Today we visited an enormous martial arts gym, a decent bus drive away. I wasn’t expecting something so big when I heard we were going there, so I was shocked to see a three story complex the size of my high school! We took off our shoes just like in any Japanese building and put [...]
My host parents took me out on the third weekend. We took a very long drive through beautiful hills and countryside (listening to a CD of American pop songs played on panflute on the way… very bizarre). We stopped for lunch at a roadside ramen shop, where we were given *enormous* portions… and I wasn’t [...]
We had walked past Kenroku-en so many times on our cultural excursions and had heard so much about it being one of the top 3 most beautiful parks in Japan that it would have been a shame not to go.
Frances and I went out after a fun time bar-hopping the previous night. Unfortunately it was [...]
Here’s the fourth email I sent from Japan:
Konnichiwa minnasan!
Sorry to keep you all waiting for the next email, but I’ve had very little free time. Anyway, just so you know, Leo is a guy who works in the Maxis division at EA games. He actually recruits at Ringling. So I’ve become pretty good friends [...]
Our cultural excursion today was to visit the international exchange center for a chance to try on traditional Japanese kimonos. It was a nice day so we walked (even though it was quite a hike). The walk was an event in itself, as we got to walk along an absolutely beautiful park. I also discovered [...]
This was one of the most insane and interesting events, and unfortunately I did not bring a camera! Joy’s photo page, luckily, has photos from Minami Kodatsuno elementary school (Minako, for short).
We were divided into small groups and assigned to classes full of 2nd graders. My group consisted of myself, Sandra, and Pierre. The kids [...]
On Wednesday we went back to the entertainment area where we bowled the week before. We rode bikes through a busy area of town that we were completely unfamiliar (Dave and Chris lead, Frances, Jose, and I followed). We had dinner at a McDonald’s at the train station before the movie… Japanese McDonald’s is really [...]