Well, the last few days have been pretty hectic. I am now back in the US. We finished up in Osaka and headed to Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace and Atomic Bomb Museum. It was a very moving and emotional experience. We also had the great pleasure and honor of meeting another Hiroshima A-bomb survivor.
As the study abroad part of this class came to a close we each went our separate ways. I went to stay a few extra days in Tokyo which, being a bit more uneventful than the rest of the trip, gave me the chance to actually be homesick. So when the time came to depart on Saturday, I was ready, though a part of me was still very sad to leave.
My flight back from Japan to Atlanta was relatively smooth. Unfortunately when I got to Atlanta I found that they'd moved my flight from Atlanta to St. Louis up by 2 hours and thus I had missed my flight. I had to catch a flight from Atlanta to Memphis and then from Memphis to St. Louis instead. It added about another 6 hours to my already very long day. I'm still trying to recover. After not being very effected by jet-lag upon arriving in Japan, I feel that I am definitely paying for it now that I have returned.
I am planning to begin researching more on my class topics starting next week. As for this week, I will spend much of it resting, working, and catching up with friends and family. I still feel very out of the loop. I guess this would be reverse culture shock? When I got to Japan I felt very fat since most everyone there is very skinny! When I got back to the US I felt very skinny once again in comparison to my peers. I also miss having recycling bins everywhere. I am definitely more recycle-conscious after my trip.
I should also mention that I had the opportunity during my extra time in Tokyo to visit the WAM Comfort Women Museum. It was small but informative. The staff there was very friendly and knowledgeable. I believe that it aided me in my studies.
Upon returning to work today, I gave my sports-oholic coworker the Hanshin Tigers baseball that I bought in Osaka and he starting doing some research on the team. Here's an interesting link that he found: http://www2.gol.com/users/michaelo/History.html Hopefully the Tigers' bad luck is over! Though...after seeing them play even a few innings, I think they're going to need a little more than luck, but...I still wish them the best.
Alrighty. I will write more as I continue to do my research. I hope that everyone else in the class had a safe journey home and look forward to reviewing your chapters in the Wiki as well.
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