Hi Folks,

The pictures and videos on this blog chronicles my recent trip to Japan (my third one). The main purpose of the trip was to visit Hiroshima since I was really inspired by a couple of books that I've recently read.

Enjoy!

John.

P.S. Sorry for any typos and pretension. You need to scroll down to the bottom and click 'Older Posts' to proceed through the blog.



I flew into Kansai late at night so I stayed close to the airport before embarking on my journey in the morning. This is the view from my hotel.


My baggage for the next two weeks. I've been to Japan a couple of times before and the country is extremely rail centric with a lot of walking. Therefore, I made a conscious effort this time to pack lightly in order to avoid having to lug a suitcase around (which isn't fun on a packaged peak hour train). My trusty Northface backpack and hemp bag proved to be an extremely wise decision.


Typical Japanese Toilet: The Japanese are very mindful when it comes to personal hygiene so their toilets and showers are often state-of-the-art... and yes this includes public ones. A typical Japanese toilet will have seat with temperature adjustment (which we all know is extremely important during winter), multiple bottom sprays (one for the ladies and another for the gents) and of course a dial to adjust the pressure of the spray. Anyone who isn't fascinated by this when they first arrive is lying.


Japan is full of crazy drinks. This one is Tropicana ~ apparently 100% pure fruit juice that has been carbonated. Very refreshing!


I was starving by the time I got to my hotel and everything was closed... so I popped down to a 24 hour convenience store called "Family Mart". I got all this for about $13 Australian Dollars.


JR Rail Pass: Armed with my JR Pass I was off on my adventure. The JR Pass must be purchased outside of Japan (about $310) and activated at a major train station after you arrive. It's extremely great value as it allows you unlimited rides on the Shinkansen bullet trains and local JR trains for a set duration of time.

VIDEO

Kishiwada: The Danjiri Matsuri festival takes place once a year in September in the small town of Kishiwada. The festival is part of a religious rituals to the gods in exchange for an abundant harvest. I was lucky enough to arrive just in time for it.


Kishiwada: The streets were all blocked off to allow for the large wooden floats to pass by swiftly. It was an extremely hot and humid day (35 degrees / 90% humidity) hence the guy on the roof cooling off.

VIDEO



Kishiwada: Basically the ritual involves lots of men pulling extremely heavy wooden shrines through the small town. It's extremely fast paced and dangerous especially when they turn the corners... There's about 34 different carts and the celebration lasts up into the early hours of the morning.


Kishiwada: I thought these kids looked kinda cool in their danjiri uniforms. They probably thought I was some pervert...