Thursday, September 6, 2007

Monday, July 30, 2007

Wrap Up

Here's a final batch of photos. I have many more, but I tried to pick out the most relevant moments for this blog, so here goes.

The first picture is us having dinner at a fancy restaurant in Shibuya--one of our last meals together in Japan. Then, a nice view of some buildings in Nikko, burial place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun ruler of Japan. Following that, a picture of my host parents at Nikko. Finally, we have the Nemuri Neko (Sleeping Cat) and the entrance to Ieyasu's grave.







And that about does it. I'm pretty sure this is my last update for this blog, so I hope everyone enjoyed it. I definitely plan on going back to Japan in the future, so there's always more to look forward to. :)

Final Update - Kyoto and Beyond

Well this will be my final batch of pictures, seeing as I am already back home in the States. I figured it was my duty to finish off this blog, so here goes.

Most of the pictures in this post relate to our two day trip to Kyoto. The first picture is from inside the Shinkansen, Japan's fastest type of train. I'm taking a nap, as you can see. Then we have Nijo Castle, all of us after an hour of Zen meditation (and the monk who taught us), a Shinto shrine with literally a thousand red gates (I forget what it's called), and the theater where we saw Kabuki back in Tokyo.






Saturday, July 14, 2007

More Gion Matsuri

Here are some more pictures of the Narita Gion festival. The first shot doesn't look like a festival picture, but I assure you it is. I shall call it Kamejima (turtle island).







That's all for now, folks.

Tea Time and Gion Festival

First two shots are from the Japanese Tea Ceremony field trip. The Tea Ceremony is a very traditional and intricate tea serving/drinking ritual, and needless to say I completely failed at being any good at it. The second shot is the tiny door where you enter and exit.

Next we have the first couple shots of the Gion festival in Narita (If you remember, I posted a couple shots of Narita in one of my first updates). Narita is a completely different place during this festival, filled with people and delicious foodstuffs--and of course a creepy monkey/fox man, too.







Friday, July 13, 2007

School and Graveyards and Fish (oh my!!)

What's this, I am updating my blog? It can't be...this must be a hoax.

Anyway, this is the first in a series of updates. The first two pictures are from Sugano Elementary School in Ichikawa City. Japanese elementary school is really quite different from what I experienced in America, I think. Each of us UNC students was assigned to a separate classroom, from first grade to sixth. I had a sixth grade class...that second picture was taken right after I entered the classroom...a scary moment. We had squid and rice for lunch.

Next we have the grave of a Daimyo (Samurai lord), he is buried along with his 47 ronin (masterless Samurai) warriors. It's an interesting story, but I am too lazy to get into the specifics.

Finally...a koi pond. The best one I have seen here in Japan! As soon as you walk near the water's edge, those suckers start opening their mouths like they are gasping for air. The second picture is a picture of me taking a picture of koi, amazing ne?







Monday, July 2, 2007

Motto Akihabara

Akihabara is the "electric town" of Tokyo, also known as geek-central (that's otaku in Japanese). There's a lot of girls in maid costumes standing around in Akihabara for whatever reason. The last shot is one more look at Ueno Park--those are lotus plants in a vast pond of water.






Misc.

Here are some random photos I have accumulated on my camera:

Tokyo Aquarium (not terribly impressive, actually), a cloudy view of the Tokyo skyline from Roppongi Hills, a shot of Akihabara on the weekend, the results of calligraphy class (my symbol is the tiniest, it means Samurai), and finally a shot of Ueno Park, which is a really nice place.







A couple more Akihabara shots coming up.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Daibutsu Cometh

A very traditional Shinto Japanese wedding and Daibutsu--second largest statue of Buddha in Japan.






Ghibli and Kamakura

Yay another blog update! Time for more pictures!

This time I went to the Studio Ghibli (the studio behind Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Totoro, and more) museum in Mitaka on the other side of Tokyo, and a day later Kamakura, home town to many old and ancient Japanese religious thingamabobs. Apparently the famous Tokugawa Shogunate (rulers) of 17th to 19th century Japan were really big fans of The Legend of Zelda. Who knew? It was extremely hot and muggy on both days, but I still had a good time.







A few more pictures on the way..

Friday, June 15, 2007

More Shibuya





Shibuya

Went to Shibuya last night--it's the "Times Square" of Tokyo. Before that though, me and the other students went to a Japanese banner art museum called Mingeikan a couple stations away from Shibuya proper. That place had some really cool artwork, most of it dating back to the Edo period (Edo is the original name of Tokyo--circa 19th century). Shibuya itself was really fun, a lot of people were there. Some of us went to a couple bars/clubs and also did Karaoke--it's a lot easier to do Karaoke in the Japanese style, since you don't have to sing in front of a whole bar full of people. I even managed to find my way back home afterwards, which I was initially a bit worried about.









A few more pictures are on the way.