If you've got some extra time, here are my Kyushu photos from my trip earlier this month. It was a very short but fun trip.

I enjoyed exploring Nagasaki City quite a bit. It is a city with tons of history, even in just the last 500 years though it (and the rest of Japan) are obviously much older. We went to the Peace Park first since it was on the way into town, but also spent a large amount of time wandering around the area in and just outside of Glover Garden. Thomas Glover was a famous expat in the city during the last half of the 1800s upto his death in 1911. He apparently was involved all over the place, helping to build the first train line in Japan, the first modern shipyard, and starting Kirin Beer. The garden was more interesting than we thought and so we lingered even as we melted in the muggy heat. I was also drawn to Oura Catholic Church, which was completed in 1865 to serve the Nagaski foreigner community and survived the war and bomb (and fires).

The second half of the weekend we relaxed our way through Beppu, the Las Vegas of onsens (if Las Vegas was built where Yellowstone is). Beppu is built on top of land that is just chock full of hot springs. Some are now famous for their bubbling springs now named "jigoku" or "hells", the water is too hot or chemically saturated to bathe in.. but they are really interesting to look at. The others have been made into baths for people to enjoy. I actually found Beppu too darn hot to enjoy in summer... but Tom really liked the sand bath, where they bury you up to your neck in sand which has been heated by hot spring heat. I was fine with watching from the sidelines... too much heat for me!

On the whole, the weekend was a complete success and the bonus was being able to hang out with Tom for some quality time. He was gone the entire month of June and is away this week through the end of August again so... this was our chance to just- hang. It was a nice break.

Ok, so how many of you have ever gotten a typhoon for YOUR birthday? Guess that makes me a lucky birthday girl! Here's #7: Scheduled to hit Tokyo at 6:00 pm tomorrow. Cue the Cyndi Lauper music...  

My lazy couch potato Saturday got quite the jolt (CNN.com - Strong quake jolts Tokyo, injuries reported - Jul 23, 2005). Everything is fine, and I am happy that I was over at Tom's house instead of here in my building (which likes to do impressions of a building constructed of jell-o). It was the biggest earthquake I've experienced, if I don't count the other one last fall that ranked a 5 but happened while I was on the train (in motion, and therefore didn't feel it). I was at Tom's by myself and am embarassed to say it got a nice shriek out of me as I jumped for a wall to stand near. Scary stuff. The trains were down all afternoon and upon returning to my place, I've found my picture frames fell down. Such is the exciting Tokyo life!

Here's proof... they really DO sell square watermelons in Japan. This particular one was being offered up for only 15,700 yen (about $150) at a Tokyo department store.  

This is the photo that Brook and I settled on before we luckily found an American tourist to take the other version below. It was such a riot trying to get someone to get both us AND the bridge/palace background! So... do we look as similar (to each other) as everyone says? I certainly don't have the same problem with facial hair.... :-P 

I won't even bother making excuses, but this summer has been so completely stressful!! I can't believe how busy I've been and how fast the time has been going. It was wonderful having Brook here. We really enjoyed Okinawa (photos here). Literally the same day he left, my friend Tampopo/Brittany came through on her way home from Sydney. We spent the entire weekend together. Then this weekend was three days long due to a holiday (Ocean Day), so I should technically have been able to catch up... but instead I spent the time sightseeing (and melting) in Kyushu (the southern-est of the four main Japanese islands). It was a trip I'd planned back in May when I had no idea how insane this summer was going to get (and before I realized it coincided with the delivery of Harry Potter #6!!). So...... now I am behind in everything clear across the board.

Some of it isn't crisis status, for example the econ homework that I've ignored *should* have been done a month ago, but technically doesn't flunk me out for another year. Other items are much bigger issues, such as my visa renewal that I didn't get around filing until last Friday. I'm now at the mercy of the Immigration Bureau folks out at Shinagawa. Let's hope that for my birthday this year, I get the gift of not having to cancel my trip home in August (oh the agony of waiting!). Anyway, I am having fun. The trip down to Kyushu was great, I still look forward to my twenty or so minutes with the yellow play doh in the morning, and the rainy season is officially over!!

I hope you're all happily sweating out July! More soon, I hope.

This is a hard fought picture of my brother and I in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. It took Brook and I approximately 4 different strangers and most of a half hour to get a shot of both of us *and* the palace in the background. I'm glad to see it was worth it though the others are pretty funny, too.  

Brook is now on a plane back to the states, but we had a fantastic 10 days together here in Japan. This is us in Okinawa, in front of one of the gates of Shuri Castle. It was seriously, seriously hot, but very impressive.  

Brook in front of Hiji Waterfall in Northern Okinawa. What an awesome treat after a muggy, muggy hike! 

This is the beach we went snorkeling at, on Zamami Island, Okinawa. It was as fabulous as it looks!