Kwansei 2012: Hiroshima, Awaji, and Pizza.

Well lets start this one off with a korean bbq pizza.
Amazing, if a little expensive: 4,000 yennies for this puppy.
Luckily I had my boy CRAIG and Miss Annick to split it with me. Took a trip for this sucker, and boy was it worth it!

This is the start of the Hiroshima Trip. My Master Logistician, Master Michael Enghofer planned the whole thing. We started off strong with some serious trips to Osaka late at night to get to our all night bus. I got COMPLETELY lost in Osaka. I got there two hours early to find the place we needed to get to, and I got there 10 minutes before departure.
My Master Logistician definitely printed the directions out in German. I forgave him the second i got off the bus though lol.

I was too big for the bus, but I rode that puppy ALL NIGHT.

Yeah, this pic is my gift to you. We went to Hiroshima to see a sumo tourney! This is just a scant preview of all our adventures. The sumo tourney started at 8 am and ran till 3pm. They did all kinds of warming up, ceremonies, and even did a match against the kids. It was great, I think the sumo are great guys.

As well as brutal and terrifying. I love this sport because of it though. These guys beat on each other like continents colliding. It was fantastic. However, Sumo tourneys are not the place where you should attempt to buy beer. I tried once, and they were selling beer in dixie cups because they ran out of real ones, and when i came back and they had regular cups, they were out of beer!

That was my only complaint though.

I got to see the two Yokozuna pound on each other. They are the grand master rank sumo, and they are AMAZING. I think I have a picture of them in here somewhere...

These guys would sing in between matches too. So much ceremony.

Also went to the A-Bomb Museum. This place was somber. And so so sad. Everyone who went in left in tears. I'm glad I went though.

This is the boat to Miyajima, the famous shrine island with a GIANT Vermillion Torii. We went with our Czech friend we met at our hostel. By the way, hostels are the way to go. I wish they had them in the US.

We hopped the boat, rode it over, and began exploring.

Everything in Hiroshima was eaten on a stick; sausage, beef, corn, squid... everything. It started at the food festival (OMG SERIOUSLY) we passed by at Hiroshima castle after the sumo match, and it just kept coming.

To scale.

Everyone was taking pictures with their tablets... I really hope this doesnt become a thing.

Nara-style. They ate our maps. No paper was safe.

Most american pipe ive ever seen. Yes I bought it.

Michael loved artsy instagram shots... so I indulged a little.

ON. A. STICK.

Everything about Hiroshima was amazing. I love that city so much. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Also had hambaagaayaki, a style of Hiroshima-yaki that every 日本人 was surprised by: 2 burgers and cheese in an okonomiyaki.

I miss this town already.

And I just had a bit of a photo issue with the blogger client, so I have them all loaded on here.

This is the Kyoto Field Trip I went on for my Shinto Class, led by Dr. John Breen, one of the leading historians on Shinto ON THE PLANET. My teacher. No big deal.

The founding spot of Yoshida Shinto, and one of the only shrines on the planet with a burial site inside of it. (Shrines view death and burials as a type of pollution, so they let the Buddhists do the burying).

The rain and the lightning as markings of the god of thunder. Can you see it?

Yoshida Shinto description by the priest.
All encompassing, included everyone and everything including all other religions. Very very interesting.

Dr. Breen and the priest!

SHRINE OF CAKES

Said jellyfish on the menu, turned out to be mushrooms. Not disappointed at all, this was amazing!

So the host parents took me and Annie, my other exchange student host sister, on a trip to Awaji Island. This is definitely an amazing place. It has what I understand to be one of the worlds longest suspension bridges, a giant whirlpool, an England/Aussie Theme Park, and everything that can be made of onions is.

This is onion ice cream.

No I did not finish it.