One of my favorite TV series is coming back next month, October with a new story, “American Horror Story: Hotel”. Two seasons back, they featured a story about a coven of Salem witches in the modern day. It made use of the mysticisms and real-life horrors from the pages of its backdrop, New Orleans.
Month: September 2015
Happy 6th Year, Japan!
It was the night of September 28th, 2009. I arrived at the Tokachi-Obihiro airport still clueless of what this city looks like. I was expecting of a very urbanized city with beautiful lights and skyscrapers. I was expecting that Obihiro is a city similar to Tokyo. After getting my luggages, I was picked up by my tutor-labmate. As we travel, I was so surprised of what I was seeing. Trees, lots and lots of trees… and total darkness.
Flash Note: Sannai Maruyama Historical Site
On the last day of my North Tohoku trip, I visited the Sannai-Maruyama historical site in Aomori. The site was excavated in 1992 and features a vast community of early people from approximately 4,000 to 5,500 years ago. This era was known as the early to middle Jomon period in Japan.
Flash Note: Our Lady Of Akita Shrine
Eight kilometers North East from the Akita train station lies the Seitai Hoshikai. The place is a convent where the Our Lady of Akita is enshrined. The statue, said to be miraculous, was carved by a local sculptor named Saburo Wakasa in 1963. It was said to shed tears from 1975 to 1981 and has cured one deaf nun in 1982.
Flash Note: Inakadate Village Rice Paddy Art
Started in 1993, Inakadate village has made this rice paddy art project an annual event to revitalize the community. The “tanbo” (Japanese word for rice paddy) art are created with different varieties of rice.
1600 Pandas World Tour In Taipei
The 1600 Pandas World Tour was launched in 2008 with 1600 paper mache panda art crafted by the acclaimed French artist Paulo Grangeon from recycled materials. The number 1600 was meaningful as this is the number of living pandas left in the wild at that time. So since then, the pandas exhibition went to different locations across the globe to advocate awareness on endangered species conservation and sustainable development.
Knowing Goethe
I just knew a little about the German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from my literature class in high school. I have just read a part of his most relevant work, Faust. It is a retelling of a classic German legend about a dissatisfied intellectual man who made a pact with the Devil exchanging his soul with unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.
Birdwatching in Eastern Tokachi
It was March 29th of 2015. My Japanese friend asked me to go with him for my very first birdwatching. Winter was ending and it was good to do birdwatching in Eastern Tokachi. Luckily, we saw some species of birds.
The Drawbacks Of Being A “Rush Packer”
As a “rush packer”, there are already two instances that I forgot something and I just noticed it when I’m already at the airport. Although I have somehow solved these problems, it is really advisable not to forget these things. I ended up wasting my money and disturbing other people.
The Schengen Experience
Having a Filipino passport comes with certain disadvantages. Being discriminated in those countries with Filipino domestic helpers (which I have experienced in Singapore) is one. And another is the necessity to apply for visa to enter another country. The latter is really a major drawback for Filipino wanderers like me. So far, the Philippine passport ranked 68th in the world based on the Visa Restriction Index. Philippine passport holders can enter 62 countries and territories visa-free or with visa upon arrival.
Amoj In Wanderland 