in Amakusa, Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan

I'm currently on Amakusa Island, part of Kumamoto Prefecture, off the coast of Japan's southern main island of Kyushu, and boy, is it hot down here. Also, the hilly, winding roads are making me carsick.

Going to Saga Prefecture tomorrow.

recovering from the flu and computer trouble near Tokyo

I was out of commission for nearly a week with flu-like symptoms and a lack of internet access but seem to be recovering now.

It must be about a week now since I visited the Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine itself is quite impressive, especially since it was dressed up with lanterns, etc. for an approaching festival.

The Yasukuni museum, on the other hand, was pretty obnoxious. I haven't heard of any similar shrine/museum in Germany and I can see why people get upset over the white-washing.

I'll have to finish this later . . .

Chris in Japan from July 4th through August 12th

I've been in Japan near Tokyo for nearly a week already, visiting friends and family.

So far, I've visited Japan's public broadcasting NHK studios, a "rakugo" comedy theater, and the Asakusa temple and market.

This afternoon, I plan on visiting Japan's controversial Yasukuni Jinja, the Shinto shrine/memorial to their WWII war dead.

I did get a bit pissed off when the Japanese language immersion camp I worked at last summer only wanted to talk about America's WWII sins (and I thought about bringing up some uncomfortable historical facts with my Japanese colleagues), but in this case I generally know ahead of time what to expect and won't be half as resentful.

Bye for now.