Clouds & Crosswalks



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Sept. 6-9, 2007

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I awoke at 5:54 in the morning at Koyasan to attend the morning service. It consisted of a monk chanting along with a woman (surprising!) in a beautifully adorned room full of golden lotuses and what I believe were urns of previous Shojoshin-in monks. It was refreshing and nice, as was the light breakfast that followed. With rain drizzling, we decided just to head to Osaka, the last stop on my journey. We rode the bus, then the steep cable car, and finally a long train to Osaka. After getting utterly lost and confused in the underground mazes of shopping malls that surround the Osaka station (and most others in Japan), we finally found our hotel, which was actually very close! Before checking in, though, we simply dropped off our bags and then headed up to Kyoto, where I had been storing two more big bags! It is simply ridiculous how much stuff we have amassed. I feel so sorry for the hotel clerks, often tiny young women, who check your bags in. One insisted on taking even the h...
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August 28-29, 2007 Kanazawa & Fukui

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We spent the afternoon in Kanazawa to break up the long train ride, and to also meet my friends Eri and Shino from that area. I was under the impression that Kanazawa would be a really small town, but when we arrived it was nothing but! Huge buildings, lights everything. I am coming to realize that Japan and American views of small cities are very different. Much of Japan is like one big city and there isn’t much true open space. Any the matter, Kanazawa was a very cool town. We stayed in a little ryokan with traditional Japan rooms and even a traditional garden in a courtyard. Dan stayed to get a bit of rest and I went out exploring with Shino. We stopped by a historical samurai house (left) of one of the biggest landowners in Japan in the Edo period. It was a gorgeous complex with a fabulous garden. I could imagine the family living there hundreds of years ago – making tea in the tiny tea room on the second floor, tending to the koi in the garden (they were huge by the way!). Aft...
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Down South...

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I write now from Hiroshima, a city infamous for its WWII history as the first city to ever be hit with a nuclear weapon. After a short flight and a long bus ride (with no leg room - I am too tall for Japan!!) we arrived in Hiroshima. The plane ride was quite nice, with a view of the coastline and the Japanese alps on my right and Fuji-san looming to my left. The air hangs heavy here down south with humidity and also the memories of lives lost and needless destruction wrought on a peaceful community. I am still fanning myself at 10:48 pm in an air conditioned room while the cicadas (Jpn. semi) take their rest so they can be loud as hell in the morning, escorting my every move near any sort of tree. Our hotel faces the Memorial Peace Park, with my window allowing for a spectacular view of the river and also the A-bomb dome. I cannot yet express my feelings about this place; I can only reel at the extraordinary sadness that is hidden by this bustling, modern city. We spent all day today s...
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