Japan 2017

PLEASE NOTE : I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows:  Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org . Thank you. Today was another day for meetings. But first, Dick and I spent the morning at Meigetsu-in Temple, also known as the hydrangea temple. It was very crowded, and after I had taken my share of photographing the stunning flowers, I said, "Let's get out of here!" Dick wasn't feeling great as earlier he tried my scrambled eggs that I would not eat because they were barely cooked. The gardens at Meigetsu-in were very beautiful. I especially love the flat Japanese variety of hydrangea. this one. a confetti hydrangea, was my favorite Next we hopped on the train from Kita-Kamakura to Kamakura where I met a friend of many yea...

PLEASE NOTE : I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows:  Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org . Thank you. Today was rainy. We began by walking up the steep hill just across from our hotel to the Ofuna Kannon, Goddess of Mercy. Right as we got to the path, a large crowd of school children arrived, so we let them go ahead. We knew their young energy would get them up the hill faster than we would go! The Kannon is an 80 foot, 1900 ton concrete statue that was begun in the 1920s but not completed until 1960 due to WW II.  The statue includes stone from ground zero of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate those who died there. Inside the temple is a place to pray and a notebook to write your wishes. Next, we took a monorail to Enoshima. Dick had ...

PLEASE NOTE : I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows:  Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org . Thank you. One of my contacts at REN (Refugee Empowerment Network) in Tokyo invited me to an Awa Odori festival on Saturday, July 15. Since Dick and I will be in Okinawa, Hisako invited us to come for the rehearsal a week earlier, so that's where we were on the 8th. Our little rehearsal took place in a community center with about 15 people. I had met two of the staff and two of the refugees previously. Everyone was very kind and happy to be doing something fun together. We had two young women as our dance instructors. They taught us more about how to move the legs and point the feet, along with shaping the arms and our bodies as we moved along. It was fun and good exercis...

PLEASE NOTE : I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows:  Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org . Thank you. We set off on our last trip in Japan on July 11 - Okinawa. My major goal was scuba diving, as I have read it is among the best in the world. Instead of going for research and history, we are primarily going to relax. Yes, Okinawa has major unfortunate history related to WWII, and we will no doubt come across some (I hope we do). But since I have taught through my summer, I also want a few days of laziness and rest and swimming. We took the easy way to Narita - the airport express bus from Hachioji. Flying Vanilla Air (a discount airline like NZ's Jetstar), we were in Terminal C, more like a warehouse than a nice terminal. No chance to use my "priority pass...