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A Year in Himeji, Japan: Seoul Street Scenes (July 27 - 30)
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Friday, August 8, 2008. Seoul Street Scenes (July 27 - 30). I spent the last few days of my trip in Seoul. I visited a couple of huge palaces (next blog entry) and wandered around the streets - plenty of interesting things to see! For some reason, I became obsessed with taking photos of the large TV screens on top of buildings. As dusk fell, stalls selling street food appeared. I don't know what much of it is (nor did I try any of it) but there were definitely some squid and ...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan: July 2008
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Saturday, July 26, 2008. Summer vacation started on July 19th! I think I was more excited than the students! The following Sunday I started my long awaited summer travelling! I used the ju-hachi kippu only available during school vacations. These tickets are basically an all day pass on the local train lines (not shinkansen) for $23. So I spent Sunday on seven different trains, travelling for 12 hours, finally arriving at Hagi at 7 pm exhausted. I was up bright and early on Monda...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan: Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung Palaces in Seoul, Korea (July 28 and 30)
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Saturday, August 9, 2008. Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung Palaces in Seoul, Korea (July 28 and 30). On the 28th, I visited Gyeongbokgung. The changing of the guard. The throne room. The painting of the five peaks was a standard scene around the palace, as well as behind the throne at Changdeokgung. At the rear of the palace grounds, considered one of the prettiest scenes in all Korea. More photos of Gyeongbokgung Palace. In the bottom right is a fireplace. Korean palace floor...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan: June 2008
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Monday, June 23, 2008. Yesterday and today is the Yukata Matsuri (festival) here in Himeji. [A. Is a lightweight cotton robe (looks like a simple kimono) with a big. Sash/belt).] This festival is very special and unique to the city of Himeji. A long time ago, the. For the last few weeks, all the stores in town have been selling yukata and all the accessories. All of us at Shirasagi decided to get in on the action! Me and Taube being demure. Lyn posing prettily on walkway. Next we...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan: March 2008
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Wednesday, March 26, 2008. Last Friday, the eighth grade teachers at school had an overnight enkai. An enkai is a formal staff party - I've been on several dinner/drinking/karaoke enkais with the teachers at my last school, but never overnight. So I was very curious about this overnight enkai. Of course, the bathroom had toilet slippers to change into. Can anyone who speaks French tell me if these say what I think they say! After that was a serving of baked red snapper. Then the ...
sarainjapan.blogspot.com
A Year in Himeji, Japan: Fukuoka (aka Hakata) (July 22nd)
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Fukuoka (aka Hakata) (July 22nd). I only had an afternoon in Hakata, so I quickly visited Kushida-jinja, a large shrine famous for a summer festival, and the nearby Hakata Machiya Folk Museum. Both displayed the large festival floats which were very impressive and tall. That was about all I had the time and the energy for (considering how hot and muggy it was! This sign in the hotel lobby made me shake my head in bewilderment! To Busan, Korea! Feel free t...
sarainjapan.blogspot.com
A Year in Himeji, Japan: Andong, Korea (July 26 and 27)
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Friday, August 8, 2008. Andong, Korea (July 26 and 27). After a 4 hour bus ride from Gyeongju, I arrived in Andong, primarily to see the historical folk village and museum. First though, I checked into a hotel recommended by Lonely Planet for its computer in every room. I was very excited about that, but not nearly so excited by the circle bed with no sheets. To be fair, Lonely Planet did mention it was "campy". For dinner which turned out to be Japanese. For more photos of Andong.
sarainjapan.blogspot.com
A Year in Himeji, Japan: April 2008
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Sunday, April 27, 2008. A Weekend at Home. I have no travel plans for this weekend, but thought I'd share with you all some things I learned since my trip last weekend to Nagoya's Atsuta Shrine. Remember how it was full of weddings and new babies? Well, I asked a teacher at my school about all the babies and she said it's a tradition to bring a new baby to the shrine when it's 30 days old. For your entertainment, I offer the following photos. These rhinoceros beetles are really p...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan: One man's treasure is another man's...
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A Year in Himeji, Japan. Wednesday, August 13, 2008. One man's treasure is another man's. Gomi was one of the first Japanese words I learned when I arrived. It means garbage, generally. But there are all kinds of gomi, as I sooned learned! The garbage system is very complicated here, so I have been waiting to post this blog until I figured it out. For the most part I think I have. Garbage is so complicated it needs its own poster which I keep on the fridge for frequent reference! Plastic garbage - Friday.
