BLING!!!

Old Skool! Gold plated tapes yo!!!


That's awesome, a skull with ear phones! Bling bling!!!

culture tip #14

Japan has two official religions: Buddhism and Shinto. This is a Shinto Shrine. Shrines can range from massively big to cupboard-sized, like this one. They are all devoted to a different aspect of life. For example, this one is for good fortune. But they can be for anything from business, to love, to a famous person, to studying. And yes at university entrance exam time, the ones reigning over study are filled with high school students, praying to pass their exams.

Another major difference between the Buddhist temples and the Shinto Shrines is that you clap your hands when you pray at a shrine, but not at a temple.

These are Jizo statues. Jizo is a kind of healing stone. They are carved into the shape of a man and dressed with a red bib and hat. Sometimes these shrines pop up when accidents happened in order to heal the spirits around the spot.

Hanging on the sides of the shrine are tsuru, origami cranes. They are associated with health. After the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadoko, a young girl who was afflicted by radiation and developed leukemia, tried to fold 1,000 cranes in an attempt to get well. Tragically she failed, but now school children all across Japan learn how to fold them and often send them to Sadoko's monument in Hiroshima's peace park.

my mom's visit

I know it's a bit late, but I actually had very few photos of my mom's vist. She took most of them because my camera was low on batteries the first 2 days and then I didn't see her for a few. So I will post some pictures again once she sends some to me.
We went to the museum the first day and visited the samurai house near my apartment. This is a snapshot of her descending the stairs in the Nomura Samurai house.

We went to an onsen the same day. This is supposed to be the best onsen resort on the main island of Japan.

I went with my good friends Akiko and Kazuyo. Here's a photo of everyone in kimonos. I'm wearing a yukata that the onsen provides.

The dinner was kaiseki ryori, a traditional 14 course meal. Even though my mom was kinda full, she ate absolutely everything. The food was incredible! Mmmmmm delicious!

This is my mom and me in front of some amazing rock formations in Noto Peninsula. There is a photo-montage of this one in my very first post!

We saw a lot of things in a very short time and often there was no time for a camera to come out. My mom had hers always ready. I called it 'the Whirlwind Tour of Japan'! But I was actually extremely touched when my mom said to me on the last day, "I always thought Italy was the best place in the world, but Japan has completely stolen my heart."

KOBE!!

Known for it`s Chinatown, Kobe is an exciting city. It`s very modern because of rebuilding after the 1995 Earthquake, which left about 5000 people dead.

This is the Chinatown. It`s lively and offers delicious food. Remi and Erin posing for the Camera.

We couldn`t go up the mountain, so we decided to ascend the Port Tower to get our spectacular night view.

This is Harbourland! Fun fun fun! Erin and I rode some mechanical animals, and Remi hung out with Pikachu!

This is the money shot. Remi by the harbour.

Kanazawa city

My mom is visiting this week so I have very little time to blog, but I thought I would post some pictures of the city I took recently.

Kanazawa station. It's designed in the shape of a shrine. There is a very modern looking torii gate outside of it.

A sunset in Korinbo, one of the main intersections of the city.

Random city scape I took while walking around the city.

You know in Canada, the cops would bust a place like this pretty quick. But maybe they find it hard to read the Roman letters or something, because this place has been here for a while.

liminal air

One of the best places to go in Kanazawa is the 21st Century Contemporary Art Museum. Recently they have installed something called "Liminal Air" in a square, glass room. It's basically different lengths of string hanging from the ceiling. The whole effect is truly magical. Here are the pictures.



Wondering around in the fog, you would encounter kids whirling around your legs like little woodland creatures.



But it was just as much fun for the adults.

This is what it looks like inside. Me looking down at my slippers.