So.....

I obviously haven't posted in a while. I didn't have money to hit an internet cafe, and enjoyed the lack of connection anyways. I left my digital camera in a guy's car when I was hitchhiking, so I don't have many photos to show you, but if you'd like to see pictures of Hokkaido and the northern regions of Japan, I'm sure you can easily find them on Google.

To make a very long story short, here's what happened during my journey north, (an adventure which I found somewhat reflective of Matsuo Basho's book The Long Road to the Deep North):
-I was picked up just north of Kyoto by a Peruvian guy who was ironically headed to a costal town called Obama where he invited me to join his family for a camp-out bbq and drunken fiesta. We communicated quite efficiently in a language which I now call "Spanglanese"- a hybrid of English, Spanish and Japanese.
-I caught plenty of rain and bad weather, as I was on the fringes of the typhoon that hit China. I slept beneath an overpass in Niigata, right by the ocean.
-I went to an art festival in Odate. I was picked up by an artist who bought me dinner and then was happy to show me his art exhibit.
-I got free food and drinks all night in a bar in Aomori, the port town that sends out the ferries to Japan's northern most island of Hokkaido. The barman bought me drinks, random strangers bought me food, a friendly couple bought me drinks--and even saw me hitching on the road the next day and picked me up, driving me 2 1/2 hours out of their way.
-Got to Hokkaido and slept in a truck with a trucker
-Went to an Ainu (Native Japanese) festival.
-Climbed Mt. Yoteizan, a large volcanoe.
-Went back to Aomori, where another kind Japanese stranger decided he'd take me out all night to a karaoke place. He heard I was from Denver, so, of course we sang "Country Road" by John Denver.


I do, however, have a few pictures, thanks to a sympathetic Japanese man who gave me a lift, and after listening to me talk about how I left my camera in Hokkaido, he bought me a disposable camera. The following pictures are of my trip hitching back down to Tokyo, and the remainder of my time in Japan.
The guy on the left is who bought me the camera. These three were associates working behind the scenes for a Japanese fast-food chain.
This guy had just finished a two-day cycling tour. We listened to Blink 182 in his car, and I tried my best to translate it into Japanese.... which is quite difficult, seing as how Japanese doesn't have any swear words.

Yes, Japanese hitchhikers do exist. Here is the proof.

This nice guy picked me up in the pouring rain. Very nice man... 6 kids, likes baseball, and was delivering boxes of KFC containers to Niigatan KFC's.

These two guys were Pakistanian men living in Japan. They owned a used car business and were on their way to an auction to pick up a car. It was the first day of Ramadan (sp?), which I thought was ironic, as I, too, wouldn't be eating much that day... but for financial reasons.

This woman was my very last ride, into the center of Tokyo. She was a gym teacher at a high school, spoke great English, and was on her way to coach track practice.

A Tokyo alleyway.

Don't know why this is upside down, but I saw this my last day in downtown Tokyo and thought it was funny.

Went to the observation deck of a government building, overlooking the park I planned to sleep in....

Until I met Hugo, from Sweden, who invited me to sleep on the floor in his hotel room in Shibuya, a popular area of Tokyo.
We had the thrill of experiencing one of Tokyo's millions of video game arcades, before hitting the streets of both Shibuya and Roppongi. Jun and his fiance Misato, "flashin' peace" ;)

Jun's birthday dinner.

My last meal in Japan.

Taken from the plane. The Japanese coast.

Kyoto Pt. 2

Alright, here are some more photos from the past few days. Today, I`m headed north towards Akita.
Summer, at the restaurant.

Downtown Kyoto marketplace.

Tits Cafe.

Summer and her friends are starting a kimono outfitting business. They wanted me for practice, but didn`t have any male kimonos on hand.

Summer`s Shop, in her home.

Mr. Ogata behind his bar at Jazzmass K`s Case in Kyoto.

Beers and friends by the Kamogawa River.

Arashiyama, a neighborhood on the west side of Kyoto.

Bamboo grove.

I know this one`s a little blurred, but yes, the shirt says "Pizza of Death."

It`s been a long time, so I decided to spend some of today catching everybody up. I`m now in Kyoto, staying at my friend Summer`s house, who I met when I was last here. I haven`t quite decided how long I`m going to stay yet, but she insists that I stay through the end of the week so I can see a special festival that Kyoto holds for dead ancestors.

I probably won`t stay for too long, as I only have two more weeks here in Japan and there is still so much that I`d like to see.

Since it`s been a few days, and since I`ve seen so much, I`ve devided this post into three sections. This time, I`ve got everything in chronological order.

ISOLATION ON SHIKOKU ISLAND

Hitchhiking through the interior of Shikoku island was difficult--not because people wouldn`t pick me up, but because there were no cars to pick me up. I ended up walking for 20 kilometers before stopping and sleeping in a little concrete hut/outhouse on the side of the road. It was great. I stumbled upon several roadside shrines and enjoyed the break from the Japan`s big cities.

This was eerie. My Japanese version of Into the Wild. I found this abandoned bus on the side of the highway.

The interior. Somebody had obviously been living in it, but not for a very long time. There was a fine layer of dust on everything.

Little Japanese villages, farms and rice fields checkered the road that I walked, along with a long, winding river.

Here`s where I spent the night. I would have camped out, but I thought it might rain.

I got up early to continue walking just incase any early-rising farmers would be on their commute. After another 6 kilos, I got picked up and taken up the mountain pass.

When I finally got out of the mountain area, this guy, a security guard for a local bank, picked me up and we talked about American punk rock. He even introduced me to some good Japanese punk and suggested that the next time on Shikoku island, we should get together to play music.

This woman, who picked me up in Shikoku, was taking a three day vacation to some hotsprings. She was headed home to Hiroshima and drove me all the way there. On top of that, she invited me to stay at her home and cooked me an incredible Japanese dinner. Her name, Chizuru, means `1000 Cranes`.

Her neighborhood, just outside Hiroshima City.

She was also the owner of the only Jeep that I`ve seen in Japan.

Tommy Lee Jones advertises coffee in Japan. `Boss`--lol.

II. HIROSHIMA-Peace Memorial Park and Peace Memorial Museum

On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning, over 140,000 people lost their lives in the blink of an eye. The Atomic Bomb had exploded approximately 1800 feet above the city, causing the surface of Hiroshima to burn hotter than the surface of the sun. Radiation swelled far beyond the reach of the blast, instantaneously taking more lives. And then there were the damned--the unfortunate human beings who were too far from the blast to receive a painless death, but close enough to endure the hell and suffering of radiation exposure.

Today, Hiroshima is brimming with life. High-rises scrape its sky, children play on its playgrounds, and business men hustle through its streets. At the center of the city is Peace Memorial Park where every year, on August 6th, a ceremony is held in memorium of those who had died or had in some way been affected by the dropping of the Atomic Bomb.

Personally, Hiroshima affected me in ways that I never thought that it would. It inspired emotions that I have never felt, and a new hope for humanity that I never thought I could possibly obtain. In coming to Hiroshima, I thought that "American" would be a fragile word, but I have been embraced with nothing but love and hospitality by the Japanese. With an example of kindness of such depth as provided by example by the Japanese, I do believe that world peace and the global disarmament of nuclear weapons is a possible goal, and I do believe that this duty is up to the individual--you and me.

The Atomic Clock. The number of days since the bomb was dropped and then the number of days since the most recent nuclear test.

Written by Pope John Paul upon his visit to Hiroshima.

A watch, stopped at 8:15 AM.

A　model of Hiroshima before the dropping of the Atomic Bomb.

A model of Hiroshima after the dropping of the Atomic Bomb.

A model of Peace Memorial Park, as it is today.

Artwork done by a child after the bombing. The title: Injured with their clothes torn apart and skin hanging down.

A child died after approximately 12 hours of suffering from burns and radiation exposure. His father buried him in his backyard with his favorite tricycle. The tricycle was unearthed in the 60`s and donated to the Peace Memorial Museum, and the child was given a proper burial.

Jr. High School uniform.

And a child who could have worn it.

Letters to the museum from politicians from all over the world who met in Hiroshima for the G8 conference. Nancy Pelosi`s letter was brief and bland. She certainly could have written something a little more heartfelt on our country`s behalf.

Peace Memorial Park, preparing for the ceremony.

The Flame of Peace (you can`t see it because of the daylight), not to be extinguished until nuclear weapons have forever been abolished in all nations.

Sadako Sasaki was 2 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Because of the radiation, she developed a severe case of lukemia. According to Japanese folklore, if she were to fold 1000 paper cranes, she would be cured. She died at 12 years old, before she could finish folding the cranes. Her class mates finished the job, and now Japan has a national paper crane folding day, held in her memory. This is the Children`s memorial in PMP. It is dedicated to all of the children who lost their lives because of the bombing. Surrounding the memorial are glass cases full of chains of paper cranes.

Buddhist monks who are fasting and playing drums in remembrance and prayer.

A shrine, dedicated to those whose ashes are buried beneath the streets of Hiroshima.

The Bell of Peace.

Known as "The A-Bomb Dome", this landmark is one of the only structures to survive the blast, and was therefore preserved in memorium of what the Atomic Bomb can do. Today, America, Russia, China, Britain and France are all in possesion of hydrogen bombs that are 2,000 times more powerful than the bombs that dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Imagine all of NYC, or Beijing, or Tokyo, or Paris, flatened at the blink of an eye.

This bridge, known as the T bridge, marks the center of the city and was the American target.

Chanting monks.

........

III. CELEBRATING PEACE and the ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY

I met with great company in Hiroshima. This is me, Boneng from Bali, Indonesia, Imre from Holland, and Tae from South Korea. We sat under a bridge for hours, listening to music playing in the park. We even decided to go for a little swim...

I know this is blurry, but the two guys on the left are native Hiroshima Japanese. They decided to join us.

Many Japanese names are difficult for me, and I regret that I can not remember this guy`s name. He was fun to hang out with-- I think in this shot, he was playing Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.　He is what the Japanese refer to as hibakusha, one who suffers from radiation poisoning due to the Atomic Bomb. Radiation mutates DNA and therefore radiation poisoning is passed on through generations. Children are still being born today that have deformities and radiation poisoning.

Tae, the guy from South Korea, had a laptop onhand, so we played music and danced in Peace Memorial Park on the eve of the anniversary.

Tae ended up crashing out with me under the bridge near the park. I woke up, packed up, and as was walking back through the park to go meet my buddy Imre (the guy from Holland), I got interviewed. Yup, this groggy face you see right here was all over Japanese television. The reporter approached me, asked if I spoke English, then asked if I was American. After I said yes, the camera was on, and he asked a bunch of questions. U.S. represent!

When I went to meet Imre, we picked up this guy, a man from Kyushu Island. He is a tatoo artist, a very rare breed in Japanese society, as tattoos are a large taboo. When we met him, he only had 100 yen in his pocket--the equivalent to one US dollar. He had been drawing characatures (sp?) for money on the streets. That is how he got to Hiroshima--drawing pictures to make his bus fare. He has literally drawn his way across Japan.

Imre and I bought him lunch, and in exchange, he drew our pictures :) He even came to the ceremony with us.

And he wanted us to sign his skateboard.

At the ceremony, everybody folded paper cranes.

This is the Prime Minister of Japan, Aso. He gave a speech about the importance of nuclear disarmament and at the end, in English, I quote: "We are the Obamajority. Yes we can." He made references to Obama who stated that America will take steps to nuclear disarmament. The people of Hiroshima and many people at the ceremony were signing an invitation to send to Obama, with hope that he will accept and visit Hiroshima.

The ball is in your court, Obama. Time to shoot some hoops.

Lunch with Imre and Hayato.

After parting with Hayato, Imre and I were walking out of a convenience store when an old lady invited us to come sing karaoke. Her and her husband bought us beer and even paid for us to be in the room with them. Imre and I sung "The Times, They are a-Changin`" by Bob Dylan. And there`s nothing funnier than seing an old Japanese couple sing "You are My Sunshine".

A peace rally, I think. I don`t know, I could`t see the banners. There were riot police leading the way.

Some Japanese girls that Imre and I were talking to by the river.

Artwork done on some cloth by a Japanese religious group.

The beginning of the ceremony of the floating of the lanterns. Over 10,000 candle lit lanterns were set afloat.

After the lantern ceremony, it was time to go to the bar. Imre, Tae and I met this guy from New Zealand, who decided to dawn a Boboa Fett mask.

The bartender, an American, let me sleep in the bar that night. I woke up alone.

Tae and I decided to go to a Hiroshima Carp baseball game. Pops, I thought you`d appreciate this ;)

The stadium was packed. In between innings, the fans would release these giant balloons. They get way more excited about the game than any American crowd.

This is the next night at the same bar. During the day, while at the park, Imre, Tae and I met this couple from Australia, Denis and Adele. Turns out, they were also hitchhikers! When they get back to Australia, Adele is going to direct an eurotic documentary about herself.

The bar, called Kulcha, was what is known as a "Gaijin Bar", where mostly foreigners go. Due to slow business, this was the last night that the bar was to be open, which meant cheap drinks. I met a guy from England who had been teaching English in Hiroshima for the past 7 years. He told me that he could get me a job doing the same after I graduate....

Leaving Hiroshima. It was blistering hot and my shirt was saturated in sweat.

This guy gave me a ride to Kyoto from about the half way point between Hiroshima and Kyoto. Despite the language barrier, we communicated by singing favorite Beatles songs to eachother and talking about his other passion, Japanese chess. He`s actually in a Beatles cover band, and he plays Paul McCartney. He`s totally got the hair for it.