japan: hiroshima/miyajima

The first place I visited in Hiroshima was the A-Bomb Dome. As soon as I came close to the structure, tears covered my eyes. I walked around the dome a couple of times, and then proceeded toward the Peace Park. Throughout the park, there were numerous memorials dedicated to those who died during nuclear devastations. At the end of my walk was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. For the longest time, I did not want to visit this place due to the fact that it is way too saddening. However, a number of people that I spoke to told me that the Peace Museum is the one museum that I have to visit during my stay in Japan. As I expected, the Peace Museum made me extremely sad... and very angry towards Americas. Well, by that, I mean angry towards actions taken by Americas during WWII. I don’t really want to describe what I saw and read at the museum, so I’ll just move on to my next destination.

I checked in to my hotel, emptied out my backpack, and headed toward Miyajima. Miyajima is this beautiful town near the city of Hiroshima... you have to take a ferry to get there. Of course, as soon as I arrived at Miyajima, I went straight to the famous O-Torii, the grand gate to the Itsukushima Shrine, the symbol of Miyajima. The tide was lo, so I could walk through and around the O-Torii. Afterward, I strolled through the Itsukushima Shrine. The passages throughout the shrine were so beautiful… I realized that by the end that I was supposed to pay a fee to enter the Shrine, but I entered it through the exit and I guessed that people working there thought I have already paid. Haha, I can’t believed I rip-off a shrine!! Anyways, I wandered through the quiet town, visited a couple temples and pagodas and headed back to the O-Torii as the sun was setting. By then, the tide was beginning to come in and you no longer can get out near the gate without getting yourself wet. I sat on the rocks for an hour or two, just watching the O-Torii from a distance, seeing the sunset, and hearing the water coming closer and closer to the shore... it was such a peaceful experience, a definite contrast from the horrifying images I saw at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum earlier that day.

I left Miyajima at around eight and headed back to Hiroshima. I don’t know why, but I decided to see the A-Bomb Dome again. The thing was even more haunting at night! I crossed the bridge to the other side of the Peace Park and saw a gathering of mostly young hippies, I mean people, playing music and chanting while candles were lit to form a peace sign. I stayed and watched the hippieness for while, got hungry and left.

So that was my very long and memorable first day in Hiroshima/Miyajima, I will post about my second day in Hiroshima very soon, stay tuned!

Go see more Hiroshima and Miyajima pictures here... there are only like fifty more pictures of the O-Torii!

i can't wait

I just got back from Hiroshima and I am beyond exhausted... but I told myself I would post this as soon as I’m back in Osaka. Below, you will find link to one of my most anticipated albums of this year: Jeremy fucking Enigk's new record, World Waits! Put this album on you pod, or whatever portable music player you have, and listen to it while you take a walk through the brightest city nights... enjoy!!

1. A New Beginning
2. Been Here Before
3. River To Sea
4. City Tonight
5. Cannons
6. Damien Dreams
7. Wayward Love
8. Dare A Smile
9. World Waits
10. Burn
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World Waits comes out on October 17, go buy it!

japan: the tide is in, it's time we all learn to swim, these rooftops won't save our lives

The day I came back from Tokyo, there was this huge fireworks festival thing at the river right near Jesse’s place. The train was freaking crazy... it usually takes about 10, 15 minutes at the most to get to Jesse’s place from Umeda station; but that day, it took me about 40 minutes, I was so irritated and sick of Japanese people by the end of my ride. Jesse’s friend Berry right near the river, so we went to watch festivities at his rooftop… the view was amazing! ...check the pictures out and see for yourself.
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Yesterday, I went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. I actually walked around the place twice because I finished it so fast the first time that I thought I better walk around again so I could get my money’s worth. The place was pretty neat... the penguins were sooooo cute and the jellyfish were stunning!

I walked around the bay area, and then decided to check out the Suntory Museum, which was right next to the aquarium. There was this art exhibition there called Snoopy Life Design. I was hesitant to go at first as I am neither a fan of Snoopy nor the Peanuts comic/cartoon. But I am so glad that I went... the exhibit was really cool. A bunch of different artists took the Snoopy character and re-designed and interpreted it into their own visions. There were huge Snoopy statues painted and decorated in very weird and creative styles. Also, there was this space where you get to draw on a computer and your drawings are then projected onto a Snoopy stature... that was sooooooo cool!!!!!! In case you are wondering why I only took like four photos, it was because I wasn’t allowed to take any picture at all, but I managed to snap those ones.

By the time I was finished with the Snoopy Life Design exhibit, the sun was setting and I had a gorgeous view at the bay area. Again, check the pictures out and see for yourself. That is all for now, I am going to Hiroshima for a couple of days, so I’ll update this blog when I get back.

See the rest of the pictures here.

Peace.

japan: tokyo pt. ii

On my last day, I went to see the Metropolitan Government Offices in Shinjuku, which is where my hotel was. Oh, I forgot to mention, the station at Shinjuku is HUGE!!!! There are like five subway/train lines at Shinjuku, as a result, the combination of them make an enormous underground passage. Seriously, the station extends to over a hundred blocks! That was awesome because I could walk through the nice air-condition underground instead of the boiling heat outside. Anyways, I did not get a chance to go in the Metropolitan Government Offices because it was close... I was kind of disappointed about that.

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But my day totally went through the roof when I went to Fewmany - the best damn store in Japan. Fewmany is this little toy shop slash mini gallery. I spent soooooooo long in that there. They have a huge section of wicked-cool action figures and a few awesome shirts. I wanted to buy everything from Fewmany, but I settled for an Uglydoll 7" vinyl in the end.

Before heading back to Osaka, I went to check out the Takashimaya Times Square, this gigantic shopping mall. I spent a very short time there because it really sucked. There you go, that was the end of my Tokyo trip… I am actually thinking of doing a day-trip back as I missed two things I really wanted to see: the National Museum of Modern Art and the John Lennon Museum.

Next update: awesome fireworks, aquarium, and the Snoopy art exhibition in Osaka.

new thom yorke video: harrowdown hill

lost at sea in japan

I just realized that the Sæglópur EP that I got in Japan has one extra track that is not on the European or North American version of the EP. Here it is, enjoy.

Hafsól
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buy Sæglópur EP here

japan: tokyo pt. i

Here’s the craziness that went on while I was in Tokyo: I stayed at a hotel called Sunlite Shinjuku, my room was sooooo tiny, but I didn’t care because the location was amazing! The first night, I went to this festival thing near my hotel. There were a bunch of food stands and people dressed in traditional Japanese attires drumming and dancing around. That was probably the most Japanese thing I witnessed so far.

After that, I went to Harajuku to see what's all the hypes all about. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any crazy 'Harajuku girls'... maybe I did, but everyone in Japan dresses so unique and crazy already.

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The next day, I went to the best museum ever! It was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It was a Hayao Miyazaki museum... the place was set up like a studio: showcasing sketches, paintings, photographs, and different stages and processes in making Miyazaki films... oh, including the actual full storyboard to Grave of Fireflies!!!! The museum was absolutely amazing... actually, I cannot describe how much I enjoyed that place; it is definitely my favorite thing in Japan so far!!!!!!! Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the museum (even though I tried to take a few, but they were all blurry)... nonetheless, I was able to take pictures outside and I took a bunch of the flying robot from from Castle in the Sky... that thing was huge... it was soooooo cool! Ok, you are probably tired of hearing about how much I loved the Ghibli Museum, so I’ll move on to my next destination in Tokyo.

I traveled to Ebisu to check out the Yebisu Garden Place. I walked around there for a while, went to the Sapporo Brewery Beer Museum and got some free beer... it was sweet! I was planning to go into the Museum of Photography, but it was a little expensive; they were charging like 7 bucks for each floor… I thought it was a rip-off!

I did more traveling, this time to Hamamatsucho for the Zojyoji Temple, Tokyo Tower, and the bay area. The Zojyoji Temple was kind of sad: it had "rows of little statures of Jizobosatsu, the protector of the souls of stillborn children. Mothers who have experienced stillbirth or who have had an abortion may dedicate an image of the deity and decorate it with baby clothes, toys, and little windmills." Haha, that was take right from this Tokyo pocket guide book... btw Liam, that book is awesome!... I totally planned my trip mostly according to it, thanks!!


After the temple, I went to see the Tokyo Tower. I just walked around the outside area and to the first and second floor of the tower. I thought the funniest thing was how there was this large picture of the tower in front of the entrance and people were getting their pictures taken with it. I mean, WTF?!?!?! The real thing is right there and people were taking pictures with a photograph of it, how strange!

The last thing I did in Hamamatsucho was just walked around the bay area, or the harbor front. I had a beautiful view of the city and the water and wind was a nice and refreshing contrast from the extreme heat I felt for the entire day. I hung around there for like an hour or so, bought some dinner and went back to my hotel. This post has been extremely long, so I will leave out my last day in Tokyo in another post. Peace-out kids!

see my Tokyo pictures here

i like you

Hey kids, I am in Osaka again. Tokyo was pretty awesome; I went to so many places... including the best museum ever! I will tell you all about that plus have a full post about my Tokyo trip very soon. For now, I want to post about Xiu Xiu. Remember the Pussycat Dolls' cover I posted a few weeks ago? Well, it turns out that it is from Xiu Xiu’s new EP, Tu Mi Piaci. This thing consists of five cover songs by Xiu Xiu, but I don’t really know any of the original tracks… other than the Pussycat Dolls one. So, this EP is more like new songs by Xiu Xiu rather than covers for me, anyway, I hope you enjoy them.

He Needs Me (Nina Simone)
Blue Berry Mine Shaft (Nedelle)
Kangaroo (This Mortal Coil/Alex Chilton)
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bauhaus)
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buy Tu Mi Piaci here

japan: what a beautiful town... but what a terrifying view...

I went to this crazy fireworks festival thing the other day... I think it was supposed to be the biggest firework display in the world or something like that. The thing lasted for about an hour and the finale was absolutely spectacular! There were so many fireworks going off at once that the entire night sky turned red... at one point, it was so bright that I had to close my eyes... I have never seen anything like that before!

Oh, and check this out... I got really strong during my stay in Osaka and managed to lift this gigantic blowfish!!!

Yesterday, I went to the city of Nara with Jesse. We saw a shit load of shrines, temples, and deer. The main temple there was probably the Todaiji Temple. The place was massive... it had a handful of huge Buddha statues inside... definitely a pretty astonishing place!! After, Jesse and I went on an endless hike through the mountains... seriously, we hiked for like hours!

We ended up at the top of this one point and witnessed an amazing but terrifying view of the city. So, we were pretty much lost for the most part, and we ended up following this road for cars downhill... oh, did I mention that it was getting dark as we were wandering through the forest/mountain... it was kind of scary! Anyways, we made it through and now I am getting ready to head to Tokyo for a few days!!

go here to see more Osaka pictures
go here to see more Nara pictures