Skipping School to go on a Trip (June 24)

So, todayI skipped school (yes, we have school on Saturdays...). It seems that some bad habits from school back in the US have carried over to Japan... lol Anyways, I'm actually not entirely sure where my host family took me, just that it took about an hour and a half to get there. But then again, that's basically anything of any real significance... I'm starting to get an idea of what it's like for all of you who live way out in the country (Keers & Caroline...) Anyways, here're some pics of my trip:

Here's a shot I took while I was on the road. I still can't quite get over how absolutely beautiful it is out here.

There I am sitting by the firepit in an old ryokan (Japanese hotel)

This is the watermill that powered the previous ryokan. It also had a setup where it could be used to grind grain.

This was a viewpoint next to where we parked before heading down the street with all the old ryokans.

After a bit more driving, we stopped by this waterfall for a little break.

See that sign in the bottom left? For those of you who can read, you'll get a general idea of what it says. Just remember, this was a sign I saw in a restaurant where I got some udon... Well, if you're totally lost, that says "Uma-sashi" or Horse sashimi. Yes, apparantly, you can get raw horse in Japan... Not something I'm going to try though... (They have beef sashimi and chicken sashimi too)

This is the meal I got there (no sashimi). Starting from the top, that's mountain vegetable tempura. Then, there're assorted mushrooms as well as various pickled items to place in the broth (currently covered) for dipping the udon (top right, duh). The rice is actually chestnut rice and is mixed with sesame seeds and boiled chestnuts... it's incredibly tasty.

This is a ball of rice on a stick and coated with a soy sauce and sesame glaze. The clear stuff to the left is a noodle which supposedly contains zero calories. The perfect diet food!! (except, we added a bunch of soy sauce to it...) And yes, this did make up my second lunch of the day...

These people here are making pencils by carving wood. Long story short, I bought some of their pencils, for a price 10 times more than I was expecting... yen to dollar conversions can be a bit confusing some times....

This is a horse made out of straw outside a store. Inside, there are smaller versions of it, but I'm not quite sure as to its significance.

Afterwards, we went and visited a temple. This building had burned down and they are not in the process of rebuilding it.

But, this is the actual temple portion, unharmed by fire.

Lastly, I had to get a picture of their manholes because they're just so darn cool.

Driving in Japan

or Why the Japanese Driving Age is 18, not 15 1/2

First of all, I would like to dissuade you all from the typical misconception that Asians are poor drivers. Sure, they may not be able to see the road all that well, but if you want proof, come to Japan for a bit. Either they are incredible drivers, or just really bad with awesome luck. Either way, it works out pretty well. lol Anyways, on with my story.

So, back when I was in Kyoto last year, I thought I had seen scary driving. Zipping along a narrow path with cliffs on either edge while riding in a Japanese taxi... that was nothing.

Out here in the countryside, the following form of driving is the norm. First of all, everyone drives a little over the speed limit. At first, this won't seem like much as it is about the same as what we do in the US (5 over in mph, 10 over in kph) but when compounded with the following info, you will see why even this little bit freaks me out.

So, here's the kicker... the roads are narrow!! I know, I know, I've said this before, right? Well, take a look at this picture:

See those white lines on the road? Look familiar?? Those are stop lines (yes, the same as in the US, just on opposite sides of the road). Do you notice something rather strange about those lines?? How about the fact that they overlap? How about the other fact that those lines are barely wider than any of the cars in Japan. So, what do you do when two cars meet going opposite directions?? Both cars pull over as close as possible to the sides of the road, such that the mirror brushes the wall/lampost/whatever happens to be there and the other side brushes the oncoming car. And no one bothers to brake for this... This is why I get freaked out when people are going over the speed limit.

Here's a picture of an oncoming car, granted, this is when it's pulled over to the side of the road...


And now that I've got you all riled up, here's a beautiful view of the country side from the car window to relax you:

A Glance at Inuyama (June 23)

So, here a few pictures from my wandering through Inuyama. This will be followed by my revelations as to why the Japanese cannot drive until they are 18... (sucks for them)

This is Japanese class in Japan... I think. There is no way they can possibly expect me to follow what's going on here. Most of the students are totally lost and they can speak the language!!

This caught my eye when I first went into the subway, partially because this is the subway I take every morning to school. Now we know the source of all the global warming!!

I'm glad my sister's not like this... I was waiting for the subway, and I saw these two kids. The older sister had a deck of cards which she proceeded to throw on the ground one by one. The little brother then had to go and pick them all up, while she continued throwing them... at him.

This is the local shopping center. I've already done a bit of shopping here.

This is a pretty cool fountain outside of Inuyama-eki. I spent about 10 minutes just watching it cycle over and over... then my host mom arrived and I was able to go home.

Inuyama-eki. This and practically every other local station look just like that, just with different name signs.

These are some girls hanging out and smoking outside Inuyama-eki. Practically everyone in Japan smokes... At least my host family doesn't!!

Isn't this an awesome clock? (See if you can find the clock part... it's not THAT hard...)

First Day of School (June 22)

So, as soon as I get a single night's rest in Inuyama, I get to wake up at 4:30 and go to school... hooray... (Japanese people better not read this, because that was sarcasm just now lol)

So, here's my first class... English. At least it's something I have a decent grasp of. Basically, I just get called on a lot to give pronounciations of words. Good thing I don't have a thick accent.

This is history class... looks familiar. It seems that sleeping is universal to all history classes. lol The sensei came around with his book and poked everyone at one point in the class. That was pretty entertaining. (He wouldn't let me take a picture of it...)

Here's the cafeteria lunch. The food they get here (and just for 500 yen) is so much better than the crappy cafeteria food back home...

Math class... But who wants to do trig when the gaijin has a camera and you're in the back of the class anyways?

Meeting My Host Family (June 21)

So, on this day, we finally broke apart from our YFU groups and went to go meet our host families (unless you were one of those few who'd already done so...)

So, here I am with my host parents after getting off the shinkansen (bullet train)

Right off the bat, they took me sightseeing (after going to get some lunch at an okonomiyaki restaurant). We stopped by Nagoya-joo (Castle) and here I am sitting on one of the golden dolphins that is atop practically every castle in Japan.

Now, here I am outside of Nagoya-joo

My first real Japanese meal!! (Stupid YFU people forcing us to eat Western food in Japan!! Bah Humbug) BTW, that's all sashimi... And yes, I did eat it all.

YFU Official Meeting & Tokyo Wandering (June 20)

So, this day was spent meeting with some government officials followed by free time in Tokyo. Check out the pics!

Here're Jessica, Sam, and George outside YFU Japan's main office (and our buffet)

Jennie digging in to all the awesome food.

One of the photo groups with YFU President, Okala

Another group with Okala

Daniela and I outside the local Temple

A monk playing the drums in the temple

Daniela and Amanda outside the Temple

Daniela getting her first vending machine drink in Japan (Milk Tea)

Amanda getting HER first vending machine drink in Japan (natural spring water)

Daniela and Amanda at our awesome ramen shop (we got the entire second floor to ourselves)

Daniela attempting to eat her mango custard thing with chopsticks... actually didn't do so bad

Amanda and Daniela outside the coolest ramen shop ever

A manhole for firemen (instead of fire hydrants)

This was from my second dinner... another ramen shop, but not as cool

Heater was actually the only one to order ramen (we all got gyooza)

There's the group (and our gyooza)

Griffin, Rosalind, and George hanging out while eating some pineapple ice (it was soooo good)

First Day In Japan!! (June 19, 2006)

Here're some pics from our first day in Japan!! Finally, after a grueling 10 hour flight, we're here!!

These are just some random baseball players we decided we wanted to get pictures of.

Check out the bathroom in the hotel. That toilet is pretty high tech. Complete with a bidet, "shower," heated seat, deodorizer, controls for water pressure, and probably some other stuff I couldn't figure out...

The room was a bit small, but it served it's purpose.

If you look closely, the bed table between the two beds is filled with controls. It lets you do anything from changing the intensity of the room light, dimming the individual sides of the lamp, changing radio channels, setting an alarm, turning the TV on and off and changing volume/channel, turning on a foot light, etc.


Of course, if you go to Japan, you have to spend at least an hour in a Karaoke Box... And that's exactly what we did as soon as we arrived at our hotel. Here're some pics, and I'll have movies posted on YouTube in a bit. Keep an eye out for links!!







Here's the view from our room at night. We get a great view of Tokyo Tower!!