So yes, I've put this off to for WAY to long. I was finally able to upload the pictures of my summer vacation escapades about a week ago, so I did and now hey, here's a nifty post to go with it!

Summer Vacation (Reader's Digest Version):

Week 1

The first of two weeks of summer vacation began with a rendezvous with EER. The two of us met up at Musashi-Sakai, the train station closest to ICU. Though he'd already been vacationing for two weeks beforehand, he was eager to get a personal tour from someone who'd been there for two months!

We covered a lot of ground in this one week, the most notable of the locales being the world-famous Mount Fuji, as well as the Rukigien Temple in Bunkyou, Tokyo.

Mount Fuji
Was COLD. The four of us who climbed (myself, EER, and two of my friends) decided that we wanted to see sunrise from the top of the mountain, so we began our ascent from the 5th station (located around the middle of the mountain) at 9pm.

Shivering and fatigued, we reached the top of the mountain at approximately 4:20am. The sunrise we saw that morning was almost too beautiful for words, and even these pictures don't do it complete justice:

(I'm convinced that the last photo above was the inspiration for the first Final Fantasy airship sequence.)

The descent down the mountain was very windy and dusty. Thousands of people shuffling their feet down a loose-gravel series of switchbacks left all of us covered in dirt.

The climb is definitely something you should do at least once in your life...

And then never, ever again.

Rikugien Temple
Towards the end of the first week, EER and I popped on over to this garden temple located in Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo. A rather drastic change of pace from our earlier antics on the tallest mountain in Japan, this temple was constructed in 1702 and maintained by shogunate during the Tokugawa period. In 1938, the garden was donated to the Japanese government, who continues to maintain it to this day.

EER headed back to his homeland at the end of the week, leaving me on my own to begin week two of my summer vacation.

Week 2

I started my second week of break on a 13-hour-long bus ride to Fukuoka, the next island of Japan to the south west of Tokyo. At Hakata, I met a friend and fellow ICU student, Akito, who lives in nearby Munakata (gallery link).

I stayed at my friend's house for a couple days. I had a chance to practice my newly-gained Japanese with his mom who knew basically no English. I also saw Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the newest Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and several others) film that swept Japan by storm. Despite being a children's movie, the Japanese was a little too much for me, so I ended up sitting through the movie and enjoying the visuals!

On the last day of my time in Fukuoka, I happened to meet Moriyama Naotarou, a famous Japanese musician. He was walking around the park during part of a local television program's filming. Apparently it's a rare thing to see him in-person, so I felt a bit special afterwards; how many other foreigners can say they've seen a famous Japanese musician in person?

That's him on the right, facing the camera. The host of the TV program is the guy in the red wig and fishnet t-shirt. Anyway, Naotarou did an accoustic rendition of his famous song, "Sakura".

After my time in Fukuoka, Akito and I headed back to Tokyo, stopping at Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Osaka. There are a TON of pictures, so I think I'll just link you to the galleries and let you guys poke through them. Here's a brief write-up of each place:

Hiroshima - Saw the Atomic Bomb Dome, the one building in a couple kilometer radius to survive the atomic bomb dropped on it during World War II. The nearby museum was very interesting, detailing at great length the effects of the blast and showing off the effects of the bomb on both people and inanimate objects.

Kyoto - Temples. Lots and lots of temples. This is a good place to go if you're into the history of Japan, since there are so many historic sites that have been preserved for several hundred years.

Osaka - Described as "Bizzaro-Tokyo" by one of Akito's friends who we met up with during our trip. I tried some takoyaki, a dumpling with a bit of octopus in the middle; I'm not a big fan of the food, but Osaka is famous for this dish so I figured I'd try some. It was actually pretty good!

Akito and I made it back to Tokyo in one piece, and I moved into my dorm room a couple days later, signalling the end of my two week summer vacation.

I saw a hell of a lot of Japan in these two weeks, and learned some things along the way, too. As gruelling as the overnight bus rides (yes, that's plural) were, and the lack of sleep in general, I couldn't have thought of a better way of spend my summer vacation!