I have always wanted to go to Japan. Now I have been, I would completely recommend it.
The people are just amazing. For a place that is so mind bendingly busy, there is a calmness about it. Osaka is much slower paced than Tokyo. It is close to some incredible cities nearby. We have only just scratched the surface of what there is to explore. We will be back many times.
Thank you to Uz Matsui for taking me skateboarding and drinking. Legend of a bloke. Shout out to the Backhanded Crew and The Osaka Daggers. I was pretty stoked to meet Chopper!
There is a lot of photos to get though (I took well over 2000) so I will just let the images speak for themselves.
Still the best way to get to know a new city. Head for the hills and get lost.
I met up with Uz at Backhanded. It was so punk rock. Everyone bashed the coping after each others run, no matter what went down. I don’t want to post heaps from here as I will do a spot check. Slideshow below, you can enlarge the individual images.
We headed to Nara. It has deer that just wander about looking for their special crackers. I wasn’t sure if it would be a bit sad. They seem happy and well treated. I only had to threaten to slap one bloke not being nice to them! The temples are incredible. You have to just still your mind and imagine the grounds filled with soldiers in perfect lines. It is a task with so many people taking selfies.
Kyoto is a must. I am uneasy about everyone walking about as fake Geisha. Aesthetically it is beautiful so I just switched my scorn down a few notches and forgot about the cringeworthy aspects of dressing your kid like a Geisha without explaining what it actually is. Anyhow, we wandered about the gardens and retired to the beer gardens, then sushi restaurants. Everywhere you looked it was just stunning.
I was intrigued by the detail
And the graveyards.
We hung out in the “cool” part of town. It’s pretty easy, just head for Triangle Park, home of the Osaka Daggers. We drank beers and people watched here for hours until I could hardly stand let alone skate. The city is so happening, vibrant and inspiring.
We took the Bullet Train to Hiroshima. I thought we were in the museum for 40 minutes or so. I was shocked that nearly 4 hours had passed. Jo and I have studied WWII extensively so I was acutely aware of the brutality that ended it. We seemed not to have learned from it as a species. The museum itself, and attached shrine, lived up to the daunting task asked of the architect.
It was pouring with rain, and after the museum we had an outstanding Italian meal alfresco under an umbrella, trying to process what we saw.
The A Bomb Dome is the solitary surviving building. The archival imagery is haunting.
I contemplated as I tried to capture it as best I could.
Then it was time to catch the train
And hang out with my beautiful wife. Foxy.
Joshua Feggans 