Miyajima - My Favourite Place! (Well one of them!)

5th August 2007

Today we went to Miyajima which is an island off of Hiroshima. It is one of my favourite places in Japan! This was my second time to visit Miyajima and it was quite different to last time as last time was in winter! We had a great day and I am looking forward to visiting Miyajima again!

The beautiful Torii which means that the whole island is sacred. It is one of Japan's best 3 views!




A 5 storey pagoda on Miyajima.

This time I went to the aquarium which was really interesting as there were many creatures I had not seen before! This porpoise was so cute! It kept coming up to the glass and smiling at me :)

This time we were also able to see Itsukushima shrine with water around it as the tides were right - it was so beautiful!


Tina, Steve and I also got to see this crazy monkey - he rode a bike, walked on stilts, collected money and dressed as a samurai warrior! All slightly wrong!


The crazy deer that roam freely and eat whatever they want! This little girl was so cute!


The beautiful Torii at sunset!




All of us at Miyajima - Tina, Steve, Marie, Tom, Me, Shinya (Marie's friend) and Kathy.

Hiroshima

4th August

Marie, Tina , Steve and I headed to Hiroshima for the second time but this time was with Tina and Marie's parents. The main reason we went was to see the memorial festival on the 6th August but we decided to have a few days to sight-see too! The first day we did a little shopping and looked around the peace park.

This is the Children's Peace Monument.




Me, Marie and Tina at the Children's Peace Monument.


This is the peace bell which you can ring to show your support in wanting a peaceful world.


As the sun was setting there was a concert along the river where the junior orchestra played. They were amazing and only about 10 or 12 years old!

Okayama in Summer

3rd August

I went back to Okayama with Tina, Marie, Steve and their parents - Tom and Kathy. It was a nice summer's day with a bit of rain but we all still headed to Okayama which is about an hour and a half from Himeji . I have been to Okayama twice before but I really wanted to go again as the garden is so beautiful and if possible it would be even more beautiful in summer, and it was. Everything was so green! We walked around Okayama, had a look at the castle and then strolled around the gardens.





This fish was almost gold! It was so beautiful!


These were huge - almost as tall as me and had the buds of flowers on them. I think they were a type of lily as they were growing in water.


Tina, Marie and I.

Farewell to Asahi JHS ☹

July 2007

I have been teaching at Asahi JHS for about 7 months now but my time there is over and I will soon go to another school. The teachers were so helpful and I have made many friends there and I am very sad to be leaving. On the last day of school I had to give a speech in Japanese to the teachers and then in front of the whole school. I was presented with flowers, gifts from teachers and letters from students in my homeroom. All the students in my homeroom had signed a card and there was a photo of all of us inside it! When I left school that day for the last time many teachers followed me out to my bike and “banzaied” me! (sort of like a hip-hip-hooray type good luck cheering thing!) It was very cute!

My beautiful flowers.


Me with most of the girls in my homeroom!


The front of the card that my homeroom gave me.


Inside the card.


Letters that my homeroom gave me.


Cards from the special class.


Gifts and a letter from Ayame a student in my homeroom - how cute!


In the second week of the holidays the teachers had a farewell party for me and two other teachers who were leaving. We went out to dinner and I had to make another speech and got presented with flowers again! Then the principal called me up to the front and read a page about me in Japanese (I didn’t understand too much but another teacher translated it for me – it said that I had done a lot for the school, had a kind heart and should enjoy tonkatsu in Japan!) Then I was presented with a painting of me which is very cute!

The speech and the painting of me!


When I went back to my seat there was a bag of gifts on my chair. These are some of the gifts that I received . . . (There was about $30 in each of the white envelopes from various teachers as it is a Japanese tradition to give money to people when they leave your workplace - I was shocked to get this money!)



This is the best present ever! This is from Kimura-sensei who is one of the English teachers at school. He had this hanko (signature stamp) made and it is my name in kanji! How cool is that! My name in Kanji means "Shirasagi" which is the name of the castle and the white egret bird and the second kanji means falling in love! Everyone tells me it is a very beautiful kanji! In Japan everyone uses a hanko to sign papers and open accounts but ours are all in katakana (Japanese alphabet used for foreign words) but now I have a beautiful real hanko!



I was also asked to give a couple of the male teachers hugs! Very funny as they asked me in English – Can I have a hug?!

At the end of the night I got “banzaied” again! This time by all the teachers! And then a line was formed and the teachers made an archway for us to walk through so everyone could wish you well!

It was a great night and I will really miss all the teachers and students from Asahi JHS.

Food!! Glorious Food!! July

July 2007

Once again I have tried many wonderful foods and drinks this month in Japan!

Calpis! (Yes say the name!) It tastes great though!


Yum chocolate cocktails that Marie and Aleysha made!


Strawberry snowcone! It is shaved ice with flavoured syrup. They are everywhere in summer - you can tell by the flag that hangs outside shops.


We went to an Izakiya (Japanese bar/restaurant) and had a variety of yum foods!
Yum salad and raw octopus in wasabi - it was really nice!


Yum whole fish!


Squid tentacles marinated in miso paste! These were really good!


Shrimp things which tasted really good!


There is pizza hut here but until recently I hadn't tried it but Jodi, Jono, Chelsea and I decided to give it a go! We ordered the double roll pizza which had sausage rolls and cheese rolls around the edge of the pizza and it had mini burgers on it!


Kate and a frozen chocolate coated banana - yum!


Kinako mochi - sticky rice balls with sweet soybean dust.


Okonomiyaki -one of my favourites!


My lunch at the Tofu cafe - most of it was really nice but some of the textures were not so good!


These sandwiches are from a convienience store. This one had tuna and cheese but you can buy all different fillings. I don't know how they are made as they have no crust and are sealed on all edges!


Yum desserts from the fancy hotel that Kate and I stayed in!



I have not tried this and don't think I will but I thought it was slightly overboard!

Hanabi Matsuri - Shikama and Osaka

28th July and 1st August 2007

In summer in Japan there are many Hanabi Matsuri (fireworks festivals). Many people wear yukata (summer kimono), eat yum festival food and the weather is just perfect for watching the fireworks.

I got to see two fireworks festivals - one in Shikama (near Himeji) and one in Osaka. They were both fantastic!

The festival in Shikama was good as Tina and I wore our yukata and the fireworks were over the water. The full moon was also in the perfect postion!

Tina and I in our yukata walking to the bus stop.


Everyone waiting for the fireworks.


The beautiful hanabi!






This is my favourite photo- the moon is in the perfect position!


Tina and I went out after the festival to a bar in town and as it was so hot we made "new style" yukatas! We made them short and sleeveless! (And yes I tied my own obi!)


We met up with Chelsea, Taube and Julian too (they live in our apartment block). It was a great night!


The festival in Osaka is meant to be the biggest fireworks festival in the world! and there were so many fireworks!









There were so many fireworks going off that the sky looked like it was on fire!


Both fireworks festivals were really good and I love that in Japan there are always different festivals in each season.