Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

Last Sunday (9/10), since the weather was lovely, my friend (Yukiko) and I decided to visit Kakashi-no-sato (literally: Scarecrow Town) in northern Himeji (I went there once before , about 4 years ago, during their autumn festival). The town is famous for having more scarecrows than people and seemed like a great place to spend a beautiful afternoon. First, we stopped at a traditional Japanese restaurant on the way and add a wonderful lunch! I was so hungry I forgot to photograph the appetizers--ごめなさい！ Then, once we arrived in Kakashi-no-sato, we met up with another friend (Masaki) who had grown up in the area. He said that there were two different waterfalls in walking distance of the town square and offered to guide us to both of them! It was a wonderful hike, with dense foliage and babbling creeks along the well-maintained trail. Masaki knew everything there was to know about the plants and creatures of the area, and it was really interesting to learn about them all. Not ...

On Saturday (9/9) I decided to make the trek to Mt. Shosha since I had the spare time! I was joined with some of my new colleagues. We left early in the morning, catching a #8 bus to the rope-way station; we cut through a small suburb in order to reach the beginning of the hiking trail. It was a hot, muggy day despite our early start and before long we were all melting along the trail. Occasionally a cool breeze would reach our skin through the dense foliage, and the brief relief was welcome. Eventually, after frequent breaks, we did reach the top (of the rope-way). Alas, it was a hazy day, and the photos of the view over Himeji did not come out particularly well.  I still think my favorite part of Mt. Shosha is the statue-lined path leading up to the first gate. During this part of our journey we were joined by a nice gentleman from New York who was visiting Himeji for the day. We all had a blast photographing the statues on our way up! The lighting was tricky, or maybe I'm j...

It's been a long two years, but I have once again returned to Himeji via Phoenix Sister Cities! Please pardon the dust as I redesign the blog and catch up from some missing posts! Tentative to do list: Summarize trip to Ogasawara Islands! It's been two years, but my memories are still crystal clear, and the photos are stunning.  Add some Mt. Shosha photos from 9/9/2017. It was great to go back! Add some photos from Kakashi-no-sato (Scarecrow City, roughly). Although I didn't really photograph any of the scarecrows this time, I still had a wonderful time today (9/10) there! I have approximately 750 photos from the last two days to sort through, so this will take some time. I've also got to dig up all my photos from Ogasawara (I probably took a couple thousand during my stay there...) and write a cohesive narrative for that multi-day trip.  In the meantime, I'll just briefly talk about my return to Himeji. I'm still settling in, but it's been ...

Still catching up from my last trips in Japan. This post is dedicated to Tottori, which is famous for its Sand Museum and its sand dunes. There's a train from Himeji to Tottori every two hours, as well as direct buses to take, so it's entirely possible to visit everything in Tottori in a day. The Sand Museum was my first stop. Its displays change each year; 2015's theme was "Germany." All of the sand sculptures, which were created by artists from all over the world, had something to do with German culture: there was a large area dedicated just to the Brothers' Grimm, Germany history (from Kaiser Wilhelm, to the printing press, to WWII and more modern events, like the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and their soccer team), German music (all the famous composers), and more. There was even a statue for Anne Frank. The lighting in the warehouse where they were stored was not cooperating with my camera, but I did manage to get a few photos to come out... ...

This was actually from July, but I haven't had time yet to upload my pictures. For those wondering, I've finished moving back to the US, so once I finish my last couple catch-up posts, I won't have anything new to add here. But more on that later. Here's some pictures from Hiroshima, and I'll do my best to remember what happened last month! Hiroshima I took a shinkansen  to Hiroshima, from Himeji, early in the morning sometime either July 6th or 7th (I truly can't remember which day). It was pretty much pouring rain the entire day! Good thing I planned an overnight trip, because there was a lot to do in the city. I walked nearly everywhere, though trams and trains were an option. I started at the Shukkuien gardens, which were near the station; Shukkuien apparently translates to "little shrub" garden, but it should probably be renamed to the "crab" garden. There were, literally, crabs everywhere: yellow crabs, red crabs, brown crabs,...