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..

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.

5,000 words worth of pictures

For this post I'm just gonna dump more pictures and provide brief descriptions--w00t!

First we have one final picture from Naritasan, inside the temple complex. That's all of the UNC students that are here. Next we have a view of New Makuhari City from the campus where I am taking classes, and then a picture of the campus itself. Next is a snapshot of the IES center where we all go to hang out and use the internet (especially those of us who don't have it at home). Finally, a shot of an arcade game where you slap frogs with oars...oh how I wish the US was this cool.

Here's the rest of the pictures I have taken of Japan so far. The first two are from Narita, a very traditional-looking town in Chiba that is also very tourist-oriented because it is so close to the airport. There was a sizeable temple-complex right next to our hotel called Naritasan, but unfortunately I did not get a picture of the giant pagoda inside.

The final picture is my room in my host family's house--it's larger than I expected and quite comfortable. The family is very nice and so is the house, even if it is quite far from the campus where my classes are.

Sorry it took me so long to update this blog again, I've just been a little busy and feeling rushed this past week. This post will be mostly pictures that I have accumulated since the last post, so they are both old and new. These next three pictures are the last I have of Fukuoka. The first image is Kego Koen, the nice park I mentioned in an earlier post. Next is a random old temple in the middle of the city--I guess it's the equivalent of the giant cathedrals in NYC, though these must be older. Finally we have the little capsule I stayed in the night before returning to Tokyo from Fukuoka.

That does it for now, I can't spend too much time on the computer here at my host family's house or I will look like the recluse I really am, so I will update with more pictures from later in the trip soon.

Recap of Day One

Well here I am at 6:50 in the morning writing a blog update--obviously I haven't quite adjusted to the time yet, but I'm close. After all, some people actually choose to wake up this early, right?

Anyway, my first day here in Fukuoka was spent exploring the city of Tenjin, or perhaps more accurately, being guided around the city by my friend. There's a nice little park called Keigo Koen that we chilled at for a while; you see all sorts of people walk by if you sit there long enough, including the fabled Japanese school girls of legend (quite a lot of them seem to have school even on Saturday, and we saw them even as late as 6 in evening). Besides the park, we visited a few places, including a four-story otaku shop with lots of old expensive stuff, and an arcade/fake gambling place run by Sega ( it had the Mario Kart 2 arcade game that will never see the light of day in the US!). As far as food goes, I had gyuudon (beef and rice basically) and yakisoba, so nothing weird yet. That's about all I have to say for now--until next time.

Alive and (kind of) Kicking

12 hour flight with maybe 30 mins of sleep = not fun. At least customs was an easy process.

I'm here in Fukuoka now with my friend Thomas, the weather's really nice here--reminds of the beach back home. The picture is a shot from the balcony of Thomas' apartment. Not the best view--but it's proof I am here, right?