The Statue of Liberty

I took this picture of the tiny replica of the Statue of Liberty in Amemura. When I saw it I was honestly kinda surprised that it was there. Doesn't the United States care that it's there? I mean I know others replicas like this exist in Japan as well, but I still find it very interesting that it doesn't really matter. I would think that something that United States takes great pride in they would not want spattered around another country for the sake of scenery. Even as I saw this though I believe that America has probably done the same thing to a famous landmark of an another country so it doesn't really matter.

Something to think about....

Before coming to a different country it's funny the things that you don't think about or think don't exist. You only think of the things you enjoy about the country, almost never it's faults. This picture is of a homeless mother cat and her kittens near the Kuzuha mall. Before coming here I knew about the homelessness of many people in Japan, but I never really thought about animals before. It was kinda shocking to see them because I had been here almost a month and had never seen a homeless animal. It makes me wonder if there are a lot of homeless animals in Japan or is it a rare occurrence? People here seem to really love their pets!

Viewing Japan

In many of my classes this week we have been discussing about how Japan has been viewed by Western societies in the past and present. In many cases, western societies have the idea that the old Japanese cultural is better then the new modern culture, which is seen just as an imitation of the west. Upon reflection, I have discovered that I myself am guilty of doing the same thing.

Since coming to Japan I have done a lot of walking around the cities. In doing so, while I find the cities very interesting, they are in many ways just like home. Just another city. However, it is when I see sights like this and those that I have posted about before that I think, "This is Japan," "This is what I expected to see." Of course I also respect many things about present day Japanese culture, but I suppose all those years of influence do not get washed away in a matter of a few days.

I still think that areas like these are beautiful, more like the Japan I expected to see. But now maybe I can appreciate other areas of Japanese culture a little bit more now.

Vending machine

Okay, so hopefully this is not too inappropriate, but ever since I took this picture I have wanted to talk about it here. For me the most surprising thing about this vending machine is not that it sells porn, but that it actually sells magazines. Although I am sure that those people who actually buy out of this vending machine are not buying for the reading material (if there is any).
When I first took this picture about a week or so ago it became one of those images that really set America and Japan a part for me. In America you would never find a vending machine that sold reading material (even questionable ones). After all, vending machines are for buying drinks, not books. When I saw this I immediately thought that "wow! Japan and America are really very different places". It set Japan and America apart for me in a way that other things I have experienced here have not.

Okay, my first post. I'm not too sure what we are suppost to write about, but here I go anyways:



Ever since my bus first pulled out of Osaka airport I have wanted to see these hills. To me even here in Kirakata city they seemed so far away. This is actually the closest that I have come to them since comming here. One intersting thing that I discovered about them was that from so far away these hills look so pretty, untouched by modernization. However, that is clearly untrue since those telephone towers go right through them. I guess that it should not have been so surprising because it happens in America too, but isn't Japan suppose to be the county that is closer to nature? But I guess if that was ture then no one in Japan would be able to talk to one another, after all, there are many pretty hills in Japan.

Before comming to Japan I had this idea in my head that Japan was a place where no matter where you stood inside the city and the surrounding areas, that all you would see is concrete buildings. I had this notion because Japan is a very small place with limited land available for actual use that it just made logical sense to me that the Japanese would try to use all the land that they could. However, I took this picture not ten minutes away from my dorm. Back home I would have to walk miles and miles away from the city to see a sight like this. I think that is the most intersting part. That America is so wide and vast and yet it is in Japan which is so small that I can just walk out my front door and see such beauty.