From Baseball, to Beppu, to blossoms

After our wonderful time in Nagano-ken, we headed south to Kyoto -- one of the top tourist destinations in Japan -- and then to Kyushu, the southernmost of the major Japanese islands (where we are now). We are continuing to have a wonderful time, but unfortunately a pretty nasty flu hit both of us at the same time, so we had to slow down our travels for several days.

Kyoto

Kyoto is one of the most visited cities in Japan. When we arrived at the train station, we were not immediately taken away by the city's beauty. On the surface, Kyoto is like many large Japanese cities -- new, modern, and clean, but lacking character. However, one we wandered the streets of Kyoto, visiting the many temples and shrines, we began to realize why Kyoto is such a big draw. Although we managed to see quite a bit here, our sickness kicked in upon arrival, so we weren't able to see as much as we would have liked.

We first visited Higashi Hongan-ji, a Buddhist temple that we rebuilt in 1895 after a fire. We also visited Nishi Hongan-ji, another Buddhist temple in downtown Kyoto. But perhaps the most spectacular sight that we visited in Kyoto was Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shinto shrine, on the outskirts of the city, which was dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Shintoism, it is the native religion of Japan, and involves the worship of gods, which can represent a place or object (thanks, Wikipedia). The most beautiful aspect of the shrine complex is the thousands of orange gates, or torii, which line the pathways. This video really gives you a sense of what it is like to be there (as always, if you are reading this over e-mail you need to go to the website to see the video):

Another highlight of Kyoto was the Nishiki Market (thanks, Seth!), where we saw some of the more unusual -- and expensive -- items available for purchase in Japan, like these $100 strawberries (suffice it to say, we did not buy any). Also, Benny enjoyed one of his more delicious meals thus far in Kyoto, indulging in some ramen with tender pork cheeks at a really nice ramen shop called Santoka -- highly recommended if any of you reading this ever end up in Kyoto. And of course, no visit to Kyoto would be complete without a visit to the stunning Kinkaku-ji, famously known as the Golden Temple.

We also took a day trip to Osaka to see the Hanshin (Osaka) Tigers face off against the Yomuri (Tokyo) Giants in a spring training baseball game. Clearly, the Tigers were outmatched in this game, but the on the field play aside, what made the game so interesting is what was going on in the stands. Unlike an American sporting event, where cheers and chants from the crowd are somewhat spontaneous, there was staff on hand to coordinate the appropriate cheers for the appropriate moment in the game. It was interesting to see, and it was definitely a change from an American baseball game. Here is a bit of video footage from the game:

Hiroshima

From Kyoto, we moved onto Hiroshima, which is of course most famous for being the first city on which an atomic bomb was used. Yet despite this sad history, Hiroshima was a vibrant, fun, and engaging city, with nice neighborhoods, good restaurants, and friendly people. At the center of the city is the A-Bomb Dome -- pictured right -- and the Peace Memorial Park. The former was the Hiroshima Industrial Promotional Hall before the bomb exploded right above it. The Peace Memorial Park, across the river from the Dome, contains numerous memorials and a museum. We found a couple things about the museum and memorials quite impressive. First, it would be understandable and expected that the museum would memorialize all those who perished in the bombing. But the people of Hiroshima decided that simply memorializing is not enough, and consequently the primary mission of the museum and memorials examine the causes of all armed conflict. Particular attention is given the current status of nuclear proliferation throughout the world. Secondly, we found that the exhibits in the museum were incredibly fair and even handed. The museum explored WWII and the events preceding it from a perspective that was critical of all those involved -- Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and others.

Beppu

From out sobering visit in Hiroshima, we then went to Beppu, in northern Kyushu. Beppu itself is a spa town, full of onsen, or Japanese hot spring baths. Beppu is also famous for The Hells, hot springs which are too hot for bathing, and are decorated in a variety of themes, most of them quite cheesy, and frankly, not really worth the time, effort, or money of visiting.

Kagoshima, the largest city in southern Kyushu, was our next stop. Kagoshima stands in the shadow of Sakurajima, a huge volcano which has erupted in the not too distant past. The city is so close to the volcano that the city is often covered in a fine layer of volcanic ash (although we did not experience this ourselves). Also, Kagoshima is known for its fine weather, but except for our first full day (pictured here), we had the absolute worst weather of our travels in Kagoshima, with near constant rain the last two days. Still, we did manage to see some great sights. We spent one afternoon at the Kagoshima City Aquarium, where we saw the world's largest species of crab, some neat jellyfish, and a whale shark. On our last day in Kagoshima, we took a ferry to the base of Sakurajima, and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at an onsen.

Fukuoka/Hakata

Today we arrived in Fukuoka/Hakata, the largest city in Kyushu. So far, we have really enjoyed ourselves, and have visited some wonderful sights. The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum had a wonderful collection of contemporary art, which was a nice break from more traditional forms that we have seen on our travels, and we also saw the largest wooden Buddha in Japan at Tocho-ji. Fukuoka/Hakata is also known for its ramen, so we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Ichiran, a famous ramen shop where you can specify the fat content, noodle firmness, and other characteristics of your ramen noodle soup.

But of course, what is Japan in the springtime without blossoms? On a stop at Shofuku-ji, a zen Buddhist temple founded in 1195 by the man who brought green tea to Japan, we finally saw some more of the blossoms that we had been longing to see since Tokyo.

Next Stop -- Osaka (and sumo?)

With our time in Japan (sadly) winding down, tomorrow we head to Osaka, where we are hoping to get lucky and snag some tickets to the spring sumo wrestling tournament (which we have been enjoying on TV).