Bunnies & deers

Sorry we've been so MIA lately, we were in Hiroshima for the last week and only had internet for the last couple of days. Wi-fi is a scarce resource out here, except in the Shinkansen for some reason (by the way, the Shinkansen is ridiculously fast and quiet, but of course, expensive). These last few days have evoked so many overwhelming emotions, it’s quite honestly difficult to reiterate. They were not all depressing, though just the thought of Hiroshima may lead you to assume so, which is completely fair. Tyler and I wrote a post about WWII directly before this because we honestly don’t know how much everyone knows about the war. Please keep in mind that we omitted a lot of important events for the sake of brevity, however, please let us know if something is incorrect. So if you have time, please read that post first, as it might clarify some things about the war. 

When arriving in Hiroshima, you would never imagine what ruins the city was in 65 years ago. Breathtakingly beautiful, you might believe she is the heart of some romantic country. There is a river that runs down the center of Hiroshima, surrounded by tall buildings and trees. The Peace Memorial Museum and Park are extremely close to the hypocenter, which is where the bomb exploded, I think around less than a quarter of a mile. When we arrived, we went through the Peace museum, which basically offered us a historical review of what happened (like the previous post). On the other hand, the tour and the speaker we heard the next day, was much more compelling. Our tour guides lead us throughout the city, where many memorial sites were erected and where we heard various testimonies from people who survived the bomb. I can tell you that I cried so much on that day, but right now, it’s really difficult to put into words. I really want to explain what I felt, but I honestly can’t over a blog post, so I’m just going to move on for now and maybe I’ll come back to the subject another time.

The building with the little dome was extremely close to the hypocenter and somehow withstood the blastwave

Under the archway there is a memorial tablet for the victims. It is surrounded by water and protected from elements from above. 

The next day looked more inviting as we took the tram and a ferry to Miyajima Island, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. The focal point is Itsukushima Shrine which consists of an orange gate or the centerpiece of the island, the corridor, and the purification hall. When we visited there was a high tide, so it looked like various structures were floating on water, it was kind of surreal. There were also deer everywhere; one came up to Tyler while he was sitting and literally put his head in Ty’s lap. Though the scenery was extremely beautiful, it was still a tourist spot. Our director told us that there was a mountain that had a shrine at the top of it. They made the route purposefully difficult so that people would have to work hard to get to the shrine. So of course we tried to climb it and we found out that it was a lot steeper than we expected. We broke up into groups when climbing to make it less chaotic, which was actually kind of unfortunate because people were so focused on getting to the top, rather than the journey there. I know that is really cliché, but there were various miniature shrines and scenery along the way that we wanted to stop by. Eventually Ty and I broke off into our own group and stopped at some places. In the end, though, the view was incredible and completely worth it. Plus everyone had endorphins rushing through their body so it was a nice feeling for all of us.

good friends already

After climbing the mountain

The next day we went to Poison Gas Island, or Okunoshima. In WWII, Japan developed tons of poison gas in order to subjugate the Chinese. What is most unsettling is that the people who worked on the island weren’t aware of what they were helping create nor did the public know about the island. In fact, even when trains would pass by from other islands, they would close the curtains so the island wasn’t visible. They camouflaged many of the buildings from atop and on the sides so that ferries and planes couldn’t see them. It’s quite a shame that the island has a dark history, since it’s such a beautiful place. However, now it is a resort location with golf courses, campgrounds and lots of bunnies.

Warehouse

Still such a beautiful island

With lots of bunnies!

On a less depressing note, that night we went to a Japanese baseball game, which I have to say, was a billion times better than an American game. Every single person was completely immersed with the crowd, singing a different song for every player. What is even more amazing is that everyone was in sync; half the crowd had different parts when they would sing and get up, it was quite entertaining to be a part of. Of course we had to try and get people to do the wave, but it only went one section over. Apparently, many people don’t like it here, and we didn’t want to offend people. I think the best part, though, was that around the beginning of the 6th inning, everyone started blowing up these pink balloons. Apparently, instead of singing a 7th inning song like we do in the States, they let the balloons go. It was kind of cool.

Japanese baseball food..yumm!!

Cup of noodles car haha

balloons...

On the last day, everyone was exhausted and really just wanted to go back to the dorm. Though the week was extremely fun, we constantly ate out of bento boxes on the run, not to mention walked at least a thousand miles. But we still had to go. In the morning, we went to a naval academy where they gave us tons of rules that could easily be broken, i.e., can’t drink water while walking. The museum was actually pretty cool, though you could tell it was a bit nationalist. But which country isn’t? Then we took a tour of Kure, a city of ships and submarines. Within Kure, we went into an underground arsenal, where people went during WWII when there were air raids. When thinking about it, it’s kind of frightening because when we went in it was completely pitch dark, only able to see with the use of our flashlights. So who knows how frightening it was for them.

Kure sub

Inside the arsenal

Whether it was fact or emotionally based, everyone in our group learned a lot over the trip. Sometimes it’s scary to think about how much technology and “advancement” there is in this world. At the end of the day, is it really all necessary? No, probably not. But people want power, and technology is the means to it. Currently the US has something like 10, 000 warheads, only second to Russia with 12,000. In a blink of an eye, a city could be demolished because of failed negotiations and the yearning for more land. I guess we have to do what we can on a personal level and hope the bigger things take care of themselves.

If you want to take a look at more pictures, please go to these links:
**  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231040&l=57f75cfd28&id=568567152 (general)
**  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231047&id=568567152&l=ad7f6996b1 (Hiroshima trip)

A brief brief brief history of WWII

Hiroshima was very involved in the military starting from the mid-19th Century and had a very powerful influence in the government since the 1930s. I know we’re always taught that WWII started in ’41, but that was just the war with the United States. Japan was actually at war with China from around ’37. Why?? Because Japan was in China and Korea trying to seize land, for of course, more power.
At the same time, the Nazi’s were sending Jewish people to concentration camps, while also trying to conquer land in other countries.
During WWII, Germany, Japan, and Italy were an alliance, and basically everyone else was an ally (Please keep in mind that correlation does not mean causation, just trying to put things in perspective in terms of why certain countries took the actions they did)
Around ’39 Britain and France declared war on Germany. Though claiming neutrality, USA still provided resources for the Allies.
Seeing the USA as a threat to their power in the Pacific, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in ’41 and Germany declared war on the USA directly after. USA began to create atomic bombs because they feared Germany was also doing so. Therefore, initially they were meant for Germany, not Japan.
Germany surrendered in May of 1945, but Japan continued because the military didn’t believe in surrendering (this is closely related to the concept of sepuku, killing one’s self through the stomach with a dagger; Japanese military men would rather kill themselves than surrender, and they did exactly that on many occasions)
US offered the Potsdam Declaration which essentially asked for an unconditional surrender. However, it was extremely vague and Japan wanted to keep their emperor, so Japan didn’t agree to it (the emperor did not have the power at this time, the military did, and the Allies failed to recognize this which was a huge mistake on both parts)
On August 6, the bomb on Hiroshima was dropped. In a city of 350,000 it is said that 140,000 died by the end of the year. This figure does not include people who died to aftereffects, i.e. radiation poisoning. On August 9th, because Japan had not responded to the bomb on Hiroshima, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, though less potent due the mountains absorbing the blast. On the 14th, Japan surrendered, officially ending WWII.

1st Week and Still Alive

Well. I'll try to get in more consistent updates. No promises though. A lot's happened this week. In short: I'm loving Japan. In long(er): read on.

Grievances first. To those unaware of the ridiculous humidity in Japan: without the air conditioner, I can engage in the terribly strenuous activity of studying on my futon and work up a sweat; at 8 in the morning. Possibly because of the humidity, insects and other things with the scientific name creepy-crawly, are here in abundance. They are also quite large. On a walk to the university, I saw a spider about the size of my palm.

Besides those things, I really don't have much to complain about. In general, food is more expensive, but you just have to look for the deals as in America. The bento boxes (boxed lunches, which are sold at grocery stores, 7-11's, and quite possibly, vending machines) go on sale at the market right next to the dorm, so it's possible to get a meal for around 300 yen. And that's the lazy option. If I'm willing to cook (and I usually am) there isn't too much of a difference between the Tyler Menu in Japan or America (beef is about double the price and some fruits and vegetables like tomatoes are hard to find).

I'll try to keep this rave short. Public transit is amazing. Trains run on time, they're fast (could not get to Tokyo faster by car), and the attendants are actually helpful. Summer and I got lost in the downtown Tokyo station and we had to ask for directions. The guy I was talking to barely understood a word of English and still managed to get us on the right train. I have yet to see those situations were the station workers have to push people into the cars to get the doors to close, but I'll be commuting on Mondays to Tokyo, so I'll probably see it happen.

The classes available to the exchange students are a little disappointing. Most of the classes I want to take are held in the afternoons at the Tokyo campus. Most unfortunately, the language classes are held Tuesday to Friday also in the afternoons. And since I kinda came to Japan to learn the language and also have the unfortunate restriction of needing to fill four more classes for my major in the year before I graduate, I'm a little limited.

It's been a lot of fun this week, but I feel like I need to close by noting that I've been in this country for less than a week, and it has already been made very clear to me just how loud Americans are. Oh well, though. Just because it's annoying doesn't mean it's wrong. I guess.

The Longest Day

Actually, aside from wandering around an airport in broad daylight when it was way past our bedtime back in California, yesterday went more smoothly than we thought humanly possible, given the circumstances. Airplane service was excellent. Two (count 'em) warm meals, choice of in-flight movies, plentiful drinks and accessories. (Tyler: For the record, watching Bruce Willis and Justin Long saving America in an edited version of Die Hard is an even more ridiculous experience).

We fell in love with Japan the moment we got off the plane. Customs was so efficient, it brought tears to our eyes. They also had our suitcases waiting for us before we had even we had gotten over to the baggage claim.

No sooner than we had begun to look for the correct bus line, we had our first random encounter with the Tokyo Police. As intimidating as 3 Japanese men in armored vests may seem, it turned out to be pretty funny. We figured out eventually that the senior member was training two rookie cops. However, with their broken English, their introductions were limited to requesting to see our passport and asking us multiple times if we speak English or Japanese. When we answered English a little Japanese, they responded with, "So a little of bit of English then?" It was quite amusing. 

One thing that should be known about Japan, is that things run on time. Our shuttle bus departed at 4:00 and arrived at the hotel at 4:15 sharp. It's not that hard to do, America. Just saying.

Driving is reversed in Japan! Yeah, it's not that big of a deal, but it threw us for a loop. Turning left on a red? Mind boggling. Cars are a lot more square than they are in America. Must make it easier when they're squeezing them into those tiny parking garages, 'cause we saw one and couldn't tell you how they can get the car doors open.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Narita and it was very Americanized. Guess it should be since most people who stay here are probably not Japanese. Or the name Holiday Inn attracts a lot of White people since it's one the few hotel names in English. What was most surprising was that people were staring at us. Ok, clarification, all the White people were mainly doing it. We don't mind the Japanese people staring, because we are a little different of course. But the White people... come on now, seriously! It may because they want to be the only "different" ones in Tokyo and we're stealing their limelight, but it's Tokyo, there are so many foreigners here.

So if you didn't know, there is a huge time difference in Japan. Plus 16 hours, actually. So right now it's 10:30 a.m. 9/7 here, and in California it should be 5:30 p.m. 9/6. Weird! The jet lag wasn't actually that terrible. Besides completely missing out on Sunday night, we are functioning normally.

Ok, we just can't get enough of how nice everyone is. Even if it's a facade, it's really pleasing to be apart of. In America, there are countless workers who look disgusted to help us... really if you don't like your job, do something else please! Anyway, yes, the workers here are ridiculously nice! The doorman even opened the AUTOMATIC door for us and then bowed... oh, that's another thing; we are still unsure of the bowing etiquette, I guess we'll figure it out over time.

That's all we have for now. We have to go catch another couple of buses to get to our campus. From here on, most of our posts will be separate so we aren't one of those attached-at-the-hip couples and so you know who is writing what.

Love ya!
Tyler
or was it Summer?
or both?? 
dun dun dun...

Obligatory Introductory Post

Hello, this is Tyler and Summer and this blog will chronicle our misadventures during our 4 month stay in Japan. We have been accepted at Meiji Gakuin University in Yokohama, for study...supposedly. We'll see how that goes.

The majority of today was spent packing, realizing we're bringing too much, unpacking, sorting, repacking, repeated to about 5 times. An end to a particularly frustrating and stressful week. Stories to follow include: The Quest for Yen; The Difficulties in Acquiring Perfect Alien Registration Photos and the Value of Independent Copy Establishments; The Essay; The Perils of Overseas Banking; Socks.

Well...it's 2 in the morning and we need to wake up at 5 for our flight........ So we apologize for a lame first post. Most posts forthcoming once we get to Japan and have Internet <3