[Shaolin Crane]

One of the artists invited me in to watch her work, she was hot so I figured I could admire and perv at the same time


Still existing scorch marks on the exterior of the building



Shockingly the bank managers office had iron storm shudders since it was on the sunny side of the building, they were yet to be opened that morning so the office remained almost entirely intact.






Even though the place was fubared, they had it open and operating in 48 hours.

[Shaolin Crane]

I lost track of time at the Bank sprinted to Hiroshima Castle, the castle itself is a repop and has been built several dozen times since the bomb was dropped, it's now a museum of former feudal realms of Japan. The rest of the castle grounds were left in ruin, it was like walking around a real life version of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time.

Unfortunately I did not make it in time, so I wondered around the ruins for a while.


For whatever reason, maybe because it was unexpected, this is the part of my trip that has been burned into my memory

I sat on the wall for a while just watching the clouds roll by

This picture to me is pretty cool, almost captures the essence of Japan that you see on their flag









It would not have been a proper trip to Hiroshima without Okonomiyaki



Since my hotel was just steps away, I went back to the bomb epicenter for dusk shots

This is what the ashes of 80,000 bodies looks like

My phone died and so did my camera so I wandered around for a while before crashing early.
Up next morning around 5am to see the shitty weather caught up with me, had breakfast at the hotels buffet overlooking the harbor

I finally made it to the castle, unfortunately they did not allow photos so I only got a few

I do have plenty of video though
Headed over to one of the other museums

This is an excavation of land pieces near the bomb zone, it shows what physically happened to the earth after the bomp, completely altering the composition of the earths crust

[Shaolin Crane]

I guess I lost a ton of pictures from one of the memorials. Sucks.
By the time I wandered around the castle, outdoor mall area, ate, ate, ate, ate some more it was night and I went on the prowl for a nightclub.
First few minutes I spots a Laguna Seca Boss


Downtown Hiroshima was a little different in terms of nightlife, more of a word of mouth party center as I was turned down from entry at a lot of places. No worries, could always get more food.


So I stopped for some Wagyu Sukiyaki

Spotted a skyline



Since I couldn't get in anywhere I went back to the epicenter area for night shots







I spent a lot of time outside in the rain but for some reason couldn't get enough of the epicenter area.



Went to sleep early to catch the first train out in the AM

[Shaolin Crane]

As I reach the bottom of Japan, before starting my return to Tokyo, lies the most important stop. Just between Fukuoka and Shimonoseki lies a shitty little island called Ganryu-ijima. Covered in sea roaches, hornets, sand fleas, crabs, clams, and other creepy crawlies that tried to eat me. No electricity and just a handful of ferries a day, but on the little island, over 400 years ago the most famous samurai duel in history took place between Miyamoto Musashi and Kojiro Sasaki. Musashi's boat had capsized on the way to the island and he lost his sword in the water, only a single boat oar remaining he carved it into the shape of a bokuto(now referred to as a Suburrito) since he was extremely late, Sasaki in his rage met Musashi in the water and lunged at him, with the sun behind his back hiding his creation, he crushed Sasaki's skull with a single downward stroke. This was his last battle and afterwards retired to write The Book of Five rings. A strategy book still used to this day by generals all over the world and the inspiration to Tsun Zu's Art of War.

[Shaolin Crane]

This was a pretty big moment for me. Miyamoto Musashi was a huge inspiration in training, and ultimately becoming an instructor of Toyama Ryu Battojutsu. That I got to stand in the exact place that the originator of Diasho, one of my sword styles stood, was very cool.


I had a LONG day ahead of me and since there was only one more ferry for the next 6 hours I had to leave.
I made my way back to the train to Kobe, for one thing, beef.

Now I had a nifty little booking.com snafu in the booking site said .4km from the train station that turn into 4km since I couldn't climb a mountain. Wouldn't have been a big deal if Mt Rokko didn't allow buses or taxis so it took a LONG time to walk the distance.

It was really beautiful up in the mountains



Finally got to my room with just enough time to shower, change and head to dinner.


It really was in the boonies and my navigation wasn't all that great on my phone. Luckily a gorgeous Japanese woman asked me if I needed help in clear as day english, saved me big time.

Downtown Kobe was a cultural melting pot. More foreigners than Tokyo easily.

Finally at my Michellin Rated Kobe Steakhouse.




This is what A5 Kobe beef at $1 a gram costs.




Now let me say, I heard about it, read about it, tasted American equivalents, and I can assure you it is even better than I can convey. The texture was like marscapone cheese but a tremendous rich beef flavor. Now after cutting and preparing the steak. This is what is deemed suitable to serve as the main course.

The rest of the beef with the tougher portions was finely chopped and pressed to a piece of toast and fried on the grill and was uniquely outstanding.
Now since I stayed way up in the secluded mountain the walk back was a bit different, no taxis, no buses, and no street light, just pitch black. After seeing this same sign over and over I tried to make out what it said since my hiragana is not great, I was able to figure out that it said "Beware of bears" Awesome.
Since I was only there for steak I left for Nara.

[Shaolin Crane]

Nara Japan is known for the wild dear that over the millennia have been tamed by the monks and allow you to pet and feed them everywhere.






The deer were friendly, you could even go up to them and bow, and they would bow in return.
But, have the deer crackers in your hand and they got pretty agressive, one of them shoved it's head into my pocket and tried to take off with my go pro, then wacked me in the nuts until I dropped the crackers.


The temples there were exceptionally exquisite. This one was said to have been built in 400 BC




This Buddha was over 300' tall, the inside of the building was MASSIVE


Climbed to the top of the mountain for some pictures, I also confirmed that some school students were following me, then asked to take pictures of me for a school project.




I was able to find a hostel that was IN the park so I could stay the night instead of the 10 miles or so outside with the rest of the hotels.

Ok so I paid the extra $7 for a private room


I wondered around for some time, then went back, cooked dinner then wandered around the park in the dark for a place to do some calisthenics

[Shaolin Crane]

Another early AM to somewhere in the obscuirty of Japan. Today was Koga, one of the three remaining ninja Villages.
Again in the middle of BFE, I get off the train and the train attendant asked me if I was there for ninja, he made a call to the ninja village and they sent a car to pick me up, which was about 10 miles from the station.

First thing was the shurikan range. Where I got to try throwing some shurikans without fear of harming them like mine.
25 yards and a bullseye

The "ninja" at the range said I was the first Gaijin to ever do so.

The lady who ran the "park" who is apparently original family of the clan dubbed me an official Koga ninja after having a conversation with who I was and my history as a martial arts instructor. So if my ninjutsu training here wasnt enough, I was given the title by a Koga Ninja, suck it muthafuckas.
After that, her and her husband walked me around personally to show me the museums. Incredible displays





The ninja house was very cool


This was where you could test the moat shoes

There were lots of tunnel that spanned the entire village to different houses and portions of the forest.

The lady rushed to find me to tell me there was only one more train to the other villages and I would need to leave now to make it in time.
Next stop was Iga/Ueno For the third and final ninja village. When I arrived the train attenent said they did not buses or taxis because it was a sunday, and I missed the morning train, so I got to walk the 15.42 kilometers to the castle. Fun times. Also got some bad directions from some teenagers who found it extremely entertaining.

Walked right by the exedy clutch facilty with is fuckin MASSIVE.
Weird thing to note, no english or japanese sign in Iga, but spanish, everywhere.


Caught quite a few popular JDM cars leaving exedy
Finally made it to the "village" which was notably different than the Koga village, this was more like a theme park built where the village was, where the Koga family actually still lived at their village.

Still was an entertaining show

Seeing tameshigiri in Japan is quite rare since swords are just as illegal as guns



Kyudo with rocket propelled arrows, which was a common weapon for burning down village homes in Sengoku period of Japan

This was nice to have english signs for the tour of the house since the Koga village did not have any and I had to stumble through my japanese

[Shaolin Crane]

Their museum was much more accommodating to English speakers


Alignment of the ninjutsu chakras






Ninja would routinely disguise themselves and monks, merchants, christian priests, etc to achieve their goal of obtaining information, contrary to popular belief they did not assassinate people all that often. It was only necessary to remain unknown.

[Shaolin Crane]

Ninja Shotgun

The museum mentioned the Koga Ninja in their exibits as well. Admitting they were superior warriors, but the Iga were superior in "magic" but they were by far the best in the History of Japan and that's why they are still around
This is the birth, and burial place of the Philosopher Basho, who I mentioned in earlier posts.

"stealth" moat walls of Ueno castle

Ueno castle is another reconstruction, but excellent content.




Many "ninja" were also samurai for feudal lords, and is how ninjas came about, to protect the honor of their masters while doing dishonorable things.

The placement of Ueno castle was to hide the Iga ninja village

[Shaolin Crane]

So if you haven't figured out by now, I walked, a lot, my trip counter said around 40 miles a day was my average. I actually walked through the callous on my feet.

Got to Nagano very late, had enough time to find some food(excellent food) and check into my room to pass out.

I had originally planned on seeing the Ieaysu Tokugawa museum and garden but my lack of sleep caught up with me so I had to cut that out and head to Kawaguchiko Also known as Mt Fuji city

It was nice and sunny, and also hot as balls