8 more days!
Omigosh, Ill be home in 8 days. It really hasnt sunk in yet that Ill be back in Vancouver in a very short while. Just the other day, I was in a shopping mall in Nagasaki, and I saw GAP. I havent seen a GAP store since last September. Holy smokes...
So Im currently in a little town called Aso -the smallest town I have visited in Japan thus far. Theres only one convenience store here and one restaurant. Seriously, thats small - in Tokyo, theres like two convenience stores on a busy block. I came here to hike around the Aso mountain - which has multiple peaks. Theres a big crater with sulphuric gas coming out of it. There was a lot of haze, clouds, and maybe gas... dunno... cant be sure, so I didnt get any magnificent pictures today. The entire area is actually inside of a volcanic caldera formed over 100,000 years ago and has a circumference of 128km. Very cool indeed - if only I could see through the haze and clouds.
Nagasaki was good. Chinatown in Nagasaki was pretty disappointing. I also visited the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb museum in that city, which was similar to Hiroshima but also very moving. THe nice thing was that it wasnt very crowded. I guess not as many people make it all the way down to Nagasaki. Actually, since leaving Hiroshima, Ive seen less and less white people. Today is my Day 2 of not speaking English with anyone. Its pretty quiet not being able to talk to people.
Nagasaki is probably or WAS probably Japans most Christian city interestingly enough. It was the port whereby foreign traders and missionaries came in through. ST Francis Xavier landed in nearby Kagoshima in the mid 16th century. Christianity flourished for awhile but then was banned. I visited the site of 26 people (6 foreigners, and 20 japs) who were crucified in an effort to stamp out Christianity. Interesting memorial museum there. Never really thought of Japan as a Christian country but then again, it isnt. Its not really a religious country period. Very secular but people still just visit temples out of tradition I think. Ironically, one of the buildings closest to the hypocenter of the bomb that fell on Nagasaki was the Urakami Cathedral, the largest cathedral at the time in East Asia that only had been constructed in the early 1900s after freedom of religion was granted in the 1890s. Its been rebuilt, FYI.
Anyway, I have a train to catch now. Later.
So Im currently in a little town called Aso -the smallest town I have visited in Japan thus far. Theres only one convenience store here and one restaurant. Seriously, thats small - in Tokyo, theres like two convenience stores on a busy block. I came here to hike around the Aso mountain - which has multiple peaks. Theres a big crater with sulphuric gas coming out of it. There was a lot of haze, clouds, and maybe gas... dunno... cant be sure, so I didnt get any magnificent pictures today. The entire area is actually inside of a volcanic caldera formed over 100,000 years ago and has a circumference of 128km. Very cool indeed - if only I could see through the haze and clouds.
Nagasaki was good. Chinatown in Nagasaki was pretty disappointing. I also visited the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb museum in that city, which was similar to Hiroshima but also very moving. THe nice thing was that it wasnt very crowded. I guess not as many people make it all the way down to Nagasaki. Actually, since leaving Hiroshima, Ive seen less and less white people. Today is my Day 2 of not speaking English with anyone. Its pretty quiet not being able to talk to people.
Nagasaki is probably or WAS probably Japans most Christian city interestingly enough. It was the port whereby foreign traders and missionaries came in through. ST Francis Xavier landed in nearby Kagoshima in the mid 16th century. Christianity flourished for awhile but then was banned. I visited the site of 26 people (6 foreigners, and 20 japs) who were crucified in an effort to stamp out Christianity. Interesting memorial museum there. Never really thought of Japan as a Christian country but then again, it isnt. Its not really a religious country period. Very secular but people still just visit temples out of tradition I think. Ironically, one of the buildings closest to the hypocenter of the bomb that fell on Nagasaki was the Urakami Cathedral, the largest cathedral at the time in East Asia that only had been constructed in the early 1900s after freedom of religion was granted in the 1890s. Its been rebuilt, FYI.
Anyway, I have a train to catch now. Later.
posted by John A @ 11:10 PM
1 Comments:
At 1:41 AM,
Hillary said…
Holy cow! EIGHT DAYS???? That totally snuck up! I'll be out of town till Aug 7, but can't WAIT to see you!!! Enjoy your final week! WAHOOO!
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