A very Bishop adventure!

Did I ever tell you about the time I almost died? Well forget it, that's between me and the robot. What I would like to tell you about, however, is what happens when too many Bishops are in Japan. No not the religious types, not too many Catholics on this island (although even here we still get Jehovah's Witnesses knocking at our door every month). No I mean the mother and father type Bishops. Way back at the end of November and the beginning December my folks decided to pay us a visit and spend a week in our tiny little apartment. Colleen had to work the day they arrived, so I was on my own picking them up at the airport. The 45 minute train ride there was okay but coming back with the two of them and all the suitcases during rush hour, jammed in with the businessmen was a little too much for them. Once we got close to the main hub of the city we left the station for the comfort of a taxi. After dumping the bags at the apartment we headed out to the very same restaurant that Colleen and I went to on our first night. I was going to make them guess what everything was like Colleen and I did, but I decided to be nice and order for them. After lots of eating and talking I took them back home. We didn't have to wait too long before Colleen came home from work, and after more hugging and chatting, they started to wind down. Seriously, it was like bed time hit and suddenly they were out.

The next day we took them to Osaka Castle, seeing as it's only a fifteen minute walk from the apartment. Then after that I forget what we did. Okay not really but I don't necessarily remember the order or exact times we did things, but here are a number of things we did:

Kyoto: A beautiful city not too far from where we live, that was once the capital of Japan (which isn't surprising as I think every city was the capitol here at some point). We were fortunate to have our good friends Chiaki and Sanae volunteer to take us around, show us the good stuff and help us to navigate the transit system for us. Seriously, we wouldn't have gotten half as much done without them. There were so many people in Kyoto that day because it was a Sunday in autumn when many people travel to Kyoto to take pictures of the changing leaves. We also saw lots of other cool things like the Golden Pavilion, a famous Kabuki theatre, Higashiyama Temple and a traditional Japanese wedding that was being held at Higashiyama near the giant pagoda. To look at all of our Kyoto pics click here.

Hiroshima: On a different day we went to visit the war museum in Hiroshima. It was absolutely amazing there just seeing the A-bomb dome, which was one of the only building right near the epicenter of the explosion that wasn't destroyed because the bomb exploded directly above pushing the building downwards instead of knocking it over. No sooner had we gotten off of the bus there, we were approached by a sweet old lady who asked us if she could pray for our happiness. Seriously, how do you say no to that? "No thanks, I've been planning all week to be miserable today, and I don't want anything spoiling it". So in turn we each bowed our heads while she said a silent prayer for us, and then sent us on out way. Near the dome is a beautiful park that is the home to several monuments and statues commemorating all of the lives lost, including a Children's Memorial that was having a ceremony with some school children that day. We then went into the museum, a building with so many pictures, artifacts, stories of survivors and remnants of the aftermath that we were absolutely overwhelmed by the enormity of it. Now at this point you would think that this would be a pretty damned depressing place. And it would have been if it hadn't been for a couple of men who had me laughing so hard I thought my head would explode from trying to hold it in. We had just gotten up to the second floor of the museum and were looking at some stories and graphs on the walls, when Colleen and I walked into a smaller side area to have a look. We had only been there a few seconds when we heard a strange noise. Both of us snapped around expecting my father to be the source, but we were surprised to see, or hear I should say, a Japanese businessman letting out a rather powerful fart. He stopped briefly and then let out a second barrage and then a third. Once he had finished his ten second serenade he casually walked away, as if he hadn't just blown a (smelly) hole in the back of his shorts. Now at this point I'm thinking, that's about the funniest thing I'm going to see all day (being in a war museum you can see how my assumption shouldn't have been too far off). Then, not ten minutes later we're in an area with a really creepy wax statue with melty skin (me and manequins...ick), and all of these remnants of things found in the rubble, when a middle aged man approaches a display to look at a metal bolt that had been warped by the heat. Not realizing there was a glass window in front of the display he bent forward rather quickly to get a closer view. The sound of his head ricocheting off of the glass window echoed through the room as he staggered backwards, his knees buckling under him. His friend raced over to catch him before he hit the floor. He tried to stand to regain his composure, but he had been hit too hard and again he staggered sideways almost taking out an old lady. I really don't remember a lot of the museum after that. I was crying, but not in the sad way. Can you blame me? Before heading back home we took a bus to the harbor and caught a ferry to Miyajima, the home of a very famous shrine that is located out on the water. We didn't get too many good pictures as it had already gotten dark by the time we got there but we did manage to manage to get some Momijumnaju (a soft maple flavored cream filled biscuit that is special to the area) and some Hiroshimiyaki (another local dish) flavored Carl (a snack bearing my name, see previous posts). To see all of our pictures from Hiroshima click here.

Lets see...what else did we do? We went to Nara and Kobe which Colleen and I have mentioned in previous blogs, however this time we were able to visit a different temple which held the oldest wooden buildings in the world. 1300 years old is not too shabby. We ate a lot of good food, rode on a lot of trains and went to a blues club to celebrate my dad's belated birthday. We had originally planned on going to Tokyo and Mt. Fuji as well but the constant walking for hours each day, the crush of people, and the hour long train rides had tuckered them out so we needed a few rest days in between adventuring. Besides, I found that when I pushed them too hard they started to get cranky. After a week or so we sent them on their way to Singapore, wishing they could stay yet at the same time wanting them to go. But that was mostly because after spending and hour or two a day on trains with my father after not having seen him for so long I discovered that he and I could very well be the same person born twenty years apart. Every time I was about to tell a joke or make a comment I found my father saying exactly what I was about to say. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing but I like to err on the side of caution. To see the rest of the pictures from the elder Bishops visit to Japan, click here.

Wow, I think I might have actually gotten caught up on all of our previous adventures. We added some new pics to old folders, some of them are pretty funny. Especially the signs and food folders. I had a company bowling party and put a few pictures of my co-workers in this folder. To read about our skating adventures please read my lovely wife Colleen's blog. And uh...yeah that's about it.

No wait, I joined an improv theatre group here in Japan. Provided my visa gets approved I'll be doing a couple of shows next month. We're called the "Wild Bunch", and as soon as I have some pictures of us in action I will send them along.

Cheers! Carl