Japanese castles are fascinating architecturally (although this one was empty on the inside). This one is in Suwa and overlooks the large lake. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
When I visited Japan I stayed with a host family. One afternoon we drove up into the mountains near Suwa and visited my host Grandparents. After being introduced to dinner (a live chicken) and being very tired to the point I couldn't keep my eyes open I took a nap. When I woke up, the Grandmother had been told I liked art, and so beckoned me to sit next to her. As a hobby she made beautiful art with pressed flowers and presented to me a little framed piece of paper on my own. She helped me pick flowers out of
If you find yourself at a Japanese temple or shrine make sure to have your fortune told! Called Omikuji are essentially a sacred lot, where you randomly draw a stick that will tell you your fortune. But beware, these fortunes can foretell a bad fate! After you have paid, you will shake, spin, or rotate a container full of numbered sticks. It is important to make sure you wish for a good fortune at this point! Once you pull the stick out, find the corresponding fortune in the numbered drawers. Then return your stick. Now it is time to read your
Saying goodbyes to the friends you’ve made while traveling is one of the hardest things to do. In 2004 I was part of the Sister Cities exchange program and stayed in Chino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. I made great friends and had a great time. But getting up early to say our goodbyes before heading out on a 37 hour travel day was hard. There were lots of hugs, tears, and photos. And then...there were a lot of times I just keeled over. Farewell to Kana, note the 3 bags on my person and the 4 bags on the ground.
I had never been to a Starbucks prior to my trip to Japan. Crazy right!? The key reason was that I didn't drink coffee, as I'm highly sensitive to caffeine. I also was a bit intimidated by ordering, as I had no idea what to order (or in fact what I would be ordering.) That hesitation was thrown out the window when the other students in my exchange group insisted they get their morning coffee. It was much easier to ask questions when the entire group had no idea how to order what they wanted in Japanese. So I could
In Sailor Moon, one of the main characters Rei Hino (Sailor Mars), is a Shrine Maiden, and in some of the episodes she sells amulets. I remember watching this episode when I was young and I was very excited to go to Japan and purchase one of these charms! The Hikawa Shrine in Sailor Moon Called Omamori, these talismans are sold at Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples and provide different protection or luck. They contain a prayer written on paper or wood and are contained within a cloth bag. The shrine or temple sell these in return
I use to be a horrible packer, waiting until the last minute. This lead to many sleepless trips such as the time I finished packed at 4AM for my trip to Japan. Unfortunately my shuttle was picking me up at 4:30 AM so there was no point in sleeping. But one day that changed in me. I started to have everything packed and ready in advanced. And then I started cleaning my entire home and having it ready for when I returned. That was always nice as now when I get home, no matter how tired I am, I unpack
View of Tokyo from the observation deck. As I've written before, in the summer of 2004 I went to Japan through a Sister Cities student exchange. We first spent a couple of days in Tokyo before heading over to Chino in Nagano prefecture. On our first day in Tokyo we decided to take a tour of various parts of Tokyo. While on the tour we met a young Japanese guy who said he wanted to work on his English with native speakers, so he got a ticket for this tour and said he would be happy to work
When you have 10 high schoolers on a trip abroad, things can get weird. Clicks form, arguments occur, and silly childish bets occur. While we were still in Tokyo, one of our chaperones bet us that no one would stick our head in the hotel's massive lake, filled with Koi fish. The idea was that once you put your hair in, you'd need to flip it back "baywatch style" and stroll back into the hotel like nothing happened. Like all bets, it involved money and for high schoolers who had already blew a lot of money shopping Tokyo, earning extra
Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) is one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film. So when I was out shopping in Chino, Japan and saw this delightfully detailed Totoro keychain I had to get him! Totoro! Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.