Seaside Park

I've come to this park twice before this, but never noticed that just a little way up the hill, a playground waited to be explored. The interesting thing was that adjacent to the playground was a tiny buddhist temple, surrounded by japanese shrines. There is even a Tori gate in the back.

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The slide was pretty massive and rather than just solid metal to peel the skin off of kid's legs, this monster uses rollers.


At the top, there were ropes on pulls that you could ride on. It was basically a lousy zip line. So Chris dances.


The town of Kuchinotsu is quite of proud of this bridge to nowhere. It does lead to the park, but just seems silly. The bridge uncomfortably accommodates one car at a time. If you meet another confused person on the bridge. You might meet their eyes and discover they are looking quizzically at you. Why go this way? Hey, its pretty, I shoot back with thought bullets.


Chris shows me how to slide down "Buddha's Tongue". I don't know if thats the official name, but it should be.


As I roll down this enlightened slide, my butt starts to feel very hot and itchy. The rollers are pretty horrible.


The ferry passes.


I can't wait until summer. More fun to be had at this place.

Free Shoes

Well, today I mentioned that I was thinking of buying some soccer shoes. A teacher over heard me and everyone started asking each other if they had some shoes to give me. Next thing I know, these shoes are shoved into my hand. They are actually a little too small. I don't think I can use them all, but they are LSU colors. Go tigers!

Tokyo Visit

The first few days Leah was in Japan we stayed in Tokyo. Please take enjoy the pictures.

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We saw the famous Tokyo Tower and as we approached Leah did a Japanese Anime pose.


From the tower, the city looked like a model. I imagine a greying old man building this sky line in his basement, carefully painting the dirty and smog stains onto buildings. Mount Fuji watches over the city from a distance.


My fiancee poses with her back to the anthill city.


We happened upon a park while wandering the city. This torii gates greeted park goers.


Its amazing that in a city this size, you can find a place to sit under some trees in a park and peacefully read a book. I think to the japanese, having nature available to them like this, is as essential as rice and fish.


We also visited the Imperial Palace. Most of what we saw was rather unimpressive. I'm not sure if we missed the best part, or that the best parts are closed to tourists, but Leah and I considered this place a relative bust. But we were glad we went, if just to say we've been to the imperial palace. There were a couple highlights though. This bridge was beautiful. It was in the "inner garden" I think. We couldn't get to it.


This samurai statue was another highlight. He was pretty magnificent. His face was dark with oxidation and his horse looked downright insane. If I were a foreign invader or a peasant rising against the imperial forces, this guy would likely send me back to the fields at first glance.


I also really dug these trees.


We finally hit pay dirt when we headed for Ueno Zoo (which was sadly closed) and walked through Ueno Park. There was plenty to see, these cool torii for example.


We also walked through to this amazing shrine. Leah and I stood uncomfortably while a japanese family paid their respects. The signs were all in japanese so I didn't know what this was for, but it was beautiful.


In a large pavilion a saxophone quartet and a drummer hammered out a few christmas tunes and a few songs neither of us had ever heard of. Leah informed me that the little sax in the middle, the one being played by the guy in the cowboy hat, is the same type as Kenny G, a soprano sax. I think Kenny G's sax looks stupid, this soprano sax I like better actually. They were fabulous and we gave them some money.


We got a kick out of their dance routines.


As the brass quartet was wrapping up, this guy politely waited for the music to end. When they did he started his show. He is a yo-yo ninja. He used both a chinese yo-yo (shown here) and the conventional type.


He could juggle multiple chinese yo-yos, it was incredible. I can imagine this guy going to parties and all his friends are like "Koji! Do you have your yo-yos? Do that thing!!" And he feigns bashful saying "Well, if you really want to see, I've got a new trick!" I also see him practicing hours and hours, strutting around with this yo-yos flying.


His assistant was no less talented. She unicycled around for a bit, then began to jump rope whilst on the mono-wheel!


In the Rippongi area, we saw a big Christmas tree sort of deal. It had ornaments projected on to it and would change from time to time. The area was covered in lights and sweets shops lined the back of the pavilion. The smells of taco yaki (octopus balls), cotton candy and even pseudo hot dogs piqued then erased our appetites. The hot dogs looked kind of gross.


See a few more pictures : Tokyo Picasa Album

Engaged!

Yesterday I took Leah up to the Cave Shrine and asked her to marry me. The cave shrine is an interesting place. It was a secret place for christians to worship, and then after they were killed it reverted to a Japanese shrine. The Christians were fighting the rulers of the area and used old shrines to defend themselves. They chopped off the stone heads of shrines to throw and shoot at the samurai ordered to kill them. So many of the statues in this area are missing their heads.

So this cave has an important historical significance and the people worshipped in secret here trusting that God would protect them. I'm sure they became very close, those handful of worshippers. I think the cave has a spiritual significance as well.

So I got Leah to hike up to the cave (roughly 400 meters). She sort of knew was was going on, but didn't say anything. When we got there...

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I got my iPod and we listened to a song by the Old 97's called "Question" about a guy proposing to a girl. We sat on a rock in front of the main shrine in the cave. We shared the headphones, each with one headphone in one ear. The song is really beautiful. I let it play through two verses and then on one knee, asked her to marry me. She said yes!

I explained more about the cave and why I chose to propose in it. Then, I grabbed my camera.




As you may be aware, cave's are remarkably devoid of light, and naturally, the pictures are rubbish. But we gave it a shot. This is the ring.




In front of this shrine, I proposed.



I made Leah wear these pants because I didn't want her to get her own clothes dirty, hiking up the mountain. The cave has many little shrines along the back wall.




One of my favorite views is on the last bend in the trail up to the cave. We stopped for a picture on the way back down.




This is the same spot from a summer day a few months ago.



So there you have it. We are engaged!

Internet Cafe

Leah is coming tomorrow! I'm extremely excited! Right now I'm in an Internet Cafe in Fukuoka city. Tomorrow morning I'll hop on the subway an ride to airport. I'll spend most of the day waiting around the airport. But Narita airport is pretty huge, basically a city within itself.

Tonight I'm sleeping on a mat on the floor of a booth in the internet cafe and I wanted to share why this is so great. For about 1/3 the cost of a hotel, I get a place to sleep thats almost as comfortable. The beds at most hotels are pretty crappy. So this pad on the floor will get the job down without much sacrifice. Plus I get access to DVDs, television, a computer and tons of books. I also get free drinks, a tooth brush, a razor and shaving creme and even a shower here. The free drinks are nothing to scoff at either. Cola, tea, slushies, coffee, pretty much any liquid you need. 10 hours costs about 2,600 yen or about 22 bucks.

The downside of these places is that you have to sleep in a cubicle so the light and sound are never blocked out, but its a relatively dark and quite place. Also, they provide a pillow and a blanket but the pillow is rubbish, its a square sitting pillow.

Perhaps the best thing about these places is that you can walk in at any time, any day, and get a booth. I've heard they book up sometimes, but here I am, saturday night, just after school finished for the term and there are plenty of booths.

Please keep Leah and I in your prayers and thoughts because we're both traveling and prefer to arrive at our destinations completely intact.