Tsuruga Castle Hanami

Around the middle of April the cherry blossoms bloomed in Aizu. Tsuruga Castle is a popular destination for Hanami, so one weekend me and my girlfriend had a picnic here.

The castle grounds were very crowded. Many people brought picnics, and there were many little shops and stands selling different foods.

When we were walking around we found a part of the castle wall with many people taking pictures. In the photograph above is the castle as well as several people with cameras. Me and my girlfriend also took a picture with the castle here.

We walked around the castle grounds and we found a part of the castle wall with fewer people. This part of the castle was quieter and more relaxed.

Hiroshima

At the end of my semester break from school, I traveled to Hiroshima with my cousin. There were a lot of interesting things in the city. Pictured above and below are is the Atomic Bomb Dome. This building was near the center of the explosion from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Because of its location, the force of the explosion left it standing, so today it is a memorial to the people killed by the bomb.

Nearby the dome there were books with pictures and news clippings in different languages, as well as some volunteers and many tourists like myself.

Hiroshima has a lot of different things to see. There is a Peace Memorial Museum and a large garden with many statues and monuments. Pictured above and below is the rebuilt Hiroshima Castle.

From the top of the castle I could see many cherry blossoms.

Near the castle there was a small trail. Along the trail some people had stopped to have picnics. In Japan there is an activity called Hanami, literally flower viewing. Hanami today usually is a picnic or party under the cherry blossoms.

At the end of my time at the castle I saw a couple posing for photographs beneath the castle.

Miyajima

When me and my cousin visited Hiroshima, we took one day to go to the city of Miyajima on the island of Itsukushima. There is a famous Torii, a ceremonial gate that usually marks the entrance to a shrine, here that we photographed, as well as many deer, and some hiking trails.

The torii is part of the temple pictured above. At high tide the torii and the temple are surrounded by water. We visited at low tide, so it was possible to walk around on foot and see the torri up close. Pictured below are a number of people with cameras preparing to take pictures of the sunset over the torii.

We stayed on the island and watched the sunset, then saw the torii when it was illuminated during the night.

The city also has many deer. Above I am holding a bottle of special Ramune from the island in front of a deer for a picture. Below is a video of a deer following my cousin around and looking for food.

Finally, at the end of the day and back in Hiroshima I had okonomiyaki for dinner again.

Enoshima and Kamakura

During my cousin's visit to Japan we got to visit many neat places. He had a friend who lived in Fujisawa, so she showed us around some of the local attractions. The first place that we went was Kamakura. Fujisawa is shown on the map below. Above and below are picture of a temple from Kamakura.

We saw many interesting things while we were here including a massive Buddha statue.

While we were here we bought day passes for the Endoshima Railway. There are many train systems in Japan that are separate from the really big JR networks. Aizuwakamatsu even has one: the Aizu Tetsudo. When we went on this train my cousin's friend mentioned that it was very popular with train lovers in Japan.

At the end of the day we made it to the island of Enoshima. To get there we took a boat. Here me and my cousin are enjoying the boat.

On the island we went to the top of an observation tower and could see far along the shore.

My Cousin's Trip to Japan

In late March my cousin also visited Japan. We had a great time and got to travel to a lot of places. We were able to go to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fujisawa, Enoshima, and Hiroshima.

In the picture below me and my cousin are wearing samurai helmets in Osaka castle.

Trip to Tsukuba

A few weeks ago when I was in Tokyo I had a day with nothing planned, and was staying in a hotel right by the Tsukuba Express. The Tsukuba Express travels from Tokyo to Tsukuba, so I decided to go and visit.

In Tsukuba I heard that there was a planetarium, so I made this my destination. On the way I passed through a park full of interesting things. Above is a statue of a man walking with his cat, and below is a large lambda.

This statue had this sign on it. It confused me a little why it was about traffic rules.

Near the museum was also a strange building, pictured above. Half of it looked like a public space, and the other half was the recycle shop pictured below.

The museum itself was nice to see. It had a large rocket on display, as well as a model of a fusion device. This particular one is a tokamak.

Also in the museum were some postcards. In 1985 the museum was built for a science fair, and these postcards were part of a display of trinkets from it.