[Shaolin Crane]

Each castle that I visited showcased something unique to it, instead of trying to make it look original it was more of an engineering museum showing how castles were built. Kanazawa castle was the first structure known to be made with earthquake defenses. The used massive pieces of polished wood that crossed underneath the structure and attached at the load bearing points, as the ground would shake they would move to disperse energy. Pretty cool considering it was never destroyed from earthquakes or fire, however it was eventually condemned before the renovation.













Artifacts discovered during initial renovation

[Shaolin Crane]

Like most castles in Japan, not a single nail, bolt, or fastener was used. They used entirely leverage and friction based assemblies. Seen here.








Apparently the deal with many of the castles is the people would wanted to live in the immediate town were required to work on the castle. There were many different foundation types. Each rock, brick or slab you see in feudal time periods of japan were shaped my individual people using small hammers and other rocks. So now that you know this, look at this wall, see anything?

They were shaped and marked to be specifically pieced into the wall. Marked with in install direction.

Look at the precision of the base blocks on this building, done by hand.

[Shaolin Crane]

Apparently a dutch glasssmith traveled to Japan and built this shrine featuring this stained glass window.


Then I headed over to the samurai district.







So what's pretty cool about the Nagamichi area, just because you were a samurai, didn't mean you got a big badass house. Didn't even mean dick if you were lineage of someone important. This was strictly performance based. Best warriors, got the best ranks, and best houses, period. You're a shitty killer? You get a shitty house. Want a better place? Get better.




One of the houses offered a traditional tea ceremony while over looking the gardens, I wanted to try it, but I was low on time.


Why am I excited about this? Can of coke has 43 calories, yes, 43. Only 8 grams of sugar because Japan knows soda doesn't need 50g of sugar to taste the same.

Anywho, I was kind of lost and was trying to find Omi-Cho market not a lot of english signs in Kanazawa and my phone was dead. A nice old man walked me the two miles to the market and showed me around. He had to be 70 years old and almost dusted me.
Since my phone died I didn't get many pictures of the market other than the tiny place I ate at, incredible food. I did get lots of gopro video, apparently in Kanazawa they are known for their eel, awesome cause I love eel.

I had a blast in Kanazawa, I could have stayed a week, but it was time to move on to Kyoto...

[Vettezuki]

Their woodworking tradition and joinery is off the charts.

[Shaolin Crane]

Seriously. The castle was very interactive too, you could play with the joinery parts in the exposed portion of the castle, very cool.

[Shaolin Crane]

Up to this point in my trip everyone was super cool, and I was almost forgetting what it was like to be an asshole because no one deserved it, then I got to Kyoto.

I got their pretty later in the day and all of the temples/shrines were already closed and I was beat, and it was pouring. So since I spent all my previous time eating in little hole in the wall places that I tried some upscale place at the Kyoto tower, totally not worth it. It was an american style buffet. Lesson learned.


I was up around 4am cause they is a TON to see in Kyoto and I only had a couple days.
First up Arashiama, what Kyoto is most famous for, thousands of Tori gates line the entire mountain train.



It was pouring rain early in the morning and well over 100* definitely not the day to walk almost 50 miles total.







Finally at the top, took a while, all gross and sticky


There were 5 villas all famous for their different Zen gardens

[Shaolin Crane]

Very cool art work on the ceiling of this temple that was burnt using glass refracting light, like a magnifying glass

Definitely my favorite of Kyoto, Kiyumizudera



At the entrance there was this table/jig like fixture holding a staff that was dubbed "The immovable monks staff" because the monk who blessed it as he dided made it so that no one could lift it. It was rather large, about 6x6 of solid steel, roughly 6' tall. There was nothing to grip it with so at my first attempt I couldn't move it. One of the teachers told me I couldn't do it because it was 89 kilos or 200lbs. The wight wasnt the issue, it was the leverage of the stand and no grip points, after removing my pack I was able to grip it well enough to lift it up and the students watching flipped out, like they were paparazzi. Teachers kept bringing their students up to me and asking if they could take pictures with the strong american, they would want to do a front double bi pose, they took more pictures with me, than I took of the temple





Ginkakuji



Not really worth it IMO, and there were SO many people I was beyond agitated. This is the part where I ran into some(lots) of dick holes. Not the Japanese, the Chinese. They go through the mountain temples with their expensive shopping bags, struggling to make it up the hills just to showcase their purchases. They intentionally start shit with the Japanese well knowing they will back down because of how respectful they are. After going through one of the small street areas I had a Chinese dude with his family shove me, as a point apparently when I walked by, I ignored him and tried to pass him, and the fucker did it again.
Naturally I (yada yada) I'm a bigger asshole.
Next morning up bright and early before leaving Kyoto for Kinkakuji. There was at least a thousand people waiting by the time the gates opened.

[Shaolin Crane]

I can definitely see why it's so popular, but there were just too many people there and it really ruined the experience. It eventually turned into a mad dash to get into sight of the Pavilion.





Overall my experience of Kyoto wasn't great, not because of the city itself, just the sheer volume of people and the dicks that were there 99% Chinese. So I cut my itinerary short because I was sure that I was going to drown the next chinese dude who thought it would be a good idea to fuck with me.
On my way to hiroshima I had a train change over in Osaka and had to eat. Found this revolving sushi bar that was soooo cheap and the quality smoked nearly every restaurant here. I ate so much the waitresses were staring at me the whole time.


$2 For O-toro and Negitoro.

When I got to hiroshima the weather was great, humid, but not too hot. Since I left Kyoto early I had plenty of time to explore right away.

Probably the most notable building in Hiroshima


This building took nearly a direct hit and was still intact
First up was the atomic museum. Which I must say, they did not censor anything at all. It was quite chilling.









The museum was very small because they were renovating the material, it is now a joint venture between the US and Japan. Lots of material was donated by the US for display in the museum.

The most notable thing was acknowledging the necessity of the bomb. For a long time there was extreme hatred towards the US for use of the bomb saying there were other alternatives. The prime minister released a statement saying the bomb was the only option that did no allow further violent progression. During the statement he said that Japan is now a peaceful nation and will never participate in another war ever again and they are on the leading front of destroying any and all nuclear weapons everywhere for a better future. Also, he mentioned that Japan had no reason to be involved in the war and that the actions of the bomb were fair considering it's involvement in the war and pearl harbor. This is pretty big, because just a few years ago it was exactly opposite.

[Shaolin Crane]

[Shaolin Crane]

The whole city of Hiroshima is built around the monument area, doesn't have the same railway system as the rest of Japan either, street cars and lots of underground walkways.

On the other side of the river is the Honkawa Childrens School Museum, which is the bombed out building located on the original campus, which is still an operating school.




The museum is well put together, in many respects better than the memorial museum

The school was thought to be safe because of the deep basement, 400 kids huddled inside this tiny basement and they were all vaporized instantly.





It was fuckin hot, 100* 100% humidity. But while I was there I could hear the children singing next door in the gym, made the room feel very very cold.




The only building unharmed during the blast was the First National Bank of Japan. The building is made entirely from marble.




The bank is now a modern art museum, featuring different artists works, some photos, drawings, music, etc.


The vault space is no fuckin joke, and even though it's 100' under ground, and 5' thick, everyone in the vault area were turned to shadows too.