Holy Crap!

Heated toilet seats!

So, when I went into the bathroom after class today, it smelled funky, and not bathroom funky. It smelled like stale BO. I couldn't figure out if it was my jacket needing washed or what, but I went on with my business.

AND THE TOILET SEAT WAS HOT. Not so much that it burned, but I was expecting room-temperature/cold plastic.

It was something of a shock.

And was defintely why the bathroom smelled weird.

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There have been a number of new entries; be sure to check them out rather than getting distracted by heated toilet seats. Like me.

Getting Lost

My weekend got off to a great start, what with the laptop breaking and all. I'm still trying to fix it; next on my agenda is contacting Acer.

I was planning to go to Ise on Saturday but had to bring the unit in for the school tech people to look at. The guy I talked to tried a few things and told me he couldn't do anything for me. I asked if I could have another unit put on the wifi and he said yes... but only if the old unit is taken off. So, unless I can get Tiny Laptop to work, I don't get to use the wifi on campus any more.

You bet I'm going to be contesting this.

Anyway. I bummed around in the computer lab on campus for a bit, responding to important sign-up-for-classes emails and whatnot. I was resigned to checking out the 3-4 local shrines I've seen from my daily bus, so I headed out. By about the time I got to the main gates, I decided I was going to go to Ise anyhow.

So I bought my 320 yen ticket to Yodoyabashi station and boarded my limited express train. This was about when I sent out the email with the subject "Screw It," if you received one. 20-30 minutes later, I arrived and looked for a directory sign to find the Osaka Loop Line, as detailed in my travel notes.

Almost immediately, an older Japanese man asked where I was trying to go. He spoke some English and understood where I was headed but didn't seem to know the best way to get there. Maybe a minute later, a young attendant came running up to us. I don't know if she was watching things going on in the station via security cameras or what, but she seemed worried that the guy was talking to me. They talked and eventually I made my way to the ticket machines and got myself a 200 yen subway ticket to Osaka-Namba station.

Once there, I found the limited express ticket counter and got myself a Kintetsu ticket to Iseshi station, 3030 yen. I read some of Ulysses and watched the world go by for the next two hours.

Iseshi is in the middle of nowhere. I thought I'd use the restroom before I left, but all three bathrooms I found in or near the station were squat toilets only and I didn't want to deal with that. It's an experience I'm sure I'll have at some point, but that point isn't when the squat toilets are little more than a hole in the ground with no toilet paper.

I followed my instincts and exited the opposite side of the station. There were several maps to direct people where they needed to go and I couldn't really make sense of them, so I followed a group of girls on the off chance they were headed to the shrine. The city itself was rather empty. There were a bunch of interesting-looking shops that I didn't go into.

The girls were headed to the shrine and it didn't take more than 5 minutes to arrive. I headed for the purification fountain, did my business and headed in through the torii. There were several smaller shrines over a turtle-shaped rock bridge and I went to those first... which was when my camera decided its batteries were empty. I took a few photos with my phone, but the whole business of taking pictures was distracting.

I forgot to mention that this weekend was under typhoon warning. I was a bit worried that I would get caught in the rain when I left, but I suppose Amaterasu was looking out for her own, because it was sunny in Ise.



Geku is through that torii.



I should probably also mention some facts about Ise. It's one of the oldest shrines (or shrine locations) in Japan and is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami. Well, the inner shrine, Naiku, is. The outer shrine, Geku, which is the one I went to, is dedicated to Toyouke-no-o-mikami, a diety of agriculture and industry. The shrines are rebuilt every 20 years. The next rebuilding will be in 2013.

Anyway, they don't let you take pictures of the main shrines anyhow; there's guards and Shinto priests to make sure you don't. Also, the closest you can get to the shrines is 100-200 meters. Pretty secure.

I bought myself an omamori and headed back to the station. I stopped in one of the shops on the way and bought cakes for my family. I misunderstood the man selling the Kintetsu tickets and ended up with a non-express ticket back to Osaka-Namba, which was okay because it was 1750 yen (if I'd gotten another 3030 ticket, I wouldn't have had enough to get all the way home).

The non-express ride took 2.5 hours and didn't go all the way to Namba, but it was only one stop off and the same ticket covered it. I found the ticket counter for the subway back to Yodoyabashi and then to the Keihan line back to Hirakatashi. The same attendant that rushed up when the man was trying to help me was on duty at the gates to the Keihan trains.  She asked if I'd made it to Ise and was generally concerned for me.  It was neat.  At Hirakata I missed the last bus by just a few minutes, but Okaasan and Otousan came to pick me up in their new car.

Sunday, I worked on my rough draft for a composition test I have Tuesday and we went to Maki's house for dinner. She has an apartment on the top floor and it's really big! Also, I have no idea how they got their TV up those stairs; the thing had to be 60+ inches.



Halloween

Friday was the Halloween party on campus. It seems it's something the Japanese students put on just because the international students are used to the holiday. I didn't really see any of the Japanese students dressed up, except for a number of very convincing crossdressers.

Anyway, there was a horde of people in Pikachu suits, which I totally would have gotten in on if they'd told me about it. They all headed down to a shop called Don Quixote's (which I still can't find) and bought the suits for 3000 yen. I'm thinking I might get one just for the kicks. They're really soft and apparently really comfortable.

At one point, they made a pyramid, but they fell over before I could get a picture of it.

There were ninja and Power Rangers and samurai and quite a few Michael Jacksons and just generally people having a good time.

I didn't have anything, so I put on my sad Voltorb hat (one of Emi's Noggin Toppers from the first year, a mistake hat) and wore my Pacific jacket with white pants. Sad Voltorb was sad, but it passed for a costume. I did get asked at least twice if I was Santa... 

In other news, I'm about done with Blogger and its stupid picture uploader.

Michael Jackson off.

Tech Support

My laptop died. I was typing an email as it happened; had Firefox with three tabs open as well as had just opened Internet Exploder--I mean Explorer. I couldn't move the mouse even and force shut down. When I turn it on, I get a blank screen with the white underscore in the top left.

I've tried removing the battery and AC powersource. I've tried tapping F8 as it "boots." It's not responding at all and the tech people here were already gone when it happened. HELP!

All Your Advice is Belong to Me

'kay, so usually I'm pretty good about making decisions on my own, but this one's killing me and I need to have an answer by the end of the week (which, by the way, is on Thursday for most people reading this, not Friday like a normal end of the week).

If you read this entry, please please please give me your two cents on the matter.

It's time to sign up for classes for Winter and Spring semesters back at Pacific.  I've been talking with my adviser, Dave, and have the following list of classes for Spring:

ARTST 226-01 Photography I (Flory, 4 credits) MW 8-10:20
ENGL 421-01 The Romantic Period (Steele, 4 credits) TTh 9:40-11:15
MEDA 370-01 Advanced Reporting (Schrag, 4 credits) TTh 1-2:35
ENGW 305-01 Research Methods in Humanities (Beard, 2 credits) F 3:30-5
ENGW 466-01 Literary Magazine Publication (Postma, 2 credits) TBA
Independent Study -- Reporting (Cassady, 4 credits) TBA

That's all well and good.  Hopefully the Registrar won't pitch a fit over it being 20 credits instead of the typical max of 18.  I think it should be fine, seeing as I've been taking 18 credits since I started at Pacific.

As for Winter III (which is a three-week semester where students can take an accelerated course), I'm not sure what to do.  I had originally planned on taking photography because I'd seen that it was offered, but when I checked the catalogue again, it was gone.  So then I settled on not taking a Winter III this year.  Then Dave recommended I take MEDA 122-01 Intro to Digital Media, a 2-credit WIII course.

There are pros and cons to this.

Pros:
-It's a good background to have for Journalism majors (it's required under the new catalogue, which doesn't apply to me).
-It will put me back on campus to work on the paper, which is a good thing since I'm in line to be the Executive Editor (the big boss lady) for the Pacific Index.

Cons:
-I will barely be home for two weeks before I go back to classes.
-Flights are crazy right after New Year's.

I guess it would be a good class to take and being on campus to get back into the Index swing of things is probably a good idea.  The Winter III issue is typically difficult to get together because so many people aren't on campus to report for us.  I'd also be back in the eyes of Hailey and Dave, who will be making the decision on who to select for the EE position.  Since I've left, someone else decided that they want to take the spot and is apparently complaining that I was just handed the position without working for it.  I've had positions taken from me before by people who want to pad their resumes and then do a crappy job and I don't want that to happen to the Index.

However, my "breaks" aren't breaks at all, just times of go-go-go that add to my stress.  At this point, I can almost give a day-by-day of what I'll be doing each day I'm at home and it isn't a prospect I'm looking forward to.  In my email exchange with Dave while discussing my classes, I literally said that I may go insane if I'm only home for two weeks.  Though it's a selfish reason and I realize it, I want to go to game at least once while I'm home and as it stands, the Fridays are the 24th and 31st of December, which very likely means that game wouldn't be held while I'm home.  Also, my mother made it sound like flights on the 2nd of January, which would be when I would be flying back to Oregon if I took the WIII class, are crazy and possibly already expensive--and I would be taking all my stuff for the Spring semester with me.

For those who wondering, I don't want to take the class but I feel like I should, so that I'm in a better position to serve the Index.

For those to whom it matters, I did a few readings on the issue with my Tarot deck.
Single-card action spread: 4 of Chalices.
-dissatisfaction, boredom, depression in a relationship; being let down or cheated; feelings of passive-aggressiveness
-success or pleasure approaching an end; stationary period in happiness; acquisition by contention; injustice sometimes; the good with the bad

3-card situation-action-resolution spread:
Situation: 9 of Wands.
-final challenge preventing accomplishment of a goal; find the strength to succeed only after exhausting all other options, arising from a need or willingness to try one more time
-great success, but with strife and energy; victory preceded by apprehension and fear
Action: Ill-dignified Knave of Pentacles.
-Normal, non-ill-dignified description: gathering of energy to build things or fulfill bodily needs; hobbies becoming professions with proper nurturing; gentleness and time to bring potential to fruitation
-Ill-dignified description: wasteful; dissipation of ideas; failure to recognize the facts
Resolution: Ill-dignified XIX The Sun.
-Normal, non-ill dignified description: clarity, renewed trust; understand patterns, plan for the future, move forward; foresight
-Ill-dignified description: unhappiness; loneliness; possibly broken engagement

So that's what I've got.  Help?
Comments, suggestions, advice, personal experiences, declarations of love and adoration--all are welcome!

Meatloaf Burgers and Gyoza

After much debate and grief, I decided to postpone my trip to Ise a week.

The deciding factor was that I was exhausted after midterms and decided to opt for sleep.  This was none of my own fault, mind, it was the fault of the road construction going on outside my window from 11p until 6a every night of midterms week.  Only for midterms week.

Daniel and I agreed to have a lounge around the lounge day.  We said we'd meet around 10 but more whenever we showed up.  I arrived first, with Laptop and TinyLaptop in tow and settled in.  Arianna showed up a bit before ten and we lounged.  I started on a literary for my Friday night game character.  Daniel arrived late but he brought waffles.

We lounged.  I finished my lit.  We lounged more.  A handful Japanese students attacked us to do their interview homework.  We lounged more.  A couple Japanese students invited us to make okonomiyaki with them but we declined.  We lounged more.  I played Pokemon.

Around 4:30, they kicked us out because they were closing for the day.  Arianna headed home.  Daniel and I got crepes from PECO's by the bus stop.  I had a banana and chocolate creme one and it was quite tasty.  On the bus on the way home, we decided I should go to his place Sunday.  He asked when he got home and got the okay.

I slept until 10:30 or so and took my time getting ready before heading out.  They'd upped my bus from 2 an hour to 3, so the times were a bit off, but I arrived at the stop as a bus was pulling up so it wasn't an issue.  Daniel misunderstood and didn't head for the station when he should have, so I waited a bit and got nommed by mosquitoes.

Today's blog brought
to you by the letter D!

We stopped at Freshness Burger in the station for lunch.  It really reminded me of an old-fashioned diner, but it was totally Japanese.  I got a cheeseburger and onion rings; Daniel got a hamburger and steak fries.  The fries and onion rings were pretty good.  The burgers, for Japanese burgers, were good, but Japan decided that straight-up hamburger wasn't good enough and most of what they call hamburger is actually meatloaf (mixed with at least egg and onion).  It's tasty, but sometimes you just want a real burger.

The walk to his house was about 15-20 minutes from the station if you walk slow.  It looks like an interesting part of town I wouldn't mind exploring.  We bummed around the Internet and watched a handful of videos, looked into turning Lupin (from the anime of the same name) into a vampire for my Friday night game, had some chicken nuggets his host mother made for us, played a game of Magic (I lost finally, though only -5 to 1--we were tied in the last round at 1 life) and poked at the Internets more.

His host father gave us a ride back to the station because it was raining pretty heavily by that point and I hadn't brought a jacket or umbrella because it was nice when I left.

I ran from the bus stop to my house in heels because of the rain.  Otousan and Okaasan were stripping and replacing more wallpaper so I helped with that.  Okaasan asked me to remove a 2-3-foot-wide panel that ran from floor to ceiling and I did it in two pieces after cutting across with the boxknife to give me something to work with.  They had cleared the other section in many, many pieces and were amazed again at how quickly I did it.

While they put up the new wallpaper, I helped Misa and Maki make gyoza (potstickers).  I shredded the garlic and ginger and then stuffed a whole plate of the little things.  Maki wasn't very good at cooking them and often passed the spatula to Misa, but they turned out really good.

Okaasan told me that on the 7th of November, we'll take a trip as a family to Nara.  Hopefully we'll go to Todaiji to see the Daibutsu so I don't have to take another trip on my own.  I discovered I'm running out of weekends to take trips on.

I discovered that there's a new facility opening in the last week of November for the Osaka Pokemon Center.  It's supposed to be the largest one and looks really awesome.

 Also, I finished a hat!  I told Daniel I'd make him one if he bought the yarn.  Technically, even if I didn't make any money off of it, it's my first commission piece!  I really like how it turned out.

Escape!

Gore warning.  Skip the next paragraph if you're squeamish.

Sometime last week, there was a dead cat at the end of our driveway.  The only injury it has was that the front part of its head was crushed, but obviously, that's more than enough.  There was blood and brain in the gutter.  It looked like it would still be warm if I had touched it.  It was gone by time I got home. The gutter is still stained.

We had agreed to meet in the CIE lounge at 10 a.m. Saturday and I was there early, as per usual.  I spoke with people back home, wished a happy birthday and had some serious discussion before Arianna arrived.  We waited an hour for Daniel before deciding it was time to head out.

Instead of being normal, we decided to leave the building through the window in the bathroom.  I asked if she wanted to go on an adventure, she looked at me for a half second or so and then we bolted for the window.  Totally thinking the same thing.  We wandered through one of the campus gardens and tried to explore the contained teahouse, but it was blocked off and we probably crossed one too many barriers as it was.

We walked to Seminar House Four and then meandered down the small side street before it, ending up in a park and then finally back at the kofun which was our goal.  It wasn't particularly exciting, but I wasn't expecting it to be.  Arianna found a dead dragonfly and we gave it one last flight before moving on.  The kofun had a path up its center as well as a well-outlined path around its edges, really showing off its keyhole shape.

Then it was across the street to Avail to wait for Daniel.  The three of us wandered through the store (there was a skirt I was looking for).  I found a pair of pants, Daniel got a shirt and pair of jeans.  I discovered my shoe size is LL.

From there, we walked to the next town, Machino, and found a second-hand store Arianna was told had kimono, yukata and the other traditional necessities for relatively cheap.  Apparently, the Japanese don't like second-hand clothing, so there's quite a lot of it (what actually gets recycled) and it's really quite cheap.  There were two yarn stores on the way, so I have a handful of places I can buy from now.

We stopped at a local restaurant (which I think the cool kids call Okaasan's, because the first two kanji of the name are "big," read as "oo," and "strength," read as "ka."  From there they make the connection to Okaasan, which means mother [specifically someone else's mother, or your own in a formal setting] and implies something of a homey setting).  I got something of an old-school burger joint feel from the place and the food.

Then we walked to Arianna's house, which is REALLY traditional but packed full of things the family has accumulated over the generations.  Her family's dog is mostly deaf and rather mean and he really didn't like Daniel.  There was a praying mantis in the gravel of the driveway when we arrived, but it was gone by time we came back outside.

Our next stop was Kuzuha Mall.  We got sweets from a bakery and window shopped our way through a few shops.  I picked up a pair of earrings and Daniel tiny gumballs from a machine.  Arianna took us to another yarn shop she'd found.  It has a smaller selection than the ABC store at Hirakatashi-eki, but it was nice to know I have so many options.  Also, it's the only store so far that has had something other than wooden knitting needles.

Daniel and I had a bubble-blowing contest and it quickly became apparently that I won.  Our contest switched gears from who could blow the bigger bubble to who could get the gum stuck on the oddest part of their face.  I won.  One of my bubbles was large enough that when it burst, it ended up caught on my eyebrow.  I think it getting caught on my eyelashes was more entertaining.

Sunday I stayed at home, working on editing a draft of a story Devin wrote a few years back.  I'm considering opening portions of it in MS Paint so I can write on the document.  But my highlighting and commenting method seems to be working so far.

It's midterms week.  I had my test in Shinto last week (took 15 minutes from the beginning of class to get settled, pass out the test and take it).  Yesterday I had my reading and speaking tests for my Japanese classes.  I forgot how to read the "aka" part of "akarui" (bright) but otherwise did alright on the reading section.  Speaking went well, despite likely overly simple language.

I was supposed to have my History midterm today, but because the professor was sick a week or two ago, the schedule is a day off and it will be on Monday.  I had a blog due for Visual Anthropology, but the professor messed up his schedule and gave us an extension until Friday.  There is no Shinto midterm, just a "consultation" class, which she has encouraged us to skip in favor of going to the Kurama Shrine Fire Festival.  It runs from 6 p.m. to midnight but the buses and trains stop before then.  I'd like to go, but I probably won't.

I'm planning on going to Ise Shrine this weekend, maybe heading to Nagoya as well and staying the night.

Butt Flaps and Spy Crabs

Saturday morning my alarm went off at 5:10 and up I got.  My bags were already packed, so I swiped some bread and yogurt from the kitchen before heading out the door to meet my 6:19 bus.  There were a considerable amount of people at the stop for it being so early, including a group of older-aged friends.

On the bus with me, I waited at/wandered around the station and got some bread and cocoa for travel food before buying my ticket and pestering Daniel and B to check their locations.  At 15 till the train left, I went to the platform, having not heard from Daniel.

On the train with us, standing room only, to Yodoyabashi where we transferred to the JR line subway.  Then we were at Shin-Osaka and 15 minutes from our scheduled Shinkansen.  Daniel missed it by just a few minutes and had to buy another ticket.  The ride itself was uneventful. It was a really smooth train with fold-down tables and cushy seats.  I played some Pokemon (there was someone else in the car playing that I chatted with), started a new crochet project (a hat for Daniel--he bought the yarn) and listened to music when the laugh of the girl sitting next to me became too obnoxious.

The countryside was beautiful.  I was surprised at how many cemeteries we could see from the train and was more than slightly annoyed at how many tunnels we went though and how high what I assume the sound barriers were.  Trying to look out the window was almost pointless.

Then we arrived!  The station was busy and full of shops.  B and I waited for Daniel and saw a group of elementary school kids go by in their yellow caps.  Then he arrived and we hopped on the streetcar to Peace Park.

We spent a good deal of time at the A-Bomb Dome, what was a school or a library or a government building back before August 6, 1945 at 8:15 a.m.  Despite being about 100 meters from the Hypocenter, the dome somehow survived, standing, and has been preserved since.

There were a number of other monuments on the way to the museum; for the children, for Sadako and her paper cranes, the eternal flame that will burn until there aren't any nukes left in the world and a whole bunch of others.  We arrived at the museum about 10 minutes before the survivor was set to speak.  We bought our tickets and headed downstairs for seats.

If you're squeamish, skip the next paragraph.  It contains details of immediately after the bomb was dropped.

Sugimoto-san spoke in Japanese and Dr. Scott translated.  She was 14 at the time; is 79 now.  She told how she was working about 200km from the hypocenter and dove under her work desk at the first sign of trouble.  The building collapsed around her and she could see her friend's leg in front of her.  Glass embedded itself in her arm, causing a wound that eventually festered and became infested with maggots.  She told how she tried to help others once she was freed from the building, how there was a burned boy carrying his own arm, a mother carried her dead, scorched baby, how skin peeled off and fluttered in the wind, how eyeballs popped out of sockets--sometimes hanging by the nerves, how hair stood on end, how people crawled for the contaminated river--dying of thirst and yet killing themselves faster by drinking, how horses experienced the same thing--burning and drowning.  She spoke of the black rain that burned what it touched and killed the fish in the rivers.  How she had 2/3 of her stomach removed because of the cancer from radiation.  How her father died three days after the blast from radiation, not because he was unfortunately close, but because he was searching for her and the rest of the family in the rubble.

We went into the museum afterward.  There was a special exhibit containing art of survivors depicting the desperation for water, how they wish they had given water or found corpses at wells and troughs.  Some of the drawings were startlingly realistic, giving a true sense of what the aftermath looked like.

Back upstairs, there was a military timeline starting in the 1800s and going up until the bomb in 1945.  The center looped videos of Hiroshima before and after as well as of the American pilots deployed for the mission.  There was a model of the city before and after Little Boy--absolutely nothing was left.

Upstairs had current nuclear warhead count per country (I'd heard that the US has the most, but the graph showed Russia had twice as many).  It also started the beginning of the artifacts.  Articles of clothing.  Lunchboxes.  Roof tiles that had melted and bubbled in the heat.  Chest of drawers and cement walls with glass embedded in them.  Steel and other metal structure warped and bent out of shape by the blast.  A chunk of stone stairs with the "shadow" of a person caught in the blast emblazoned upon them.  Scores and scores of every day items melted together in almost unrecognizable blobs.

There was even a section of items one could touch--mainly roof tiles that had bubbled--with signs reassuring visitors that the items are safe.

There was a reproduction of burned people with frizzled hair and fluttering skin.

There were clippings of nails that grew in black because of radiation.  There were mats of hair that came out with three strokes of a brush.

And Sadako's paper cranes.

Since stepping foot on the Peace Park grounds, I felt sick to my stomach; the land is bad.

We left the museum and stopped by a few more memorials: the mount made of deceased children's ashes, a tomb stone that survived the blast with only its top knocked off, the shrine for the mothers.  We checked into our hostel and waited for B's speaking partner Yuki (a Hiroshima native) to be in the area so we could go to dinner.  The room was alright; had a bathroom, sink and three futons.  We opened the window to air it out because it smelled terrible.

For dinner we wandered to a Vietnamese place at a local mall.  It was pretty tasty, if a bit over-priced.  I purchased my first alcoholic beverage, what they called a Pine and Mint Soda.  It had peach flavor in it and was rather tasty--and as "alcoholic beverages" tend to be in Japan, didn't seem to have any alcohol in it.

We got ice cream afterward and went to purikura with Yuki and her younger sister before they headed home.  Daniel, B and I sat by the "death stairs," as we call them, the stairs people would have gone down to access the river in their need for water, in front of the dome and just talked for probably an hour.  Then it was back to the hostel for more talking and sleep.

We checked out around 9 and had breakfast at a local cafe.  It was tasty and right across the street from the mother shrine.  From there, we walked to the hypocenter, which is down this tiny, random sidestreet and is only noted with a plaque.  It was rather lack-luster.

Then it was on to Hondori street, a major shopping area in Hiroshima.  We wandered down probably half way and there was a balloon sculptor.  He was really good--made Mickey Mouse and Ponyo and a bunch of other recognizable characters.  B paid for him to make a relakuma, which he did, and it was adorable.  I bought more new socks.  Daniel sunk 3000 yen in an arcade for a blanket and ended up really lucky in the end with two Hello Kitty plushies.

Then we were off and away to Hiroshima Castle.  There was a shrine on the grounds where I picked up an omamori (and was given a phone charm omamori for free by a local priestess).  There was a wedding going on in the shrine so we couldn't go in, but it looked rather impressive.  The castle itself was a reproduction and a museum.  The view from the top was less than spectacular because the city had grown up around it too much.  There was some sort of samurai event going on that we were going to watch, but it was getting too late, so we split.

We walked to Shukkeien garden and wandered around.  It was peaceful, relatively, but full of businessmen and other tourists.  There was a bamboo forest and a river full of crabs that scared the crap out of B.  They were kinda cute.

Back at Hiroshima station, we hopped on a train to Miyajima, the Itsukushima Shrine and the famous torii (shrine gates).  We arrived and (after the blip of B losing her ticket) got on a ferry to the island.  Unfortunately, the tide was out when we arrived, so the torii weren't underwater as they typically are in photographs.

And there were deer everywhere!  They were completely tame--didn't care that you were there, or touching them, or that they had to touch you to try and find food.  One of them was bold enough to stick its nose in Daniel's pocket.

We got our pictures of the torii and climbed the stairs to the other shrine at the top of the hill.  On the way there, we saw a mother deer with a nursing fawn as well as a tanuki (looks like a mix of a raccoon and a fox).  It was dark by then and we were all tired, so we headed back to the ferry, back to the train and back to Hiroshima station where we bought our return shinkansen tickets (9800 yen) and hopped on the train.

Misa and Maki picked me up from Hirakatashi-eki when I finally made it back, about 11 p.m., since the buses had stopped hours ago.  I showered and passed out in bed.

And slept until noon.  When I got up, there wasn't anyone home, so I had a small breakfast of raisin bread before they arrived and then I helped prepare food for the grilling party with Maki and Takeshi's friends.  By 5 p.m., I was so tired I went upstairs and laid down... and woke up around 8 to everyone leaving.  I did my homework and headed back to sleep.

A video of a shinkansen coming into the station.

A photograph of Hiroshima after Little Boy was dropped.

The coding between pictures seems to have changed--thanks, Blogger.  I don't know how to fix it, so we get to enjoy a whole bunch of wasted blog space.