Sunday, August 3, 2008

Japan = AWESOMENESS!

Wow…so for my summer vacation at the end of July, I spent a week in Japan and absolutely LOVED it! The people were so nice and helpful, the train rides beautiful as Japan is some ridiculous like 80 percent mountainous due to the fantastic earthquakes, and my experience was just amazing really! I have so many pictures so I’ve posted a few with captions to tell of my adventures :)
(They're not in perfect order..please forgive...if you want to see more, check out my photos on http://www.myspace.com/ingridannalisa)



Almost forgot to bring this with me...kinda need it to leave the country and to get into another country....

The Busan Skyline at night....quite lovely actually :)
(Busan is a southern coastal town....very laid-back beach town though also a major port city, so lots of businesses here.)



Some foreign teachers I boarded with on the ferry over to Japan...here we are eating dinner at a fabulous Indian restaurant in Busan - it's where I boarded the ferry to Fukuoka/Hakata, Japan.


Busan Fish Market
(I saw an octopus trying to escape and the adjuma [respectfully older lady] just smacked it on the head and threw it back in the bucket!)



Boarding the Ferry!

Land in Fukuoka/Hakata (not sure why it has two names), jump on the Shinkansen bullet train and head to Yokohama, borrow about 3 cell phones on the way and meet Cousin Thomas!


Yokohama Tower - tallest building in Japan but on a humid day, it doesn't allow much in the way of city views as you can see below...


Cute group of young people in their yukatas (sorta the summer version of the kimono)


The Sony building had awesome aquarium setup to show off their latest and greatest gadgets. This stuff was sitting there for photo display? Haha, I seized the opportunity!


The Japanese version of "fast food." You put your money in a machine, the machines gives you a ticket, you give the ticket to the person at the counter and they bring your food. Quick, efficient and you don't have to speak a word of Japanese to eat here! Only problem is the machines are all in Japanese....so if you're not careful you could end up ordering horsemeat! When in doubt, look for surrounding pictures and order whatever looks good on those!

Girls of Harajuku (ijime-ko Cosplay-zoku)
They dress up like this, carry around their suitcases so they don't have to go home like this I believe, and want to have their picture taken - even though they act like they don't sometimes. There are certainly worse ways to rebel as a teenager, so I am glad these Japanese teens have made theirs entertaining for the rest of us :)


INVASION OF THE KUDZU!!!!!!!!!!
(Mom, Dad - This pic is for you and all May's Chapel Folks)

Imperial Palace Gardens at Sunset


HUGE Electronics Store
Haha...I'm addicted to Guitar Hero...this is as geeky as I got in that HUGE electronics store...
Tokyo Tower...and Thomas's thumb :)

Statues for protecting children
Tokyo fashion....all movements are alive and well in fashion - the hippie, the punk, the emo, the hip-hopper....but the messages of these movements are sorta lost...or non-existent haha.

Park leading to the Imperial Gardens

Rotating sushi restaurant - yum!


It was DELICIOUS!!! (OK, so I didn't eat all that...Thomas helped...a lil ;) )

I met fabulous folks along the way in Japan. In Kyoto, I toured around with a Japanese and his American friend. We kar-ah-ok-kayed our first night - good times! Below, Tak is demonstrating how Japanese guys can rock the purses (my purse in particular - HAH!).




Rokuonji Temple (Golden Temple)


Ryoanji Temple


Niji-jo Castle (Shogun)


Geisha hunting...not much luck

Peace Memorial - Hiroshima


Self Expanatory


The T- Bridge - the aiming spot for the atomic bomb


Children's peace memorial - made of origami paper cranes


The A-Dome - where the atomic bomb actually landed

The famous Shibuya Crossing! More people cross this interesection than cars!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

North Korea vs. South Korea

What better way to watch two countries duke it out than on the field? Granted…it was a soccer field (the men are a lot sissier in the Asian countries haha jk jk) but it was still loads of fun and some awesome Koreans taught me how to say “Go South Korea!”

P.S. This was mid-Juneish? Still playing catch-up ;)

Friends and Field

After the game with the Korean Friends

This reunification flag went up during one of the breaks and my friend and I jumped underneath it! This was taken by the Japanese media friend. (Explanation below.)

We ran into a member of the media...haha BIG surprise. He writes for a Japanese magazine that specializes in Korean tourism. Click on the below link and scroll to the bottom to see it!

http://www.konest.com/data/korean_life_detail.html?no=2193

Here is the translation he gave me:
"Foreigners also support the re-unification!!"I happend to meet Americans who seemed to support South Korea. Infact, they were not for the South, but for re-unification of thedevided Koreas. One of them said; re-unification of Korea must begood, because she knows what it means with her father experience. Herfather is an American from Germany. They were under that big fragwishing the re-unification day came.

Haha I love Engrish ;)

June Weekend Trip to Gwanju

This trip requires its own post….it was really a fun, eye-opening experience for me.

Finally, I was able to see some of Korea’s country side….which is a lot of agriculture. I’m not sure if land zoning restrictions even exist in this country….I think you can just plant a garden anywhere you so choose if you own the land, hence the many many many many many rice fields and soy bean fields, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.



In Gwanju (Korea’s 5th largest city), I attended my first Korean sporting event - a Gwanju Samsung Tigers baseball game. Yeah companies blatantly own the teams here haha. They were playing the LG….Seoul….don’t remember the other mascot…oops. Guess the advertising gimmick works….good job Korea. Anyway the game was loads of fun! The packed stadium of people was so enthusiastic about the game with their cheers and spirit sticks, we (other foreign friends) couldn’t help but conform.



The most important thing one can see when visiting this area of the country is the May 18th Memorial. In 1980, the citizens of Gwanju gathered the strength to rise up against the military dictatorship of their city. Protests were a daily activity until one day, the military opened fired on the unarmed citizens. A few days later (May 18th), the people gathered together ready to defend their city in the name of freedom. The memorial and museum, located a few minutes outside of the city, is dedicated to the citizens that lost their lives and/or were injured in the defense of their city.

























More recently, a Korean movie was made depicting the event. An exact replica of Gwanju in 1980 was constructed for the movie and never torn down. The pictures of the town and the tank are from the movie set.























I quite enjoyed this trip. It gave me a chance to really get to know this strange country in which I live. I was particularly effected by the May 18th memorial, as it happened not so long ago and the faces of the victims seem to still haunt the city…

(A protest sign on the movie set against American beef...really needed a Big Mac for the right affect but oh well haha)