Asia – Page 9 – Don't Let My Parents Read This

Never Again

8:15 a.m. August 6th, 1945. Hiroshima, Japan NEVER AGAIN. Hiroshima transforms, but always remembers. Always.

I awoke this morning not knowing where I’d be tonight. Now here I sit, so overcome with joy inside the American style Italian restaurant Fandango. Norah Jones & Enya calming my fears. I was searching fruitlessly for a specific veg friendly place as well as an ATM that accepts cards issued outside Japan. I walked the…

Transcend

Releasing my breath like rain into the eternal ocean. Destroying my selfish ego. Wafting incense through corridors of magnificent cedars. 200,000 or more of Kukai’s fervent disciples wishing to be buried as close as possible to the eternally meditating Kukai’s, believed to be still alive and praying for his believers worldwide. I walk the path…

Journey to Koyasan

Glad my phone’s still here; wallet,too. There are no locks on doors here, at the 900 year old Rengejoin Buddhist temple on the sacred Koyasan mountain. During evening meditation, my phone and wallet were left unattended for a couple of hours. I left behind most of mainstream civilization. This being modern-advanced Japan, however, there is…

The Truman Show?

Is this city, this nation for real? Did the cashier at Family Mart convenience store just bow fairly deeply to me more than once? Are these tiny, winding streets always so quiet and so dang clean? Do numerous employees of a large bank actually all immediately drop what they are doing as you walk upstairs…

Tokyo, Enough Said.

Bump of Chicken rocking out on one of the huge movie screens high above traffic The ubiquitous vending machine, even on remote corners. Noteworthy public bathroom hospitality Open air You Tube recording studio on a street corner This is how I ordered this food (rice with a grits coating) two nights ago [imagine a photo…

I’m Not a Bar Goer, But…

…Shinjuku district of Tokyo is a new spot for me. I have not drunk alcohol since August of 2000 and do not plan to ever drink again. But the atmosphere here is overwhelming. Visualize this: 8 foot wide pathways snaking through a pocket of Shinjuku, not far from where my Red Light photos were taken….

Red Light District: Kabukicho in Tokyo

Honestly, I had no idea my Air BNB apartment would be a half mile from the epicenter of a sprawling red light district–the largest I’ve ever seen. Incongruous scenes abound: huge open air game centers–everywhere around here–directly next to massage parlors which are essentially brothels; a cinema complex showing the new Dory Disney movie across…

Shanghai in a Second!

Shanghai coffee shop downtown. Solo. Stayed in Happy Hotel with two men I met on plane—details later. It’s true! Google, Facebook, New York Times blocked here. But my website is open in China! More later! Have to navigate back through maze of packed subway trains to outskirts of town to check out of Happy and…

I Love Bangkok

I like to write, usually saying more when sometimes less is more. For those who saw my previous posts from this great land, you already know about how influential Buddhism and the monarchy are here. Many photos relate to such fundamental elements of Thai society. I will annotate where necessary but otherwise am going to…