Hiroshima

I went to Hiroshima on January 3rd for a day trip. This was the second to last day of my New Year's Holiday and I hadn't done much for most of the break so I decided to make a trip to the big city for some shopping and sightseeing. I went to Hiroshima three years ago with my family when they visited during my study abroad semester, so I've already seen the Peace Museum and the Peace Park, which meant I could focus on shopping on this trip. Unfortunately everyone else in Western Honshu (the main island of Japan) apparently had the same idea so the stores were crazy-crowded. It reminded me of riding the trains in Tokyo at rush hour, actually, though there were no white-gloved employees pushing people in the doors like on the trains.

I did walk to the Atomic Bomb dome, which is the third picture. It was a government building very near the epicenter of the blast that somehow managed to survive more or less the way you see it there. It's a very famous monument so there were lots of people around taking pictures of it. After that I did a little shopping and looked around Hiroshima. The first picture was just a wall somewhere that happened to have those neat sculptures and the second one is a fountain outside the art museum.

Thanks for reading!
Cate

Kurashiki

Kurashiki is a city about half an hour fom Fukuyama, where I live. It's famous for a small area of old buildings, willow trees and picturesque bridges around a nice canal. It's not a huge tourist attraction (we were the only foreign tourists, though there were big groups of Japanese tourists) but it's a nice place to spend an afternoon. There's a small art gallery with a nice little collection that was put together by a textile magnate named Ohara. Our favorite part of the museum was a small garden and a stream full of very hungry carp. There are many little stands selling fishfood for 100 yen a bag so we spent a nice few minutes feeding the fish.

The first two pictures up there are of the canal area and the third one is Mark standing in the garden behind the Ohara gallery.

Oh, and I have internet in my apartment now, so hopefully I'll be updating a lot more! Thanks for reading,
Cate

Valentine's Day

Hi Everyone! Once again, sorry I don't update much and thanks for checking, anyway. I got the official notice in the mail that I will have internet installed in my apartment in one week, so then I plan to update more and add lots of pictures.

Valentine's Day is a little different in Japan, as you may know. Women give chocolates to men and men don't have to give women anything (though I made it clear to my boyfriend that as he's dating an American he's still expected to give me something). There are two kinds of chocolate gifts, obligation chocolates that you give to your boss and co-workers and chocolates for that special someone. Many women (most?) make their own chocolate treats, so there are all kinds of cute little kits for making and presenting truffles or brownies or some such thing. There are also lots of adorable little boxes of chocolate and other sweets for sale in the department stores, in the grocery stores, and even in the 100-yen (one dollar) stores. I've heard that the holiday is mainly between women and men, though a student told me today that when she was a child all the girls gave chocolates to their friends, and today she gave me a beautiful box of Godiva chocolates, so I guess that's not entirely true. Also, despite most things being much more expensive here than at home, you can get really beautifully-packaged, high quality chocolates for a very good price.

Next month is White Day, when men have to give gifts back to the women who gave them chocolates. I think these presents are usually more expensive, like jewelry, so that's a good deal, I guess.

Thanks for reading!
Cate