a very rustic feel. The food was like croissant sandwhiches, waffles, etc. But the glasses had like, cute lions and bunnies on them. I got a waffle with a Kabochya (green squash, much like a less smooth textured pumpkin). It wasr pretty tasty.

As for exploring, basically we just found shopping street after shopping street, it was kind of crazy. We did stop around the center of the city and listened to some live performers, called Canvas, for a while, but nothing too exciting happened. The most noteworthy thing we saw was a cowboy shop. It was ridiculously flamboyant, much more so than we would expect from American shops -- though we later discovered they were all imported from America, making everything rather expensive and significantly more sad and frightening. I would have bought a pink cowboy hat and some new boots if it was a little cheaper, though...

Around the evening we stopped in China town for literally 10 minutes, then went to city hall and the park nearby to see the city at night -- as was suggested by Gen. It was rather gorgeous, and we got to hear some musicians practice, which was kind of cool. Afterwards we got some Yakinikku for dinner -- at a place called Ton Ton (I assume Pig Pig). It was really good, and the staff was so friendly! We had Ribeye, Spicy Rib, Miso-Beef Tongue, Assorted Vegetables, a side of Cucumber Kimchi (my favorite type, they did a decent job with it!), and Mango/Vanilla mixed ice cream for desert. I also got a Yuzu Soda (Yuzu is the Citron of Citron Honey Tea, or Yujuchya for those that have read my Korean adventures). It was really nice and fun, the atmosphere was just really friendly and active. I think I prefer Korean Barbeque more, but mainly because it is cheaper and it comes with more sides (we could have ordered those sorts of sides, but it would have added at least 600Y or so for just the lettuce and rice).

We didn't really do much else in Kobe, but it was still a pretty good day. Tomorrow morning we'll either go to a cafe for breakfast, or I might try the hotel's viking breakfast, and by midday we should be in Osaka - by the evening in Nagoya. It's all moving so quickly, it's hard for me to believe we've done so much in such a short time! Oh well, it is good and necessary fun before the next semester begins.