Took the train to Kyoto. Whitney & I were staying two nights, but David had 5 hours to tour Kyoto before leaving for Yokosuka, so we took a whirlwind tour of some of the highlights. (First, though, we stuffed all of our backpacks into the lockers at the train station. A feat!)
The first place we stopped as Kiyomiza Temple (Kiyomizu-dera) – a very pretty Buddhist temple with lots of cherry blossoms and PEOPLE EVERYWHERE and incense and things for sale and great views of Kyoto.
One of the busiest places in the temple was a waterfall where three channels of water fall into a pond. There was a long line of people in queue for a chance to catch the water in a metal ladle and drink it. I had no idea what the significance of this was until I looked it up, but it is said that drinking from the three channels of water will confer health, wisdom, and/or longevity.
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“Little Bee” is a book full of sadness. I started reading the book, thinking that it was about the 16-year-old Nigerian orphan, Little Bee, but the book turned out to be more about the upper class white family her life is intertwined with. The characters are well defined. The book is well written – it never lags, and it has an actual ending that makes the heart swell, and then weep for doing so. But I thought it was a little contrived.
4/5
304 pages
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Viewing the A-bomb dome was extremely moving.
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So, we made it back to Hiroshima, and back to the hostel where we picked up our room key. We were sleeping on tatami mats, which weren’t exactly comfortable but they were better than sleeping on the floor.
The vegetarian restaurant we were planning on eating at was closed for the night (this happened at least once a day) – so we stopped at a Spanish tapas place. Whitney had a salad with a tomato or two, and the fruit from our sangria. Dave & I split several appetizers, all of which were uneventful. Afterwards we headed to find a karaoke bar…we got pretty lost, and asked some high school kids where to get beer at, but then we eventually found the drunk businessman and followed them to the giant KIRIN BEER sign.
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Woke up early & checked out of Tokyo. The hotel had some fancypants single cup espresso maker in the lobby, and we each had a cup or two. Took the shinkansen to Hiroshima. Ate an orange for breakfast. It was simultaneously one of the worst and one of the best oranges I’ve ever eaten.
After a few hours, we arrived at Hiroshima & found the hostel without any trouble. We decided to take the ferry to Miyajima (the Shrine Island) before dark.
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For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And all the time your soul is craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him.
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Here in Japan, all of the cherry trees have names.
Whitney woke up bright and early and got us to the Tsukiji Fish Market sort of on time. The fish market is a very busy place, with motorized & human-propelled carts going every which way at very high speeds, and it is a little overwhelming but you know you better stay alert because otherwise you’re going to get run over by a cart and it is going to suck.
We saw thousands of stalls selling all manner of marine life (in various states of fresh -> frozen). Tuna, sea urchin, squid, snapper, shrimp, eel, etc. It was raining and that helped keep the fish goo from getting on our clothes.
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After a very long flight, we made it to Japan. I’ve never been on a flight that long before, and it turned out to be pretty awesome. Basically I ate, slept, watched movies, and read on my nook…pretty relaxing, even if it was in a very small space. I had joked with my brother about carrying a sign with our names on it, but he scoffed and said “I’ll be the tallest guy there”. Turns out he was right. We took the Narita express to Tokyo (ooh! pretty! and fast!), and made it to Ikebukuro, where our hotel (the b ikebukuro) was.
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i got emily lilith fair tickets. and the new sarah mcwhatever album. I only bought two tickets, though, so if you’re looking for a lilith fair presale code you can use LF4DC8W6 to buy two more tickets during the presale.
you’re welcome.
OK, I didn’t intend for 2010 to be the year of the “made-into-a-movie” book, but that’s what is showing up on the kobobooks top ebooks, and that’s what I keep buying. (Side note: I was buying a lot of books on kobobooks because they had coupons! and great deals! but since the great April 1st “agency day”, I haven’t bought any ebooks from anyone).
Now…onto Shutter Island. (Or not. Really it’s a place I’d rather not be.) This book is a good old fashioned thriller with a slight twist that I kinda-sorta-knew-was-gonna-happen-but-didn’t-want-to-believe-was-true. Just the right amount of scary in parts (especially if you’re reading late at night and your partner is working night shift)…and with a great “believable” ending. (I’m looking at you, lovely bones & under the dome). Also highly recommended.
400 pages
4.5/5
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