Honolulu!

A rainbow on our first day in Honolulu

Control room of the HPower facility

Students in front of the HPower Waste to Energy plant

The MV Explorer in Honolulu

On the beach with Diamond Head in the distance

On the first day in Honolulu I led a trip to the HPower Waste to Energy facility, where they burn municipal waste to produce electricity.  There was a great group of students on the trip who asked lots of good questions about the process, air pollution issues, and alternative forms of energy production.  Later that night I had a great Hawaiian dinner with some faculty from the ship at The Willows, an open-air restaurant that has been in Honolulu since 1947.  The second day was a relaxed day of hiking around downtown Honolulu and shopping....finding just the right Hawaiian shirt and some Christmas presents.

Ten straight days of classes....and rough seas!

My Sustainable Communities class

Our last lifeboat drill

After Japan, we had our final marathon of ten straight days of classes.  The seas were rough almost every day, so we all got used to the ship rocking and rolling during class....  Finally we had the last day of classes and reached Honolulu!  We will spend two days in Honolulu and two in Hilo, before setting sail for San Diego.  Final exams are after Hawaii, so I have lots of grading of papers and exams to do in the next week!

Tokyo and Yokohama....

Plastic Food Shop!

The Asahi Brewing Company Building

With Liz, Hale and Emi

With Emi, Yumiko, and Liz

In the evening, Emi's friend Hale met us at a local traditional Japanese restaurant, and we were joined by two other recent RC alums--Liz, who is doing graduate work in Japan, and Yumiko, who lives and works in Yokohama.  Thanks to Mrs. Sakae, after dinner we were able to have drinks at the Roppongi Hills Club, an exclusive club atop one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo.  The next day, we took a walking tour with Emi, Hale and Liz around one of the older sections of Tokyo and saw the Asahi Brewing Company headquarters building (shaped like a beer glass) and the oldest temple in Tokyo, built around 900 AD.  The neighborhood around the temple was fascinating, with many small shops and restaurants, including one that only sold the plastic replicas of food.  After a tiramisu latte at a local cafe, we all took the train back to Yokohama, where we met up with Yumiko again.  Tina and I are so grateful to Emi, Hale, Liz and Yumiko for sharing so much of their time on a holiday weekend with us!  It really made our trip to Japan memorable!... Finally, I had to board the ship again and Tina, Emi, Hale and Liz headed back to Tokyo.  Tina flew out of Tokyo the next morning....

Japan: Yokohama and Tokyo.... and Randolph Alums!

With Emi in front of the Diet Building

After a day sail from Kobe, we arrived in Yokohama.  Tina and I were met in Yokohama by Emi Tokubuchi, RMWC '94, who works for the Sakae Institute of Study Abroad in Tokyo.  The Sakae Institute helps Japanese students connect with colleges and universities in the US.  We traveled with Emi by train to Tokyo, where we took a walking tour of the area around the Japanese Diet Building, and met Liz at the Sakae Institute offices. We were warmly greeted by Mrs. Sakae, and Emi showed us some of her photos and yearbooks from her time at RMWC.

Japan: Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto

Our welcoming band in Kobe

Bunraku Theater poster in the subway station

Bunraku Theater performance in Osaka

Nijo Castle main building, home of the shogun

Nijo Castle

Zen dry gardens

Bell at Ryoan-ji Temple

Buddha at Ryoan-ji

The Golden Pavilion

After a couple of days at sea, teaching classes between China and Japan, we arrived in Kobe, Japan on November 19th.  We were greeted at the dock early in the morning by a small brass band that played "When the Saints Come Marching In"!  Kobe is an industrial port with not much to see in terms of culture, so many of the field trips in Kobe involved train or bus trips to nearby cities.  On our first day we traveled to Osaka for a performance of the National Bunraku Puppet Theater.  I really did not know what to expect, but the performance was fascinating.  Bunraku is a complex form of puppetry that dates to the 17th Century.  Three puppeteers manipulate the puppets in extremely complex and subtle movements, while narrators tell stories passed down from generations.  We were able to see two very different performances.

The second day in Kobe involved a day-long trip to Kyoto.  Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1,000 years, and many of the best temples, gardens and palaces are there, making it a very popular destination for both foreign tourists and also Japanese tourists.  We first saw the Sanjusangen-do temple which has 1,001 statues of a Buddhist goddess of mercy.  Next we toured the extensive Nijo Castle, home to the shogun and his samurai.  Photos were prohibited inside the temple and palace, so we bought postcards to remember our visit.  The third visit was to the Ryoan-ji Buddhist temple, which features a Zen dry garden for meditation.  We also were able to wander around the tranquil lake and gardens that surround the temple.  Our last stop for the day was the Kinkaku-ji temple, containing the famous Golden Pavilion.  It was a holiday weekend in Japan, so the temple was crowded, but we were able to stroll around the gardens for awhile and take some wonderful photos.