Austin In Asia

I arrived in Asia 3 months ago today.

Wishful

I REALLY want a moped. I know they're not practical for Illinois seasons or for storage, but the fun you receive in those 9 months of riding, outweighs any fun you will ever have in a car. Ever.

If you are going to surprise me, though, it needs to be a two-seater. I have a cute girl who needs rides as well. Matching helmets would be appreciated.

Lysergic Bliss

Tomorrow our little group will be heading to a Zen Temple for an overnight stay. My fingertips are already freezing thinking about the long night that lies ahead. Supposedly we wake up at 4am and can't talk for a long time. On last year's trip, some girl threw up at this time which created a whole lot of confusion.

Kevin Barnes from the dancerific indie-pop band, Of Montreal, wrote this article about selling out. His band is featured in a T-Mobile commercial and he reacts to the outbursts that were received after the ad aired. He brings up some very good points.

Selling Out Isn't Possible

Calendar Cross Out

Finished Malcom X's autobiography today. I'd suggest it to anyone who likes reading and doesn't put in their "Favorite Books" section of facebook: haha, what are books? I don't like those people. But, think about it, how much do you really know about Malcom X? You probably know he was important for black people and he was shot. That's it. Go read it and maybe you'll learn something.

I really enjoy warm drinks, grocery shopping, and plans for Christmas.

Ate at a sushi bar tonight with one of those conveyor belts that goes around the restaurant. That's nothing compared to the one back home where the plates are placed on boats which go around in a moat. Brilliant.

The main reason I came on this trip

A good week away produced a lot of interesting pictures. I kept them in sequential order of when they were taken; but, I don't know if that improves this viewing experience, so I'm going to stop talking and let the pictures speak. Happy Thanksgiving.


Hiroshima



Miyajima's Floating Tori



Nagano



Shibuya



Tokyo Tower



View from the Tokyo Tower



View from Japan's World Trade Center





On the beach looking back at Tokyo and the Rainbow Bridge (I walked that monster)



A park near the Imperial Palace



Sneaking a shot in the Lost in Translation hotel elevator



Mt. Fuji from the bullet train

tuesday in tokyo

I spent the day roaming the city with my handy tourist map. I walked across the Rainbow Bridge and had great views of Tokyo from afar. I was the only one walking along the Bridge with huge trucks and cars driving by me at 50 mph. The bridge also shakes and rattles and altoghether makes for a frightening experience, but the pictures and shots of Tokyo were worth the scare. I was also able to eat a FamilyMart lunch of sushi on the beach while looking back at Tokyo across the water. Beautiful.

From there I walked back across the bridge and then took a train to the Imperial Palace. It`s smack dab in the middle of the city and the area reminded me a lot of Chicago when you enter into the Millenium Park/Grant Park area. Huge skyscarpers behind you, with spacious green trees everywhere. Except Tokyo has a thousand year old temple, and Chicago has a bunch of metal.

There is a Sony Building that has a lot of high-tech gear that you can play with, but once I found the building I felt unwanted and decided instead on refueling with a Snickers and a coffee at McDonalds. After I came back to our capsule area and checked out the `Electric City` as they call it. Supposedly, this area is also the nerd kingdom of Tokyo with a lot of anime and gadgets being sold, but the bright lights and thousands of faces are fun to watch.

After a quick stop at the capsule I headed for the Park Hyatt - where Lost in Translation was filmed. They serve a drink called the LIT at the bar the movie was filmed in. Amanda, Taylor, Nick, and I tried to go last night, but they have a dress code so we were turned away. However, I was lucky and wore black pants instead of jeans so I could pass. I entered into the hotel and they treated me like royalty, guiding me to the first of 2 elevators I would need to take to the 52nd floor. Once I got to the hotel front desk (42nd) I started to recognize some shots from the movie. It was also one of the classiest places I have ever witnessed and I felt like a poser in my 2 dollar thrift store cardigan. I finally got to the New York Bar on the 52nd, as the elevator opened to tremendous views of Tokyo at night. My night was ende, though, when the hostess informed me there is a 2000 yen (around 18 dollars) cover charge after 8pm. With only 1500 yen in my pocket, I thanked the lady, looked out the window amazed, and headed back to the capsule. Was I disappointed? A little, but it was fun to see where the movie was shot and brush up with the big Tokyo business men, even if it was for 7 minutes.

Nick and I leave for Yokohama tomorrow and will be traveling back to Kameoka sometime Thursday. Everyone enjoy their Thansgiving, and I will post some pictures when I return home.

the story of Austin falling in love with Japan

-rode the bullet train
-stayed in a capsule hotel (2 after tonight)
-soaked in a bath after a shower (vastly underrated)
-saw why nuclear weapons should be destroyed
-witnessed one of the 3 great sights of Japan
-ate a lot of convenience store sushi
-stayed in a city for 19 hours that hosted the `98 Olympics
-walked across the world`s busiest cross-walk
-looked down at beautiful tokyo from 150m

3 days down, 4 to go

Austin's Japanese Vacation

I'm headed to Hiroshima, Tokyo, and Yokohama this week. Expect cool pictures and a story or two when I return. I'll try to post once during the week. Happy Thanksgiving?

I Promised Deer Pictures

Yesterday our group took a trip to the city of Nara. We visited a Buddhist shrine that not only has the largest Buddha in Japan, but also has a thousand deer roaming around. I can already hear the jealous cries from the deer back home.

I Pet a Deer Today

Pictures tomorrow. My feet are cold.

The Japanese Foreign Objects

We have some fans who wanted to show their appreciation. Check it out below.

Foreign Objects - Japan Edition

Expect a new one shortly after Thanksgiving. New characters, new location, same old awesomeness.

Crossover

Played basketball today with some new friends from this side of the Earth. On two separate occasions I dribbled into the lane, and each time I heard, "Dunk!". They think because I'm 6'3' (Steve Kerr's height) that I am their basketball savior. We need to get these boys some NBA tickets. Or at least one of those life-size Michael Jordan cardboard cutouts.

torii torii torii X 100,000

Today we accumulated the largest group we could and traveled to the Fushimi Inari shrine in beautiful Kyoto. Our entire group minus Jason was present along with Hiro, Yusuke, Shadow, their friend whose name I cannot remember, Rob, and our South African friend Allen. There are thousands of torii gates that go up, sideways, down, and everywhere eventually ending at the top of a mountain (that we didn't make it to). Here are some of the pictures from the day.

















After, we traveled back to Kyoto Station and exchanged our rail pass tickets for next week. Nick, Jeff, and I leave for Hiroshima on Friday. Tenatively, we will be there for two days then Jeff will head home, but Nick and I will travel on to Tokyo to meet up with Hiro. From there we may stop at Yokohama, but we may run out of days on our 7 day unlimited pass. This pass is a gem. We can travel almost anywhere in Japan using the trains and most buses. We may be saving upwards of $150-200 by the time we are through next week.

Later on, the Japanese kids took Nick and I to this burger place called Log Kit in Kyoto Station. Here's a picture of the cow I ate.



It was delicious and apparently British American. Yusuke won the eating contest and overall Japan kicked America's ass. We had Nick Devlin, too. How'd that happen?

Later on the group split up and I walked around Kyoto with some people. We took in the fall weather and enjoyed the Saturday afternoon. Kyoto is absolutely spotless. It's the cleanest city I've ever been to and one of the nicest overall cities I think I may ever see. It maintains its intimacy without losing its grandeur. Absolutely wonderful.







We're playing basketball in the morning. I'll let you know how many points I drop in tomorrow's blog. Enjoy your Saturday.

Friday

This morning we had a lecture on how wonderful a tourist destination Kyoto can be. I guess they didn't get the memo that we have already wrote our checks and are already in Japan, but the lecturer knew her facts. For instance, did you know 48 million people visit Kyoto every year? Did you also know that the average Kyotoan (?) walks at a rate of 1.5 m/sec? How does someone measure this statistic? Who's job is it to sit on a park bench with a radar gun and mark down the walking speed of each person who walks by? People will pay you to do anything.

Our group along with Hiro, our Korean friend Nick - or Pi -, and Hiro's friend played a ballin' game of ball this afternoon on the courts. My team of Jason, Taylor, and Pi ended up winning 25-23, even though we were down a player. Hiro tried to dunk - three times. I think he ended the game with 0 points. I need to stop wearing Vans during inopportune times.

Oh! How could I forget? Hiro let me ride his moped today. I was deathly afraid of falling on my face, but I conquered my fears and rode it on the sidewalk/road at school. After 2 minutes of riding, I'm addicted and secretly planning a way to purchase one back home. Everyone needs to trade their cars in for mopeds. Hiro fills up gas once every three weeks and it only costs him around $10 dollars. Ok, maybe the lack of heat, space, and protection is a little hard to swallow, but think of all the high-fives you will get from friends when you roll up to the fiesta in your new ped.


This is the scene we step into every morning when we get off the bus at school.




And North Central chose this man to lead us on this adventure.




Can you find him? He requested his own office at school so he can have uninterrupted Skype talks with his wife since he doesn't have internet in his apartment.





(Tad sits down with his lunch in our Japanese class)

T: "Oh, I can't stay here I have to Skype my wife. She needs a good Skypeing."

bike rides, route 9, and an afternoon in kameoka

Took a nice bike ride today after class. Produced some pictures. It was that perfect weather where I could have been wearing a t-shirt or a sweatshirt and I would have been fine. I'll be heading to some fun places over the next week and a half so I'm excited about the possibilities.

















Corinne is taking a sculpture class and was given an open-ended project for the end of the term and she had the idea to take pictures with a camera as the focal point, thus personifying the camera. She asked me to help so here is one of my contributions to her.

and then they cut off the male's head

We found this little guy at the driving range today. Mat found his friend and then tried to get them to mate so that the woman would kill the male. Unfortuantely, they were each just enjoying a relaxing afternoon at the range and didn't want anything to do with the other.

I need to diversify my non-breakfast meals

Tuesdays are slotted for various field trips during our stay and today the group headed to an authentic tea ceremony. We got to eat incredibly rich sweets and make tea for one another. Besides some of my sweet almost coming back up and the tea tasting like leaves, it was a fun time. It's always great to experience something that you would never do back home.

class or golf?

It rains a lot in Japan, but that is one of my few complaints. Jason, Chris, and I had an itching for free golf so we hit the range for an hour after class. My hands are still scabbed from last week and I reopened one scab on my palm. I'm pretty sure I bled on some of the school's clubs - don't tell them.

I'm off to make a blueberry pancake dinner.


Yo, Jason, play that beat back.

I had to post this

Ryan Hansen in 45 years:



Chris Felber Photography

Sunday

Today I went on a bike ride to the fruit stand. I felt like Aladdin, except I paid for my fruit, and rode a bike, and I'm in Asia.

Time to Cast Your Vote

I went out today and took pictures today with hopes of finding one I like. I am planning on taking a picture everyday of this scene to show the change during the fall months, and to show how beautiful Japan can be. I am going to narrow it down to 4 choices and if you could leave a comment on which one you like, I would appreciate it.

Choice 1:



Choice 2:



Choice 3:



Choice 4:



Today is November 3rd. I leave Japan on December 17th. That makes for around 44 pictures to be taken. I will not post a picture everday, but maybe once every three or four days so you can really take in the change. Thanks for reading.