Johnny Esparza

Trip to Mt. Aso! 阿蘇山！

This past weekend, the international students went on a trip to Mt. Aso, the volcano located in the Kumamoto Prefecture. And yes, Mt. Aso is still active, and is the largest active volcano in Japan, and one of the largest in the world. 

We walked probably 30-40 minutes to reach out destination: the crater in Mt. Aso. Since Mt. Aso is still an active volcano, the crater is always emitting smoke, and has occasional eruptions here and there. Don't worry, the crater is sealed off to restrict access from a distance, so everythings safe!

We were all so happy when we reached our destination!

These are the walkways we found at the crater. And as you can see, there is smoke coming from it, as always. Together we all walked around, viewing the crater from different angles. Everyone also said there was a couple there from Hong Kong who had gone to take their wedding pictures there! Sadly, they were already packing things, getting ready to leave when I saw them and was unable to get a picture..

On 0ur way up, we saw all these men pull up beside us on motorcycles. I didn't want to make things too weird, so I snapped a picture as quick as I could and kept walking. 

Along the crater, were stairs you could take which went with the path of the mountain's elevation to make getting around easier than just steep pathways. We decided to play games of rock, paper, scissors to see who would make it down the stairs first, which you can see in the bottom picture. A Chinese student, Shuu-chan, and the Vietnamese student, Hanh played games down this stairway to see who would reach the bottom first! Hahn won :)

This trip was so much fun, and it was actually my first time seeing Mt. Aso, whereas other students have been a few times before. The trip itslef was a bit tiring with all the walking. Once we finished at the crater, we had to walk all the way back about 30 minutes to reach our bus. 

 

花見/Hanami/Cherry Blossom Viewing

The Sakura/Cherry Blossoms are in bloom here in Kumamoto. They're such a beautiful sight. So beautiful that hey have an event dedicated to just viweing the flowers with family and friends in a picnic style setting called "Hanami." The kanji for Hanami, you can see above, is 花 (Flower) and 見 (to watch). During these events, people come and settle down around Kumamoto Castle, as there is a park directly adjacent to it. They bring tarps they can sit on, food, drinks, and spend hours talking with one another, enjoying everyone's company, and enjoying the view of the cherry blossoms. 

I actually went twice to Hanami. The first time I went, I had signed up through the school to partake in a meeting and interview with a few other foreign students living in Kumamoto. Together, I went with Danielle (From Canada), and Iku (From Taiwan). There weren't too many of us who partook in the meeting, maybe only 7 or so. Before we got the chance to see the flowers, we were interviewed as a group all in Japanese. I was a little nervous about this as the event was to be televised, so they were recording us the entire time, but everything turned out just great. After our interview, we all went out and they had so much food! 

And here's a picture of everyone we saw while seated there. 

It was still a bit early in the day, so there weren't that many people there quite yet. 

The very next day, we went again with the new exchange students and some of our Japanese friends!

I'd go into more detail about the newer exchange students, but I'm waiting for their Welcome Party which should be held in about 2 weeks or so. Currently, we're all getting ready for out first day of school on April 8th. 

Also, while there, we received a special gift! There were people there working for Red Bull who went around and gave everyone free Red Bulls! 

The cherry blossoms are still in bloom all over town, and soon classes will start for all of us here. It's the beginning of the second semester here at Kumamoto Gakuen University.