Hey everyone!

it's been quite a long time since i have last written an email. i have to say it is so easy to get so caught up with the busy japanese life. there are so many people out here at all times of the day that i really wonder if everyone is really working. oh well.

The last time I wrote we were in Shibuya - it's very busy out there... a bit too crowded. a huge urban area (well tokyo is a very urban area hehe) and a bit too packed. afterwards we managed to head out to Asakusa and experience a more old traditional japanese style shopping area and then we went to the temple close by. Since that day we had a wild trip.

The past week or so we went to Kyoto to do some sight seeing. Kyoto is really beautiful. the people there are fairly nice and can be quite talkative. in addition people in Kyoto have the "Kansai" accent which is supposedly harder to understand compared to most other people in japan. supposed i have been told that people who live in the southern parts of japan have this accent. however i havent been able to figure out the difference and havent noticed it at all. In kyoto we went to see Nijo castle which is fairly huge. nijo castle is most famous for their "nightengale" floors which creak when you walk over it. theres a special way that the floors have been constructed that when you walk accross you can hear it. the whole castle has these floors to prevent any intruders from entering.

we only had about a day and half in kyoto and we managed to also visit Kyoto tower - which is fairly beautiful and the sight from up on top is amazing. kyoto is really huge! the next day we then headed to TOEI Movieland and got to check out the movie sets that they used for old samurai movies and dramas. they are continuously filming so you can see lights and other movie sets through out the small amusement park. after TOEI movie land we managed to quickly get to Kiyomizu temple - which is HUGE. it is up on top of one of the hills in kyoto and you have to trek up there. the sight is beautiful you can see a great deal of kyoto from there. however, we didnt get to spend much time there because we had to quickly get back to kyoto station to catch the shinkansen back.

we took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagoya since the next day we planned to go to the Aichi festival. we spent the remaining night in Nagoya and we managed to visit Pokemon Park (Pokepark). Pokepark is actually only set up only for the Aichi festival and will be removed after the aichi expo is over in late september. for those who dont know what Pokemon is - it is a famous japanese cartoon about catching strange moster creatures and using them for battle competitions. it is a cartoon that has influenced the children of japan into a whole lot of cute merchandise and well... an amusement park. we actually had a lot of fun - we did ride a few rides but this was definately expensive. those kids who managed to get to pokepark are really lucky considering the cost of rides averaged about 700 yen a piece.

the next day we packed our bags and stored them in the coin lockers at nagoya station and then managed to navigate our way through the station. we ended up at the nagoya bus station and there we purchased our ticket to the aichi world expo and a round trip bus ride over there. i have to say.... the aichi world expo was impressive... if you actually had a few days there. it was so crowded that we couldnt even see the main attractions. all the huge attractions required getting tickets (that you had to wait in line for) and waiting in line before hand. definately not worth our time. however we did manage to see part of the Mammoth lab and the huge mammoth head they have on display and we also had a chance to see the largest kalidoscope in the entire world. it was beautiful. the theme of the expo was some sort of enviromental natrual living theme and we checked out the "biolung" walk way which were these huge walls full of plant material and misters - it was nice and cool. perhaps i will elaborate more w hen i actually have time. in addition we walked through a bunch of exhibits of a ton of countries and well by the end we actually got sick and tired of how crowded the place got. so we headed back to nagoya station early, purchased a bento box and took the shinkansen home.

Since then we went to Nikko which is close to Tokyo and headed up to the mountains - i think i will talk more about this in my next email. I have written a lot already. I hope everyone has been doing well.

OH! for my parents who requested wondering how much money on average i:ve been spending....

rail tickets around tokyo on average on a full day will cost nearly $10 per a day.

food will cost anywhere from 480 yen up to 1500 yen. the exchange for this is about 100 yen to $1.00 depending on where you go depends on the cost of food. if we go to an izakaya (a place with small appatizer type of food and alcoholic drinks) this will average about $30 a person. Ramen and other noodles on average about 480 - 600 yen. the few times i have had curry cost around 680 - 700 yen. and well lately we have been living off of rice balls and crepes. japanese crepes cost on average 450 yen and rice balls are about 110 a piece. drinks in the vending machines cost about 120 yen up to 150 yen depending on what you are getting. \r\n\r\n \r\nthe great thing about the food out here is that there is no tipping - it is already included which makes calculating things a lot easier. though this also makes food a bit expensive at times.\r\n \r\nokay thats all for now - i will update further on my past trip up to Nikko, and around tokyo in my next post.
rail tickets around tokyo on average on a full day will cost nearly $10 per a day.
food will cost anywhere from 480 yen up to 1500 yen. the exchange for this is about 100 yen to $1.00 depending on where you go depends on the cost of food. if we go to an izakaya (a place with small appatizer type of food and alcoholic drinks) this will average about $30 a person. Ramen and other noodles on average about 480 - 600 yen. the few times i have had curry cost around 680 - 700 yen. and well lately we have been living off of rice balls and crepes. japanese crepes cost on average 450 yen and rice balls are about 110 a piece. drinks in the vending machines cost about 120 yen up to 150 yen depending on what you are getting.

the great thing about the food out here is that there is no tipping - it is already included which makes calculating things a lot easier. though this also makes food a bit expensive at times.

okay thats all for now - i will update further on my past trip up to Nikko, and around tokyo in my next post.

JIJ Vol 001 - First post from japan

I have arrived safely in Japan a few days ago. Right now I am sittingin an internet type of cafe at HMV CD store out in Shibuya (Tokyoarea). After this my friend Sue and I are planning to go to Ginza,Asakusa and Ueno.The past three days have been really busy and very hot! the air outhere is hot and humid. Yesterday, we went to Odaiba to see Fuji TV,Palette Town, and a few shopping malls.We also went to the beach and touched the pacific ocean from this sideof the world. it was fantastic. what was really fun at the beach waswatching all the fish close to shore make these amazing leaps into theair and then back into the water.the landscape here in japan has been amazing - i kinda wished I hadbrought a botanical book of all the plants in japan but unfortunatelymy luggage has been too heavy.Some of you might know that we (my travelling buddy Sue, and I) areHUGE fans of T.M. Revolution (a japanese pop singer -http://www.tm-revolution.com ) and on Sunday we went to AjinomotoStadium and went to the A-vex nation 2005 summer concert. We listenedto T.M. Revolution sing six songs, and afterwards we went with ourjapanese friends to an Izakaya.an Izakaya is a japanese style resturant where they serve snack typeof foods and alcoholic/non alcoholic drinks. its generally for peopleto gather, eat and drink, and talk a lot. we did this with ourjapanese friends on Saturday night and Sunday night. Then on Mondaywe went to Odaiba as mentioned before, after that we went into Tokyoand hung out at one of the smaller Fuji TV stations to watch T.M.Revolution arrive for his night time radio show "All Night Nippon".So we have been running around like crazy.
i have to say the transportaion is amazing out here... though we tendto get a little lost, we have been managing very well getting out toplaces. so after this we will embark on the rest of todays trip. ihope everyone is doing well and i hope to email soon again. takecare

JIJ VOL 000: Pre-Japan Notification

So. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to write again - so this is a pre-journey message for all of those who are reading.

In just a few hours I'll be heading down to San Jose Airport. My flight from San Jose leaves at 7:45AM and will arrive at 8:55AM at Los Angeles Airport. Some may wonder why i'm flying to Los Angeles Airport - but actually I will be saving $100 flying out of LAX. In addition - i have a free one way ticket with southwest - so I don't have to pay any additional fee. Once at LAX, I will be meeting with my friend from New York (we are going to Japan together), we will check in with United International Airlines - my flight will leave at 12:35PM (I also have to get my butt from Terminal 1 to Terminal 7!) and I will arrive at Narita airport at 4:00PM.

I will meet up with my Japanese friend Taka and she will take care of us. She has two weeks planned out for us, and after that I will be solo for 3 weeks. Though I have already planned a general schedule of where I will be going - a cross country trip through Japan and eventually settling down in Fukuoka (where I will be going to school).

My estimated schedule is as follows:
20 Auguest - 23 Auguest Sightseeing in Tokyo
24 Auguest Morning Go to Nagoya Sightseeing Aichi Expo
25 Auguest P/M Go to Kyoto
26 Auguest Sightseeing in Kyoto
Back to Tokyo
27 Auguest Go to Nikko Sightseeing Nikko
28 Auguest Back to Tokyo
29 Auguest Sightseeing in Tokyo
30 Auguest Go to Kamakura Sightseeing in Kamakura
31 August - 4 September - Stay in Tokyo
5 September - Go to Hotadake and Sapporo
6 September - go to Akan kohan
7 September - Hiking at Mekan (close to Akan kohan)
8 September - Return to Sapporo
9 September - Return to Tokyo
10 September - 14 September - Go to Nou, Sightseeing in Niigata perfecture
15 September - 21 September - Go to Kyoto, sightseeing
22 September - 25 September - go to Osaka, more sight seeing
26 September - Go to Kyushu, move into dormitory

While in Nou I will be visiting with my friend Fiona who is currently teaching english there. Also - somewhere between Kyoto and Osaka I will visit my friend Catherine who will also be studying abroad at the same time. I hope to visit as many gardens, take as many photos and be comepletely engrossed in the whole Urban atmosphere. As for now - I bid adieu. I've got to turn this laptop off and pack it away.