Konnichwa

Greetings from Hiroshima. This is the first time I have had an opportunity to us a comptuer. After every word, I have to hit the enter key. I was only in Tokyo for a day and a half. We stayed with a friend of a friend`s in Yutenji. She shares a penthouse apartment with 4 other roommates.

In Tokyo, I went to Akihibara, the electronics district. I saw cute girls advertising maid cafes. I also went to Asukusa and saw the ancient temple. I tried some octopus donut holes (not my favourite.　In the evening, we went to the club in Babel called Womb. Crazy. It had four floors and played a lot of hosue and trance. A 21 year old University student tried to pick me up. He was really sweet and said my outfit was very cute.

Then we went south to Nariyama for three days to visit Mike`s sister`s family. We stayed in a Japanese house with sliding doors and tatami mat rooms. The housing here has no central heating. She cooked amazing traditional food and served amazing green teas. We also went to an Onsen (public bath). It was like a luxury spa. It had 10 baths, including cold, hot, bubbling and hot spring. There were also 3 saunas, a cafeteria, massage, movie room, library and computers. Lunch was amazing and I paid $3 to be barried in sand up to my neck.

The toliets here are amazing: trickle rinses, dryers and always warm to sit on. Some even play music.

In Naoshima, we stayed in Yurt by the beach. We went on a walking tour of 20 different types of art structures. We also toured the Benesse Museum, Chichu Museum and Art House Project (restored houses with art).

Now I am in Hiroshima. Today, we visited the Memorial Peace Park and Peace Memorial Museum. The museum was emotional and horrifying. The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima blasted everything within a 600 metre radius and radiated everything around 2 km. Over 140,000 people died, 70,000 of which were never identified.

Tomorrow, we are off to Kyoto and then Osaka.

My basic Japanese is becoming better and better each day. Japanese culture is very interesting: people wear masks when sick, wave thanks during driving, say please and thank you a LOT, and bow.

All the food I have eaten has been amazing and cheap. It is cheaper to eat quality restaurant and a-la-carte food then in Canada. I love Kirin lemon tea and milk tea (strawberry too!).

I rode a bullet train that went 285 kms per hour!

I have seen lots of stray cats lying around temples and in parks. They are not very friendly to strangers.

Lots of love from Japan!

Cho Segoi (very awesome)!