Ri ben! (Japan!)

There's a weird network going on between people who teach English in Asia. If you know everyone in the world through six degrees of separation, I know all of the English teachers in Asia through two or three degrees. Luckily, that makes it much easier to travel!

I spent four days of last weekend in middle-to-Western Japan, mostly in the area near Nara/Kyoto/Kobe. Jeannie and I stayed with one of her good friends who is teaching English in Japan as part of the JET program.

I was really amazed by Japan. It seemed like many of the everyday things like language, clothes, trains, and buildings reflected the deeply rooted traditions and cultural values of the country. I loved their ability to (albeit selectively) absorb Western and modern aspects of life and preserve their own histories. Here are some of my highlights in the trip:

We saw geisha. Real geisha going to engagements for the evening! We didn't take pictures, but we did pick our dinner restaurant specifically so that we could watch them walking down the street in full-dress.

Kobe beef. In Kobe, Japan. I thought it would be tasteless to take a picture of the guy cooking my steak or me eating my steak in the restaurant. It was not, however, tasteless to pose like a cow outside the restaurant;)

Hanamei (Cherry blossom viewing) This wasn't even the peak of the blossom season yet! But it was positively gorgeous. And we had a lovely picnic in the mountains.


I was in love with the roofs. Most of the homes and buildings in the Kyoto-area had these gorgeous clay roof tiles. This one is on a temple in Kyoto.

(Picture to come)
Nara has famous, sacred deer. There were too many tourists so our deer weren't especially interested in our deer-crackers. But it was fun to feed them!

(Picture to come)
I think this must have been developed by a monk with an MBA because I guarantee this hole contributes greatly to the revenue of the temple: One of the hot-spots in Nara is a temple with a huge buddah. But there are plenty of temples with Buddahs in Asia. This one was special partially because there was a column in the temple, with a hole carved in it exactly the size of the Buddah's nostril. And anyone who could squeeze through it would gain enlightenment. So we stood in line, behind lots of kids who were going to go through it, and we didn't actually get REALLY stuck. Just stuck for a second or so;)

Now that I've been to Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, I feel like I should figure out how to squeeze in a visit to Mainland China, but it looks pretty impossible at the moment...