hiroshima

falling into the routine of daily life has been a blessing. the first few months here were trying becuase i often felt like i was on a long vacation or at a summer camp. that sense of temporary living was in the back of my mind constantly; it was stressful. it was a constant subconcoius feeling that there was an end to anticipate, but the lack of one made every day seem strange and unreal. how, i don't know, but the feeling has changed and i feel more comfortable if not a bit more permanent.

the downside to this is that i sort of forgot where i am and why. i was beginning to experience the regular daily feelings of work woes and 'i should get more exercise' or annoyance at people who eat on the train and the high prices of fruit. hosting house guests and traveling around the country reminded me that i'm not reading a copy of lonely planet or pooring over maps after work in ohio or michigan, but that i'm actually here. i've moved.

so, enough of that. after four days of walking around fukuoka, visiting, cooking, eating and playing euchre amanda, marshall, john and i set out on our trip north. we traveled by shinkansen (why did america abandon passenger trains?) to hiroshima first. we stayed at a very nice hotel right next to the station.

the first day we traveled by local train and ferry to miyajima. it is the home of one of japan's 'most beautiful sights.' it was indeed gorgeous. the weather was cold, but the sun was bright. the shrine sits in a small bay on an island south west of the city. it is built on stilts so that at the highest tides of the year the ocean rises nearly to the floor of the shrine buildings and they appear to rest on the water. at the lowest tides of the year, one can walk out to the great toori (the shrine 'gate') that rests far out in the sandy bay appearing to float for most of the year. during our visit, tide was low so that we could see the stilts of the shrine, but the massive orange toori still seemed to drift in the sea.

it was only the 3rd of january so there were hundreds of new year's pilgrims there praying. the crowd was thick and after john had his fill of tourist food - much like fair food at home - we headed back to the city. we had an early night so we could get up early the next day to take full advantage of the decadent western style breakfast buffet. by eight o'clock we were stuffed and on a bus on our way to the mountains north of hiroshima for a day of skiing and snowboarding.

in the morning the temperature was above freezing and there was no snow in sight, so we were a little worried about the conditions. as we wound our way up through the mountains (along steep cliffs next to long drops on a narrow road in a tour bus. . . ) snow appeared in the shadows of the woods and eventually became so thick on the roofs that it was difficult to distinguish houses from boulders. shortly before we reached the slopes, it began to snow in thick dry flakes. perfect.

i wasn't quite sure what to expect here as we were renting both snow clothes and equipment for the day. the equipment, as i should have guessed, was in far better condition than any rental equipment i've used in the states. the rental wear was quite nice too. being of average japanese size john, amanda and i had no problem finding snowpants and coats that fit well. they were even fairly stylish considering. marshall however didn't have quite as big a selection to chose from. no, in fact, the outfit that he rented was probably purchased on a whim in 1987 when the coked up resort manager entertained ideas of his resort becoming the no.1 spot for hip western tourists in japan. marshall was instantly transformed into a character from 'better off dead.' the only thing he lacked was the ability to emit music by inxs or depeche mode as he entered the scene.

anyway, we hit the slopes and it was beautiful. it was amanda's first time skiing since middle school and she only fell into one compromising position the whole day. the snow was so fluffy and fresh that i tried lots of little tricks to take full advantage of the fact that falling is actually fun in powdery snow. we never had to worry about losing marshall when he sped ahead becuase his flourescent orange snowsuit allowed us to spot him through the snow from miles away.

we finished the day with a nap on the bus and baths at the hotel. we stayed up late playing euchre and got ready to leave for kyoto.