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The following public blog entries are for educational purposes only. The opinions expressed here are purely my own, and the following pictures and video were taken by me. Enjoy!

The Itsukushima shrine is located on Miyajima, the "Shrine Island". I was able to visit this gorgeous and famous shrine on a school trip to Hiroshima. This picture shows the hallways of the shrine. I wasn't able to get a frontal view because it was a very rainy day that day ( Read more... )

This picture was taken in Kyoto along the long, curvy road leading up to the famous Kyomizudera shrine. A good place to see geisha is in the Gion district but we didn't have enough time to go there. There are two Geisha in this photo and it looks like they are entertaining a mother and her young son ( Read more... )

This picture was taken in Itsukushima (or Miyajima, shrine island) at the Itsukushima shrine. A traditional Shinto Japanese wedding was taking place inside. I felt so lucky to have been able to see this in person. The bride is dressed head to toe in white, while the groom is dressed in black attire, much like Western weddings. Western-style ( Read more... )

This ginormous Buddha statue located in Nara, Japan, is the largest Buddha statue in Japan, and arguably in the world. The statue is housed in the huge Tōdaiji Temple, surrounded by flowers and well wishes. I visited this statue on October 10th, 2010 after seeing the famous deer park on a school trip to Kyoto and Hiroshima. This was our free day to ( Read more... )

This Daibutsu (Literally meaning "Big Buddha") is located in the shore town of Kamakura. It took about 40-50 minutes to get there by train from Jiyugaoka. The town of Kamakura is very endearing, because it's right by the ocean it was common to see surfers coming back from a day of catching waves and there were plenty of trendy boutiques. It ( Read more... )

On a school trip to Hiroshima, we visited the A-Dome. The A-Dome is located at the epicenter of where the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Nearby the A-Dome there are monuments and the Hiroshima Peace Museum. There was a significant monument there that represented the hope for peace and the banishment of nuclear weapons. By this monument there ( Read more... )

I love okonomiyaki. A lot. The first time I ever had okonomiyaki was in a grocery store called H-Mart in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was so delicious. I knew that when I came to Japan, I had to have authentic okonomiyaki. On a school trip to Hiroshima, we had dinner at a restaurant where they taught us to make our own okonomiyaki. What makes it ( Read more... )

On September 14th, I went to a Japanese baseball game. The game was between the Yokohama Bay Star and the Hiroshima Tigers ( Read more... )