The fire boat welcoming us to Kobe.
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Kobe always provides the best welcome, complete with a Sousa band.
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I was so pepped up and inspired from the Sousa band that I grabbed Byron and started to dance.
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A group of Kodo drummers came on the ship to perform for us.
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Kodo drumming is very athletic and vocal and super fun to watch.
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Jason reading his Lonely Planet while waiting for the Shinkansen (bullet train).
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A Shinkansen coming into the station.
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The A-bomb dome at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. This was a beautiful performance hall which has been left standing as after the bomb hit. Everything around this structure was flattened by the bomb.
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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
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Jason and I at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
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Children's peace memorial area.
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School children from all over the world have made paper cranes to hang at this memorial site.
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This arch at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park perfectly frames the A-bomb dome in the distance.
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Hiroshima has done an amazing job at rebuilding.
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Many school groups were visiting Himeji Castle while I was there.
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Kids playing on the Himeji Castle grounds.
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Himeji Castle.
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It cracked me up that all the girls had cell phones and were taking pictures of the castle (and each other) with their phones.
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Looking out of the castle living quarters to the beautiful fall foliage.
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I loved the interesting patterns for the roof line.
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A display demonstrating women at work in the side living house.
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View of Himeji Castle out the window of the side living quarters.
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Different crest tiles decorate the roof lines.
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These doorways were definitely made for the Japanese. Even some of them had to duck to get through this doorway.
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I spent the day in Himeji by myself, so it wasn't until a girl came up and asked me to speak English into her tape recorder that I actually found someone to take a picture of me in front of Himeji Castle.
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After I walked around Himeji Castle, I went to the nearby Koko-en Japanese garden and soaked in the beautiful fall foliage.
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The Koko-en Japanese garden had this pond filled with fish.
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I wanted to sit down and eat, so I thought I'd go to a Japanese tea house. This didn't provide much sitting down time or a whole lot to eat, but I did get to experience a Japanese Tea Ceremony. Fortunately they gave me a sheet of instructions to follow along so I didn't make too much of a fool of myself.
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Japan journal excerpt
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Kobe Beef (my best meal ever)
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