Week 85: All good things...

I know last week I went to Hiroshima and I could spend a long time talking about tragedies and war and societal changes...

But....

BUNNIES!

See, between Osaka and Hiroshima, there's an island.  It's called "Rabbit Island".  There is only one port to get there, and they really play it up.

it's EVERYWHERE

You can buy rabbit food at all the stores near the port!

Including at the nearby 7-11, that just sold bags of cabbage heads.

We bought a couple bags and even had some carrot pieces to share!  Let me tell you, no matter HOW much food you bring, it will NOT be enough.  Because they are SO CUTE

You get off the boat, and THERE they are.

It's like a reverse Easter egg hunt! (no, not where the eggs hunt you)

They come up to you!

you can feed them!

They are not big fans of being petted though.

They crowd around you when you get the right group

and eat out of your hand!

BUNNIES!

We hiked the mountain on the island too, and there were even bunnies up there! They came out of the brush like "oh! humans! they can feed us!"

it was also a lovely view.

At the VERY top (boy that was some hard climbing) we found one really friendly bunny we fed our last carrot stick too.  They were, of course, convinced we had more, so they decided to beg Dani.

no, I still don't have any more.

And we felt guilty about it! 

Actually, this shot is half a second AFTER that rabbit booped her nose, so I feel really disgruntled my camera didn't take THAT picture. Ah well.

Where do the rabbits come from?  Well, there are two popular theories!  One is that some Japanese school children released them on the island.  

The other is that they were lab rabbits for the poison gas development on the island.  (not nearly as warm and fuzzy of a story, is it?)

That's right, this beautiful little island was selected for the development and production of poison gas by Japan during WWII.  This was (and still is) against international law, so they just erased the island from the maps.  

They have a little museum explaining the history of the island, the basics behind the production, and the "this was a REALLY bad idea that haunts us because it really hurt our own people too"  (You don't want to see pictures from that)

There were also ruins of the military installations!

Dunno, a little paint, a door, I could live here.

This was COMPLETELY dark.  Dani wants it.

You can still see the scorch marks where they torched this one. (and bunny!)

We finally left when we were cold and WAY out of food, and it was time to go.  But not before...

BABY BUNNY!!

I mean, yeah, the dichotomy was a bit odd, but I love a good bit of history, so I think it was actually nice to temper the scary stuff with bunnies. :)  Now there is a resort there, and people take good care of the bunnies.

The rest of the ride back to Amagasaki took long enough, we were pretty tired by the time we got back.

Tuesday was a lot of errands.  I mean, wow.  First of all, I cancelled my phone contract, and the less said about that the better.  I will say I was trapped in that store for 2 hours.

I dropped stuff off at my work place, we got some last minute souvenirs at Osaka castle, we got pancakes...

such wonderfully fluffy pancakes...

All that kind of stuff.  Busy, but not very interesting.

That evening, Dani stayed home and I went out to teach my last English class at church!

We had a hang out to say bye.

Wednesday, we finished packing up my place, which included cleaning every single surface and the walls, and giving stuff away that people had claimed (that's a really nice thing about living in a share house) and finally moving out of my place.

I have so much stuff.

That's right. I filled 4 suitcases with 50 lbs each.  I am SO glad Dani came to pick me up.  And THEN we had to haul it around.  We didn't exactly. We got a Taxi.  Well, more accurately, we got TWO taxis.  When we showed up at the train station, we saw what the drivers were trying to tell us.  The elevator was broken.  GAH.  We had to haul them up two floors of stairs!  Some very nice gentlemen helped out, but it was still really touch.  

Getting down to the platform was easier because THAT elevator worked.  Only... the train was RIGHT there, and so I rushed onto it...while Dani's luggage got stuck on the lip of the elevator, so I got to watch the doors close on her, and she was left at the station.  The one who DIDN'T know where we were going.

To add to it, I had gotten on the wrong train.

(I'll give you a moment to stop laughing) 

Thankfully, all trains stop at the next station, so when I got off at it, a kind gentleman told me that my friend would probably be on the next train, and I logged onto facebook long enough to send a desperate shout out to Dani, just in case she wasn't sure.  

The next train came, and there was Dani.  And it was the right train.  So, technically, she did better than I did!

We dragged our luggage up and down elevators and through train stations and down a street and finally found our hostel for the night.  

Yes, hostel. in my amazing abilities, I managed to pay my apartment up until the 12th even though my plane wasn't leaving until the 13th.  In hind sight, it was probably better this way anyhow.  I can't imagine my Building manager would want to check me out at 5 am, which is what he would have had to do.

And we were right across the street from Spa World!  WOO!  (even better, they were doing a promotion, so entrance was only $10!)

We needed it because Thursday we got on the plane...

I'm leaving on a jet plane!

And it's all a bit of a blur from there.  I remember waiting on the tarmac in Shanghai for an hour and a half.  I remember bad movies.  I remember a TINY ice cream

that apparently cost $5.

And finally landing in California.  10 minutes before I left Japan.  

The international date line is WEIRD.

Jet lag was awful, but that's to be expected.  Thursday Dani and I fought to be awake so much that I was literally pacing the floor, half falling asleep any time I slowed down. :P

The rest of the week was spent recovering from Jet lag, getting settled, and re-accustoming myself to being in a place where I can talk to most everyone.

 Ok, I could wax poetic about how it's been a year and a half and how glad I am that people have enjoyed my utterly ridiculous posts about life in Japan, or more specifically MY life in Japan. About how much I'm going to miss Japan and Japanese food and Japanese people and my Japan friends and the Japanese festivals every weekend, and I'm sure I'm supposed to shed a tear or two. 

Japan was beautiful, and great and I'm really glad to be back.

It's CHEESE Grommet!