A Continent and an Ocean Away

As promised, I have completed my service project for Freeman-ASIA. I have gladly helped out a local organization (called JAPASO) at my Indiana University of PA college for a term. I also helped out the Office of International Affairs office at the college with the Study Aboard Fair and the Pre-Departure meeting for students who are going aboard in the Spring term of 2009. Four students will be heading to Japan next term. I had fun this term despite the fact that I was equally busy running around and getting ready for my graduation, but that's going off topic!

JAPASO was included in many culture events through the year. One of the first events of the fall term was a get together for all the international organizations. The organizations could bring in any kind of their nation's dishes and/or desserts. JAPASO and some of the American students/members had cooked and brought in Okonomiyaki, onigiri (or riceballs) and another dish which I have forgotten what it was! All the dishes were delicious and were all gone by the end of the party. Oh! The party took place in a park called Yellow Creek Park. There the Office of International Affairs were able to rent a large gazeebo for all the organizations.  

Another event was the International Tea Party. Here the other culture organizations came together and showed off their countries little treats and the different kinds of teas the country had to offer. The JAPASO organization offered sweet and salty snacks and hot green tea as a drink. One of our members named Asuka brought in green tea pound cake near the end of the party. Everyone loved the cake! Too bad there wasn't enough to go around for everybody. Asuka said if she realized just how popular her cake was going to be, she would have brought in more of the tasty experimental dessert! 

The next event was the Study Aboard Fair. I was stationed at the Study Aboard table and tried to get the students interested in studying aboard to different foreign countries, or more specifically, the country of Japan. When the students asked how I could afford to go to Japan, I jumped on the subject of Freeman-ASIA project and how this program gave me a check of $5,000 US dollars that helped me get what I needed for the trip. I also mentioned to them that this program was for students who were going to Asia specifically. I got some students really interested in studying aboard in Asia and a few for Japan! 

The last event was the Pre-Departure meeting. This was for the students who were going to go and study aboard for the Spring Term of 2009. Erin (another Freeman-ASIA recipient) and I were at this meeting to try and answer the questions for the students who were going to go and study aboard in Japan. We gave them tips on traveling expanses, food to try, places that they MUST go and see and so much more! Almost makes me wish I could go back to Japan, too!

Well, that's that. I did the most I could in a short amount of time and spread the word of Asia, Japan and the Freeman-ASIA award program. Also if you want to check out some of my pictures from Japan you can go to the website below, enter my email address (blackchat31@yahoo.com) and the password which is ryudragon.

Website Address: http://www2.snapfish.com/welcomenphu

Enjoy and Ja ne! (See you later!)

Okay, sorry for the delay folks. The Seminar House internet base moved rooms two nights ago and I find I have to move my laptop down to the lounge here to get a good signal. I hate wireless>P 

Day 1: I boarded my scheduled Shinkansen with little trouble. Within an two hours, I was officially in Tokyo. A lot of people told me that Tokyo station would be difficult to navigate. I had little trouble at that too!!! All I had to do was ask which train went to Akihabara. From there I switched trains at Akihabara to the Tsukuba Express to get to Asakusa. At Akihabara station, I had a bit of a problem in finding the Tsukuba Express. After 15 minutes or so, I managed to find that and got to Asakusa safely. From there, all I did was ask police officers (which were at every corner of Asakusa!!!) where the Sakura Hostel was. The only thing I have to say was bad about this hostel was that the building was so NOT pink, like everyone said it was. It was more like pale pink bordering a cream color of sorts. 

After I got settled into my room and met one of my room mates (he was from Madrid, Spain) I decided to change my plans a bit and go explore Asakusa. Wonderful place, Asakusa is!!!! You're gonna have to forgive I don't know the names this time around and the phamplet that I got is packed away. So...yeah. Sorry! 

The marketplace there is full of food shops galore (needless to say I didn't starve!), souvenier shops and even a shop to buy your pets clothes, little hats and all sorts of collars for them. I would be coming back here repeatdely over the next couple of days. The local temple there was lovely and the ceiling murals were just as beautiful. It once held a small statue of Kannon (A Goddess of Mercy). However, during the US Air Raids in 1945, the temple, the statue and everything in the surrounding area was destroyed.

Then there are the two gates that mark the beginning and the end of the marketpalce. The gate at the beginning is called the Karimon Gate...I think! It's english name is the Thunder Gate and is guarded by two gods. The Rai-jin (Thunder God) and Fu-jin (Wind God) which kinda look like demons....Though their not. There is also a large paper lantern that hangs from the center of the gate. The second gate that marks the end of the market, is almost an exact replica of the first gate, but does not have two demon-looking gods guarding it. There are two statues, but I have no idea what their names are!!! I explored the area until it got dark. I went by a local curry restaurant that was offering a cheap price for its curry. So....I bought it and greatly enjoyed the taste. My first curry experience was delicious. The curry tasted almost like Rudy's chili and the saffron rice went well with the curry. The only thing I didn't eat were the two slices of devil's egg that came with it. It was good!!!!

Day 2: I found out after I came back from the curry shop that the Imperial Palace in Tokyo is closed on Mondays, Fridays and for "special occassions"! So part of my plans were foiled and I wondered just what I would do. Finally, I decided to replace the Imperial Palace with a temple I had heard of in one of my Japanese classes. It was called the Sengakuji Temple. Back in the Edo period days, there was a man named Lord Asano would tried to kill another important official. When the Emperor found out this, he sentenced Asano to death. When the samurai of Lord Asano found out about this, they were rightfully angered. 

The samurai of Lord Asano wanted revenge and so they waited about a year before they struck back at the other official. However, by that time, only 47 of the original 104 samurai remained. The attacked the castle in the dead of the night and killed all who got in their way. Once they got their hands on the official, they cut off his head and took it to their Lord's grave located in Sengakuji Temple. Soon afterwards, the Emperor sentenced the 47 samurai to death as well. Many people, as well as high-ranking government officials, didn't think the 47 samurai did wrong. Even now, there are stories, plays and books that romanticize this event. It was beloved by all, including myself. The temple is small and rather quiet. You can by some incense there and lay in down on the graves of Lord Asano and his 47 samurai. It was...refreshing. 

After that I found the Tokyo Tower and had a blast!! There are two observation decks. The first one is about half up and the other one is almost at the tip top of the tower. I just kept to the lower obversation deck, that was high enough for me. I cannot tell you why the Tokyo Tower fasinates me. It's probably because of the manga. Most manga-ka (manga authors) use the Tokyo Tower in their stories. I don't know, but I guess it's been a dream of mine to see this tower.  

After I viewed the Tokyo Tower, I did make plans to go to Ueno Park (which is near Asakusa) and try and find a statue of a man and his dog. Apparently, this man would walk his dog to the subway station everyday and leave him there. When the man would return from work, his dog would be there waiting for him. When the man passed away, his dog continued to walk down to the subway every morning and wait for his master to come home. The dog did this for 7 years before he, too, passed on. 

By the time, I was finished with the Tokyo Tower, I was tired, hungry and my feet and ankles were sore. So, I caved in and went back to Asakusa and did some souvnier shopping at the marketplace for the remainder of the day. I'm lazy, so sue me!

Day 3: This day was pretty low key. I went to Akihabara, but I didn't know what I was gonna to do exactly. All I knew was that Akihabara was known for its anime and manga shops. I figured I would find all sorts of stuff!!! I was wrong about this, so very wrong! There were anime shops, but there were more gaming shops and electronic shops than anime shops. I found three stores with anime in it, but not the anime I liked. Which really bites, in my opinion!!! I bought 3 CDs, but that was it. I spent about 3 hours in Akihabara and then bought my ticket to take me to Tokyo station and from there I caught the Shinkansen that would take me back to Nagoya. 

Sorry if this entry isn't very detailed, but I still have a lot of stuff to do and only three days to finish it. Ja ne!!!

Yatta!!!!! I made it to Tokyo and I didn't die either!!!!! *throws confetti* I was actually quiet relieved that the subways in Tokyo and on the Shinkansen have some English language going on. So that way I'm not completely turned around here in Tokyo. I won't write anything till I return to Nagoya because of 2 reasons. 

1) The computers available at the Sakura Hostel have both にほんご (Japanese) and English and this kinda messes up on my typing. 
2) The cost is ￥300 for one hour. 

So, you guys are gonna have to wait until get back to Nagoya for any kind of update on my 3 day Tokyo adventure. Sorry, but I'm not gonna spend that much time online during my stay anyway.  Please be patient!!! 

じゃね　みなさん！(Ja ne, everybody!)

*crawls up from a deep pit* I'm still alive...despite my lack of updates. I'm so sorry to you guys who have been waiting oh-so-patiently for me to update. Forgive me!! That will change, thankfully enough, with the coming week. Yep! By the time Thursday rolls around, I will be officially done with school and my summer vacation will BEGIN!!!!! *does victory dance* I can't wait for all of my daily Japanese quizzes to end and for my long awaited trip to Tokyo to start. Anywho, on with the story telling!!!

Two weeks ago, the foreign exchange students got little memos in our mailboxes saying that there would be a sumo wrestler's practice two weeks from now on Wednesday morning. Most of the students, especially the American students, showed little interest in this event. I was originally not planning to go until my teacher for Wednesday's Japanese class told me that if I went I wouldn't have to go to my classes for that day. So....Who am I to turn down an offer like that!!!!!! The day came quickly enough and the meeting place was in front of an old-styled Japanese house that is on campus grounds. 

Also I should tell you something else. About a month ago now, NGU got some guests from America. Students from a college called Bowling Green University in Ohio had come for a summer program that took them to Japan. There are about 12 students overall and have various reasons why they wanted to come to Japan. Some for the anime and manga, others because they had come to Japan before and wanted to come again. Sadly, they all take different classes than the rest of the foreign students here so, we hardly ever see them. They have also taken up residence in said old-styled Japanese house. They would be coming with us to see the sumo wrestler's practice. 

Hardly anyone, except myself, was really awake at that hour and some had even made a quick run to go get some coffee. We would be taking the subway to go see the sumo practice and about 40 minutes later, we arrived a section of Nagoya called Kachikawa. The sumo wrestlers practiced near a shrine in this area and now the somewhat-awake students staggered off the subway into the city. 

Now I will admit this, I really didn't enjoy the sumo wrestling practice. No one (in my opinion) needs to see obese Japanese men, pushing each other around with nothing on save a silk (yes, it's a silk wrapping, I asked.) wrap on them, sweating it out at 7 am in the morning. We stayed and watched for 3 hours! Dear sweet Gods, my legs and bottom were so sore afterwards!! I noticed that this sumo practice there were two other men that were not Japanese. They were Westerners. I would call them Americans, but for all I know they were probably from Australia. I had to admit they looked a bit odd, wearing the top knot of a sumor wrestler and the silk wrapping, but they seemed more comfy in their surroundings. I found out later that one of them (I don't know which one) was last year's champion for the Aichi state area. WOW!!!!
 
Another thing I REALLY did not like in the least was the damage that the sumo wrestlers take. I noticed that most of the wrestlers' ears was like closing up (on the inside) and only leaving a small hole for sound. It was disgusting!!!!>P There was also a lot, a lot, A LOT of ace bandaging, gauze and ....uh what are those "bandages" that one's wraps around one's knee when it starts to hurt??? I can't remember, but there were a couple of those, too. One of the newer sumo wrestlers (he didn't have a top knot yet) got slammed into a nearby metal pole and his nose started to bleed profusly>P Check please, I'm ready to go home now. So, what I have learned from all this? Kabuki theatre is far more entertaining that sumo any day of the week. Seriously. I'll put pictures of the practice up sometime this week. 

Now for more interesting news. Today, I bought my Shinkansen (Bullet Train) tickets. I was told that I should at least get the tickets at least a week before you actually leave so, that way you can have a reserved seat. I will admit I was nervous about this, but I kept telling myself that I had survived Japan for 4 months now, I could buy one blasted ticket!!! It was a bit difficult but, the guy knew a little English so, I could at least understand the "Going" and "Returning Home" part. It was about $200 US dollars overall. Not bad, in my opinion. 

I was going to buy the cheaper tickets, but I decided in the end to go with the Shinkansen. It's the fastest way to travel Japan, even if it is expensive. There are three types trains for travelling around Japan. The Shinkansen and the 2 "younger brothers", as I call them. The "younger brothers" are more slower and far cheaper than the Shinkansen. The "middle brother" is slightly faster and stops at some stations along the way. The "youngest brother" stops at every single station along the way and is considered, by the Japanese, as the commuting Shinkansen train. I think I got that last part right....!   

I'll update again probably or during my stay in Tokyo. The hostel that I'm staying at has a computer room so I may be able to update then, but I'm not too sure.  

Sayonara minna-san!!!!      

Hajimete means "first time" in Japanese. The International Office here at Nagoya Gakuin took all of the international students on a two-day trip to see Kyoto and Nara. I was really looking forward to this trip, seeing as Kyoto and Nara are some of the more popular destinations in Japan. Mostly due to having many famous temples and being the former capitals of Japan back in the day. Despite some of the "older" students (when I mean "older", I mean they've been here longer than me) complaining about how they've already been there, done that and why they should be forced to go again.  That dampened my mood a little, but once we actually got going most of that was forgotten. 

We left about 9am on Thursday morning. The plan was to visit Kyoto on Thursday, visit Nara on Friday and return to home by 5pm on Friday. While the schedule itself left no room for actual exploring of the cities to the students, I still had a fun time. The only downer to Thursday was the rain. In Japan, there is a rainy season and it usually goes on for the entire month of June. So, it rained on and off for the whole of Thursday. 

Our first stop was at the Golden Pavilion, the Rokuonji Temple. This place is well known for its well....Golden Pavilion. Called Kinkaku in Japanese, this building has three floors. The first floor is called is called Palace style and you can see a bit of the inside from the outside (no one is actually allowed inside the building). It's really elegant looking and very pretty. The second floor is called the Samurai style and the last floor is called Zen style. The man that owned this building back in Japan's medieval days, wanted the Golden Pavilion to be made into a Zen temple as well as the surrounding area. The Golden Pavilion has a rather large pond called Kyoko-chi aka The Mirror Pond. True to its name you can clearly see the pavilion's reflection in its waters. 

We had a lot of fun here, despite the current weather and even managed to buy some souvenirs, much to Kumagai-san's attempts to keep us moving...kinda like little sheep. There was also a lot of tall trees here and several little spots that showed the temple's Zen Buddhism. Such as little waterfall near the middle, another pond that had a small island with a stone tower in the center and our favorite spot, a "wishing well". In all do honesty, it's not a well nor is it one of the wishing type. First there is a stone dish that has wide sides and a flat brim. Next there is a tall stone behind the stone dish, that serves as a way to try and bounce the coins into the bowl, it never works. Finally there are four small pillars around the stone dish and this usually keeps the coins from getting in. If someone does get a coin into the stone dish then you get to keep the rest of the coins from others that have tried and failed. Is this Zen-like behavior?!?

Despite how much we saw, we only stayed here for ....at least 30 minutes. If not less. The teachers and other Japanese students that accompanied us kept telling us to "Hurry Up!!" and "Don't get left behind!!". Tch!!! Really, the path is practically a circle...how can we possibly get lost in a circle?!

Our next stop was a temple called Ryoanji. This temple is most famous for its rock garden. Most of the students were quite happy that we didn't have to wander out in the rain like at the Golden Pavilion. We were actually in the temple that houses the rock garden and out of the rain. YEAH!!!!!!!!! We stayed here little over an hour this time. The temple was really small and there wasn't much to do aside from take pictures, talk to the various tourists that have also come to see the rock garden or just sit down and watch the rain drip off the ends of the temple roof. This place was very serene and peaceful. Despite the number of people there, most of them hardly raised their voices. 

Our final stop of the day was the Kiyomizudera (Temple of the Clear Water). This temple was founded in 798 by a monk named Enchin who had the finiacial support of a general named Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. They created this temple that would house an image of the 11-Faced Kannon (a Goddess of Mercy). This temple soon became a place to offer prayers that would protect the Japanese Empire. Over the centuries, the temple would be repeatedly destroyed by fires, earthquakes and warfare. The last major disaster was back in 1629. Its reconstruction didn't begin until two years later and was finished in 1633. Many of the current buildings are dated from that time. This place contains 7 halls, a three-story pagoda, several smaller buildings and a spacious veranda that gives the tourist a beautiful view of Kyoto. 

I was stunned when I first saw this place. It's on top of a hill that would put Caradiac Hill at IUP to shame. (There is a reason why it's called caradiac, it's pretty steep for a hill.) By the time we reached the top, my tiredness was completely forgotten when I stood at awe of this place. It was huge and many more descriptive words that I cannot even begin to type. It was here that most of the "herd" managed to escape the clutches of Kumagai-san and wonder off on our own for a couple of hours. I stuck by Fon, a student from Thailand and together we wandered around the temple and simply enjoyed it. 

Here we had out fortunes "told". In Japan, you pay a fee, shake around a large, wooden box that contains small wooden sticks. When you've shaken it enough, there is one hole to which a stick will fall out. On the stick are certain words that the teller will then hand you a paper that corresponds to that same stick. Mine said I'm really lucky and that I should work very hard...I had more fun shaking the box than getting the fortune!!! The best part about this was that the rain FINALLY stopped and we could wander around without fear of getting soaked!! 

After that, we went to a Yakiniku buffet restaurant and then finally to our hotel. Yakiniku is when you pick out your favorite kind of meat (The buffet had several kinds of meat to choose from and No, I didn't eat any meat.) Then at your table you can cook your meat on a little, gas-powered grille to just how you like it. We stayed longer than we originally intended and most of the students had plans to sneak out of the hotel and go explore the Kyoto night life. Me and three other people (Tanya, an American student, Naohito, a Japanese student and he looks like Hiro from Heroes, and a Chinese student named Yi) had planned to go and find a place for karaoke since I had never been to one before. This was stopped by the fact that when everyone got to the hotel and realized just how tired/lazy they were, the night life could wait till another time. 

Our last stop was the Todai-ji Temple in Nara. This temple is greatly known for its extra, extra, EXTRA large Buddha statue. This is a statue of the Rushana Vairocana, the cosmic Buddha, that was to become the symbol that would unify all of Buddhist Japan. It did for a time until the Imperial court and capital moved on and while it was still the supreme authority of Buddhism in Japan, it's time was passed. To this day there are only a handful of original relicts from 1,000 years ago and even the statue itself has been rebuilt so many times, no one knows its original form. Only a single lotus petal remains from the original statue. 

I had far more fun here than at Kyoto. They were several other statues aside from the giant Buddha statue. I also caught a lot of orbs of light in this temple and outside in my pictures. At first I thought, nothing of them until I got a huge orb of light when I first took a picture of the Buddha statue. Then I kept getting them all over the place, it was insane and a little creepy. You can think what you want, I think their ghosts or at least harmless spirits. 

Oh yes and one more thing. Nara is famous for their tame deer and allowing them to roam free. At this temple, there were lots and LOTS of deer. Mind you, I've heard and almost got into accidents with deer, but seeing them here totally freaked me out. I didn't want to touch one, I didn't want to feed them (an equally dangerous activity) and I certainly didn't want to go near them!!!!! I basically hid behind Fon whenever a deer popped up. Although everyone else seemed to enjoy the fact that you could pet a deer and feed them. An American student named Riley wanted to feed them and it turned out the the deer started to gather in great hordes demanding the food in his hand. One actually bit him on the butt and others started to tug at his clothes. One male deer tried to hit him with its antlers. Yeah....a VERY dangerous activity. I'm glad I didn't do it!!!! 

After that final adventure, it was time to leave. I was a little sad that we didn't get to see more of Nara and that we couldn't stay longer, but I really wanted to go home at that point. I was also getting sick of riding on the bus!!!! 

I'll talk to you guys later(^_~)

Okiee-day. Somebody asked for an update and here it be. I had planned to go to a famous shrine in Nagoya this weekend, it's said that one of the three Imperial Regalia of the royal family is housed there. Sadly my plans backfired on me and the next thing I know is that Saturday was over and I had a lot of stuff to do on Sunday>P So, I only managed to go Higashiyama Koen (Higashiyama Park) this weekend. Higashiyama Koen was a lot farther than I first imagined it would be, it took me about 40 minutes of so just to get there by subway!! Also my stay was equally short because unlike the rest of the places I've been so far, the park closed at 4:50pm. There is also more to this, but I'll get to that later:)

Either way, Higashiyama Koen is a zoo, a botanical garden and a children's park. It's been a while since I've been to a zoo of any sort, so I decided to go. This zoo is known for its bears, its koalas and its penguins or at least that's what the brochure said. When I arrived it was already packed from grandparents to grandkids. It was insane!! I don't think I've EVER seen a zoo packed with so many people!! I decided to go to the zoo area first, but was disaapointed to find that most of the animals were asleep. It was a warm day, but apperently it must have been very hot for the fur-covered animals. Most of the aquatic animals such as the seals and the polar bears were awake, lively and swimming in their pools. The elephant babies put on a show for everyone, but I only got to see the very end of it. Still though....!!  I promise to to load the pictures soon, probably tomorrow once I get more batteries for my camera.

The botanical garden was simply beautiful and sectioned off into many different parts. The Rose Garden was located at the very end of the zoo area and lead off past smaller gardens to the main one. The garden area was also friggin' huge!! I didn't get the chance to see all of it because of how much time was left before the park closed. So I hit the Chinese Garden, a bamboo garden and another garden (that was on top of a hill) that for some reason reminded me of New York wineries. Go fig!!! 

Oh!! Also while I was in the garden area, I got hungry and decided to go for some ice cream. There were about 10 flavors and probably only two that I recognized. So I went for the unknown and got Bara ice cream or Rose ice cream. Now that was an odd flavor, but very good and had a nice scent to it. Smelled just like roses, too!! *smacks lips* ....I want another one!!!!

The main reason why my plans backfired on me was that one of the sub cars broke down in the middle of the tunnel just before my stop and I had to wait almost two hourse before they got another sub cars to our station. By then, I was bored, frustrated and hungry!!! Plus we couldn't leave the station because our tickets would be rendered useless and we would have to pay for it again. So, there I am sitting on a cold stone floor, with only one piece of reading material, a growling stomach and a bunch of equally frustrated Japanese people. Ugh, talk about Dullsville!! So yeah, by 7:30 they got another car going and we were FINALLY able to leave and I got back to the dorm house my 8-ish or so. So yeah, that ruined my Saturday evening!!!

Okay, on the second part of my title. As my Nagoya "tourist sites" are dwindling, I am beginning to look outside of Nagoya. As my time is now limited to two months and two weeks, I've made a (short) list of the sites I would like to go and see. My number one concern is for my last destination in mind: Tokyo. While my other two destinations (The Ise Shrine and Osaka) are maybe one to two days at best, I want to enjoy Tokyo and may go stay there for four days, if I can. 

The problem is whether or not I should find someone to go with me to Tokyo or just go by myself. I've asked a few of the American students, but they showed no signs of wanting to return for another trip. I know I shouldn't just wander off into Japan's biggest city and it's capital without someone, but I really want to go!!!! So I guess my question to you guys is should I find someone to go with or should I just go off on my own? What's your opinion on this?? 

Joe is actually spelled "Jyo" in Japanese and it means castle, while "ko" means port. During my Golden Week vacation I did a little travel around Nagoya. I also wanted to go to Osaka to see my friend Erin, but that didn't work out, so the next best thing was to look around the city. My first visit was to Nagoya-ko, "Nagoya Port". 

After my room mate Sachou left to go home (it's near Hiroshima) on Tuesday afternoon, I decided that it would be best to get out of the dorm. I certainly had no intention of staying cooped up for the next 6 days!!! So I decided that I would go to the nearest attraction in Nagoya which turned out to be Nagoya Port. I would leave Wednesday morning. I would later learn after I visited Nagoya-ko that almost no one else in the Seminar House had actually gone to see Nagoya-ko. As Ian had put it "It's in the complete opposite direction of everything else that's fun!" By subway lines, Nagoya-ko was indeed in the opposite direction of everything else that was considered "fun". 

As most of you know, I haven't ridden the subway system by myself yet and was slightly daunted by the fact I was completely alone, but once I knew how to actually get to Nagoya-ko (Thank god for subway maps!!), it wasn't that bad. Ah! I should probably explain just what Nagoya-ko is exactly. Nagoya-ko is famous for its aquarium and another place called the "Villaggio Italia". I didn't actually get a chance to go to the village, but that leaves it open for another weekend trip though:) 

The aquarium was huge and quite beautiful actually and it was near the ocean to to boot!! Like most aquarium's there were dolphins, a killer whale, a Beluga whale and her second newborn calf named Nana. There were also turtles, that looked way too intelligent for their own good *shivers*, penguins of various sorts and colored fish in a tank full of coral. 

There was also a lot of side attractions like some $$$ restaurants, one was named Turtle Soup and I bet you can guess just where this restuarant was located!!! Ew!!! There were several movie theaters to watch movies about the animals that took resident in the aquarium, like how the female beluga whale gave birth to her first calf and lost said calf in a few months I believe (the speaker was speaking too fast for me to catch it the actual time period). Also shows for where some of the animals (dolphins and the single killer whale) could perform for an audience (like Sea World only in Japanese!!!), dolphin pools to watch the lil' buggers get hyper and so much more!!! 

In one part of the aquarium, they had a history and evolutionary chart about the ocean animals as well as some bones on display. They actually had a baby baleen whale's bones on display and let me tell you that baby was BIG!!!!!!! I had a lot of fun here and I'll probably go back someday. At the end of the trip, as I headed back to Hibino station (where NGU is located), I decided since I liked today so much I would go to Nagoya-jyo (Nagoya castle) tomorrow. I had nothing else better to do aside from sitting around and being bored (like some of the other international students were doing), so why not!!!! 

On Thursday morning, I left the house for Hibino station and today I would go farther than I had previously done with the Meijo Line. The Meijo Line is a subway track that goes in a circle around the Nagoya area and the Meijo line has a stop at Nagoya Castle so it wasn't hard. The trick I'm finding is to keep being paranoid so I don't miss my stop. Other Japanese are use to this (even little elementary school kids!) relax and sometimes doze off while on the subway. I don't think i'll be able to do that for a long while. 

Anywho, Nagoya-jyo has a lot of history behind it. I won't go into it too deeply history. Nagoya-jyo was originally built in 1525, was taken over and then abondoned in a few short years. In 1610, a man who would later be known as one of three men who wanted to bring all of Japan under a new rule; his name was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Anyway, in 1610, he ordered a new castle to be built on the same site and this would become the true Nagoya-jyo. This would later become a symbol for the Tokugawa Era aka the Edo Period, which was from 1603-1868 and is considered the beginning of Modern Japan. 

The original castle was destroyed in a US Air Raid on May 14, 1945. Most of the paintings, artifacts and other treasures were destroyed in the fire. Some, oddly enough, survived the fire and have been properly preserved to this day. The reconstruction began in who knows what year and was completed in 1959. Today, its more like a museum than anything, at least on the inside and quite boring I might add. The castle grounds and gardens were also restored and are by far more interesting. What I find funny is that while the castle burned in the air raid, the gardens, grounds and the walls survived to this day.....Go figure. 

The most distingushing feature of the castle are the two tiger-headed fish/dolphins/orca statues (you can decide just what they are!!!) that are said to protect the castle from fire (because their water creatures and water puts out fire). They were originally made of real gold, not one solid object, but made of thousands of gold coins called ryojin (the money of the Edo period). I learned a lot here and found that quite a lot of stuff was destroyed during WWII. 

I hope I didn't bore you guys to death;) I felt like I was back in my Japanese History class with Dr. Baumler with that little speech!!! 

Some of you have been wondering (picky eater that I am) if I am finding food to eat. Yes, I have found food to eat (grocery shopping is not an easy task in this country), but most of it is American-like food. While I am trying to branch out, most of Japan eats seafood and I am NOT a seafood person. Though when I go out to eat with friends, that's about the only time I eat real, genuine Japanese food. I usually make myself stir-fry and am currently trying out different types of rice, spices and sauce and what little veggie I eat. Most of this stuff is also $$$ and finding it cheap is not easy. Especially when most of the veggies and food products are imported to Japan and go bad in week at best. A couple of days at worst. 

Okay, I need to stop typing, my eyes are beginning to twitch and I want to go see the festivities. Talk to ya guys later!!!!!

My next door neighbor Lorri Dunlap asked me about more information about my classes so....Here it is!!!!! *fanfare plays* 

To start off it off, I'll talk about my language class. This class is (obviously) every single day, but usually varies. What I mean is that depending on the day, I may have it twice or maybe only once. The twice-a-day class usually ends with a fuzzy coat of lint covering my brain. No seriously, it's a miracle in itself that I can even think straight after the final class ends...like today. What I also find kind of annoying is the fact that I don't have one single teacher teaching this course. Depending on the day, I have up to four different teachers for my Japanese language class. 

Now, what really gets my goat is that sometimes the teachers will treat me like I've never seen the subject before in my life!!! That really makes me grind my teeth!!! However, it's only natural because they have no idea what I know and what I don't know so.....yeah! I have quizzes in this class every single day about the subject matter from yesterday. As well as homework which can vary from a single page to three pages worth of work@-@ THAT usually makes me stay up a little longer than usual, the three-pager. 

Next is my "Seminar on Japanese Study" class. This class is suppose to vary on the many different aspects of Japan like art, literature, religion, history, etc. So far, all we've done is talk about art and the elements that influence its nature (like water, the sun, nature, etc, etc, blahblahblah). It's alright, but.....it's art and I can't say I'm terribly interested in that!! It also doesn't help that our teacher is the former ceramic art teacher for NGU. 

When I say "former", I mean that the ceramic art class can no longer be taken because NGU in its current location doesn't have a studio for that kind of thing. Also judging from the way things here have settled down, I don't think they will be building a ceramic art studio any day soon. Which is a real bummer because I was really looking forward to that class!!! 

Class number two is Kanji. The best way I can put it is that there are three alphabets in Japan. Hirgana, Katakana and Kanji. Hiragana is the beginning point to learning the Japanese lang. Katakana is the exact same as the Hiragana alphabet, but is written differently and is mostly used for Japanized American/European words. Kanji uses more line strokes than Hiragana and Katakana and the vocab list for Kanji is a lot. The last time I checked Japanese schools needed to teach about....10,000 or so characters to the students. I think that's the number though, maybe more. I do know that there is a lot more Kanji than the Japanese actually use.

The third class is karate. Now this class is fun, when your not being thrown to the floor by our sensei. I have the bruises to prove it, too!! Haha!! It's a beginniers class and (including myself) there are usually six students present. There are two other girls (one Chinese and one Thai) and two boys and I have no clue about their ethnicity. Chinese, maybe??? And then there is at least one other American student and his name is Ian. He took the class last term. I asked him since he was in the advance class, why he was still in this class. The only answer I got was "It's a good way to warm up". Tch, what a guy.  

This kind of style teaches hand-to-hand combat as well as defense. This style comes from Okinawa in southern Japan and was introduced to Japan from China. I think our sensei may be from Okinawa because he has really dark skin, but that could be me assuming something. I should ask him one of these days....

My last class is Badminton. As my mother put it "BADMINTON? I send my baby girl halfway around the world for badminton?" 
Yep, indeed-y-roo you did Mom!!! *starts to laugh* I really didn't have a choice when I was picking classes. The head of the Inter'l Department said I needed to take up to 14 credits. This would include my language course plus three other classes that I could choose from. I have to say that NGU doesn't have many classes that an International student can choose from. Is that the way IUP works, Jay?!?! (<---IUP Study Aboard Advisor) Anyway, Badminton isn't bad. Our sensei is really funny and is very helpful espcially to those who have no clue what their doing!!! But that's the entire point of the class; to learn something new! 

And I suppose we could call this a "class" even though its only 45 minutes long. It's called Conversation Recitation. You basically get a Japanese student to speak conversational Japanese with you for 45 minutes, twice a week. The first time I had this class was like pulling teeth out of an angry bear's mouth!!!! *shivers* What a pain the the rump that was!!!!!!!! 

So, that's that. Any other questions?

So, after whining, complaining, cursing Photobucket and threatening my computer with a Three-Story Drop of Death, I've FINALLY found a site will accept most of pictures (I couldn't post five pictures for reasons unknown). Thanks goes to my cousin Skyler (<3) for commenting me. He knew two other host sites for pictures and whatnot. The new site is called Snapfish and the only bad thing is that you have to log in to see these pics. 

So here's the my account: 
(http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222406064/a=129205915_129205915/t_=129205915) 
and the password (ryudragon). If ya wanna see them go right ahead and I'll post what few pictures I could get from my Kabuki Theatre trip last Saturday ASAP! 

So any way, Kabuki. The whole thing started back during my first days here at Nagoya. There was a sign up sheet and I decided "Why not?!". I knew that I wasn't to go anywhere without someone else with me and a fairly large group was going, about 3/4 of Seminar House was going. The Director of the International Office was (as usual) not very helpful when I asked if we had to pay for tickets. Finally, I had badgered her enough and she said that the paper that had our directions was our ticket. Sheesh, I'll wanted to know was how much and she keeps saying "Do not lose that paper"! (For those interested the cost of the ticket was about $80 US dollars or so.) 

The Director mentioned that everyone should leave at 9:30am so we could arrive early. Sadly, most of the House are night owls and didn't really get ready till about 10 or so. We left about 10:35 and the play would start at 11. I was still a little fearful of the massive subway system, but one of the guys (Mike I think his name was?) said that the Bullet Train was a lot easier to navigate than this, still didn't make me fell better though. 

Anyway, we arrived at the theatre with about 10 minutes left. There was a table set-up (especially for us) and we were soon given our tickets and shown where the entrance was. The inside was chaotic to say the least. Women (young and old) dressed in formal kimonos and a lot of elderly men were there as well. I'd have to say there were at least five floors in all. Most of the floors had little shops full of souvenirs, jewelery, food and snacks for the three intermissions that the play would have and two floors were dedicated solely to restaurants. It was pretty cool and reminded a bit of the Library Theatre, if not just a bit more fancier and modern looking. 

Our seats were on the only large balcony area. The rest of the balcony areas were much, much smaller than this one. Kind of like private viewing boxes, only made to the public...I think. Now for the Moving Curtain. I found this so amusing!!! The curtain would change, well, curtains every few minutes to show a new curtain. There was one with the Chinese Zodiac on it, another had Mount Fuji, one had spider lilies on it and many more!! The striped curtain was much thinner than the rest and was the opening curtain for the play. 

Now this was where it got harder to take pictures. One, we weren't allowed to take pictures (with flash) in theatre and the seating attendants would confiscate our cameras if we did so. Now they didn't say anything about taking pictures without flash. My camera had other ideas. If I did take pictures without flash, all I would get was a big blot of bright light in the middle of the picture, which really sucked because the players costumes and the stage props were simply gorgeous! So I had no choice but to be a good girl and watch the play. 

The first act was as kabuki should be. Slow movements, even slower talking by the players and faces plastered with white make-up paint. The first act was about a son returning home for battle/war, a servant girl of the mother had fallen for the son and vice versa. The younger brother of the returning son was jealous of his brother and wanted to make his return miserable. Somewhere along the lines the returning son was disgraced and he and the servant left in the dead of night, but his mother found him and gave him a departing present. I have no idea what it was, something too small to see from our seats.  

At this point in time, half of our group was asleep from the sheer bordeom of it. After the first intermission was over there were only four people remaining. Myself, Ian (resident computer guy) and two Chinese students (Lee and a girl). The others had left because of the boredom that the kabuki play had invoked. Acts Two and Three were nothing like Act One and had a more modern feel to it. During Act Two, Lee, the Chinese girl and myself had fallen asleep. I have to admit that the last two acts were really disappointing and I couldn't follow them as well as Act One. Though I must give them points for the elaborate costumes, stage props and "authenticness" at least for Act One!

Overall, it wasn't that bad, but please don't ask me to go again!!!!! I don't think I could handle another round!! I'm really looking forward to next week. It's my first holiday in Japan!!! It's called Golden Week. During this time, Japan celebrates four holidays in one week. First is the former Emperor Showa's birthday, then Constitution Day, Greenery Day (Or Labor Day, as I'm thinking) and finally Children's Day. 

Children's Day ought to be called Boy's Day, but there's already a holiday with that name, so they're calling it Children's Day. During this time, families hang carp streamers from flag posts and pray for the health and success of their sons. There is A LOT of traveling during this time and most businesses are closed. Which means no school for me for a whole week!!!!!! I may do some traveling in Nagoya and if I get adventurous I may go see Erin (another girl from IUP who is also in Japan right now and is staying in Osaka) sometime next week. Gotta email her first and see if its alright with her. 

Kay, I'm off to post pictures of what little I could get from the theatre!!! Bye-bye(^_~)

Okay, Photobucket doesn't like my pictures, so I've loaded them onto LJ.....Not too sure how many I can upload, but I'll try and find another host site for my pics. In the mean time, if you DO want to see my pics of Nagoya so far, click on "User Info" on the right hand side of the screen or just click on my little icon! You'll then be re-directed to my User Info page and you'll see something that says "Pictures: over 30 public". Click on that and it'll take you to another page where you'll find my pictures! 

Sorry for the trouble *grumbles about stupid host sites*   

Konichiwa Minna-san!!!!! 
It's about five after five pm here in Japan and I have officially survived my first week of classes, but before I dive into that: My Entrance Ceremony story. 

Here in Japan entrance ceremonies mark the occassion as students enter their school for either the first time or are returning to the school for another year. Think of it as the first day of school in America. Now, I knew nothing about what Nagoya's entrance ceremony and none of the students (who were here long before I came) were really forth coming about information. My room mate (who's name is actually Satchou, not Suika) knew even less because she is in grad school now. The only thing I knew I had to do was read a pledge in front of an audience and that was that. Also the International Office suggested that I dress up. 

April 1st was the day of the Entrance Ceremony. I was dressed up (about as dressed up as I'm gonna get!) and was about to leave for the Nagoya Congress building (where the ceremony was going to take place) when someone knocked on my door. It was one of the many teachers from the Inter'l Office and he said "You are late!" and made gestures that I should beat feet. The ceremony started at 10:30 am and it was 9 am. I tried to tell him (keyword: tried) that I was just about to leave, but he then said "You were supposed to be at the office at 8:50!" That stunned me. No one said ANYTHING about having to be anywhere on this day aside from the Congress building. I was beginning to think that the Inter'l Office liked to keep its students in the dark....! 

So now, we were walking at a fast pace toward the building. This building is HUGE. All gleaming white stone, with two towers on both sides of the main building and had an all-white statue of a samurai (drawn like pictures from the Edo period, in the center of the courtyard) on top of a white horse, like the man was ready to charge off into battle. The teacher quickly navigated through the twists and turns of the corridors of the building till we arrived at a room called "The Millienium Room". Does that say serious or what!?     

This room was stunning. It was very theatre-esquse like the Library Theatre (back at home) except so much larger! First there was the first floor which was set up like terraces. One landing of chairs, then a small set of steps leading down and repeat several more times! I was to sit in the very front row with only two other students for company. Here I was directed how to approach the stage. I was to ascend the wooden steps in front of me, first bow to the important guests on the right, NGU's board of directors (or something like that) on the left and then bow to the head honcho who would be standing at the podium in the center of the stage. Then I was to read my pledge (in English) stating that I would obey the rules and regulations of the community and to study my brains out learning the Japanese language and its culture. 

However at the time, I didn't understand just what I suppose to do and to make matters worse I was left by myself. The girl sitting next to me was nice enough and we had some short conversations while we were waiting. I was half-tempted to ask her just what we were supposed to do again, but I had no idea how to even begin the bloody sentence....! I was freaking out at this point and depersetaly wished I had brought my purse which contained some of Aly's advan. (Did I spell that right?) I could have used it at this point! As I waited, students started to file into the "room" and I noticed that 99.9% of the students were wearing black. Me, on the other hand, I was wearing a russet red button-up shirt, a cream-colored camisole, khaki pants and khaki-colored shoes. "Sticking out like sore thumb" was exactly what I was doing at this point and this made me only more nervous. 

Now, while the first floor is filled with students and other people, there is a second balcony which is partially filled up and the third balcony area (above the second balcony) remains empty. Like I said this palce is huge...maybe I'll sneak back into the building since I don't have any pictures of the room.... 

Soon an hour passed and the lights dimmed. Camera flashes were seen again and again as the Nagoya Gakuin's Entrance Ceremony was about to begin. 

I believe I told everyone that NGU is a Christian college so, after 30 or so minutes of listening to a Japanese Christian priest say something out of the Bible and the Chorus singing the college song, it was time. Now, I was praying that someone else would go first, so that way I could see just what exactly I had to do. Lucky me, I didn't go first. The girl next to me went first, then the boy and finally me. It all passed very quickly and thankful I don't remember much...I think my bowing may have been a bit off. Finally, all was said and done and took at grand total of almost two hours!!! Did I mention I had testing that day too? I did....

*le sigh* NOW for classes! Sadly, most of the classes I wanted to take this year weren't even on the schedule due to moving campuses and teachers and other assorted stuff. I was really looking forward to my Ceramic art class too!!!! I'll be taking four classes this year. Two of them are in Japanese and the other two are in English. 

Now before you all say anything, my language classes take up 75% my schedule and the three other classes are only once a week. Language, a culture class, karate and badminton are my classes. *cheesy smile* And you know what really sucks? This was all I could take. There were other classes, but there were some restrictions. 

1) You must me in Japanese language class IV or V to take some classes.
2) They weren't available. 

Most of the other students were in the same boat, but some were in the higher language classes so, ....yeah. I really does suck! I wanted to broaden my horizan, to get a view from the Japanese side of things. Only to have my horizan narrowed before I even start!! BLEH>P Aside from that, everything else is A-OK. I love my classes and my constant change of teachers for language. Some are goofy like Furumoto-sensei and Saito-sensei while others are more down to earth like Mizuno-sensei and Ideguchi-sensei (he's my karate teacher!) The rest are normal enough for Japanese people....I think.

I'll go and upload the pictures so you guys can see what I've been seeing for the past two weeks!!!

Take care!

PS I also wish I had a gun to shoot these stupid crows on our balcony! They are so %$#!&^%$##$ annoying right now!!! *tears out hair*

The next day was a little better if not a bit more quiet on my part. With the group of newly arrived students all present and accounted for, the group of off. We first toured the school. There are two campuses in Nagoya for NGU. One is the Shiratori campus (where the International Seminar House located) and the other is about a 10 minute walk into the city, that is called the Hibino campus. The Shiratori campus building has 8 levels and has a LOT of classrooms. Which also includes a small restaurant called Mos Burger (Yes, that is the name and spelling!), a con-bi store and the school's bookstore Maruzen. There are two gyms, a large one and a small one, the library is spread on two levels (the 3rd and the 4th) and then there is a soccer field that is behind the Seminar House and a tennis field behind the school. Finally there is the church. I may have told you guys or not that Nagoya is a christian college. 

Then after the school tour (there will be MANY more tours of the school, even after this one) the group went to lunch and lost two students, they went back to the dorms. This left me and the two Shanghai students (both girls) with a bunch of American boys and our Japanese male tour guide. After about 15 minutes of walking we came to a restaurant called Skylark. It looked a lot like Perkins, but it was distinctly Japanese. I ordered spaghetti with some sort of fish on it (it looked like salmon, but I really couldn't tell you) and the noodles were really hard like al Dante times 10! I did try some fish, but it still tasted nasty>P So after that we then went store hopping. We went to a clothes store, a discount book store called Book-Off (I just had to buy something!), an electronics store with a large grinning sun on it and apperently this was where the wireless signals came from, but those signals are extremely weak! This building had two levels. The bottom was completely was electronics and the top level has a pharmacy and home ware. Finally we went into a grocery store  and found all sorts of stuff...almost makes me want to cook, but that's a different story for another day! By then it was almost 6 o'clock (we spent most of the day at Book-Off!!) and went back to the dorm. Talk turned the placement testing and talk about why I came to Japan, what my major was, etc, etc. 

Next time on "A Continent and an Ocean Away": The Entrance Ceremony to NGU! Stay tuned folks and thanks!!

First Night:
I was so happy to be off that plane from Tokyo to Nagoya. It got really windy and really bumpy. Needless to say what happened! A young man who was going to Nagoya to see his Chinese girlfriend was willing to help me get around Chubu International airport. With him, I managed to get through customs and immagration in one piece. I also found my bag easily enough. 
As I exited the airport, I saw a sign for NGU and was immdiately welcomed to Japan by a girl 3 years older than me, my room mate Suika (I think...) Then a guy from the International offices ...who's name I can't remember. From there we went to a convience store or con-bi for short. I bought my first food consisting of a sandwich, some green tea (which is VERY different from US green tea!) and gelatin with oranges inside. From there we got our subway ticket which seems easy enough, but only so much harder if you don't know where you're going! I was completely enthralled by the city at night and wasn't paying a lot of attention to the conversation since I have found that my skills suck! 
Then we got off at the Kanayama station which is the ward that NGU is located. From there me and Suika took a taxi and sped off into the night. Again I was looking more at the scenery than anything else. Once we arrived at the International Seminar House, I fell in love with our apartment/dorm. It was everything that manga-ka (manga artists) had created them to be. Small, but do-able. I get the room with the sliding door and it has a balcony so we can hang our wet laundry from. From there I unpacked, got an informal Japanese bath and went straight to bed. 

First Day
In America, one expects to be awoken by the singing of birds or of local traffic. Ya know what I got woken up by? Crows or karasu. There was at least two of them on our balcony and three more on a nearby electric line. And like most room mates that I get this girl was also a night owl. Which means I'm the first up and dressed. Later on, Suika would take me, One Chinese girl and One Korean girl (Rim-chan and Ten-chan) out to a 100-en store. Kinda like America's Dollar General. From there I bought the assorted needs: towels, some junk food, a brush, two cups and a spoon. As well as two notebooks and a battery-powered alarm clock. I had to rely on Suika for most of this trip because the Japanese talked too fast for me and I had no idea about my new and interesting environment. 
After payed and left the store, Suika wanted to know if we would like some lunch at the cafeteria at NGU. Rim-chan declined and so did I. I was whipped and I wanted a nap! (I slept for three hours!!)

I woke up just as Suika was leaving to go to her grad school (it's about twilight when I wake up) and she offers to take me to another con-bi store. I readily agree. It was about a 7 minute walk and I bought a cinnamon bun-look alike, another sandwich (it was egg), some gummies and my first Japanese ramen or Cup O'Noodles. It wasn't bad, but I'm not gonna buy another one any day soon! Before Suika left me she said that she had to work tomorrow and that would leave me by myself. However, there would be a group of kids from the Seminar House who were gonna take the new kids out on a tour of NGU and the surrounding area. To get use to Nagoya or at least one part of it! I was excited to see more students and it would give me a chance to say "Konichiwa!" to my neighbors and see more of the area. 

Sadly, I have to log off now, the library is closing, but I'll be back tomorrow (maybe) and I'll try and upload some pictures of Nagoya soon. 

To Aunt Jill: The weather here right now is REALLY, REALLY windy! Suika tells me that its usually like this at the end of March/early April, but the sakura are blooming right now and it's so lovely!

It`s 8:11pm here in Japan and really, REALLY windy. I managed to make it in one piece with some nausea from turbulence, but I still don`t like flying. I also managed to find my bag and my escorts alright. My room mate is Japanese and her Suika (I think...!) She can speak English really well, which makes things a little easier for me since my conversation skills are really bad!!!! I`m working on it though *sheepish grin* 

I`ll tell my arrival story on a later date because I have a lot of stuff to sift through and not enough time on this computer. I promise to tell my first adventures in Japan someday, just not today or tonight as it were!

Thank you for all the support you guys, I love hearing from you. It makes homesickness one less thing to worry about (even though homesickness hasn`t started yet!)

Konbawa minna-san! (Good evening everybody!)

Well, this is it. 

It's the night before I leave for my "great adventure" and I am a bundle of nerves!! Everyone (and I do mean everyone!) has given me all sorts of advice on flying, taking care of myself, etc. and yet it doesn't make me feel better. I keep expecting to be able to come home or to wake up from a long dream. .....BUT IT'S NOT!!!!! I'm going to live my dream, a dream I've had since as far back as I can remember. 

Though, underneath all the nervousness and packing and waiting, I am looking forward to this. I'm told that when arrive I might be able to see some sakura (cherry blossoms), and with any luck, when my plane is in Tokyo maybe I can catch a glimpse of the Tokyo Tower!! That would be nice, but I'm pretty sure the Narita airport is quite a ways away from the tower but, whatever! I can hope!!

At this time (since I still have other stuff to pack) I would like to thank everyone for what they've done. Like keeping me from going insane, thinking all the worse possible senarios, getting me involved in traveling aboard, getting all that lousy paperwork work done and most importantly for teaching me the Japanese language and of its finer nuisances. 

Honto ni arigatou gozimasu (Thank you very much!) to my family, to their friends and its members. Bryn and Jen R for keeping me company while I was away from school for 3 and half months! (I love you guys!) To Erin, it's her fault for suggesting I go see Michele of the OIA in the first place and I thank you for that. To IUP's Office of International Affairs, thank you for helping me with all that paperwork and the problems that came with it. To my teacher, Atsushi-sensei, and to my conversation partner Tomoko, you guys are the best and thanks for teaching me! 

Ciao for Now(^_~)
got_japan 

My first entry on LJ and and all this is nothing more than a test entry.

Hopefully it'll work!!