World ExploraSean: Just a Man in Japan

Sitting on the hot seat was new territory for me, it's simply not in my nature. To be honest, I could hardly believe I'd allowed myself to be put in such a situation. As I stared at the elaborate control panel in front of me, I let out a sigh, noting that everything was labeled in Japanese. I knew that I needed to take action or risk causing a big stink with the folks upstairs, so I took a deep breath, knowing full well that it would only take the single push of a button to flush everything I'd just produced down the drain. As the beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, I reached out my hand and selected the button in the lower right hand corner of the screen. And then it hit me.

My buttocks was instantly flooded with a stream of cold water, as the electric powered toilet I was sitting on showed no mercy in utilizing it's built in bum-gun. Thats right folks, this is Japants-off, Dance-off Part One: Sean vs. The Japanese Toilet. After pressing a few more buttons on the control panel in front of me, I realized I could not only control the angle of spray, but also the force with which it surged. After receiving the unorthodox "shower", I was delighted to find the toilet was also equipped with a blow drier for said derriere, which works similar to a hand drier, except the air blows in a decidedly upward motion. There were a lot of buttons and combinations to be utilized on that control panel, and like a 5 year old, I tested out every one of them. And with the maturity of a 5 year old, I put all the settings on high to torture the next unsuspecting user. Bwahahahahaha (Evil genius smiley).

When you see a toilet plugged in, you know your life is about to be forever changed. I've never been more nervous and excited at the same time

Apologies to my siblings for the image of me pooping now filling their minds. To everyone else, we both know you've thought about it before, and now you know it's just as spectacular of an experience as you expected. After exiting the bathroom, I decided to explore the town I was in, Hiroshima. Hiroshima, as most of you know, was the first of two cities that the United States unleashed an atomic bomb upon. You would probably never guess it was bombed if you were simply wandering around as it's a bustling and seemingly thriving city, but you can see some of the damage if you head into the historical Peace Park area.

The museum is quite impressive and costs a mere $.50 to enter, which is a pretty amazing bargain. There are tons of displays and dioramas showing the city before and after the blast, chunks of metal bridges that were left gnarled and deformed, and replicas of the bomb itself. I've never been a big fan of war related stuff, I've just never found it interesting. Also, the thought of killing someone else just because they were born in a different country, possibly to a different set of ideological or religious views is a pretty terrible prospect to me. The way I look at it, if I was in their shoes and born in their country, I would probably believe what they believe, so what makes my view better than theirs? To me people be people, so as long as they're not mercilessly causing harm to others (like people from Belgium and Canada often do), let them be.

The picture within the picture shows the A-Bomb Dome before it was destroyed

This building is dedicated to the victims of the blast

"They say the soldier is a necessity in light of all the failures of man"

The Japanese Rail Pass I purchased randomly provides a free ferry service from Hiroshima to the island of Miyajima. A ticket would normally only be $1.80, but I figured I might as well hit up the one free ferry my pass covered and headed there for a day trip. The island itself is pretty tiny, but that doesn't stop it from being properly developed for tourism. In addition to having several restaurants and shops, the island also houses a really cool shrine complex that sits on the water.

Kick in the door, we're on the floor, went on a woman prowl woo hoo. Sucking and kissing the night away when I'm taking back that woohoo. Baby you know that I can hold my own when I'm feeling woohoo. Baby you know that I could just sail away...

This ceremony was quickly pulled together to crown me as king of the island

After leaving Hiroshima, I made my way to the Southwestern tip of Japan to a city called Kagoshima. I mainly wanted to go there because I had read online that it sits accross the water from an extremely active volcano that erupts three times a day on average, which is all kinds of awesome. Once I was settled, I walked around for a bit and probably covered about 8 or 9 kilometers before I arrived at the pier, so I decided to reward myself the banana I'd been carrying around in my bag.

So here I am, sitting on a bench and staring out at the ocean, when out of nowhere I see part of the banana peel go flying past me and feel something being ripped out of my hand. Fearing that I'd just been savaged by some kind of wildabeast, I turned to find my nemesis, but was surprised to see that a falcon was now flying away with my banana in tow. This particular bird was apparently a member of the upper echelon of falcon society, as he swiftly decided he was too good for my banana and promptly threw it into the ocean. Then he turned around and flew above me, ca-cawing in jest. What a bastard!

To make up for the banana swindling I'd just received, the Universe allowed me to catch the end of a dolphin show. Part of me wishes that the animals could just be left free, but part of me also thinks that watching dolphins jump up and do flips is awesome. But alas, with my potassium levels at an all time low, I made the long trudge back to my hostel, because the following day I was set to take on the volcano!

Saw some hills in the distance and hiked to the top. This is the view I got ;)

Free Dolphin Show!!! However, maybe it'd be better if we left out the last three letters of show....

That's a creepy lookin dolphin, no creature's face should be zoomed in to that magnitude...simply disturbing

I was planning to get to Sakurajima, the island with the volcano, at a reasonable time since it was over 6 kilometers to hike upon arrival to the viewing platform. I also had a head start, as I knew how to get to the pier, since it was literally right next to the dolphins, so not only had I been there, but I'd literally walked the exact route I needed to take. Booya! However, it should be noted that I tend to fail at life quite frequently, and I somehow walked the wrong direction the next morning. I'm still not 100% sure on how this happened as all I had to do was turn left a single time and walk straight. That's it, no complex series of turns or even a requirement to turn at a particular street. Luckily I only wasted 20 minutes on this diversion, but my shame felt exponentially greater.

Eventually I found my way and made it to the island and began my ascent. I was hoping there would be an awesome nature trail, but alas I was forced to hike up a road that held a steady stream of gas guzzling service vehicles blowing cancerous emissions directly into my lungs. All the other tourists apparently took the bus, but I'm not made of money and I'm not some wimpy European, so I climbed. 'MERICA!!!! I happened to come on a somewhat rainy/cloudy day, so the top of the volcano was covered in fog, but the view was still quite foreboding, which I deemed worthy of my efforts. Upon climbing down, I found a free foot bath area near the pier, so I soaked my tender bunions in the water before heading back to Kagoshima.

Look at those clouds, amazing!

This volcano erupts over 1000 times per year, making it roughly 1/3 as explosive as my body

Congrats on hiking 20km today. Your reward is soaking your feet in some tepid, unhygienic water that thousands of people have soaked their rotten feet in before you

My final stop on the island of Kyushu was Nagasaki, which immediately just makes me think of Austin Powers... Sake it to me baby, yeahh! Nagasaki was the second city that was victim to an A-bomb attack, so there are plenty of museums and memorials there as well. Like Hiroshima, they also have a massive Peace Park that's filled with statues. Nagasaki is located on the coast, so it's a massive port city with plenty of action going on. I ended up staying two nights because finding hostels in the next town I was planning to visit was impossible. If you ever go to Japan, make sure you book accomodation in advance on the weekends!

I'll be returning to America on this ship under the guise of the Dread Pirate Roberts

The most massive Peace Statue of all times

70-80,000 people were killed in EACH of the Atomic bombings. Think about how crazy 9/11 was. Do you know how many casualties there were? Around 3000, which is less than 4% of a single A-bomb attack. It's almost unfathomable to think of.

This piece is titled "Constellation Earth". Each child represents a continent and they're all linked together to symbolize world peace

So colorful!

Since I had the extra day, I explored some additional areas, such as China Town, but the real highlight was taking a cable car up to Mount Inasa. The main center of Nagasaki sits in a sort of basin, with hills climbing up each side, so at night when the buildings on the hillside become illuminated, it looks like the lights are floating into the sky. The locals refer to it as the "$10 Million Dollar Night View" and it's ranked as one of the top 3 in Japan. Luckily the $10 million view only cost me $6, after receiving a handy coupon from my hostel owner! I will say it was pretty damn impressive, definitely a must see attraction if you are in Nagasaki.

The power lines in Asia are insane. I don't think any old lines are ever replaced, they just keep adding on more

If I could stay here forever I would

If I roll over when this dream's over, I'll take this final sunset with me and wake up with the fondest memories

Nagasaki it to me baby, yeahhhh

It's called the 10 million dollar view for a reason :)

After completing my tour of Nagasaki, I needed to start looping my way back towards Central Japan before heading North, but that's a story for another blog.

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