Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

Here's some more of the highlights from my summer vacation for 2014! Takeno Beach It takes about 3 hours by -four- trains to get to Takeno from Himeji, and then another 15-20 minute walk to arrive to the beach itself. Takeno Beach is considered among the 100 top most beautiful beaches in Japan; at the very least, it's the most beautiful beach I've ever been to, even two days after a typhoon had passed by. The surf was too strong that day for safe swimming, due to the full moon, but it was still a lovely beach! I'll let the photos speak for themselves. I'm definitely going to do my best to come back to Takeno before I leave Japan next summer. It'd be worth staying overnight in a hotel, and perhaps visit the nearby Kinosaki Onsen. Spending just a day was not enough time for this amazing beach! Arashiyama in Kyoto Our original plans in Kyoto was to take the scenic train up Arashiyama , and then raft down the Hozu River.  How...

Now that I'm back in Himeji, I of course had to show my brother the almost-fully-finished Himeji Castle and the Koko-en. With Typhoon Halong coming in tonight, the weather has been pretty icky here; but fortunately, it stopped raining during the afternoon, so we were able to enjoy ourselves in the nice, cool weather. And even luckier for us, due to the bad weather the cranes were kept folded down, so they didn't interrupt our view of the castle! A lot of people have been commenting around Japan about how white the roof of the recently renovated main castle is compared with the roofs of the other buildings. There is a logical explanation, however: this is what the roof originally looked like when the castle was first built, with its white clean lines. However, after repeated buildup of soot from air pollution, it will eventually turn as dark as the roofs on the other buildings. For now, I will enjoy the clean, unpolluted roof! So, some of my favorite photos from today of t...

Just got back to Himeji after a few days in Tokyo with my brother, and it was pretty fun! We stayed in a hotel that was about a 10 minute walk from the main street of Akihabara , which is pretty much nerd heaven. Yes, I did have--inadvertently--dinner at a maid cafe/barbecue place, and yes, we ate lunch at the Gundam Cafe; you didn't hear it from me, but the bathrooms are super awesome there... although, according to my brother, the mens' toilet was quite a bit different from the ladies'. I definitely don't recall any smoke machines in the girl's room, which now makes me a little bit disappointed. But yeah, if you go to Akihabara, you have to go to the Gundam Cafe, and you have to use the bathroom. It's that amazing!  Anyways, if you've ever heard anything about Tokyo, you've probably heard about how there are people on the train platforms whose job it is to help cram everyone onto the train. It's true. Rush hour traffic on the trains was pret...

So, while I've occasionally had time to belatedly think "Oh, gee, I haven't updated my blog in awhile," I didn't realize until today that I've gone nearly two months without a substantial update! I haven't been up to too many shenanigans or adventures during this time, though, for several reasons: busy working at school (and breaking three bicycles...), busy sleeping, busy organizing meetings for the summer community lessons, and busy staying inside while it's raining (usually I'd end up sleeping). So, some of the things I've been up to, in no particular order, and occasionally with photographs. (Note to self: procrastination always ends up giving me more work to do!)  Jinnan Junior High School I just finished up my one-term-per-year time at Jinnan Junior High School, which is far out in the northern part of Himeji. My commute, as with Hirohata, was about an hour in total for each way: first a 15 minute bus to downtown, then a 20 min...