Hello from south of Japan!

Hello from the outskirts of Typhoon Shan-Shan!
Well… as many of you are probably aware, we are (were) in the vicinity of a pretty powerful typhoon named Shan-Shan. Its projected course overlaps directly with our original itinerary to Qingdao, China so we are experiencing our first redirected path! We are skipping Qingdao, China altogether, and are – instead – heading directly to Hong Kong. For the most part, everyone is okay with this decision because:
a) It is good to avoid typhoons!
b) Many folks’ trips to the Great Wall of China will still happen – they’re just going to be departing from H.K. instead of Qingdao.
c) Hong Kong is such an amazing city that many people are happy we will be there for 4 days instead of only 2.
A few reasons why students are NOT happy with this plan:
a) Some people really want to see what this ship can do in a storm. (I am not one of these people.)
b) Now we will have 4 straight days at sea instead of a quick 2 days, so nobody is too psyched about that.
c) Japan was SO MUCH FUN, I think everyone is super anxious for our next port.

We were rockin’ & rollin’ last night out on the open seas. We were told to secure our belongings from shelves and desks if we don’t want anything broken or falling down. They’ve also closed off some of the decks because of high winds. YIKES! :} I think it’s pretty scary when the ship rocks dramatically, but other people just think it’s fun. Maybe I just need to get used to it. It makes my head feel all swimmy, but at least I’m not getting seasick. Many people had a rough night last night.

Anyway – JAPAN!!!
Joe and I had an amazing experience in Japan. Definitely a place we plan to return! Our first day was spent wandering around the port city of Kobe with mesmerized looks on our faces with the expression somewhat like, “I cannot believe we are actually in JAPAN!” As I said earlier, I really enjoy the difficulty of communicating in Japan because it makes for some interesting surprises with getting around and, especially, eating!! Many times we just pointed to pictures on the menu, or pointed to the widespread use of plastic food replicas! It is funny to see plastic food displayed in the windows of many restaurants, but it is very helpful. Some of my favorite foods in Japan are udon noodles, green tea soba noodles, and all of the super yummy bakeries that seem to be on every corner!!

We already told you about the baseball game… after that we headed to the city of Kyoto on the Shinkansen (bullet train), which is the home of many, many historical Shinto and Buddhist temples and shrines, all of which are absolutely majestic and beautiful. We enjoyed trying to decipher the bus maps, jumping on the buses, and trying to find our way to the different sites. Sometimes it was very easy, and sometimes we found ourselves having to backtrack a bit. Once Joe posts our pictures from Japan, you will be able to see each of the shrines & temples we visited. I think Joe wrote a brief description with each picture…
Anyway, while we were in Kyoto… Joe, Gail, and I spent some major brainpower trying to decide whether to climb Mt. Fuji or not. The weather was not cooperating, and since it is the off-season, the trek to arrive at the mountain involves a six-hour train, bus and taxi excursion from Kyoto. After much deliberation, we decided against the Mt. Fuji adventure. And… I’m happy to say – it was very positive decision for us. It allowed us to go on many more culturally-centered adventures, and we heard from many students that their excursions to Mt. Fuji were – while amazing – very rain soaked and VERY COLD. Some folks spent a lot of time getting to the base of the mountain, only to turn around halfway up because of the weather.
So… since we skipped Mt. Fuji, we had to take advantage of our Japan rail pass which basically gives us the ability to ride the Shinkansen and many other modes of transportation without having to purchase individual tickets. The first place we went was to Osaka to ride the Giant Wheel (aka, Ferris Wheel), which is the 3rd largest in the world. WOO-HOO! It was fun, and also a little scary to be up that high on a ferris wheel! It gave us great views of Osaka at night, and – for me – it made up for not going to Fuji. Don’t ask why. The next morning we were off to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum. I knew that it would be a powerful place, but I was totally overwhelmed by the energy of Hiroshima and the museum. First of all, I feel like I never truly learned about the dropping of the A-bomb beyond a quick paragraph or two in my history courses in high school. It was very interesting to learn about the events leading up to the end of WWII from the perspective of the people in Hiroshima. While the museum explains the history and chemistry/physics of the A-bomb, the real beauty of the peace memorial museum is that it is largely focused on creating peace throughout the world and avoiding nuclear war in the future. I found it to be an amazing example of humanity reaching out from the depths of an immense tragedy to bring positive messages and strength to the rest of the world.
After Hiroshima, we ventured to the small island of Miyajima, south of Hiroshima, which is a sacred island. It was an amazing contrast in the sense that it was super serene and quiet, whereas the other areas we visited in Japan were densely populated, hustle and bustle cities. Miyajima has a very tranquil quality to it, and after arriving on the short ferry ride from Hiroshima, we were greeted by a bunch of little deer, who Joe will have to describe for you to get the full effect.
We stayed at another ryokan, which had the added pleasure of a Japanese bath. If you have never experienced a Japanese bath, you need to do it. It is luxurious!! First you shower, shampoo, and soap up outside of the rock and wood surrounded bath, and then you soak in a super hot tub with water flowing all around you. It was wonderful!!
It rained a lot while we were on Miyajima, but the rain gave the island a somewhat tropical quality. Joe and I woke up early the next morning to hike 2/3 of the way up to Mt. Misen – the tallest mountain on the island. The path was largely stone and cement steps leading all the way to the summit. Very beautiful!
On our way back to Kobe from Miyajima, we stopped in Okayama to see one of my students, Yulin, from UC Santa Cruz who is teaching English to Japanese students through the JET program. It was so great to see Yulin! We had lunch with her and chatted for 2 hours before we had to head back to Kobe. TIME FLEW SO FAST! We were not ready to go back to the ship! Once we got back to the ship, we were informed that the captain wanted to haul butt out of Kobe because of the impending storm. So, we helped to hustle everyone onboard and we set said immediately away from the storm.
As I write this, we are still rocking pretty significantly. It is impossible for anyone to walk straight. It’s kinda funny actually.
Well… I’m off to get some work done. Thanks for writing comments!!
We miss all of you and love to hear from you, even if it’s a quick sentence or two!
A big shout-out to our UCSC friends: Hope move-in weekend goes swimmingly!! We’re thinking about you!!!