WHAT YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO MIYAJIMA

WHAT YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO MIYAJIMA: (FOR FOREIGNERS) 

So Miyajimi Island is probably the most beautiful place I have been to... as of now. It has a lot of traditional Japanese culture that it has kept despite the fact that it is a constantly sought out tourist destination. There are lots of hidden places on the island that deserve to be checked out. While you could spend all day just near the port of the island, there is lots on the little island of Miyajima. So here is what you should check out when you travel to Miyajima. Also I will include a few things you should expect when you travel to Miyajima.

1) Deer:
So from the moment you step out of the ferry terminal you will most likely see deer. Yes, they are cute. Yes, I know you are going to want to pet them. However, just so you know, they WILL EAT ANYTHING you are carrying. If you are carrying food they will most def go after that, but I have seen them eat things like maps or even napkins. So be weary! They are cute, but will eat ANYTHING you have on you. (See pics below) ^_^

Here are some pictures I took of just a few Miyajima deer in their "natural" Miyajima habitat...

See... they look so cute.

BUT... they try to get into restaurants.

AND... they try to eat your food!

AND... They try to eat your children! (Just kidding, but kinda believable because of the picture, right? ^_^)

Lastly, the infamous paper that apparently tastes really good to them. 

2) Various Activities:
So there are lots of fun things to do on the island that aren't super advertised if you don't do your "travel researchy stuff" before you go.  So be sure to check out their website for all the activities that are available. So here you go... (Of course some of these must be scheduled).

• Fun activities to do on Miyajima Island:

1) Miyajima Aquarium (don't need to schedule)
- It costs money to get in, about 1400円 (roughly about $16) for adults... The prices vary depending on age.
- It is not a super huge aquarium. So don't expect to spend the whole day there.
- If you want to know more, the embedded link called "Miyajima Auqarium" below can tell you all about it:
Miyajima Aquarium

2) Learn about the making of rice scoops or as the Japanese call it, shakushi.  (Must schedule before hand)
- It costs about 300円 (roughly about $4) to learn how to make your own Shakushi.
- Also Miyajima has the world's largest shakushi. Be sure to check it out!
- If you want to know more click the embedded link titled "Shakushi Info" below:
Shakushi Info

*** 3) Make Momiji Manju in Miyajima  紅葉饅頭  (Must schedule before hand)
- It costs about 300円 (roughly about $4) to participate, which isn't much considering you get to keep the ones you make and they give you a souvenir that includes more Momiji manju.
- Now there are various places to make Momiji manju so you must do a little research before choosing because some are more expensive.
-Momiji manju is a small maple leaf-shaped cake that contain various fillings. The most famous being mashed sweet bean paste. If you have never tried it... You must! Momiji manju is really famous in Japan, especially in Hiroshima, and anyone who visits Hiroshima should try it.  Now the sweet bean paste can have different consistencies. My personal favorite one is the Koshian (smooth anko) which means the sweet bean paste is mashed to a really smooth consistency.
- There is lots of information about them on the web, but here is a short and to the point article talking more about momiji manju and its' history. So if you want to know more just click the embedded link below called "Blog About Momiji Manju":
Blog About Momiji Manju

(This is what the standard Momiji Manju looks like)

3) Ankoagemomiji:　餡子揚げ紅葉
Now since I didn't talk about Momiji enough here are more things you should know about Momiji on Miyajima Island. So the only place in the world you can get Agemomiji 揚げ紅葉 is on Miyajima. What is Agemomiji exactly? Well, besides being one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth!. Just kidding... but no, really... it is seriously so delicious you can't even imagine! Okay, Agemomiji is fried momiji manju. It comes in only 3 flavors, which include: anko (sweet bean paste), cream, and cheese. Every single one of them is delicious, but my favorite is of course the Ankoagemomiji 餡子揚げ紅葉.  If you ever go to Miyajima you must try this. You can find it is various shops on the island, but mainly they are located on the big/narrow strip of souvenir shops and restaurants. I believe they cost about 200円 (roughly about $3).

4) Rope-way:
Now the rope-way is an optional, but a very scenic route to take to the top of the Mountain.  It is a good chance to take lots of pictures of the trees and the view is awesome. At the very tippidy top there is also a castle. I did not get a chance to make it to the castle because it is a bit of a walk from where you exit the rope-way and the wind was horrible the day I went.  So hopefully I can make another trip there soon to see the castle.
-The rope way costs about 1600円 (roughly about $18) for both ways.
- One way costs about 1000円 (roughly about $12) for one way.
- If you don't want to pay at all there are trails you can follow to the top.
- Also there are multiple trails with varying degrees of difficulty.

Here are some pictures I took while riding the rope-way:

5) Itsukushima Shrine:  厳島神社
Now I feel like I shouldn't have to say much about Itsukushima Shrine  厳島神社.  It is one of the most famous shrines in all of Japan.  It is beautiful and an absolute must see if you travel to Miyajima. It does have an admission fee, but it is well worth the money. It costs about 300円 (roughly about $4) to enter. If you are a foreign student and have the "HIC" card then it is free! Whoop whoop for being an exchange student! Upon entering the shrine you will get to take part in the traditional purification process, where you use the wooden ladle and cleanse your hands and mouth.

Here are a few pictures I took while at the Itsukushima Shrine  厳島神社:

6) Torii gate:
Now one of the most famous Torii gates in all of Japan is the one on Miyajima.  This is the torii gate you see in many pictures. It is the one that looks like it is floating on the water during high tide. You can see this as you make your way towards Itsukushima Shrine  厳島神社.

Here are a few pictures I took of the torii gate. The pictures are from different trips so they may look slightly different.

Here is a picture of me in front of the shrine. Not the best lighting for me, but the color of the water and the shrine looks cool. Also the boat full of people is a nice touch.

Far off shot of the torii gate. I took it while I was riding the ferry. This is a good picture because you can see just how big the torii gate actually is... 

8) Traditional Japanese Style Wedding:
Now when I went to Miyajima the first time there was a traditional Japanese-style wedding that was taking place that day. I have heard from many people that during the months that there is good weather many times there will be a wedding that takes place. So hopefully you will be as lucky as I was when I went.

Here are some pictures I managed to get of the wedding:

The picture above I thought was really funny. All of her friends were standing off to the side and I managed to snap the picture right when she stuck out her tongue. Haha perfect.

7) Daishou-In: 大聖院
 (Buddhist Temple)
This has to be one of my most favorite spots on all of Miyajima Island. Now I only went here during my mid-November trip. So I didn't get a chance to see it earlier on. However during the fall this is one of the most beautiful spots in all of Japan, I swear! It looks deceivingly plain from the outside, but once you enter and you start to walk up the long staircase to the top it is amazing. I can't stress enough how much I loved it there. It is located near the exit of the Itsukushima Shrine, so it is not hard to find. There is no admission fee.

Lastly, here are some beautiful shots I managed to capture while visiting Daishou-In 大聖院...

For more information about "touristy things" on Miyajima or just simply the history, visit the website called "japan-guide". That site is always good to use when researching tourist information about Japan. They can also hook you up with Japanese pen pals and other fun stuff. Or you can just click the embedded link below titled "More About Miyajima" to find out about additional goodies on Miyajima.
More About Miyajima


I hope that all of this information was helpful! All of the suggestions in this blog post are my own personal opinions. So please take this information with a grain of salt. It may not be super consistent with others' opinions on the internet, but I have been there a few times now and this is just simply what I recommend.  Hope you enjoy!

And with that, I'm out.
--Butterzz--

What You Should Know About Traveling Around in Tokyo, Japan

What to Expect When You Go to Tokyo (FOR FOREIGNERS)

So before I left for Japan some people who had been to Japan told me it was super easy to get around Tokyo even if you didn't know Japanese. Well I have been studying Japanese for a while now and boy where they wrong.

1) The Trains:
The most difficult part was the trains. They were confusing as hell! Now once you were inside the train station it was all good, there was English everywhere. However, before getting inside the train station you had to pick a place to go in order to select your train ticket. Now this is the hard part, everything is in Kanji. There was no English anywhere on that map which made it insanely difficult to figure out which ticket to purchase. So be sure to map out where you are going and figure out the corresponding Kanji so you can save yourself the hassle.

2) Katakana:
Now another thing that may not be so easy, but is sure helpful, is to know a little Japanese. A good portion of menu items, name of places/people and other random things are written in katakana. Now hiragana and katakana is much much much easier to learn since you have less than 100 symbols for each particular syllabary. Whereas learning Kanji will take years and years of practice since there are thousands of them and many different readings for each one.  Ughhh, 漢字はめんどうくさいな！(For those of you who don't know Japanese, that says "Kanji is a pain in the ass!")

3) Credit Cards:
Make sure to inform your credit card companies that you are traveling outside the U.S. to Japan so you don't get stuck over there with no money, because we all know that would be unfortunate haha. Anyways, also know this... Japan is a cash society. Most transactions are done in cash. So if at all possible just make it to the nearest ATM and pull out a lot of cash right when you get to Japan because you don't want a ton of withdrawal fees or just credit card fees for constantly using your card.

4) Lack of Internet:
Now another pretty vital thing to know is that you most likely won't be able to find wifi anywhere. I mean yes you can find it, but it is a serious pain in the ass to get. Also once you find a place that has wifi, most likely it isn't free. So be prepared if you are trying to meet people to try and make plans to meet them at the airport right when you get there or make up a place ahead of time.  Also give yourself ample time to figure out where you are going and what not if you set up a time to meet.

Lastly, here are some pictures I took of a few random things when I was in Tokyo.

And with that, I'm out.

--Butterzz--

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth... Butters's Experience on Miyajima Island in Japan

Now this was my second trip to Miyajima. My first being soon after I arrived in Japan, it must have been some time in late September. However, this second trip I took about mid-November, and it was much prettier than the time before.  The trees had just starting changing colors and there were a lot less people. Unfortunately the weather was terrible! Yes it was starting to get pretty cold in Japan, but the wind... oh that god damn wind. Anyways, the pictures turned out amazing and I have so many I want to share, but there is no way I can upload that many to this blog post haha. So I hope you enjoy the few that you do get to see. ^_^

I really hope to take a trip back there in the Spring so that I can get pictures of all the cherry blossoms and what not. If you have ever debated going to Miyajima you should just go, it is by far one of the most beautiful places on earth. It has yet to disappoint anyone I know.

P.S.- Oh and Miyajima has bomb-ass food. Just sayin....

And with that, I'm out.
--Butterzz--

The Hardships of Living Abroad

Yes, living abroad is a once in a lifetime experience... and maybe then again for some people moving abroad is permanent. So I guess it isn't always a once in a lifetime thing. ^_^

Anyways, living abroad isn't always peaches n' cream. There are days you have where you genuinely question what you are doing there and why life is the way it is. I have often thought since moving abroad, what is life going to be like once studying abroad is over?  Will my friends still be there when I return? Will my partner and I have grown apart? Will life back home suck in comparison to living in Japan for the past year? Will the people I love have forgotten all about me?

I have come to learn through much deliberation (with myself of course) that you just can't care what happens. As much as you care about your friends/significant others/family etc, you can't give a shit about the outcome. You just have to stick to what makes you happy and what makes your ticker keep on ticking. If you stay stuck in the thoughts of "what if" or "why" you will always be disappointed. Just remember what you want from the experience and what is your purpose for chartering the unknown.

Also, letting people get you down can be a real drain on the brain ^_^... and of course what I mean by that is make sure no matter what anybody says or tells you, you are awesome. I mean you are living abroad and experiencing a different culture. Most people don't leave their comfort zone or much less move more than an hour away from where they grew up. You will always have this experience to show how you made an effort to live a life in someone else's shoes. Not many people have the courage to get out. I mean sure people travel, but living in a different culture is an entirely separate beast.

After recently watching "10 Things I Hate About You" I re-discovered one of my favorite lines in a movie ever.  "Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want".

And with that, I'm out.
--Butterzz--

Pros and Cons of Living in Japan (Part 1)

So I have been meaning to write more about my experiences in Japan and have just mainly used my blog to post pictures... but sometimes I think, "hmmm if that is really what I wanted then I should have started a 'blog' or whatnot with some other site". So here's to my first REAL blog post.
**Holds up glass of orange juice and makes the "cheers" gesture towards the computer for all the readers that hopefully will, but probably won't read my blog** ^_^

I want to start off with talking about the Cons of living in Japan first, because well, I always save the best for last. This concept seems to shadow in all aspects of my life and sometimes it is quite annoying. I mean shit, every time I open a pack of skittles I have to suffer through the grape and red ones before I get to the orange and yellow. ^_^ Yes that was a lame example, but you get the idea. So here it goes:

CONS:

1) Well lets start off with money...
So upon arriving in Hiroshima I had the fun time of realizing that almost ALL of my credit/ debit cards DID NOT work.  Well my cards worked in Tokyo.  Soooo why not here, still don't understand that *facepalm*.  Now when I say they don't work, they don't work at all. I can't use it at the store when I am checking out or when I am out to dinner.  Then it really amazed me when I couldn't even use them to pull out money from the ATM.  So I had to resort to using my mom's card, which is a debit card we share. Now the only difference that I notice between the cards is behind the "Visa" logo there is a white square.  All of my friends who didn't have a card with the white square behind the "Visa" logo could not pull money out at all. So just a heads up to people who visit in the future. Either pull out a ton of money in cash while you are in Tokyo before venturing out because you don't want to find yourself stuck without cash elsewhere in Japan. In the long run my school ended up having to give some people substantial amounts of money until they could find a way to transfer money to their newly opened bank accounts in Japan. Japan is a cash society, EVERYTHING and I mean almost EVERY transaction is done is cash (at least for foreigners). So long story short, check your cards for the white background or pull out a ton of cash in Tokyo before you go to other parts of Japan.

2) You will have "Zoo Animal Syndrome"...
Now most of the younger people in Japan are just fascinated by western-looking people and so they often stare at you as you walk down the street, but only for a short moment.  Or they will try to say a few words like, "Hi/ hello", "How are you", "Yes, America, yes!" and especially to me, "You're so tall it surprised me!". However that last line is normally said in Japanese.  I have even had people touch my hair saying, "Oh is that your natural hair", or they have touched my eyelashes saying, "Are those fake eyelashes". Now coming from the younger generation I can tell this is just curiosity and nothing more.  So this most of the time is not a problem, but sometimes when the older people stare it doesn't seem nice at all.  It is more like a what are you doing here and they stare for long periods of time.  I mean one time I had a group of old people that weren't even saying a word to each other, just sit there and stare at me for like two minutes straight when I was waiting for the bus. Seriously I had never felt more awkward in my whole life. I was constantly checking making sure my fly wasn't open or a booger wasn't hanging from my nose. I mean just checking for something that would give them a reason to stare at me that way. Now I know I shouldn't take offense to this type of reaction and I should be quite used to it, but sometimes you just are having one of those days where you want to just flip off people who are obviously being rude to you.

3) The language...
I shouldn't have to say much about this actually. Living in Japan and not having a firm grip on the language is difficult. It makes it hard to express yourself to strangers or even order at a restaurant.  It also is extremely frustrating to make a life for yourself, like trying to make friends and get outside of your circle of foreigners that you live/ go to school with is insanely difficult.

4) Advanced technological ways...
I am not quite sure how to label this, but seriously if you don't have a Japanese cellphone or some crazy advanced wifi-thingy you can take with you everywhere then you have no connection to the internet or keeping in touch with people back home.  This may not be a huge problem  for some, but when you are trying to make arrangements with people about when and where you will arrive then this can be super inconvenient.  There is NO FREE WIFI ANYWHEREEEE.  I mean even when I got to Starbucks you had to have created some account before you can access their free wifi! So I have to have wifi to create an account to access your free wifi...... rightttttt. O_O

PROS:

1) Scenery...
Japan is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my entire life.  I first arrived in Tokyo and spent two days there and it was amazing.  Yes, I am a foreigner who loves anime, who cares, I do what I want. AND Tokyo was amazing because of that! It had all kinds of arcades and anime/manga shops. It had tons of technology-type stores and what not.  However, I was really amazed with how beautiful Japan was once I got to Hiroshima. Especially after I made my way to Miyajima.  Now if you have never been to Miyajima, you mustttt go. It is by far the most beautiful place I have been to EVER. Now what I like so much about Hiroshima is the combination of older style buildings mixed in with large/modern/western type buildings. You will be walking down the street and see a huge variety of architecture, which is just awesome.


2) Izakaya (Japanese bar) and restaurants...
Now I don't want to limit this to just bars because a lot of the restaurants are really awesome looking. From the outside it looks great, but then you go inside and it gets even better. **Yes I know what you're thinking... "That's what she said".  If you weren't thinking that, well, then I welcome you INTO THE MIND OF BUTTERS ^_^ **...
Okay getting back on track. Izakayas/restaurants look awesome both inside and out.  They are everything and more then you imagined them to be.  Other than the decor I really like how the waiters and waitresses go about their job. They don't come unless they are called. I mean I find it terribly annoying when I am eating and having a conversation and am awkwardly interrupted by someone coming up asking me how my food is or what not.  It is so much better to just push the buzzer and have them come over if you actually need something.
But one of my favorite things that I wish they did here in the U.S. is something called "nomihoudai".  It is where you can drink as much as you want for a set amount of time for a set price.  This is amazing and an awesome way to just hang out and talk about whatever and on occasion meet new people.  The only gripe I have about this is I wish the drinks were a little stronger. It does depend slightly on what you order, but still it is like Japanese people just get drunk WAYYY easier than I do and I consider myself a step or two up from a light weight.

3) Bathrooms...
Bathrooms in Japan are awesome! They are super clean and nice and the toilets are like robots, I swear. There are a million buttons that you can push and they do all kinds of stuff, even a fake toilet flush noise haha.  Not that I have experimented with these buttons because I am quite afraid of what most of them will do to be honest... I mean I was warned by my teacher before I left to not touch any of the buttons or else you will come out looking like you had been hosed down by the toilet robot. Yikes.
The stalls are completely closed in on all sides. No more seeing people's feet and being able to see people's reflection of what they are doing on the floor, because that is just really awkward. O_O

4)Cleanliness...
Japan is SO clean. I mean people don't eat at all on the street and if there is something that ends up on the street, less than two hours later it has been cleaned up.  It is quite a refreshing feeling to see that everything is clean when compared to America most everything is just the opposite.  There is trash everywhere and people just don't seem to take as much pride in their appearance.


Now this is just a few things I had on my mind and thought that I should finally share.  There are some other things that I have yet to say, but I will save that for another blog post.  Hope you enjoyed reading about my thoughts and if you didn't then maybe you learned something you didn't know before. If you just hated everything, well... That sucks for you. ^_^

And with that, I'm out.
--Butters--

Coming of Age Ceremony in Hiroshima, Japan 成人式

This event was probably one of the coolest things I have been to since I have come to Japan. 成人式 (せいじんしき）or phonetically written as seijinshiki is a annual coming-of-age ceremony here in Japan. Those who have turned 20 years old by some specific date attend this ceremony.

I don't really know much about the ceremony haha, but I do know that everyone was dressed in some awesome clothes. Traditional or not just about everyone looked great! Keyword, *almost* everyone... Some people looked beautiful and some people notttt so much. I was surprised to see so many interesting looking people. Some people you could clearly tell were being a little rebellious, which is quite amusing because you don't see that very often here in Hiroshima.  It is the type of people you would find in Nagarekawa cho at 4:00 in the morning. Now that is my type of people! Hahaha :)  Oh and if you don't know what Nagarekawa cho is.... well then I will just leave it to your imagination!

Love, Butterzzz

Ebisu Festival in Japan

Sooooo here are some pictures of the Ebisu Festival in Japan.

Soooooo Ebisu Festival was pretty much a bunch of different kinds of food stalls haha. They had everything here... surprisingly the sausages were really good (as you can see my friend eating--- which she would kill me if she knew this was up hahaha). They also had Crepes, squid, okonomiyaki on a stick >_> and lots of other deliciously weird things. They had the traditional fish catching game and this one ceremony which I didn't really get to take pictures of because I didn't have a good view.

Oh and to be honest the first time I heard people talking about the Ebisu Festival I thought "oh 'ebi' (aka the word for shrimp in Japanese),  there will be lots of shrimpy things to eat" ^_^... hmmm nope. Ebisu means god of fishing. So there were lots of squid and fish and what not, but no shrimp, like at all... but I digress.

So back to talking about the festival. There wasn't much else to do other than eat lots of good food and people watch, which is by far one of my favorite things to do in Japan, but I will save that for another blog post. The only downside (other than not having shrimp of course) was that I felt like I saw the same food stalls over and over and over and over... like why not have some more options. It was like squid on a stick or... squid on a stick. Hmmm decisions decisions.

Either way though I am living in Japan which is more than a dream come true. So I should definitely count my blessings, since many will never get this opportunity. But hey the festival was fun and the food was good. That is all.... ^_^

-- Butters --