Japan

On the train from Osaka airport to Kyoto. The first thing I noticed was the lack of apartments. I figured that Japan, with only 11% arable land, would have high rise apartments everywhere, like Korea.

Began my stay in Kyoto by visiting the most famous landmark in the city, Kinkakuji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji Before I decided to travel to Japan, I had a picture of this temple on my computer wallpaper and didn't know what it was. The area was breathtaking, and the pavilion itself was even more fascinating. I don't care if it was totally rebuilt recently, it's covered in FREAKING GOLD!!!

Damn you Japanese and your patience. Look at all those tiny sticks used to build that roof.

Some love from Korea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liancourt_Rocks

View from Kyoto Tower.

Kyoto Station, the coolest transportation hub I've ever seen.
Japan is so damn expensive, I didn't eat out much in Kyoto. This was my first big meal in Japan. I can't read Japanese, so the chef just suggested this dish. I believe it was udon in a miso broth with tomato sauce. Pretty good stuff. It tasted like salisbury steak in a soup.

The next day I traveled to Nara, about 45 minutes by train from Kyoto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara,_Nara It was the ancient capital for a brief time, and houses some of the greatest temples in Japan.
Apparently the deer that roam these parts tend to get nasty towards tourists. Some idiots would walk around with food near the hungry deer, and were shocked when they chased after them.






We had a nice little staredown for a while until he realized my camera wasn't food.
The entrance to Todai-ji. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōdai-jiKoreans littered every tourist spot.


The Great Buddha Hall, the largest wooden building in the world.




One would be blessed with good fortune if they crawled through this tree. Weird how only skinny people and kids could succeed.

This picture does not do justice for the size of this statue. Just massive.

Colonel Sanders-san
Another cool temple near my hotel in Kyoto.

Kyoto Station.My first meal in Osaka. The city is known as the culinary capital of Japan, and I don't doubt it. I went all out on the food here after saving money eating cheaply in Kyoto. This is okonomiyaki, sort of like a pancake with whatever you want inside, usually with some type of meat. Absolutely delicious.
Bike and car racks like these were a common sight.
This is the sign from Michael Jackson's Neverland, on exhibit at the Umeda Sky building in Osaka.

Umeda Sky Building

Osaka Castle in the background.
"The place Hideyori and lady Yodo commited suicide monument."
Osaka Castle.
I think these people were special, they were stopped and greeted by randoms while they walked around.




Another temple. Blah.


Dotonbori, known as the best place to eat in Osaka.

Customers could catch their own fish and cook them in the restaurant.
It was pretty poppin for an early weekday night.
Sushi, duh. Easily the best fish I've ever had, and not too expensive. The sea urchin was out of this world.
Himeji, what a bummer. I traveled almost 2 hours on the train to see the greatest castle in Japan, only to find it under construction. I tried my best to avoid the scaffolding to the right of the Castle.




Kobe, meh.

Back to Dotonbori for more sushi the second night. This time I had to try the conveyor belt restaurant. The chefs just replace anything taken off the trays and you just keep stacking empty plates until you're done. However, the sea urchin at this place was awful. It tasted like vomit.

Random people could walk by and get a picture taken. This dude was almost identical to the statue.

Pachinko. It's like slots on acid. These places are known for attracting respectable people and turning them into helpless addicts in no time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko
On the way back to the airport, I found this awesome looking train headed to Universal Studios-Osaka.

Hello

I noticed I haven't posted anything in 4 months, so I felt like uploading some stuff before I go to Japan next week. The only exciting trip I've taken since Bali is down to Mudfest, a huge festival a couple hours south. I didn't bring my camera, which was probably a good idea. It was raining the whole time and the pictures would unlikely be family friendly. Here are just a couple favorites of the past few months.

Hongdae, a college district in Seoul, always attracts a lively crowd. It's one of the only places to hear good live music in Seoul, so a good percentage of my time spent in Seoul has been here. Like many clubs, Club FF stays open until the sun rises. These guys are probably just taking a quick snooze before taking the bus back home. You can be sure to find some stragglers left behind whenever you head home. This is the only picture I've taken of some of these unfortunate souls. My friend has dedicated a website to much better pictures at www.blackoutkorea.com

During our English Festival, some of the students had to give a speech in front of parents and teachers. Phillip here forgot the words, and made this face for a while until we helped him out. Way to go, Phillip!
This kid is ridiculous. Don't be fooled, he has more Spongebob clothing than he does school supplies. He kind of resembles Spongebob, too. His English name is, of course...Toby.

Cheeka Cheeka Time:

Every day before class, the phonics kids used to gather to watch me brush my teeth. Korean children say "Cheeka Cheeka" when they brush their teeth. One day my coteacher told them to knock it off. They were having too much fun, which is frowned upon in Korea.

This is Seat Swap, a game I play with larger classes. For my phonics class, the student who is standing must say a word on the tv screen. The two students sitting down holding the word must stand up and switch seats with each other, while the student standing tries to sit in an open seat. The player left standing must continue the game and choose another word. I use this game for many different classes, depending on their level. For my advanced students, they have to make sentences with the words on the screen. Watch Monica take out Ricky towards the end of the video.

Caribou was the first band I've seen in Korea that I actually cared to see. For one reason or another, it seems many good bands skip Korea altogether on their Asian tours, and only hit Japan and China. I hope more bands realize the potential in playing in Korea with the sizable young foreign teacher crowd here.