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.