Kara's Japan Thoughts

Coming to Japan was a new experience for me. Yes, I have traveled overseas, done the backpacking thing, and been lost in a foreign land. This time I was more nervous and it was harder due to the language barrier. When you are lost and you can't just ask the person next to you where you are and where the train is going makes it more of a challenge. Being in Japan was the first time I had gone overseas and not spoken the language. It was amazing how well I could get around with not knowing very many words. The only words I learned were konnichiwa which means hello and Arigatou which means Thank you. Whenever we went out we would just point to our menu and then they would bring it to us. There were a few times when we were lost, or could not find yen, or boarded the wrong train I had moments of panic since I like knowing where I am and what is going on, I just had to sit back and think about the experience I was having and knowing that God had my back.
It was interesting how private Japanese people are. They keep to themselves on a bus or train unless they brought a friend. They always have a phone or some sort of technology since they could not be bothered to be bored. When you use the toilets in Japan there is a button to make a flushing sound so that people can not hear what you are doing. I did not see any emotion on people's faces except for a few smiles here and there, but no tears of joy or pain. I did see a woman who seemed to be having a mental issue and people would just stare then look away as if to say you are not normal. This being all said, I do find it interesting though of the community of bathing together. That is an experience where you are completely vulnerable with your body and there is no way to hide. When i was at the spa most of the women had friends with them and bathing together was a very social time. Which is why I did not enjoy myself, being i am a social person and i did not have a friend with me.
The food was somewhat of a challenge for me, due to the fact that I am one of the world's pickest eaters. I did make myself try Japanese food since I knew i would be missing out if I didn't. I realized in the end sadly, that I do not like the taste of Japanese food and it would take awhile for me to truly get used to it. I did enjoy however the Japanese pasta I found, the fried potatoes, and rice is always yummy. i did enjoy snacking on japanese carmel corn and really liked the Fanta grape pop there since I love grape pop and it is not so popular in the US.
I love the beauty of Japan. The streets are clean even in the city. The mountains are gorgeous. The city scence of Osaka was amazing to see in the day and at night. I loved to see the temples in Kyoto and to be in that city that had mountains surrounding it. I love the way the trees look, the beautiful temples on the water, and the flowers that were surprisingly still in bloom.
My favorite day was the Osaka Aquarium and the Ferris Wheel ride to the fact that the Aquarium was so big and very unique with all the different types of fish, sharks, and the Huge Japanese spider crabs. I love the ocean and it was neat to feel inside of one. The Ferris wheel was amazing due to us being in a glass car and being able to see out over the city. i also love heights so that was super great!
I loved Kyoto as a city more, since it had a lot more earthly beauty and it was a smaller size. There were also so many cute shops and I did not have to worry about being shoved as often. It was a little bit of a slower pace which is not saying much about Japan. I loved knowing that it was set up for tourists and being able to just hop a bus to see a beautiful site was very nice.
It was interesting to learn more about Buddhism since I had learned about it in school but had never been able to see people practice. I came away deeply saddened because they are believing in a false religion and knowing that they are so dedicated to their faith. I understand now why it would be a challenge to be a missionary in that type of setting but how rewarding it would be.
In the end Japan is very fast.... Everyone knows where they are going and they are always in a rush. You better know where you are going or you are going to be left in the dust. you never have to wait more than 5 min for a train. People are always working and things seem to always be open.
I do not think I would ever be able to understand everything about Japanese culture due to being raised in America, but I loved being an outsider and being able to watch and observe how they do life!
Japan was a great experience and i was so glad I was able to share in this experience with Grant. We had a lot of fun together, saw a lot of Japan, and really enjoyed just seeing what we could see with the week we had.
It was wonderful!!!!!

Funny Pictures From Japan

The silly picture in red where it shows a guy and some stairs I believe to be some sort of instruction as to what to do in case of a fire. It was posted in the hall way of our hotel but makes no sense to me... Other pictures are of bikes in a row
(you see this all over Japan), a deer figurine with watches on it from a store (oh the plight of of all white tail during "bargain hunting," animals in darkness overlooking the street as that shopping alley below led to the Tennoji Zoo, the oriental bathroom sign, and oh don't let me forget the merry "x-mas" sign at the Osaka Aquarium, oh so politically correct.

What I learned from Japan

This will be a rather short post and then I will post some funny/interesting photos from Japan. Japan is an interesting place. The truth is I don't know where to begin this blog. I will in this blog refrain from being politically correct and from ignoring that which was running through my mind while there, but would never tell a local.
One thing that surprised me while being in Japan was the lack of rest that everyone there displayed. When I say "everyone" I really mean "everyone." Along the streets in Japan there are vending machines that sell all sorts of energy drinks and other concoctions that supposedly work wonders for your memory etc... yet when I would travel in the subway or sit at a cafe' the majority of people either looked drained beyond measure or too wired to sit and just "be." I found this rather sad because I love to have time to just "be" and not think of anything else. I'm sure they may say the same things about Americans when they visit, but I really couldn't believe it while I was there. It could be that many of the people I saw were also wired because they hadn't had a smoke in a while. Lining most streets right next to the energy drink machines were cigarette and alcohol vending machines. Our hotel, which had apartments connected to it also had a cigarette dispenser and an alcohol vending machine in its lobby. I couldn't tell why these things were superfluous in a culture that is often said to be one of the most honorable or innovative in the world. Is it that Japan has become too Americanized? The fact that there were pornographic magazines in the "Family Mart" or large video gambling halls on many side streets made me ask these questions. I'm not saying Americans aren't "obsessed" with porn or gambling halls, but in America porn is often hidden in a back room somewhere and gambling halls at a large casino somewhere. Not only that, but American gambling does not include anime' cartoon characters on their video lottery machines. You can ask yourself that question when you visit Japan or know someone from there and can ask them their opinion.
The other thing I learned is that you are never too young to play video games as I saw a 40 year old playing Nintendo DS on a subway train. I learned that in Japan everyone texts rather than talking to each other. Women also must wear either large boots or have interesting leggings in order to match the fashion in Osaka. I felt sometimes like I was back in a cross between the middle ages and the future, leather boots met the "metro sexual" individual through cell phones and black suit coat etc.
Overall, Japan is an intriguing place with many innovations, good food, and great people. It is simply hard to understand the social structure of post WWII Japan and its place in the world. I hope you had a few laughs while reading, but know that if you ever get the chance to visit Japan wear sneakers and use the stair stepper at the gym before attempting the subway stations. This is Grant Signing Off.

Osaka, Japan Day 8

- This is a picture of the dredded wrong train that we took on our last day to Kansai Airport...in order to find anything good to say about that experience was that there were no stops (so it was quick) and it took us on a more scenic rail line overlooking the ocean on our left as we arrived at the airport.

-Next 2 pictures are of Kara and I with our movies that we received for Christmas!

-Lastly, a photo of our beds in the small room we had at Hotel Taiyo the day we left.

Today was our last day in Japan. We had packed most of our things the night before in order to be ready for the station. When we got to the station we accidentally took the wrong train after navigating the subway system almost perfectly the whole trip. So we were asked to shell out more money, luckily a young man saw our plight as we had spent most of our money on the tickets we bought already and graciously paid for our tickets. The frustrating thing about the plight of choosing the wrong train was that the tickets for the train we were on was less than the original price we paid for our tickets, not only that it was the same train company, but they were not willing to budge on making us pay for the ticket of the train we were on. As a tourist I wish that JR Rail Lines would have been a little more hospitable and understanding because the tickets that led to the airport on a slower train were 1030Yen a person, but the Limited Express to Kansai airport was only 970 yen per person... I have thanked God for the young man who saw our plight I believe his name, from what I could understand of his English, was Tommy (many Japanese also have English names). I have prayed that the Lord would bless him. I gave him all the Yen change in my pocket and about $5 American, which equaled around half of what he paid for so I believe it was as fair a trade as we could have made besides giving the shirt off my back.
Finally, after reaching the airport terminal, we hopped on to our plane in about 45minutes and headed towards Guam. Once in Guam we only waited 30minutes before heading on Saipan. The level at the airport in Guam was Orange for some reason so we had to go through a second checkpoint once we arrived in Guam. Our trip by plane was great both ways and on the Japan flight I even slept a little.
When we reached the airport in Saipan it was almost 6pm and Pastor Greg from our church was there smiling and ready to pick us up as he said he would be willing. Once home Pastor Greg was kind enough to bring one of the packages we received while we were away that was waiting for us in the school office. We were really happy to see a Christmas package from Kara's folks waiting for us in the office. Kara not being able to wait on opening any type of package put on our I-Tunes Christmas music and we opened presents some of the pictures are of that event. I hope you enjoy them! I am very thankful to have been given the Lord of the Rings series on DVD, that was very gracious of you Johnson family!
The next installment on our blog will be personal realizations we had while in Japan. I will also post one blog of funny and/or interesting photos from Japan for your enjoyment later! I hope this has been informative. Since it was our last day, not too much was too be explained... Our next few blogs will be more interesting.

Sincerely, Grant

Osaka, Japan Day 7

- The first picture is of a painted picture we saw on a buisness that had closed down for the night and was interesting consider Mickey Mouse is not part of Asian culture per se.

-Second is of a warning sign at Spa World that says that they do not accept anyone with Tatoos or may be drunk and disorderly. In the states this could be considered discrimination, but I don't believe it is...

-The next is of Kara in front of Spa World's entrance. We'd have more pictures, but like I said it is a nude spa.

-Lastly is a picture of Kara in one of the side markets with the "Hitachi" building in the background. It is another one of the buildings that provide an amazing view of the city of Osaka, but again you have to pay for entrance.

Today was a good day because it was more relaxing. We first went to get more Yen in order to have enough for the day's fun and have enough to get to the airport tomorrow. The interesting thing about today was our experience partaking of Japanese culture in one of the most personal ways possible. We decided to end our trip with a treat to ourselves by going to Spa World. Spa World is a large complex that has several large spa areas. Normally it costs 2,700 Yen to go to Spa World, but they had a deal going on where we could go for 900 Yen each. The facility was not English speaking friendly with very few signs in English, but we did figure it out.
Spa World has three levels Men's on Level 4, Women's on level 6, and Kids/Mix Gender on Level 8. The interesting thing about the Japanese is that they have a tradition of bathing nude, together. So, Spa World is a nude experience, except on Level 8. Kara's experience on level 6 included different themed spa rooms Japanese, Bali, Persia, and India. She says that she enjoyed Bali the most because it was prettiest, the water was not too hot, and the she was by herself in it for a while. She was rather upset by how so many women brought in young boys to the women's nude spa when the kids were between 8-10 at times! Besides the Bali Spa Room Kara enjoyed her time with me on level 8 where we sat in a really really large hot tub, went on an outside loop of warm water, and swam around the lazy river 6+ times.
My experience at Spa World was great. Unlike Kara the water was not too hot for me, which I usually don't say because I do not like really hot showers. The men's spa was pretty cool. The themed rooms for the Men were Rome, Finland, Atlantis, and Spain. My favorites were Rome and Spain. There were many saunas throughout the facility and I experienced both the regular sauna (which had a t.v. station on behind plastic) and the salt sauna (which had pretty music playing). My favorite thing to do was to become really hot and then hop into the cold bath they had because no one else was in it. Rome was cool because it had baths that were different colors and had different herb ingredients added into the water. One was purple and one was yellow. The purple may have had lavender ingredients and the yellow was warm and felt/smelled as though you were dipped into a luke warm pool of Chamomile tea. There was another pool that was like a cave and had water that was filled with some sort of honey ingredient that made your skin really smooth. Spain was cool because it had a little water fall, was outside, and one section had pool chairs underwater that you could lay on. It was a lot of fun and like Kara's locker room, mine had a large t.v. room/lounge with a bunch of leather chairs that was fairly quiet, but I didn't bring a book to read as I forgot...so neither of us spent much time in them. Needless to say both of our experiences being nude were very enlightening and made us feel a little more Japanese.
After our spa experience we went back to our hotel and ate dinner. We then walked down the shopping alley next to our hotel in order to look for my souvenir. I say alley because the Japanese do much of their shopping in alley bike/walkways or in subway stations. We found a cute cup with two owls on it in love and next to the handle was a picture of the male owl, so I felt it was a guys cup and since we were in Japan because of love I felt it fitting and appropriate. It was only 100 Yen so very cheap... even better. After finding my cup we went back to the hotel to pack our bags for the early flight tomorrow. That is all, I have to say for tonight, it has been an interesting night! Sincerely, Grant

Osaka, Japan Day 6

-I believe most of these pictures can explain themselves from the blog or from simple realization. The first and second picture from the top, I should explain what you are seeing. This is the picture from Below of the Sky Garden Observatory. The circle is the 360 degree walkway and sky walk. The two tube structures going in to it are actually an entry and exit escalator into the structure. The first picture is of the escalator inside the tube.

Today was another busy day, not quite as relaxing as I thought it would be, but still fun. Today we walked to Tennoji Station to get some more yen from the ATM and then decided to eat lunch since we woke up late. After eating lunch at Kara's favorite Japanese restaurant "Pasta de Pasta" (which serves Italian food...) we decided to take a train over to the Namba Train Station & Shopping area, which Kara says is called the "Heart of the City." The Japanese tend to do a lot of shopping in the station on their way home it seems as there were restaurants, clothing stores superfluous, and even pharmacies and grocery stores. We stopped at one restaurant called the "Golden Spoon" for a snack. It was a healthy yogurt/ice cream place that had amazing frozen yogurt. Kara got a small cake batter cup and shared with me it was great for the taste buds. Then after that we kept shopping but we did not find too much. We did find something cute for one of Kara's friends and will ship that off later. I never did find a coffee mug today, but I am not heartbroken as I have plenty of mugs and really the Japanese are more accustomed to tea apparently anyway even though there are coffee shops on every corner... We did find a few cool mugs yesterday but they were too expensive at $30+ dollars American. While here we haven't found any great "touristy" type shops anywhere... they may be non-existent and believe me when I say we have "looked." After walking around Namba Station we went to Umeda Station and checked out the stores there. We found many places to eat and clothing stores, but again nothing that stood out. After shopping for a while we went looking for our main attraction for the evening and our purpose for coming to Umeda Station and that was finding the Umeda Sky Building, which contains the "Floating Garden Observatory and Lounge." The top floor is a tourist attraction as it has a unique 360 degree panoramic view of the city of Osaka for the price of 630 Yen if you have a Thru Pass or a discount ticket found at some hotels.
The Umeda Sky Building was hard for us to find at first because none of the narrow streets have English subtitles as they do on the trains and buses. It did not help that I was extremely hungry and cold after having done so much walking and shopping today. We eventually ran into a kind street officer who knew English well and pointed us in the right direction, which is the way I wanted to go the whole time, but was unsure of myself...perhaps I should trust myself more. Once we got there we found a German Christmas festival going on at the base of the building. There were Asians dressed up in German clothes and a few "real" Germans who were there for the festival as well selling food and trinkets. Seeing the Japanese girls in old fashioned German outfits was rather amusing, I'd have a picture but it was dark and it didn't turn out. Once we traveled to the 40th floor where the Lumi Sky Walk is we paid and went inside. Once inside we saw people writing Christmas wishes on Stars and hanging them on lit trees and lines around the windows. I took a picture of our stars, which were about the Christmas season. After we walked around and took a few pictures inside the walk way we traveled up to the sky deck outside. The sky deck is 173 meters above ground level which in feet is approx. 567 1/2 Ft.. Some of the pictures you see on the blog are from the Lumi Sky Deck. I wondered why it was called the Floating "Garden" Observatory when there were no flowers there. The pamphlet given to us states that around the world there are 48 carefully selected towers that bear the name of "sky garden." It is a conceptual idea both architectural, historical, and philosophical that suggests that Man has tried since creation to go higher and higher into the sky from the Tower of Babel to the Floating Gardens of Babylon and that a tall structure such as a building becomes part of Man's garden of structures in the sky, hence the name "sky garden." It was well worth the money to visit the structure despite the difficulty in finding it.
Tomorrow we may go and get a little more yen so we have enough for our train ticket to the train station the next day and for Spa World. We have almost enough for both events but I just want to make sure we have enough for food, ticket, and fun. When we get back to Saipan we will simply live poor until we get paid next. The thing about the train station that stinks is that Thru passes only work for trains not affiliated with the company "JR Trains" and so JR has jacked up the price of going to the airport to 1,030 yen each because they are the only train that goes there. A day pass ordered online may have saved us a little yen if we had known and gone through JR for a day pass, but it is too late now. Either way we have spent our money wisely in Japan and because of that I am well pleased. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Again this is Grant, Signing Off.

Osaka, Japan Day 5

- The first picture is of Kiyomizu temple from afar. If you look to the right you can see a little of smoke coming from the incense people were lighting.

- The Second is of Kara and I at Kiyomizu temple. We tried to capture the cool skyline in the background as best we could, but did not do it justice in this picture.

- The third picture is of Kara at the opening gate to the Kiyomizu temple after walking so far to get there.

-The fourth and last is of me standing in front of the rock garden at Tofuku-Ji temple.

As promised Kara and I returned to Kyoto for another day of craziness. I woke up early and we left at least an hour early. We could have left sooner, but even Kara was a bit slow this morning. It also helped that I skipped breakfast and Kara simply ate yogurt. When we arrived in Kyoto it was about 1115, so we decided to get me some lunch at McDonalds because it is cheap as is usual. We had a nice long lunch at the golden arches and then after eating planned our day. Kara really wanted to go to Nijo Castle, in order to compare it to Osaka Castle, but I suggested that it wouldn't be wise. From my perspective this choice didn't seem practical because we could both go to other temples for half the cost of going to that castle...after I explained my rationale Kara agreed. So, instead of going to Nijo Castle which costs 600yen a person or 1200 for the two of us (to figure out American equivalent do 1200 yen div. 80 yen= American $$ approx.) we decided to do Kiyomizu-dera temple for 300 yen per person and visit Tofuku-Ji Temple for $400 yen a person. Originally we were also going to see Kodai-ji Temple but Kara was getting templed out so we didn't go to it. So, to the meat of our temple visits and further exploration of Kyoto...
Our first stop was finding Tofuku-Ji Temple. It was really, really, confusing because the temple was on a zig zag road between residential and commercial property, but we eventually found it and on our way back were able to help other confused tourists like ourselves, I believe they were from England. Tofuku-Ji Temple
is like all other temples, very beautiful as it has many bridges and beautiful trees and flower gardens... It would be really beautiful at the peak of autumn. Its name was actually taken from two other temples in the Osaka area. At the time of its creation it was the newest temple in Japan and because of that they made a hall named "Butsuden" that houses a 15 meter tall standing statue of Buddha, if your metric skills aren't great, I'll do the math... that is approx 50ft tall. We would have loved to see this statue but in order to have the chance at a photo opportunity we would have had to pay an extra $400 yen each...so we left somewhat frustrated. The priest who started the temple was an important figure in Japan's Zen past because he was the first priest to be given the title of "Kokushi" by the emperor himself which means that he became the "nation's" priest. Our second stop was Kiyomizu Temple.
Kiyomizu temple is perhaps the largest and most visited temple by foreigners and Japanese residents. This temple was large and very active. All of the other temples we had visited were not active, this temple had gongs, incense, prayer paper, and shrines to pray in front of! So the air was thick with incense, prayers, and camera clicks. The view from the Kiyomizu temple is spectacular and is probably the best view of Kyoto one may find as a tourist. In the fall the view of the leaves would be amazing and in the spring the view of Cherry Blossoms would be picture perfect. This temple was founded by a great Buddhist priest named Enchin in the year 778 A.D.. In the main sanctuary is an image of "Kannon" (the God of Mercy & Benevolence). As a tourist I noticed that there were many newly weds visiting this temple dressed in their Kimonos and I have a feeling it is in order to pay homage to this shrine and pray for a blessed marriage. There were many interesting things going on at this temple that I did not understand, but what I did understand gave Kara and I a sense of sadness and maybe even anger. I apologize to anyone who reads this and is offended, but I cannot hide the truth of what I feel as a Christian. I couldn't help but feel saddened by so many people I feel are on the wrong path. I do not claim to know everything about Buddhism or Christianity, but I do know what Christ did for me. He took away sin and freed me from my suffering by shedding his blood, not by teaching me 4 Noble Truths. I also have a hard time understanding how someone can believe they may be reincarnated as a god, demigod, human, animal, ghost, or hell. In Buddhism it seems to me that people are trying to live a right life by following rules set before them similar to the "law," for Jews, but the problem for me is that I believe we can be good people, but still have the mark of original sin on us. Until we accept Christ and enter the gates of St. Peter, I do not believe we can be "free" of suffering and Christ in the Bible reminds us that through accepting belief in him we will have added persecution. That is all I can say...it just doesn't make sense to me...sorry. If you want to know more about Buddhism I believe PBS is a good source to follow a link to a simplified break down of Buddhism is found at: http://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm

On our way back from that temple we stopped at some of the local shops and bought gifts for Kara's sister Amy and one of her friends and bought Christmas presents for Gwen and Meredyth for next year, planning ahead since Saipan does not have many good local shops with stuff relevant to people in the states... I did not find a coffee cup from Japan yet but may find one tomorrow on our "chill" day. Tomorrow we plan on relaxing most of the afternoon maybe walking around and shopping more and at night going to the top of these two towers that have a "floating garden" between the two and looking out over the city at night. Then on our last full day after that we plan on going to Spa world for the day to relax as it is only a couple blocks away and they are having a deal right now that we can use to go for less than the normal price. We will keep you updated once again tomorrow! This is Grant Signing off at 1030pm Osaka time.