Hello World! During our last day spent in Hiroshima, we traveled to an island nearby in the Inland Sea called Miyajima. Also called Itsukushima, Miyajima is known for being a shrine of an island. As soon as you approach the island by ferry, one of the first things you see is a giant Torii gate …
Day 11: Hiroshima Peace Park
Today was another travel day, but we were heading for a new destination: Hiroshima! I (Ryan) was super excited to embark on this trip and visit Japan with the possibility of visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki, because I wanted to observe the tragic history of these cities firsthand. Before that, however, we had to make it …
Day 10: Monastery to Metropolis
Kon ni chi wa! My name is Jake Hansen, and today I’m covering a mostly travel day. This morning we woke up in Koyasan bright and early, scarfed down the vegan breakfast that the monks had prepared, packed all of our things and left for Osaka to spend one night before heading off …
Day 9: An early start
Our journey today began the earliest it has ever began. At 6:30 am. Our second day here in Koyasan began with a morning service at the Ekoin Temple. We made our way to the main temple for a ceremony showing daily appreciation to Buddhist saints and ancestral memorial service. This ancestral prayer is called Senzokuyo, …
Day 8: Ekoin Buddhist Temple
We are officially past the one week mark of this trip! We started the day by meeting at 9:30 in the Park Front Hotel lobby, in Universal City. Today's agenda was to go to a Buddhist temple that is up in the mountains an hour away from Osaka. We started our journey by taking the …
Day 6: Dobby is a Free Elf
Monday, June 17th Today was our very first full free day here in Japan. After a day of flying and walking through train stations, we chose to wake up early - yet again - in order to make the most of our free time in Osaka. Starting off the day right, Josh opted to have …
Day 7: Oh deer, that’s one big statue!
Tuesday, June 18th After a long Monday of having the day to ourselves, we started our day off with a nice long train ride to Nara at 9am. Although many of us slept through the train ride, still exhausted from the day before, the rest of us got to quietly enjoy the beautiful scenery of …
Day 4: Beaches, Shinto Shrines, Feudal Castles, Oh My!
Our second day in Okinawa began at 11am when the group walked a short distance to the nearest beach. The sun was shining through scattered clouds while a nice breeze cooled us off. It seemed to be a family beach with a few dozen people either sunbathing or swimming. The view was limited as it …
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Day 3: Friday, 6.14.19 – Okinawa, Japan
Today, Kris, Stewart, and Katy sent us out into Kokusai Dori, a shopping district, for a couple of hours. We were requested to go out and have interactions with the locals and take notice of the small and large culture differences. I was able to get the most out of this experience, because I was …
Day 5: On to City 2
Today we started our day bright and early. We were up and packed by 9am and began our walk to the train station. Okinawa was sunny and hot even though it was so early in the morning. We headed back to the airport. Although parts of me were sad to leave such a beautiful place, …
Japan Lived Experience 2019 