Yasukuni

Yasukuni is the Japanese military memorial to those who died in service for Japan; Japan's Arlington. It is not a graveyard, but rather a shrine. I heard about it in Japanese history class and figured it would be something to see and experience. It was one of the most memorable things I saw in Korea, so I figured the Japanese version would be no different.

I was pretty wrong

The grounds were very spread out with trees and woodsy areas on each side of the main walkway. There was this monument off to the side, but the main area was dominated by this bronze statue in the center of the path.

It is a western-style sculpture of the man that helped modernize the Japanese military. He studied with the Dutch when Japan was largely closed off to the world, but when the Meiji Restoration came about, he toured Europe to gain more knowledge about what a modern army needed and how one was trained and maintained. It's astounding how fast Japan transformed itself from a bunch of sword wielding warriors to one of the most dominant military presences Asia had ever seen.

Another gate. See the people for scale.

Imperial Seal

As I approached the shrine and walked through the gates, a thought that was in the back of my mind worked its way to the front: the USA was responsible for a large number of souls enshrined here. Hell, my grandma built airplanes during the war, and those gun mounts sure as shit weren't just for decoration. I just felt extremely out of place while I was there. As I approached the shrine more I saw more and more Japanese people paying respects at the shrine. They bowed several times, walked away, and bowed again at the gate. They were around my parents' age, which suggested that they lost parents or relatives in the war. 

The Shrine

Arlington has a different feel with its individual headstones, the shrine left the individuality up to the one paying respects; whether or not to remember just one or all those who died for Japan. This has been a large source of controversy with the shrine since some war-criminals are enshrined here.

I watched Japanese people bow, for their respects, but I stood in silence. Bowing is not a gesture I do in America, nor did I feel a genuine desire to do so; it would be in order to mimic those bowing, it would not have been a heartfelt gesture. I stood and looked at the shrine in silence, acknowledging our former adversaries who sacrificed for their country just the same as our sons and daughters did during the war.

Buying a Kamikaze headband at the gift shop kind afterwards kinda cheapened the experience a bit though.

Land of the Rising Sun

Well, Tokyo is amazing. This place kinda makes Seoul look like White Plains compared to NYC. Tokyo has taller buildings, a whole lot more pedestrian traffic, more crowded trains, and a whole lot less english. That last part is kinda fucking rough, but whatever. I can still order by pointing and hunting around some tourist neighborhoods.

It's always nice to know what people are talking about, especially when it comes to history. My Japanese history course prepared me for this trip more than I could have imagined. Holy shit, looking at places, recognizing names, it's a pretty good feeling, especially around museums and historical artifacts. Please forgive me if I say stuff that means nothing to you, or look some stuff up step into the mind of a huge history nerd. The choice is yours.

My first stop was the old Imperial Palace, about 10 minutes from my hotel. I kinda knew it when I saw it.

Moats aren't really typical city scenery

So yeah, I found the palace no problem. Man were the grounds pretty also, the walls were enormous. Very different from the Korean palace. This was more of a fortress, one with several gatehouses, choke points and moats for efficient invader killing. From an architectural standpoint, it was absolutely breathtaking. 

Old meets new

Guardhouse that held 100 samurai representatives from every clan

After examining the walls and walking down the main road for a while, I took the side path to the Imperial gardens.

84 different kinds of water irises

Imperial Carp

Again, stunning. The garden was laid out so beautifully with the woodwork on the streams and the stone bridges over them. The maintenance required to keep something like this together is astounding, and it must have been almost unimaginable without technology to maintain it. It's good to be the king. Or emperor, it doesn't really matter, this is a pretty great house. 

The next part that stuck out was the Imperial bamboo garden, featuring bamboo from Japan and parts of China. What made it stick out was that this was Hirohito's bamboo garden. 

It was created after the war, but still, that's a pretty significant historical figure's bamboo garden. This is when it really hit me that "Oh yeah, we were at war with this country 70 years ago."

Then there were some more gardens, one had a pine tree which was a gift from the king and queen of Spain, and two gardens full of fruit-bearing trees. Interesting to see native Japanese fruit trees even though the fruit wasn't ripe or wasn't growing at all.

All in all, it was an amazing first site to visit here in Japan. The history  behind the imperial bloodline, the history of Japan, and just how old a lot of shit on earth really is gets me pumped. You only have time to see so little, yet I'm really thankful to get even a peek at what came before.

Korean Beach

This is the one story that really sticks out in my mind during my trip to Jeju island: The Beach.

Ok, so when you hear beach, you tend to imagine people swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach tanning, drinking water and generally having fun in bathing suits, right?

Well, in Korea you'd be wrong. The only people in bathing suits were about 9 Korean men, my friend and I. The rest of the guys in the ocean were wearing shirts, which was strange because they weren't fat guys, they were just wearing shirts. The rest of the women were in the ocean fully clothed. One was wearing jeans, one in a dress, at least three in rain jackets, and one in a shirt and basketball shorts. There was one girl surfing in a wetsuit, that was the closest thing to a bathing suit on that beach. Ok, what? I'm not complaining because I went to the beach to gawk at women, I went to the beach to go into the ocean and get some sun. I assumed most people went to the beach for that reason. But seriously, wearing a rain poncho on a tube in the ocean? That's like having an umbrella in the shower. Why go into the ocean if you don't want to get wet? Also, why risk literally EVERYTHING by going into the ocean in your regular clothing and betting that your tube won't get tipped by a wave or by a friend. That's some serious lack of planning. It kinda weirded me the hell out because I know sunburn and skin cancer are serious, but long sleeves and jeans at the beach serious? Hooded-windbreaker in waist deep water serious? Just plain funky. 

Also, the amount of whipped dudes at that beach was kind of off putting. I know I always harp on the femininity of Korean men, but there were a few things I saw that were just plain demeaning to any man. For example, there was one girl on a tube in the ocean sitting on a tube about 30 yards off shore. Not too far, about waist deep water. But her boyfriend had gone back on land to dry off. He was dried off and sitting on the towel when she put her hand up in the air, like a student with a question. But she wasn't asking a question, it was a demand. When her boyfriend didn't see her quickly enough she just started yelling his name. The reason she put her hand up: She needed to be dragged to shore. She, already in the ocean with the ability to swim and already soaked by the water, was demanding that her boyfriend get wet once again just so she could feel like she had a prince charming and so everyone could know how great her boyfriend was. I may not be the leading authority when it comes to romance and relationships, but I know a shitty attitude when I see one. It's cute when a guy does stuff for his girlfriend and vice versa, but this kind of crossed the line of "romantic" into the territory of the relationship not being a two-way street. I don't see waiting on one's loved one to be romantic. The hand raise and yelling didn't help either. I guess I'm kinda ready to come back to America, and re-examine US relationships again to see if I'm being a hypocrite. All I know is that romance shouldn't be done just so the rest of the world can say "Oh, they're in a relationship," or "Oh, look how good her boyfriend is." Love shouldn't be an inconvenience.

Incidentally, I went to a sex based sculpture park two days later and had a good laugh at all the sculptures of penises and people having sex and the giant penis fountain. 

I have a feeling I'll never fully understand this country, but hell, another four months of research here would really be appreciated. 

Update

Today's final went pretty poorly, but it was as expected because it was a senior level class. It opened with 3 pages purely in Korean.

What.

My TA said, "Can you read this?" I said "Nope!" He chuckled and told me not to worry. Bullshit, that thing looked official and serious. There were stamps and red stuff that was underlined.

The rest of the exam was pretty shitty as well. One kid left after 21 minutes (I checked the clock). It was a 2 hour exam and some of those problems involved multiple applications of advanced integral approximations. Yeah, it was one of those kinds of engineering exams. Another kid shrugged his shoulders, put his pencil and calculator down, and just took a nap. A hate filled frustration nap.

Tomorrow's final is in my hardest class and I am far from excited. I really don't know how many courses I'm gonna get credit for at this rate if finals keep going worse than expected. I just wish at least ONE person in any of my classes understood my "I'll take the physical challenge" joke whenever my professors ask if we're ready for the final.

By this time next week I'll be in Tokyo, the 5th capital city I'll visit. Let's hope that Japanese history course paid off, I want to enjoy the shit out of that city.

Finals Update

3 down, 3 to go. They're going better than expected. I mean that I do not think that I overtly failed the course.

I would like to thank my glorious rally stubble for making this possible. I never thought I could look good with stubble, but it's sure making these exams be a little bit friendlier. Korean speaking went well, US Politics was decent (the teacher asked a lot of questions where one answer could be "more correct") and Thermodynamics was kinda bad. But, I have an excuse for Thermo: I hadn't started the beard growth.

All in all, this week is ticking by one day at a time, which is a hell of a lot slower than the rest of my time has been here.

It's the last Tuesday in Seoul. Scary shit.

Lessons Learned

I wound up going to UMF Korea tonight because I had the tickets and they were non-refundable. It was an awesome night. Yes, I have finals, but goddamn it I can't think of the next time I'll be able to go to a concert in Olympic Stadium here in Seoul.

I'll give the abridged version of the story: My friend and I got there early (before the big DJs really got on stage), we got to the front, we stayed at the front all night. It was amazing. There were dancers, vegas style showgirls, a girl wearing a disco ball bikini, and robots that shot both fire AND fire extinguishers. It was pretty cool. There were a ton of girls who wanted to get on the tall American man's shoulders, so I couldn't help but oblige. I'm probably gonna wind up in one of the videos because there were cameras everywhere and they loved it when I power pointed at the lens.

The DJs were good, the bass was sick and the pyrotechnics really had me thrilled, but the Lyons in me really liked the fact that I was partying where gold medals were won. Bud Greenspan hadn't seen a concert like this, I guarantee it.


Things I learned at UMF Korea: some Europeans think attempting to sexually assault me is a funny way of getting me to give up my front row spot.

Things some Europeans learned at UMF: An American elbow to the mouth hurts like hell and the next time you try to violate someone at a concert, don't fucking think about it.

Tomorrow brings a wave of studying and Korean vocabulary. But for tonight, I can't hear a thing because of the speaker blasts. Maybe I'll sleep soundly for once, the stray dogs outside my room will finally have no impact on me.

What.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDl_ER5VC0

America has really dropped the ball when it comes to movies about animals who play sports.