Nagasaki Peace Park



We spent a long weekend away due to Tracy coaching a swim meet in Sasebo. On Sunday,we got up early and headed over to Nagasaki for the day. Nagasaki is where the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped, just 2 days after the first in Hiroshima.

Kind of a confusing street sign...then again after a year of driving here, I have come to learn there are no 90 degree turns

Entrance to the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall


My favorite type of admission....FREE

Kinda hard to see.....the top number is the number of people killed in the bombing 76,000 give or take 10,000

Little article about the remembrance hall at Nagasaki

Part of the remembrance hall. The pillars filter the light in the direction of the hypocenter. The pillar at the very end holds the names of those killed following the bombing.

Statue of a woman holding a dead baby following the bombing

The hypocenter of the Plutonium Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki

Map that shows the extent of the damage caused by the bomb

Fountain of Peace - the fountain was designed to spray water in the form of "wings of a dove"

The Peace Statue....the warrior is calm yet prepared for fighting

Constellation Earth Statue designed by the  University of St. Paul Minnesota

Kyoto Part 3...the end

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The Golden Pavilion
Yes, that is real gold covering the temple.
It is estimated that there is approximately 100 Billion Yen worth of gold on the temple.

This is our favorite temple of all of them

Views of the Golden Pavilion's insides, as well as what it looks like in winter

View from behind....walking away!

Kyoto City Hall
Formerly Capital Building

Kyoto Part 2

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Day 1, Temple 2 - Heian Shrine

Offering a drink....hoping its good luck

After a full day of travel, and walking around Kyoto we headed to our hotel, and checked in for the night.

We stayed at the Hotel Avanshell Kyoto, which is attached to a local shopping mall. We both were fighting allergies so we opted to stay in for the night. We had some dinner and walked around the area by the hotel, and crashed early knowing what the next day had in store!

Day 2 - Ryoanji Temple

Thought this Buddha looked pretty neat with the sun shining on him, hiding in the bushes

Zen Garden at Ryoanji Temple

Another Zen Garden

Crane searching for food

Turtles stacked on a rock trying to get some sun

Follow the arrows

These students asked Jon and I if they could ask us some questions so they could practice english.
One question they asked was "Where are you from?"....we responded "California"
Let's hope they do not read our t-shirts....they will be so confused.
After the teacher (sensei) asked if we would take a picture with the students!

May 2012 - Kyoto Part 1

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The month of May was a very busy month in our house. First up, Jon's 31st Birthday. Jon mentioned that he wanted to visit Kyoto (the old capital of Japan), and lucky us, there was a trip scheduled for the weekend of his birthday. Not only was it Jon's Birthday, but also the 1 year anniversary of us living in Japan....2 more to go.

We woke up very early Saturday May 11th, and met the tour at the crossroads, and headed up to Kyoto. It took about 5.5 hours to get there, so we were very happy to no longer be on the road.

Day 1 - Kiyomizudera Temple
View of Kyoto from above

View from the observation deck of the Kiyomizudera Temple

Awesome view

Shrine of the Dogs?
Who knows

Another view of the temple....there are so many layers to this place

Kiyomizudera Temple

Memorial for victims of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki Atomic bombings

Buddha inside the atomic bombing memorial

Pictures of the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki

A petition asking President Obama to Ban Nuclear Weapons
As soon as we walked in, we were asked in english to sign the petition....we opted not to!

A little shrine for Buddha

We saw this lady on the street just holding a bowl, I think to collect Yen...not sure.

Walking around Kyoto, we came across a little league baseball game....why not!

Giant Torii in downtown Kyoto

Iwakuni Country Club

Countdown

April 29, 2012

Today is "Friendship Day 2012" here on our base. What does this mean? It means, that the base is literally opening the gates, and letting anyone and everyone on base for the day. There is food, music, and an air-show going on all day. The air-show will be the Japanese stunt pilots, and Jon and I have both been able to watch them practicing (Jon's office is the flight line, so he is up close and personal).

We both decided that we would rather "escape" the madness, and go play 18 holes of golf, rather than stay on base. We went to our base Golf Pro Shop, and made reservations for the Iwakuni Country Club (our golf course closed, and is being torn up for more housing). We opted for a 10:06am tee time, that way the majority of the traffic coming through our gate would have died down.

The day was perfect for golf...nice and warm, slight breeze, and clear skies. We were told that the course would be busy, but when we arrived, we were checked in, and our cart was loaded for us. We were started on tee-box #10, and that completely threw me off....I can not start mid-course....mind boggling.

Anyways, after 18 holes, a lot of swearing and a couple of Asahi's, we were finally done playing golf. Since we figure the airshow was still going on, we opted to stop at the sushi-go-round for a light dinner before heading home.

Once home, we realized we did not miss the entire airshow...we sat out in the yard with a cold drink, and watched the last of the airshow...not a bad way to spend a Saturday!