Go
Back to Perihelion
Greetings Fellow
Travelers- Yookoso Irasshaimashita.
Right now I'm
living in Gunma prefecture (BTW prefecture is the Japanese equivalent of
"state"). That's about 2 hours north of Tokyo by train or car.
I'm in a little town (relatively) of about 20,000 called Azuma village.
Azuma literally means "East village" in Japanese. There are actually
3 Azumas in Gunma- mine is often called "Sawa-Azuma", and it lies within
biking distance of the much larger cities of Isesaki and Kiryu.
Gunma reminds me
a lot of Wisconsin back in America. It gets hellatiously cold in
the winter, there's nothing to do outside of your house if you don't live
ina major city, and it's inconvenient as all hell if you don't own a car.
The latter is surprising, considering the use of trains as primary transportation
in Japan. But here in Gunma, things are a little different- Gunma
is the #1 prefecture for per capita car ownals. The train system
here is a lot slower and less convenient than any other place I've been
to in Japan.
However, this place
definately
has its bright spots- Gunma is famous for its copious amounts of hot springs
and ski-slopes. It's also famous for it's torrential thunderstorms
and lightning- when it rains in Gunma, it rains like it does in the movies.
For real. That's a plus to me because I love the rain, and the sound
of thunder relaxes me to no end and helps me go to sleep (of course, this
becomes a drawback when there's things that I have to do). There's
also no short supply of genuinely nice and giving people here. No
matter where I go I can be certain on running into someone, friend or stranger,
who will want to speak a few words to me, and give me anything that may
pop into their heads at the time: information, food, directions to
cool places...
Well, without further
ado, I present to you MY JAPAN.