Day: May 25, 2023

5/25 – Visiting Hiroshima

We visited Hiroshima today, and I learned a lot about the repercussions of that attack as well as the impact it has on the people of Japan even until today. We took the Shinkansen again to Hiroshima from Kyoto, and as soon as we exited the train we caught a bus near the station to take us to Peace Memorial Park. But first, food! I got a burger and fries from a food court area across from the park, and it was honestly one of the better tasting burgers I’ve had, if it wasn’t for its structural integrity (or lack thereof). The sauce, while sweet, also made the buns a little soggy, and so the meat slipped around and the burger was a bit messy to eat. It tasted good though, and had a fried onion patty on top of the meat patty. Overall, really good!

The burger even had a black colored bun!

After that, we headed into the park and saw the A-Bomb Dome, structural remains of a main showcase building that was virtually right underneath the point of explosion of the atomic bomb. It was shocking just how much of the building remained despite being in almost the center of the blast zone. 

The remains of the A-Dome.

After that, we saw the Peace Memorial, and then entered the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: the museum was pretty heavy. The photographs were often graphic and the descriptions harrowing, but it was all real. It was insight and information that, although tough to stomach sometimes, was extremely necessary for context and learning. They even had a 1/100 bronze replica of the A-Dome, both before the bomb and after. 

The bronze replicas, showing the sense of scale and impact of the bombs.

Once we had went through the museum, we then headed off towards Hiroshima castle to go see a Veteran’s Shrine. I learned from Yuuko-san, who we’ve been traveling on the Shinkansen with and has been our amazing guide on some of these trips, that the Veteran’s Shrine is actually a type of Shinto shrine, and that each prefecture has one, usually near their castles. This is because they originally were for praying for the soldiers who passed away during war, and now people use them to pray for the dead. I washed my hands and mouth at the entrance of the temple, and then performed the praying ritual, and it was cool to do something that the locals do often that I hadn’t really done before. 

Hiroshima had some really cool architecture and buildings.

Once we finished there, we headed to a restaurant to have okonomiyaki! It was super delicious, and mine had pork, cheese, and seafood/squid in it, which was really cool! 

It gave off pasta tortilla vibes, but even more filling!

Afterwards, we split up and I went into Bic Camera for a little bit, and was able to find the Nintendo Switch section by asking a worker in Japanese! I almost bought Fire Emblem Engage, and was shocked at how affordable the game prices were! The store was also huge with multiple floors, it felt like an extra tall Best Buy! 

After returning to the hotel, I crashed once more and went to sleep. On to the next day! 

Meditation + Tea ceremony + Temples ?

05/24/2023

Starting off strong with a yummy breakfast. I don’t ever eat breakfast in my daily schedule so having it built into our schedules during this trip was really nice and something that I appreciate lots!

Today we set out bright and early for a traditional zazen meditation session with a cool monk at a beautiful temple. I’m not exactly a religious person, but man do I love temples.

The architecture of traditional japanese temples is always so gorgeous, the lush greenery & gentle sounds of nature just instantly put me at ease. I felt so comfortable there.

During the first block of meditation (15 min), my right leg fell asleep about 5 minutes before the block was over, and I contemplated letting it fall asleep and not moving until the session was over but then I got insanely paranoid that I would permanently injure a nerve or something if I didn’t adjust my position, so I had to let go of my (self-perceived) perfect meditation posture.

I used to meditate often when I suffered from insomnia & heavier loads of stress, but I haven’t had the time lately and the session today helped spark my desire and motivation to meditate at home again. It was genuinely so peaceful and lovely….

The monk recommended us to experience the Whacking(tm) at least once, usually reserved for those who have trouble maintaining focus during sessions. I was hesitant at first since I thought I was doing well maintaining focus and keeping my mind clear, but upon the others’ recommendations, I asked for a whack during the second meditation block and I did not enjoy it as much as it was advertised.

When you’d like to request a whack, you’re meant to place your hands together in a praying motion, bow, and wait for the monk to then use his stick to whack both sides of your back (left and right), twice on each side. I was also informed by Toshi-san that other temples may do this unprompted if they catch the meditator asleep, so it was nice that this temple lets you request it!

After meditation, we headed to one of the locations we were at the previous day to witness and experience a traditional japanese tea ceremony (not full length). The hostess was kind and understanding, and taught us about just some of the nuances behind tea ceremony etiquette. When drinking from the bowl, you want the most decorative part of the bowl to face you, the person who will be holding the bowl, and you turn the bowl twice clockwise before drinking, so that your lips are not placed directly on the beauty of the bowl.

While I enjoy matcha, I am not great with bitter foods or drinks. But I offered myself to be the volunteer to drink the hostess’ dose of matcha due to my interest in the ceremony! Yes the matcha was bitter. I drank all of it out of respect and then proceeded to drink the dose of tea that I made myself shortly after. As someone who is extremely poor at downing any amount of liquid more than a cup (and as someone who is bad with bitter tastes), I think I had a real brave moment today.

We then headed to the Nishiki Market to grab some food, before I popped back to our hotel to rest for an hour or so. We were scheduled to go to Round1 for bowling at 6pm, so I headed back outside about 40 minutes prior to the meeting time.

Bowling happened. I believe some KCG students played with some of our students, but I had a very full team with Emma, Todd, Shannon and Kat. I forgot how awful I am with bowling, but they had a special vocaloid drinks menu so that was my coping mechanism for the night.

We headed out and arrived home at around 10pm, our feet feeling like lead from the past 2 days.

The Birth of Jimmy

On the train to Kyoto, a strange space creature was birthed from a strange egg. I then bestowed the name of the one who will one day incite terror upon the universe, Jimmy. However, for now, Jimmy remains a weak being incapable of self reliance. For now, he hides within the world of my phone where I feed him food. I also used a special training technique called playing catch in order to prepare him for his future conquests.

While not impressive yet, Jimmy’s stats will soon greatly improve to become the strongest… hopefully.

Forgotten and Left Behind

Note: There are less photos today due to many locations restricting photography (I also left my phone at the hotel lmao)

The day began with a meditation at a temple led by a monk. 2 – 15 minute meditation sessions were held. I enjoyed the first 5 minutes before my legs started hurting. This was overall a pleasant experience to start the morning, however, I could have done without the second session.

After that, everyone else got up and left me behind. How embarrassing…for them. Freed from the clutches of the group I had my newfound freedom at last. No one could stop me from finding a new bus… and then I ran into Steve. Returning back to the bus was my only option.

The next stop was a temple where over 1,000 golden statues were held. It is said that you will be able to see yourself in at least one of them. I definitely saw myself in the small Mushu like dragon.

Next, we returned to the old streets of Tokyo where we walked around to see various smaller shrines and gardens. We circled back to participate in a tea ceremony where we made matcha green tea and learned the proper etiquette in a ceremony.

The group then made our way to Nishiki market where we had lunch. It was very crowded so some of us had lunch at Wendys. I got pesto pasta with shrimp and avocado along with both sets of Tokyo Revengers combo meals. On our way back to rest at the hotel, I also got the legendary Lawson’s socks which are rumored to me the most comfortable sock money can buy.

After a much needed rest, we went bowling at round 1 where I ordered special vocaloid themed drinks and dominated the competition.

There were also various arcade games. I gravitated toward the rhythm games where had we not had to get up early, would have stayed there all night.

That’s all for today. Tomorrow we go to Hiroshima.

To be continued…

An emotional day

Today was our trip to Hiroshima. Obviously it is a very sobering and educational experience but it was such an interesting day overall.

We started the day early with breakfast at 7am and being on the skinkansen around 8:30. The ride to Hiroshima was about a 2 hour ride on the bullet train. I spent the time confirming our kimono appointments for tomorrow.

Once we got off the train, we got some food. I got a cookies and cream cake and vanilla Frappuccino from Starbucks. After food we headed over to see the dome. The dome is a still standing building from before the A bomb fell. It was incredible to see, especially the before and after.


After that we walked around the Peace Memorial Park. There were many flowers and school children going on a trip to see Hiroshima. We also then learned about the legend of the paper cranes. There’s a statue representing a school girl that got leukemia from the bomb and how she made paper cranes to wish for her health. The story goes that she died before she could finish all the cranes to grant her wish ( you need 1001) but her classmates finished it for her. We saw a group of school children bow and say thank you to the statue in the park.

After that we headed towards the actual museum. I didn’t take many photos since this was a very personal experience and it felt wrong to really take photos of such a thing.

The museum itself was wonderfully put together. The story of the bombing was extremely well told and made me cry at one point. I think the most impactful thing for me was seeing the clothes of the children that died from the bomb and reading the stories of the people who came home covered in burns and radioactive energy. The destruction was everyone and was really emotional.

The whole museum was a very emotionally strong experience for me that I don’t think I could put into words all that well. It really is something you have to see for yourself.

After the museum we sat outside for a bit. Some school children ( like 8 or 10 years old) came up to us and said hello. I responded in Japanese and the kids literally jumped back in shock. It was so cute!

Afterwards we went on an adventure to find Hiroshima Castle. It was so hot outside and I was in jeans so I wasn’t doing that hot. We eventually made it to the adjoining shrine and relaxed there for a bit. It was pretty with the guardian there being koi fish.

After that we headed to dinner. We got okonomiyaki ( Japanese pizza but instead of crust it’s cabbage). I tried it but wasn’t a fan. The meat and mochi in it was good though.

Afterwards, a small group broke off to run to the Pokémon center! I was in that group haha. We took a taxi over to the center, ran up the stairs and got in. I got some cookies while everyone else shopped. The reason we rushed was because we had to meet back up with the rest of the group to make our train back to Kyoto. We had 20 minutes to meet up with everyone and we were 30 minutes out of the station. We literally speed walked back to the station and made it just in time! We got on our train and I took a little nap. From here we just got back to the hotel and got ready for bed.

See ya next time blog for our very special Kimono edition!

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Today we went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. It was a really emotionally taxing day, but I think it was a really important thing to experience. We started the day by taking the Shinkansen to Hiroshima station and then bussing over to the A-Bomb Dome. This structure was almost directly below the bomb dropped on Hiroshima but it remained mostly intact. The structure was kept intact and not demolished due to people finding a little girl’s diary speaking on how important the building is.

After we were done looking at the A-Bomb Dome we walked across a nearby bridge to the rest of Peace Memorial Park. Here there was a flower bed filled with plants and trees donated by other countries, there were none from the United States. Next to the flower bed was a memorial to the children who were killed by the bomb. It depicted paper cranes and children flying around a bell. There were other small things scattered throughout, like a stone donated from Scotlands highest mountain. All of the trees in the park were donated by other countries, which was really interesting. The park itself is meant to symbolize peace and cooperation throughout the world, so the fact that so many countries and regions contributed to both its existence and preservation was really great.

After walking around the park and not letting Sten take a group photo next to the dead children memorial, we went to the Peace Memorial Museum. The museum was fascinated and also heart wrenching. The first floor had lots of information and artifacts on the foster children of the bombing. It also had a clock that counts the number of days since Hiroshima was bombed and since the most recent nuclear test happened. The latter was far too low, sitting at ~650 when I saw it. The clock also had gears that connect each other and are spun by a single gear at the top, which will have its speed increase whenever the earth is in danger. If the gear at the bottom of the clock is ever moved, the clock will self-destruct. This symbolizes that the earth is beyond saving and humanity has gone past the point of no return. The floors above the first showed all sorts of artifacts from survivors and victims of the bomb. There were sections on school chilren who died, parents who lost their children, fostered children, those who died from after-affects of the bomb, and what it was like when the bomb went off. After walking through all of those ‘exhibits’, we arrived at a large room that overlooked the first floor. This room contained a table that you could learn all sorts of information at. From how the city was rebuilt to how the atomic bomb was built. There was also information on the walls of this room that explained this information in greater detail. Overall the day was very difficult to get through emotionally, but it was a really important thing to do in my opinion.

Press Your Luck

I thought that today’s blog post would be super chill all the way through — we’re never that lucky, right? (Or unlucky, in my opinion!)

Today we took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, the site of the first nuclear bomb dropped on Japan in the final days of WWII. While I was looking forward to a better look into the city’s history, I certainly didn’t think that I would be as affected emotionally as I was by this trip. After brunch, we first stopped at the A-bomb Dome, which is a building that was close to the hypocenter of the nuclear explosion that remained partially intact, miraculously. There was a man standing outside who was sharing information about his mother, who at 105 is currently the oldest survivor of the Hiroshima bomb alive today. He told us the story of how his mother developed bladder cancer twice due to the radiation caused by the blast, but that she made a full recovery and is still alive and healthy today. This was my first bitter taste of the overwhelming impact of this event.

Next, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a museum close to the A-bomb Dome that houses many artifacts and personal accounts of how citizens were affected by the Hiroshima bombing. While I wasn’t prepared for this visit to be a particularly joyful one, I also didn’t think that I would find myself in tears twice while walking through the museum. Many pieces of children’s clothing that they were wearing when the blast occurred, as well as personal letters sent from parents to children and vice versa before and after the bombing detailing the devastation caused by the event were extremely difficult for me to read; as much as we are taught about the nuclear bombings in Japan and how much destruction they caused, reading from and listening to the accounts of children orphaned or severely physically damaged by the nuclear explosion makes everything feel a bit more real and all the more horrific.

To cool off after a pretty emotionally stifling experience, we decided to visit a nearby castle that also housed a shrine. We weren’t able to enter the castle itself due to the crowds, but we were able to walk through the gates and visit the shrine. The castle and the surrounding walls and buildings were incredibly beautiful (though not what you might have thought of when i said ‘castle’), and there was a river/moat with some koi fish and turtles in it that were very fun to look at! I personally didn’t pick up any mementos from this shrine, but there were some very cute carp figurines that held a fortune in their mouth that you could open, sort of like a more preservable (more expensive) omikuji!

For dinner, we headed to a local restaurant for some okonomiyaki, which was sort of like a noodle / egg / sauced up pancake that also included cabbage (and onions? i think?) that you could get a bunch of other toppings / fillings with. I only got pork added to mine, but Fabian and Skylar added seafood to theirs and said it was pretty good! Overall I liked it, but I didn’t like how the noodles on the edge were still somewhat raw and crunchy.

The original plan for post-dinner was to head back to the Shinkansen station and shop in that area for an hour and a half until we could jump on a train. I, of course, wasn’t happy with knowing that we had the opportunity to visit another Pokemon Center (yes, there is one in Hiroshima) and didn’t take it, so me and 7 others (Vincent, Brody, Esther, Chloe, Megan, Skylar, and Liam) decided to take taxis to the SOGO shopping center and press our luck. I had learned earlier that day that a TCG promotion had begun yesterday, which was why we were unable to get into the Pokemon Center in Kyoto yesterday, so I was worried that we would meet the same fate here. Thankfully, we made it to the Pokemon Center with plenty of time to spare and NO LINE!! So worth it!

The only problem with making this detour was that now we had to make it back to the train station with almost no time to spare. We wanted to take another taxi, but we realized that it would likely take too long, and finding the subway was a complete nightmare in the basement of Hiroshima. That left us with one option: to walk (or, more accurately, aggressively speed walk) for 30 minutes to make it to the station and avoid missing our train. And we did! And my legs were on fire. We technically made it there 2 minutes late, but that’s only because we made a wrong turn when trying to get into the station itself, which I think is pretty passable given that we were originally going to be 5 minutes late by Google Maps’ calculations.

Personally, it was 100% worth it. There ended up being a ticket issue last minute anyways, so we could have spared a couple of extra minutes, but I’m very proud of myself for taking the risk and making the trip a little bit more interesting (and expensive). The train rides back home were pretty uneventful, and I’m ready to just crash into my bed and wake up early tomorrow morning for another super busy day!

Kyoto Conglomerate

Another early morning today, heading towards a temple for some mediation! As a nice change of pace from the packed schedule of the previous day, we began the day with 2 Zazen mediation sessions. A monk taught us the practice of Zazen mediation, which involves sitting upright cross legged and in a focused stance. By counting to 10 repeatedly, we are able to meditate and clear our minds of troubling thoughts. During the first session, my legs fell painfully asleep so I was a bit distracted. However, for the second session I adjusted my seating position and found a way to sit comfortably and actually mediate. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and a very relaxing way to start the day.

After meditation, we headed back the the Kiyomizu temple area for a tea ceremony. While the other group participated in the ceremony, we explored the area a bit further and got a stunning view of a pagoda-style buddhist temple.

Then, it was our turn for tea! During the ceremony we learned how to make traditional matcha tea and the steps of conducting the ceremony, and we even got to taste the tea and a Japanese sweet. Another relaxing and enlightening activity!

Finally, we ended the day with some delicious food at Nishiki market before resting and then going bowling with some people from KCG. While I definitely wasn’t the best at bowling, I also wasn’t the worst and by the last game I had improved a lot!

Food in Day 4: Hiroshima

I know on all of my other blogs, I tend to focus on food, but it does not feel right to do this on this day due to the experience we had. But to at least somewhat keep up with the bit, here are pictures of what I ate that day:

On this day, we paid a visit to Hiroshima and saw the Peace Memorial Dome as well as the Peace Memorial Museum. It was what I would consider a haunting experience. Seeing the dome, which seemed to be a beautiful piece of architecture in its prime, reduced to a skeleton of what it used to be surrounded by rubble is a scary image.

At the museum, the pain everyone suffered was immortalized with pictures and words, and it was nauseating to experience. How could someone morally do this to not just another innocent human being, but thousands of them? The thought itself is incredibly upsetting, but seeing it all before your very eyes brings it to a new level. Seeing all of the possessions the deceased had held dearly even during the bombing and the stories of people desperately trying to keep their loved ones alive was heart-wrenching. What may have been even more upsetting to me was the stories of those who submitted to their fates after fighting off disease caused by nuclear pollution for years.

The whole experience felt absolutely terrible, but I believe it was a necessary experience. We need to know history and why our ancestors were wrong to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and lose our humanity as they did.

Next, we went to a Shinto shrine with hundreds of yellow lanterns.

Finally, a small group of us ran to and from the Hiroshima Pokémon Center before we hopped on the train back to Kyoto. That was the end of an incredibly emotionally draining day on this trip in Japan.

Food in Day 3: Meditation and Tea

We started our day with a morning zazen meditation, which was led by a Buddhist monk. Secondly, we went to Sanjusangendo, a Buddhist temple known for having 1001 Buddhas. After that, we went back to the same area Kiyomizu-dera Temple was in and split into two groups. The first group, which I was in, went around the town on a tour to look at Kyoto’s architecture and went to another two shrines. After that, we participated in a tea ceremony where we were shown what a traditional tea ceremony looks like and then got to make our own tea. The second group did the same things as us but in the opposite order. Afterward, we went to the (whatever the market was called), which is known for its street foods and goods. Although the food looked delicious, the crowded area was overwhelming, so I ended up grabbing food somewhere else. After that, we went bowling with the staff helping with the game jam. I competed with Maddy and Toshi. I got completely owned by the two of them.

As for the super duper truly important parts of the day, I had another boxed breakfast given to us by the hotel. It consisted of toast with ham and lettuce, a chocolate croissant, a mini loaf of bread, two pieces of sausage, fried fish, a fried egg, and pickled shredded carrots.

During the tea ceremony, we had a sweet that was hard on the outside, but once bitten, its true soft and chewy nature became apparent. The yellow stripe in the middle is yuzu, a tangy citrus similar to grapefruit. For the tea, we had matcha that we made from hot water and powder. The sweets only made the matcha taste more bitter, but the bitterness was never overwhelming. These two contrasting tastes paired well together.

For dinner at the market. I have a steak with corn, rice, and fries. The steak was amazing and very cheap in comparison to the steak I’ve had in the United States. It was very juicy and flavorful, which was yummy to have with the mellow side items.

For dinner after bowling, I hit up 7-11 again and got a rice ball with chicken and vegetable filling. Although it was not the most delicious thing I had eaten on this trip, I could see how this item would be popular with office workers who are too tired to cook and happen to have a convenient 7-11 located on their way back home from work. It was cheap, good tasting, and on the healthier side.

Tomorrow is our free day, and we will finally get to meet the KCG students we’ll be working with!!