Well, I'm back from my trip to the states and once I got back to Japan, it almost felt like I had never left. It's good to be back and I'm excited for our new classes to start next week.

A few days after I got back, I made a trip to Kyoto with three other girls from UH. It's easily one of the most beautiful places we've been to in Japan so far. The temples there were amazing, and we managed to pack 10 of them in 2 days. Unfortunately a lot of the temples wouldn't allow you to take pictures inside of the buildings, so I don't have many of them.

Kyoto has an entirely different feel from Tokyo. It's much quieter and more old-fashioned. I think you can really gain a historical appreciation for Japan when you visit Kyoto.


the flowers there were gorgeous







the climb to one of the temples


monica and myself







sakura :)





one of the walks at Ginkaku-ji


biggest gate to a temple in japan


this place was huge


different part of the same temple


group shot


monica's attempt at our self-portrait


the sakura were beautiful


real geisha





it felt like we were in china





see if you can spot the bird


Kinkaku-ji


Ryoan-ji- this place was absolutely beautiful.

Last week I participated in Seijin-shiki, the coming of age ceremony in Japan. Essentially you gather at a public building, listen to speakers, and then go out with friends to eat dinner and drink. Here's some pictures:


monica and me





the hawaii girls







It was really fun, but wearing kimono is like wearing an Asian corset. More to come soon.

I appologize for how long I've neglected to write in here. It feels like time is passing really quickly. Didn't I just get here last week?

The holidays have been really fun out here, but different. In Japan, Christmas isn't really celebrated. For the most part, families just give presents to the kids and not much else. For Christmas, I went with Stacie and Monica (two of the other Hawaii girls) to Tokyo Disneyland. Here are some of the pictures from our trip:


the entrance into disneyland


smaller entrance


stacie, me, and monica


first ride of the day


it's a small world..yep it's even in Japan


cute containers that came with our lunches


haunted mansion


castle at night :)


cute ear muffs


space mountain!


electric light parade


nemo


lilo and stitch

I promise to update with more pictures soon from new years :)

Sorry I haven't had the chance to update this in a while. I've been kept pretty busy with school and traveling around Tokyo. I hope to post more pictures soon.

So this past weekend I went with a a few friends to Yokohama and Shibuya on successive days. On Saturday we went to Yokohama and walked around mostly. Here are some of the pictures:





amusement park close to the harbor


huge ferris wheel that takes about half an hour to go all the way around


Oktoberfest...in Japan. I thought it was pretty funny.

ship in the harbor (Japanese coast guard)


Chinatown in Yokohama (apparently there's one of these everywhere)


Yuriko and Monica at a Starbucks in Yokohama


Nikki and I

Then on Sunday I went with Alec to Shibuya to meet up with Masa, Aiko, Ayumi (who were all coming from Nagoya), and Waka. We went did karaoke, ate really good food, and shopped around some of the shops. Here's some more pictures:


at karaoke





and at dinner

apartment complex where i'm living


school festival in sagamihara


携帯電話　:D


my room


nikki and marc (other uh kids)


alec and i


we found this in a プリクラ machine...pretty impressive


temple in kamakura


more garden


rock garden :D

So today was the first day of class. Japanese class is pretty intense, but it's what I'm here for I guess.

This weekend was pretty fun. I went to Harajuku with a bunch of friends on Saturday- it's a district in Tokyo that's known for more unusual fashions. Yesterday I went with Nikki, Marc, and Marc's host Dad to Kamakura beach which definitely pales in comparison to Hawaii beaches, but it was nice to be by the coast nonetheless. After coming home, my host parents had some family over to the house, including my host mom's grandparents. Everyone was really friendly and some tried to speak English with me.

Here's some pictures:


a view of Tokyo as we were arriving


my host sister :)

My internet connection is pretty awful at the moment, so I'll be uploading more photos later.

-Lea :D

Wow.  It`s only been a few days here so far but I`ve already had a lot of new and interesting experiences.  

Airport/Hotel:
It was pretty humid when we arrived in Narita.  I was greeted by an Obirin (the school I`m attending) representative and our Resident Director, Patrick Woo or Woo Sensei who speaks English, Japanese, and Mandarin all fluently.  He`s really nice and has been a great help so far.  We took a shuttle over to our hotel for the night where Stacie and I were roommates.   I was really glad that we weren`t taken to our host families the first night because we really needed some time to adjust a little bit and relax before having to worry about making a good impression.  

Obirin Daigaku:
The day after we arrived in Japan, we were taken to the University for a short orientation and were given the opportunity to meet other ryugakusei (study abroad students).  We have students here from all over the world including England, China, Denmark, and even India.  All of the UH students were pretty nervous before we met our host families, but I think everything has mostly turned out for the best.  I was pleasantly surprised when my host mother picked me up holding the hand of her 4 year old daughter who`s adorable (her name`s Sarah).

Host Family:
My host family has been wonderful so far.  My host Mom is a talented cook and she makes sure I`m taken care of.  Learning how to get to school was a bit of a struggle at first but we`ve finally worked out a route.  I ride the extra bicycle that my family has to one of the train stations where I can leave it while I`m at Obirin.  Then I ride the train to the Fuchinobe station from which I take a free bus to the campus itself.  It`s fairly simple but for the first couple of days I was petrified of getting lost although thankfully I didn`t.

Now we have a long weekend and I`m planning to get some shopping done.  Another update will be coming soon (hopefully with pictures :D ).

Oyasumi,
Lea

I'll be posting stuff about Japan here: notes, pictures, etc. It all starts Monday and I can't wait!