sam girton

Aug 23,2009 -Sunday - On the plane home

As our group flys home, most everyone is asleep. It's 3:30 in the afternoon in Tokyo and 3:30 in the morning. Everyone is starting to make that difficult transistion with the time adjustment. I have been sorting through photos from the trip and looking for things that I was unable to add to my blog. Here are some moments that need to be remembered.

On our last night, David arranged Kareoke for our group. It was a nice way to wrap this trip up together. We eat, and laughed and danced. We have a group of people that really got close over the past 4 weeks. Today I am glad to be on my way home.



Jake has a cousin that lives in Tokyo. She invited us to go out for dinner and dancing. Holly, Jake and I joined his cousin and her husband. This is the way to see Toyko. . . I always love to go out with friends who know the area. We ended up meeting Yuri, a Japanese woman who hung out with us most of the night.



Tower hopping Brandon, Colleen and I had a 6 course dinner and got out of there just before the subway system shut down. Every once in awhile it's nice to sit down away from the group and have a nice dinner on the top of the town.



While in Tokyo we visited a few highrises. At the top of the tower seen here, there was a great art gallery which had a show by a Chinese artist.




Aug 23,2009 -Sunday - On the plane home

Below is 1) flower arranging in Kyoto. We took the students to a Japanese cultural class on tea and flower arranging. One of the true highlights of our entire trip. Each person worked on their own arrangement after a master provided some history and instruction on ancient craft.
2)While we were in Kyoto our calendar was pretty full with academic structure, however sometimes, before or after a meal there was time to look around the town. Here is a photo of Holly and me testing out some eyewear.
3) Sam & Dave - Oh, Sam & Dave. The night before we left a group of us went out dancing. I was told that I never go out and always say that I will. I was not allowed to back out this time. . . and I am so grateful. It was a blast. I have not been out dancing like that since the days when I chummed around with my dear friends Marisa and Christina.


Midori was a great addition to our group. She was a student on this trip 4 years ago, our fixer in Tokyo last trip. She lives in Osaka Japan and was kind enough to come to Kyoto to hang out with us. One evening David, Molly, Midori and I had drinks in the Kyoto tower bar, which is seen behind us in the photo here.


Fredrick Lewis of Media Arts and Studies joined our group in Kyoto. It was nice to have a new face added to our group at the mid-trip marker.




Aug 20, 2009 - Thursday
We got up this morning at 4:30 and headed out to the Toyko fishmarket. Here are some photos and videos from our morning out.

[Click here] to see a video of a guy gutting a fish and feeding us raw tuna.






Aug 13, 2009 - Thursday
We are in Kyoto Japan, and were planning a trip to visit Hiroshima, however the train tickets were going to be a bit too expensive and the ride would have been too long for a day trip. Seven hours on the commuter train from Kyoto. We watched a documentary film called White Light and Black Rain. It documented the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski through the eyes of the those who survived.

This film gives you some background on the war and makes you think about the conflict with Japan over 60 years ago. Now there is almost no evidence of this massive distruction, except in the hearts and mind of the people who lived through it. It seems that there was an arrogance which lead to the bombing of Peral Harbor, then a remorse for this attitude after Nagaski. It is an example of how human emotions can competely distroy lives forever.

These descriptions of life after the bomb makes our own worldly suffering seem fairly small. One surviver talks about how at first he was shocked by what had happened and then he simply became numb to it. This I can clearly understand.



Here are some photos taken during the past few days in Kyoto. Through the readings we have been doing as a part of the coursework and my friends in California who help teach me the yogie's outlook on life, I have finally figured out how to put these Zen Gardens to use effectively. I must say that it has been much easier to find that place of peace during this trip to Kyoto, compared to my last.





This is the group I have been assigned to work with on the coursework. Kelsey, Eric, Jake, Jeff and Tracy.













Click here to see our video from Beijing.
After leaving Beijing, I sorted through some of the photos and video that I had, and put this short video together. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Aug 7, 2009 - Friday
In the morning we had more studio time. Afternoon . . . we went to the 2008 Olympic arenas. David, Vince and I had dinner with the people from BIGC (Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication), to start planning next summer when the Chinese students come visit Ohio. We were taken to a hip part of Beijing where there were alot nice clubs and resturants with live music. When we got back to the studio, David and I rounded up some students and took them back out on the town.









Here are a couple of photos of the court yards here at our hotel. The first one is standing just outside of the hotel room that Brandon and I are staying in.

Aug 6, 2009 - Thursday
We took a morning trip to the Great Wall, about 1 hour outside of Beijing. We rested this afternoon and then worked in studio.

Aug 5, 2009 - Wednesday
Studio time in the morning today, and then off to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.






Click here to read more from our days in Hong Kong.

Project overview

All year David Matthews, Vince Wojtas and I have been planning a Design in Asia study aboard program. We are taking 22 students from the Ohio University School of Visual Communication and Interior Architecture Program to study design in Hong Kong, Beijing and a number of cities in Japan.

2007 - Traveled to Asia with 22 OU students
2008 - Students from China visited us in The USA.
2009- Traveled to Asia with 25 OU students

You can also read the blog that our students wrote as we traveled in the summer of 2007.
Design in Asia Blog.

Links to photos, video and projects

Photos / Our friends in Beijing
Photos / Things we saw in Beijing

Related Links

Design in Asia Blog

OU Study Abroad
College of Health and Human Services
School of Visual Communication