Back with a Vengeance!

~My internet connection here in Japan is now up, so the East Asia Dynasty Command Post is now officially online. I'll do my best to update this blog every few days from now on with pictures, stories, and of course Japanglish. I will begin by sharing more of the pictures that I took at the park. Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger:

Above: Me, wearing the coolest damn jacket in the world, in front of the park shrine. There are Shinto shrines like this all over the place, generally with a few priests (or whatever they're called) to maintain them. I asked a Japanese friend of mine if Japanese people get offended by foreigners walking around their shrines and taking pictures. Her answer was that they neither minded nor cared in the least. How refreshing.

Above: A picture taken in the same place as the previous shot, but in the opposite direction. Note the contrast between the pink, hanging lanterns and the large stone lanterns on top of the posts. In the background, you can see the 'gateway' to the shrine that every single shrine in Japan has. Those people in the picture are friends of mine; for the record, the guy on the left is not actually pointing at anything.

Above: The shrine suffered extensive damage from a large earthquake last year. This monument (or whatever it was) has collapsed completely; further down the path, a stone bridge has been wiped out and people have to detour around it. Cleanup from the earthquake is still going on, and there are some people in Nagaoka who still live in emergency housing.

Above: An ancient sumo wrestling arena. When I saw this arena, I had the sudden urge to stomp my feet and throw salt over my shoulder. I'm told that sumo matches are still held here in the summer. Yes, that is snow on the ground (picture taken on April 17).

Above: A map of the park. The only thing that I understood was the red 'You are here' arrow.

Above: Outside of the temple is this row of stone...somethings. Grave markers? Monuments? Can anyone hazard a guess as to what exactly these are?

Above: A pastoral view of the nearby mountains, taken from the castle's observation tower. I also took several skyline shots of Nagaoka which I will share in an upcoming post.

Above: Don't be decieved by our seemingly childish behavior. We are actually discussing highly advanced and mature problems of philosophy, science, and literature. Or maybe not.

Above: What you've all been waiting for...MONKEYS! Unfortunately, the monkeys were locked into their main cage for feeding time, and they were jumping around so much that it was difficult to get any pictures (this little guy was the best one I could get). They sure make a lot of racket for such small primates.

~That's all for now. Stay tuned, oh loyal readers, for I have much to share with you! Comments are welcome (just click on the word 'comments' on the bottom right of this post to leave one).