Woohoo break!

So after two weeks of working hard we get a break. Next week we don't have any classes, so I can catch up on a lot of things including sleep ... and all the characters I neglected to study. Over break I might go to Nanjing and Shanghai with some classmates. These two guys, Tai Li and Ji Maike, are hilarious and their Chinese is really good, so I would like to go with them. If I don't go with them I will hardcore kick it in Beijing and try to find people to skateboard with. Either way I will have some fun and relax.

Today I went to a large store called Carrefour. It is like Wal-mart. I went because I have been looking for flavored, liquid, coffee mate. I have not found any and nobody knows where I can get it. Since I did not want to travel to the other side of town where the American ex-patriots live I went to this place. I ended up getting flavored coffee and condensed milk instead.

Afterwards I went to the local Apple store. I ended up buying a USB drive because it is hard to get my computer online. I almost bought an Airport Express base station, but I decided to wait until my apartment has ADSL to buy any routers or anything. I met a salesperson in the store who is learning English. Maybe I can hang out with her and practice English. Maybe if I develop some guanxi I can get lower prices on things. Who knows though.

Tonight I am going to eat sushi with a friend since she wants to treat herself. Lately she has been getting frustrated with China, so she needs something to cheer her up. I was more than happy to accompany her since I really like sushi.

Time to run, I can't wait for sushi!

Mid Autumn Festival is Almost Here!

So tomorrow is a holiday called Zhongqiu Jie, or Mid Autumn Festival. This is when the moon is it's fullest and roundest. The tradition of Zhongqiu Ji is to buy mooncakes and eat them while admiring the beauty of the moon at this time of year. Most people go home to visit family on this holiday, but if some can't go home then they eat mooncakes and admire the moon from where they are. They can rest easily knowing that their family, no matter how far away, are doing the same. With that being said I plan to eat mooncakes and admire the moon with my classmates tomorrow night. After I go out to dinner with my temporary Chinese mother, as I like to call her, I will meet my friends at one of the small lakes on campus to view the moon. I will be thinking of all my friends at home.

Besides being excited about tomorrow night I am looking forward to the my classes tomorrow. Rather than describing are text verbatim, like usual, we are going to do a little role playing in two of my classes. In one class I get to be a government official advocating the one child policy. In the other I am a husband in an arranged marriage. I am not as excited about the second class.

Today I walked around campus and took lots of photos of the cleaner and prettier parts of the campus. I will be taking more photos of different aspects of the campus. This includes some of the not as nice aspects, for example, the small rivers that go through campus. On the school's website they look really nice and beautiful, but right now they don't have much water, if any, and they stink. Sandra also requested that I take pictures of the traffic congestion, so I will. Maybe then you can understand the perils of riding a bicycle in Beijing.

This morning a teacher helped me find some information about skateboarding in Beijing. Apparently the shopping area I went to a couple weeks ago has a church nearby. At the church there are a lot of kids who skateboard. Since I know how to take the subway there I will go over our break. I need to be careful though. I think I will walk around and do some shopping before hand or just watch the people skateboard to make sure I won't get arrested. Getting stuck in a Chinese jail would suck. On the other hand, if I can meet some cool people to go skateboarding with that would be cool as well.

I climbed the Great Wall!

Today I went to the Great Wall at Simatai with my classmates and teachers. It was really exciting, but tiring at the same time.

This morning we left campus on a charter bus at 8:00 am and drove 3 hours outside of Beijing to the Simatai portion of the Great Wall. This portion of the wall is supposedly one of the more beautiful parts of the wall and there are not as many tourists at this part of wall.

When we arrived at the bottom of the hill we ate lunch at a small restaurant. It was traditional family style meal. The food was good, but there were some odd dishes brought out to us. I tried everything and did not find anything I didn't like too much.

After we ate we started our trip up the wall. We could have taken a cable car part way up the mountain, but a few of us decided to walk all the way up and down. In the end it was not too bad. First we started on a trail that goes up to Great Wall. After about 40 minutes of walking we arrived at the Great Wall.

The first I noticed about the wall was the difference in size and height of all the stairs. I expected this, but it does not allow for anyone climbing the wall to have any sort of rythm. A lot of times the pace is awkward because the steps change in height or are too short for people with large feet. The beginning of the wall was the steepest part of the wall to climb. We made our way up the wall taking photos along the way. The views were amazing even though the weather was not too clear. We passed quite a few guard towers along the way and eventually we made it to then end of the wall we could walk on. The end of the wall was guarded by security, so you could not pass into more dangerous parts of the wall. My friends and I tried to ask the guard what we could do to keep going, but he would not let us. Mostly we were just joking around with him.

At the top of the wall we rested for a while and took more photos with classmates and teachers. After a nice break we headed back down. My friend was definitely right when he said going down was a lot easier. It took us about half the time to go down. Near the steeper parts of the wall we found it was actually easier to walk sideways down the steps because our feet were too long.

The part of the wall we climbed passes through a valley. It goes down one side and up the other. At the bottom there is a small lake. This lake was most likely a man made lake, but I am not totally sure. Anyways, at the point where the Great Wall meets the trail back down the mountain there is a zip line which goes over the lake from one side of the valley to the other. Being a risk taker, I could not pass up this opportunity to go. I payed my 35 kuai and rode the zip line down. It was a lot of fun and much better than walking. We then took a small boat back to the parking lot where I bought a couple shirts.

After everyone returned we headed home on the bus. All in all it was a lot of fun. I would definitely like to go back. I hope to be able to share all the photos with you guys soon.

Biking in Beijing

So now that I have a couples in Beijing I feel like I have enough bike experiences to share with you guys.

First off I don't think anyone in China understands the simple concepts of traffic. This includes which side of the road to ride on and, more specifically, how to avoid crashing into other and inanimate objects.

The campus of Tsinghua University has a few main roads on it. There is a main which goes in front of the building where my classes are. This road goes north south. There is a road which goes east west that intersects the north south road. I can ride my bike on this road and then take a left at the intersection to go to class, but I usually take a less used route which takes me behind my building. I thought this route would be safer since there a fewer people, but I have seen my fare share of accidents or near accidents. For example the other morning I saw a student ride his bike directly into a small cement divider. The problem was that in one part of the road there are 4 or 5 small concrete dividers to add some organization to an otherwise unorganized system. Whenever people ride through this area they have to choose which columns to ride between. I saw two students, only two students, riding in the opposite direction try and decide which route to take. What struck me as odd is that neither of the students decided to change their mind once they both realized they were headed for the same spot. One of the students did not stop at all, while the other took his feet of the pedals and did not break at all before running into the small cement pillar. It seems like in a place where people ride bikes so often people would be experts at avoiding collisions. However, it is quite the opposite.

On top of this inability to avoid collisions, I do not think people understand what a blind corner is. In just about the same place I described before there is a bend in the road. At the bend there is a huge bush on one side of the road. For some reason people think it is a good idea to ride out from behind from the bush without slowing down or looking for people coming in the opposite direction. After noticing this the first day I decided to ride on the other side of road when I approach that intersection.

I have to say that despite the fact that accidents happen all the time, the people who ride bikes around Beijing have some sort of inate skill at carrying the strangest things on their bikes. I have seen numerous people balancing huge boxes on the back of their bike while riding through rush hour traffic. I saw one guy carrying a box of stuff the size of a small refrigerator. He had one hand on the handle bars and one hand on his box, all the while riding through the intersections as if it was nothing. He must have had a lot of courage.

I have some other stories about my friends almost getting run of the road, but I think you guys get the idea. People only seem to be concerned about themselves and no one else, even if it means it increases their chances of getting into an accident.

I got sick

A couple of days ago I read Alissa's blog and she mentioned that she got sick. I must have jinxed myself by reading because yesterday I got sick. I was feeling a little under the weather. I was sneezing and coughing a lot, but it was not severe. If I was in Seattle I would have gone to school, but since I did not want to push myself too hard I decided not to go to classes. The last thing I wanted was for my
sickness to get worse while I was in Beijing. It is not like I can't get things fixed, but being away from home makes things just a little more uncomfortable and harder to handle.

I spent most of the morning sleeping and reading Goblet of Fire. I was able to read half the book and finish it yesterday. I think it is the best one of the series so far. I liked the twist at the end. I will not reveal it in case people are planning on reading it. After I finished Harry Potter I studied Chinese. Right before I went to bed I start The Two towers. It will probably take me a while to finish this
new book since it is not such a quick read and my workload will probably increase soon.

Last Saturday night I went to a classmates house to eat dumplings. There were very delicious, so I ate a lot of them. I also didn't want them to think I didn't like them. While we were eating we talked about all sorts of things. I am envious of my classmate because the lady he lives with is really cool. She talked to us about all sorts of things, one for example was baijiu. Baijiu (buy gee oh) is a notoriously bad
tasting, low quality alcoholic drink. I have not tried and I don't want to after hearing all of the horror stories.

My classmates roommate is also a friend of the lady I am staying with, so I will probably hang out with them more often. I am still living on my own, but I heard that my roommate will be coming home in the middle of next week. In one sense I am disappointed because I won't be living on my own. In another sense I am happy because I will have someone to practice Chinese with. I will be able to learn new Chinese sayings and practice the ones I learned in class.

This Saturday IUP is taking a field trip to the Great Wall of China. We are going to go to the Simaitai portion of the wall. Apparently this is a more beautiful section of the wall, so I am excited. I am going to study up on how to talk about the wall, so I can have a better experience. I am also going to take a lot of pictures.
Afterwards I will share them with you.

After the field trip there will be another one of the weekly IUP parties. Even though I will be tired I will definitely want to go because I am realizing how nice it is to have one evening to kick back and relax. I can understand why the greek system has parties so often. They are a very cathartic activity.

If anyone wants me to send them postcards or letters in the mail, just let me know in an email and give me your mailing address. It is relatively cheap for me to send mail to the states. Only about $.80 for each letter. There is a post office right near my house, so it is really convenient. I will also put my address printed on a piece of paper, so you can mail me back if you want. If you want my address
here in Bejing you can also find it here My Mailing Address in Beijing. I really like finding mail in my mailbox, so I encourage you to mail
me.

Almost time for class

This weekend was fun because another IUP student from princeton held a party. There were about 20 people there. The activities varied from Beer Pong, in Chinese Ping Pang Pijiu, to discussions on current political issues.

I stayed up way to late Saturday, so I lazy in terms of studying yesterday. I didn't start until 8:30, so I had to wake up at 5:30 this morning to prepare for class. Even though the classes are getting easier in terms of preparation I still have to change my study habits.

I am enjoying my classes a lot, but I am missing everyone.

Gotta run to class. Please email me! Bye!

Now that I am settled in Tsinghua ...

The last week has been pretty hectic for me in Beijing. I can now give you a guys a play by play of the last week since my friend has graciously let me use her computer in the foreign students dorm.

The first day I arrived in Bejing I was able to get to Tsinghua without a problem. Since it was late in the afternoon I really only had time to get to the IUP office at Wen Bei Lou. After I checked I went to the hotel on the east side of the Tsinghua campus. Since there was no gate on that side of the campus I had to take a little bit of a winding path. This path took me down an interesting road. It is just about the same as a two lane road in America, but it had some special characteristics. Specfically there were no sidewalks, just some dirt on the side of the road. On top of having no sidewalks to keep traffic and pedestrians separated there were quite a few cars and lots of people on bikes. There seemed to be little order to was supposed to go at intersections, but after a few days I have realized this is the order. People just sort of go. One person is brave at first and steps out, then a couple follow. Eventually there are enough people to stop traffic. Then they can cross. Anyways after I made my way to my hotel room I read all the paperwork that IUP gave me. After I was done with that I went to a local cd shop and bought some cheap music and then went to the hotel and ate some instant noodles.

The next day I was able to take all my stuff from the hotel to the apartment where I was staying. I had to go to the IUP office first. When I was carrying my shoulder bag and two backpacks lots of people would walk by and then say something along the lines of, "wow his stuff is heavy". I would turn to look and they would still be amazed at it's weight, but since there were backpacks it was quite comfortable. Along the way a couple people on bikes asked if I wanted help, but I figured it was a ploy to make money, so I declined their offers.

Later that afternoon I was able to find a room in an apartment in the southwest part of the campus. I am supposed to be living a retired professor. She is 73 years. The only reason I say that I am supposed to be living with her is that right now she is travelling in France, so I am living by myself. Everyone once in a while her friend or her daughter will come over to stay the night, but most of the time we just talk on the phone and I tell them how I am not having any problems and everything is fine. It is pretty nice to have the place to myself. It has a refrigerator, bathroom, washer and everything. It might be odd when the lady I am living with wants to return because I might be used to living on my own by then.

After a few days of settling into my place and doing various IUP related activities the weekend came. With some of my new friends I went to a party that another IUP student was having. It was fun, but at the same time odd because I had not spoken any English until that night. I got used to it quickly because it was much easier than using Chinese.

During the days before class I was also able to buy a bike and a cell phone. When you buy the phone you also pay a certain amount of money to add time to your phone. Once your time gets low you have to recharge the phone, so you can keep using it. On the second I had my phone I spent all my money calling Eric and Sandra. I was only able to talk to them for like 15 minutes too! I hear that it is a lot cheaper for people to call me from America. I am going to go to http://www.pincity.com to investigate. If there is anything good I will tell you guys how to call me from America.

Last week Janny, Tammy and I went to Tiananmen Square and Wangfujing. Right now Tiananmen Square is not so nice looking. People are busy putting up a lot of decorations and trees for an upcoming festival. We decided that we go back later when the square was less busy. I didn't seem to feel the impact of the historical signifigance because there was so much other stuff going on, like biulding fake mountains. After we went to Tiananmen Square we went to Wangfujing. This is a shopping area that sort of reminded me of Japan. There were a lot of American stores along the road. There was also a street where you could walk down and eat all sorts of snacks. You could get these snacks from small carts on the side of the road. These carts are sanctioned by some sort of local government, so it is alright to eat there if you are worried about getting sick. Most everything was sold on a stick. For example you could get chicken, beef, lamb and fruit on a stick. On top of that there were some carts which were definitely catering to tourists and the stereotypes they might have by selling odd things like bugs and lizards on a stick. Needless to say we didn't try any of those.

Today I went to a Wal-Mart like store to buy a clothing rack to hang my clothes on as well as some other little things. I bought some coffee from starbucks and then came back to my friends dorm. Now it is time for me to head back to my place to put away the stuff I bought. Afterwards I am going to a classmates house to eat dumplings with the family he is staying with. After we eat we are going to go to a party.

I miss you guys a lot. Feel free to email me because even though I should be having a great time, sometimes I am not and it is nice to hear what you guys are doing in the states.

This past week we started classes. Everyday I start at 8:00 am and end at 2:00 with 2 hour long breaks. I use these breaks to either prepare for my upcoming classes or get food. There is a cafeteria right near the building with our classes where I can get lunch for less than 8 kuai, or $1 American. It is great! The classes are kind of difficult, since I am getting used to studying in general. Shifting from two weeks of travel to studying was a little hard. A few times last week I woke up 6:00 am to study, so that I would be prepared for class.

Has it been a week already?

I can not believe it has been a week since I have arrived in Beijing already. I have done a lot of things to prepare for classes and I have also done some fun things.

I was just able to get a good connection to the internet at my friends dorm room, so I was able to update my blog alot. Everything in China has been pretty nice except for one thing ... getting online is hard. I have been able to send and respond to email, but getting onto website is tricky. Sometimes you can visit websites and sometimes you are unable to for some reason. For being such a big University, the internet is really bad. I do not think this is the MIT of China anymore. I was watching my connection rate and I was receiving at less than 10 KB/s most of the time I was updating my blog.

Anyways, I have lots of stories and thoughts about Japan which will take a little longer to write. Since I need to eat dinner and start my homework I do not have time right now, but by the end of the week I will post all of this.

Thanks for being patient guys.

Oh yeah, if you want me to send you postcards or anything in the mail, just send me your address.

As for the time difference. I am a day ahead of you guys, but the hour is 9 hours behind you. So when I get out of class at 2:00 pm it will be 11:00 pm in Seattle. That might be the likeliest time anyone will see me online.

Arriving in Beijing

After a short flight from Tokyo I was in Beijing. I am not sure how long the flight was because my ticket said we would arrive at 4:00 pm, but we got there at about 2:30 pm and rather than leaving at around 11:00 am, it was almost noon by the time we left. All this combined with the time difference left me confused, so I can only guess that the flight was about 3 or 4 hours.

Just like we had used a bus in Japan, I had to do the same thing in Beijing to get to the terminal. It was easy getting through customs and finding a taxi to get to Tsinghua. While I was in the terminal there were some taxi drivers who tried to get me to use their taxis. I had been warned about these guys before, so I knew not to take them. Often times they will not start their meter or they will drive all over the place since they know that most foreigners do not know where they are going. In the end they charge really inflated prices. Tsinghua gave me good instructions on how to get a good taxi, so I only paid about 80 kuai, or about $10. The exchange rate is very good for most foreigners here. For me, for every American dollar I get 8 Chinese dollars.

When I arrived at the University I grabbed my bags and headed for Wen Bei Lou, which is where the IUP offices are located. I checked in when I got there and they told me where my hotel was. After chatting with them for a little about what I needed to get done and what I had time to do I went to my hotel. The walk is not too far. It only takes about 30 minutes, but with all my stuff it was a little troublesome. On the way I had to stop at the ATM to get some cash for the next few days. Luckily there were two nice students from IUP who helped my find the ATM and my way to the hotel. Their names are Janny and Tammy.

By the time I arrived at my room and got settled it was almost dinner time, so I opened my welcome packet and read that for a while before I got hungry. I ended up going to the local convenience store to get some food for dinner. On my trip out I also went to a small music shop and bought a cd. It came out to about $1.60. I am almost positive it is not the real deal.

I just ate my dinner and I have gotten organized, so it pretty much time for bed, since I don't have much else to do.

I do miss everyone though. I hope to be able to chat online or through email with everyone while I am here because I am sure I am not the only person having fun. Even though I am doing a bunch of new things half way across the world it is going to be the everyday things in Seattle that I will miss, so if people can tell me about that it would be great. If you want to start your own blog, I suggest http://www.blogger.com. let me know if you start one because I will put a link from mine to yours.

The Final Test, getting myself to the airport

My flight this morning left Narita Airport at 10:55 am. To make sure I was there early enough I wanted to get to the airport at about 8:00 am. To make sure I had enough time to get to the airport meant I needed to wake up at 5:00 am and catch the 5:30 am train to Gotanda. I then took the train to Tokyo station and went all the way down stairs wherer I was able to catch the 6:30 am express train to the Airport. The whole trip from hostel to the airport was about 2 hours. I am really glad that I didn't have a problem on the trains. I am also glad they were not packed because I was carrying about 60 pounds of luggage with me. It was not too heavy, but it was a little cumbersome.

Once at the airport I was able to talk to the information desk and ask them where I needed to check in. The place was right next to where I was, but I did not realize because this airport worked differently than the other airports I have been to thus far. Rather than each airline having it's own counter there is a large plaza area with 10 or 15 check in counters that are fenced in. At any given time only certain airlines are checking in baggage at each check in center. Their is a big sign above each of them that display which airline is currently being serviced.

Since I was a little early I had to wait about 45 minutes before I could check in. So to waste some time and spend the rest of my yen I did three things. First I called Jesse to let him know that I made it to the airport alright. Next I went to starbucks to enjoy one last Matcha Cream Frappucino and one last curry doughnut. After I was done eating I hopped onto a computer that had access to the internet to send some emails. I told people I was fine and that I had fun in Japan and that I was heading to China and I probably would not have good internet access for a while.

Soon afterwards I went to my gate and waited for my bus. This was another difference from other airports I had been too. Rather than boarding the plane right at the gate, at this terminal we had to board a bus which took us to the plane. We got off the bus and then got on the plane.

Right now I still on the flight and I taking little naps and trying to finish 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. It is pretty good once you get into it. After I finish this I am going to start the next Harry Potter book. It will be my little escape from Beijing if I need one.

Enough of Tokyo, onto Yokohama

Today was the last day in Japan that I had free, so eventhough Jesse was at work I still wanted to go out. Last night Kumi said she had plans to go to Yokohama, so I thought it would be fun to join her and Tomoe. We decided to meet a little later in the day because we needed to rest and we all had our own stuff to take care of.

This morning I had to do my laundry because I had not done any since I left Florida. My first task was to get some laundry detergent. This was not too bad since I know Kanji, or Chinese characters. I gave the lady at the front desk a piece of paper that said 'wash clothes' with 50 yen and then she gave me the detergent. I thought the rest of the process was going to be a piece of cake, but it wasn't. I had no idea idea it was going to be so expensive. I was used to paying 50 cents for washing and 50 cents for drying at my mom's house, but at my hostel it was a lot different. Since I didn't know where any other laundry mats were I had no choice. The wash itself was 300 yen or $3.00! Then I had to dry all my clothes. I am not sure if Japanese driers do not dry as fast or as hot as my drier at home, but it took me 50 minutes to dry the clothes I had washed. This was even when I checked it frequently and took out the stuff that was already dry. At 100 yen, $1.00, for 10 minutes it cost $5.00 to dry my laundry. I also had to dry my towel, which thankfully only took 10 minutes, so I ended up spending almost $10.00 for one load of laundry!

While I was drying my laundry I was able to walk around my neighborhood. It was a pretty nice place. It was not too rural or too urban. It was sort of in between. Sort of like Columbia City, but the stores are mych more compact and cramped. You could consider Rainer Ava. as being the Ikegami train line which went through the neighborhood. At that time of the morning none of the restaurants were open, so I went to a bakery to get one of those tasty curry doughnuts. I also walked past an elementary school where there were kids stretching on the playground.

After all my clothes were washed, dried and folded I hopped on the train to Shibuya where we met at hachi-Ko statue and then headed to Yokohama.

Our first stop in Yokohama was China Town. I would have to say that the China town in Yokohama seemed to be much more authentic, or maybe cliche, than the China town we have in Seattle. I can not say whether I liked Yokohama's better though. We walked around China town for a while. It seemed like everyone and their brother were selling roasted chestnuts. This made Kumi happy because she likes them so much. We tried to eat dim sum, but it was a little late, so we went to a restaurant that looked good. After our lunch we started walking towards Minatomomieru Park. While still in China we came across a photo shoot for some fall clothing. Again, there were a lot of people standing around and watching.

We made it to the park and we went to the scenic viewpoint which overlooks Yokohama Bay. We took a few photos and the view was nice, but we did not stay long because we had another place to visit.

Near the park is a building called The Landmark Tower. On the 69th floor is the Sky Garden. It is basically another observation deck to view the city from. The observatory is 273 meters high making it taller than the observatory in the Tokyo Tower and the highest in Japan. Despite being on the 69th floor the elevator only takes 40 seconds to reach the observatory. At one point it reaches a speed of 750 meters per minute. I have calculated this to roughly 37 miles per hour. Apparently this is the fastest elevator in the world. From the observatory we were able to see a lot of Yokohama, but even though we should have been able to see Mt. Fuji there were too many clouds, so we could not see it.

After leaving the tower we all rode the train back to the Yamanote line. The Yamanote Line is the main train line around Tokyo. After we got to Shibuya we all parted because we all had different people to see. Kumi and Tomoe had other friends to see and I was going to have my last dinner with Jesse. Our plan was to meet at Shimbashi station. I told Kumi and Tomoe that if I was on the Yamanote Line then I would be fine. They were surprised that I had gotten used to riding the trains in Japan so fast. I think after that I was jinxed. After I bought my ticket I went down to the station which went the opposite direction. I got on the packed train right near the door, but then I had second thoughts, so right as the doors were closing I jumped off. Then I waited around thinking that the train I got off was the right one. When the next train came I got on it. I watched the little reader board flash with where it had been and which way it was going. Ride before it was going to leave I noticed it had already passed Shimbashi, so I got off again. As I got off and was walking towards the stairs I noticed Kumi coming my direction. She had bought a ticket and came down to tell me I was going to get on the wrong train. We went back upstairs and I went to the right station. I guess in the end I was not so familiar with the trains.

I met with Jesse at Shimbashi station and we went to a nearby Izakaya, or pub. We sat down and ordered a bunch of little dishes. He told me what he thinks about Japan versus the first time he came here and I got to tell him what I thought. I will write a separate entry for that later. After some drinks and some ngiri it was time for both of us to head home. I thanked him for helping me have a great time in Japan. We wished each other luck and then we went home.

Day 2 of the Great Tokyo Adventure

Today was the second day to cram as much of Tokyo as possible into the hours we were awake. That was the plan for yesterday and it seemed to work well. It was kind of tiring though. I got home at about 10:30 and struggled to stay awake. Finally around 11:30 I fell asleep. I was kind of disappointed because the next day I heard there tremors from an earthquake around midnight. I did not feel any of them because I was sound asleep on my futon.

Our plan this morning was to meet at Shibuya station at the statue of Hachi-Ko. I never found out the importance of the statue, but it was a statue of a dog. I got to ride the train all by myself again which was fun. I listened to music on the way, but I didn't realize how quickly I would get there. I left chidoriocho station at 8:30 and got to to Hachi-Ko 45 minutes before our planned 10:00 am meeting time. So I walked around Shibuya for a little while. It was too early to see any of the people who wear the crazy clothes.

As I walked through the shopping district I noticed how popular BoA, a Korean pop star, was in Japan. On most of the street lamps around Shibuya station I noticed banners advertising the debut of BoA's new Album. I guess she must sell a lot of records in Japan.

If any of you do not know, Shibuya is a shopping district wear lots and lots of young people go to shop. These young people, mostly girls, wear outrageous styles of clothing. In Shibuya there are even shopping centers strictly devoted to fashion for women between the ages of . This might not sound too odd until you realize that these centers have 5 or 6 floors of shops. Jesse took us into one of these shops and they are almost overpowering on the senses. Each floor has lots of shops which each have their own music blaring. Most of them play American rap music because America is so popular. A lot of the music has explicit lyrics that is not censored. Most of the time it does not matter what is said, just as long as it is American music. On top of all the loud music, which each store plays, there are lots of lights, mirrors and strong perfume smells. For me it made the experience somewhat disorienting. I did, however, feel at home when we passed a small clothing store playing a rap song by Tupac.

A little later in the morning Kumi, Jesse and I, along with another one of Jesse's friends, Tomoe, met at Hachi-Ko. Afterwards we went to a cafe and had some coffee. I do not want to be an evangelist for Apple, but I have to tell this quick story. The night before Kumi's memory stick in her camera had an error, so it stopped working. She had two other memory sticks, but they were full, so she could not take any more photos on the trip. Instead of not taking any more photos I was able to import the photos from her good memory sticks into iPhoto. She was able to clear them and start taking more photos and I was able to burn the photos to cds, so she could save them. I was happy that we could do this, so Kumi could have her own photos on the trip.

After we visited Shibuya we made our way to Roppongi HIlls. This is an upscale shopping district with lots of shops and boutiques. It might be like taking Bellevue Square mall and combing it with the park across the street and Galleria, but you would need to add a radio station, tv station, car dealership, a huge hotel and a museum. That pretty much sums it up. We didn't really plan on staying very long because we needed to go to the Tokyo tower. When we arrived we decided that we would split up since Kumi and Tomoe needed to shop and Jesse and I wanted to look around.

Jesse and I walked around for a while and took photos. Eventually we ended up walking down to the Roppongi Hills Arena which has a small fountain. We noticed that there was a large group of people gathering at the end near the street. We both walked over there and Jesse asked someone what was going on. I kid you not, the response was 'We don't know'. I guess people just joined in because other people were waiting. Eventually we figured out that a Japanese pop star named Utada Hikaru was coming. She will be releasing an album in the United States soon and she has been gearing up to go to the U.S. and debut her album. As part of this she had an interview at J-Wave Keyakizaka Station where we were waiting outside. We waited and waited and she finally arrived. After she went into the building everyone started to leave, but since Jesse and I knew she had to come out eventually we went straight to the front. After her interview she came out and we took a couple of good photos even though the security did not want us to. We plan on printing the photos out and sending them to her fan club. Haha, we are such dorks. At the time I did feel like a teenage girl, but man I could not pass up a chance to see a Japanese pop star while I was in Japan.

After all of that hubbub we went to a small vietnamese cafe where we all had some vietnamese coffee. We ended up resting there and charging our camera batteries for a while, so also ate some pho for dinner.

When we were done eating we went rode the train to Tokyo tower. Jesse said it was a lot better at night. At first I was a little skeptical, but I am glad we went at night. I thought that taking pictures during the day from the top would have been nicer, but now I think they all would have ended up looking the same and anyways, the tower looked a lot nicer at night. The tower is more like the Eiffel Tower than the space needle and it is colored orange and white. With all of the lights shining on it from the base it really contrasted with the dark night sky. The tower has two observation decks. One is at 150 meters, which is still shorter than the space which is 200 meters tall. However, the second observation deck, where we also went, is at 250 meters. The view at 250 meters was really nice and we were able to pick out all the places we had gone before like Ropponghi hills and Akihabara and Odaiba. An interesting fact about the tower is that at 333 meters tall it is 13 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower, making it the tallest self supporting steel tower in the world. Also, at 4,600 tons is weighs 2,400 tons less than the Eiffel Tower.

We walked around the tower for a while and took a bunch of photos. We even stood above a piece of glass that looks straight down to the ground. It was not too scary after a while, but the first I stood on it my stomach did a couple turns. When I put my first foot on it was ok because my other foot was on solid ground. As soon I would lift up my second foot to put it on the glass I would get a little scared, but then after having both my feet on it I was ok. Kumi felt the same way, but the whole time Jesse had no problem, so he kept stepping on and off to see what our problem was. I thought it was funny.

After seeing the tower we all went to our respective homes. This time Jesse was able to not worry so much since I knew how to get to my hostel and I had his phone number, unlike the night before.

Time to See a New Side of Tokyo

Last night was the last night at Mr. Miwa's home. This morning I packed up all my stuff and headed for the Ryokan Kangetsu. This is a small hotel in Tokyo. Jesse was able to book me a room in it for three nights, so that we would be able to explore Tokyo together this weekend. The Miwa's drove to the company where Jesse works and then we picked him up. Then they drove us to Ichikawa station. From the station this is how we got to my hotel:

1. From Ichikawa station to Tokyo station on the Sobu line.
2. From Tokyo station to Gotanda station on the Yamanote line.
3. From Gotando station to Chidoriocho station on the Ikegami line.

My hotel is about half a block from the station. When I exit the station I just walk to the other end of the station and turn right. After I walk half a block the hotel is on the left hand side. It is a nice and small little place. There are a lot of trees between buildings, so it is nice. Jesse was able to help me check in and everything. My room is very simple. When I open the door and step inside there is a sink to my left and a shelf above the air conditioner to my right. On the opposite wall is a cabinet for clothes. There is also a low shelf with a small tv. The floor is covered in mats except for the small portion in front of the door and under the sink. The futon that I sleep covers about half the floor. I think the room is about 7 ft x 10 ft. Since I am only going to be sleeping while I am in the room it seems suitable.

After I got settled Jesse and I hopped back on the train to meet one of his friends that he met from the UW. Her name is Kumi. She is really nice and friendly. Before she came to Tokyo she was in Osaka. Osaka is her home town, so she spent time visiting her family.

The first stop of the tour of Tokyo was the Hamarikyu Gardens. This garden was originally owned by many different shoguns starting from the mid 1600's. After earthquakes and wars the garden was still in the same spot. In 1946 the imperial family, who owned the garden at the time, gave it to the city of Tokyo. The city then opened it to the public and in 1952 it was designated as a site with historical significance. The park is very close to Tokyo bay and the lake within the park is the only saltwater lake within Tokyo, it is named Shioiri-no-ike. There are gates in the park which regulate the water level according to the tide. Within the lake there are many different types of saltwater fish including sea bass and eels.

There is a small island on the lake which has a small tea house. This tea house was built in 1704 and is called Nakajima-no-ochaya. All three of us went to the tea house and had a traditional tea ceremony. The atmosphere was very peaceful and the view of the lake was nice as well. There is a special process that everything must be done when participating in the tea ceremony. First you are given a small piece of 'cake'. It is made of rice, so that is the best way I can describe it even though it is the wrong way to describe it. In any case, it is a sweet piece of food which is suppsed to compliment the slight bitterness of the tea. After you eat the cake then you can drink the tea. If there are multiple people doing this at the same then the person furthest to the right starts. The person to their left cannot begin eating until the person to the right has started. This is true for each part of the process. After the cake has been finished then you may start drinking tea. You have to grab the bowl of tea with both hands. Then you rotate the bowl two or three times. Man, I already forgot. Anyways, each time you rotate it a little bit in the clockwise direction. Then you can drink the tea. The tea is suppsed to be dranken in three sips. On the third sip you are supposed to finish the tea and make a sipping sound while doing it. Then you are suppsed to wipe the lip of the bowl and inspect the beauty of the bowl. Then you can place the bowl down and you are done. The tea ceremony was a really peaceful and fun experience and I would recommend that anyone going to Tokyo should do it.

After we finished the ceremony we walked around the lake and then left the park. On the way back to the train station we went to the top of a skyscraper which overlooked Hamarikyu Gardens. We took a few photos and looked around, but since the weather was overcast we did not spend too much time there. Afterwards Jesse took us to Starbucks to get matcha cream frappucinos (greeb tea frappucino) and curry doughnuts (like jelly filled doughnut, but there is curry not jelly). I am going to see if I can find these when I get back to Seattle.

After the small snack at starbucks we headed to Akihabara, or Electric Town. This place was definitely interesting. Imagine a bunch of shops right next to each other with lots of bright lights and flashing signs. Then think of almost anything you would want to buy related to cameras, computers and other electical things. Then multiply that times ten and then you have Akihabara. In Akihabara we went to a used cd store where you could buy all sorts of music. Jesse found one cd he wanted for fifty cents. We left the cd store and then headed to a computer store that also sold books. Jesse asked a clerk where the 3D Animation books were and he guided us to them. Within seconds I was able to find 'Softimage 3D Fundamentals', a book written by Anthony Rossano, my boss at Mesmer! We sneakily took a picture, so I could send it to him.

We planned to head to Odaiba after Akihabara and ride the ferris wheel. We still went to Odaiba, but we could not ride the ferris wheel because it was pourind down rain. We still took the monorail over the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba to have fun. Odaiba has what is called Tokyo Disney Land. There are a lot of amusements rides and shopping centers for tourists. We went to one of the large shopping centers to eat dinner. We found a Soba restaurant and we ate some soba for dinner. I was kind of disappointed when Jesse told me that he did not know where any soba restaurants in Seattle were.

After we ate it was still raining and the ferris wheel was closed, so we went to Joypolis. This is sega's version of gameworks because apparently sega is still really big in Japan. The inside was very similar to gameworks in Seattle, but the games were different and they had attractions for movies. We spent some time walking around and looking at things, but we did not ride anything big because it was expensive to ride anything and we were all pretty tired. However, we did play a fun arcade game. It was a game where you played the Taiko drum. It was like DDR for the Taiko drum. We had a blast doing this.

Once we were done having fun it was time to head home. After we got off the monorail we went different directions and I took the train home by myself. Even though it was my first time riding the train by myself it was not too bad since I had travelled the route before and had been riding the trains for a couple days.

Now I am about ready to head to bed because I am exhausted. Jet lag has caused me to wake up at about 5:30 in the morning each day since i have arrived.

Maki Sushi with the Miwas

Tonight Jesse and Hiroko came over to the Miwa house to eat Maki Sushi. Maki means hand, so we ate hand rolled sushi. All of the ingredients were on the table with a big bowl of rice in the middle. We got to choose what we wanted to eat and rolled everything ourself. Mr. Miwa made me a couple rolls with lots of wasabi to see if I could handle it. It wasn't too bad. I also got to try nato beans. These are fermented soy beans. I ate them in a roll. They tasted kind of sour, but it was alright. If given the choice I would not have eaten it on my own.

After a couple of hours of chatting, eating sushi and drinking it was time to head to bed. Before everyone left Hiroko and Jesse and I went downstairs to chat.

It was a great evening. I had a lot of fun eating the sushi which tasted very good because the ingredients were so fresh. Also I think that practicing English with Hiroko and Mr. Miwa was a lot of fun. They asked me some questions about English which were very hard to answer. Now Jesse and I want to have a make sushi party in Seattle. I think it will be a lot of fun.

A Visit to Tokyo with Mr. Miwa

Today was another day spent touring Japan with Mr. Miwa. Instead of using bicycles, today we used the trains. Rather than staying in Chiba area we went further into Tokyo.

Our day started out pretty early like yesterday. After breakfast we walked through Mr. Miwa's neighborhood and down to Yagiri bus station. Along the way we chatted about the differences between Japan and America, like how street signs are cooler in Japan because they have cartoons on them. Also we talked about building roads is different because the homes are built first and then the roads are built, so in more rural areas the roads are not on a grid system and they are very narrow.

We rode the bus to Ichikawa train station on the same bus line that I rode from Ichikawa station the Mr. Miwa's house before. When we got to the station we rode the train to Ryogoku station and got off.

Right outside the station is a Kokugikan. Kokugikan is translated as 'national game center'. Kokugi means 'national game' and kan means 'center'. The national game that has competitions in this stadium is sumo wrestling. It was neat to see a sumo stadium. The stadium is a lot like Key Arena in Seattle. It was probably a little smaller. In the center of the floor was a raised area where the ring was. Around the ring is where people sit in chairs. Around the floor is the 'luxury' seating. This is simply a small fenced off area where fans and their families can kneel down or sit to watch the matches and eat food. This was the first deck of seating. The second deck was where the cheaper seats were and these are the same as seating you would find a baseball stadium. In the entrance to the stadium their is a display of famous sumo wrestlers and their sumo wrestling outfits. It is the sumo equivalent of hanging NBA jerseys in the rafters. Just outside the stadium is a tower where during each day of the 15 day sumo tournaments traditional sumo music is played on a taiko drum to signify the opening of the matches.

After visiting the Kokugikan Mr. Miwa and I went to the Edo Museum which was right nearby. We visited two exhibitions. The first was 'The Hermitage'. This was an exhibition about Catherine the Great and her dynasty. The paintings were very nice. I really liked the painting titled 'Mary Magedellina going to Heaven'. I thought it was odd because it depicted Mary rising to heaven with some angels. What stood out was that some of the angels were only heads with wings. I am not famililar with art or religion during that period, so I can not tell whether it was normal to paint such things when dealing with heaven, or was this painting odd at that time too. Besides the painting I also liked the detailed porcelain work and Catherine the Great's golden carriage.

After viewing this exhibit we went upstairs to see the exhibit on Edo, Old Tokyo. This was very interesting because there were a lot of life-size replicas side by side with many miniature models. The museum had built a life size model of the Nihombashi Bridge and Mr. Nakamura's Kabuki. Most of the exhibits in the Edo section of the museum dealt with the social systems of Old Tokyo and how they changed over time. Unfortunately a lot of the descriptions were in Japanese, so I did not get to read all of them, but I did get to read about the governmental structures in neighborhoods. It was very similar to how a city is run today, but it was on a smaller scale. You would have a neighborhood of a few square blocks. Each of these would be responsible for fire prevention and policing. Each of these little districts would have their own governor as well. All of these governors would individually meet with their district then meet with the others, much like all other town meetings.

When we were done visiting the museum we took one train and one subway to get to Asakusa. Asakusa is a place for tourists to go and it has a lot of temples and shrines, as well as many many little shops. Today was a Friday, so their were not too many people, but still there were a lot. Jesse told me that when he went people were bumping into people all over the place. After walking down the road leading straight to the temple we went inside. Inside the temple I got a fortune. The way it works is that you pay 100 yen to shake a metal container. On one end there is a small hole. After you shake the container for a while you tip it so a wooden stick comes out of the end. The stick has a number on it. This number is on one of the drawers in a big cabinet in front of you. When you find your drawer you open it and take your fortune. If it is good you have to keep it with you all the time. If it is bad you tie it to a rack in the temple. Luckily I did not have to tie mine to the rack.

When we were done visiting the temple we did some more walking around the area. There were a lot of little shops where people sold all sorts of things from kitchen wares to shoes to food. There were even a few places to play pachinko.

Once we had our fill of walking we got on the subway again and we went to Ueno park. This was a very big park with a lake, a bunch of museums and a zoo. I guess I could liken the park to central park in New York or maybe Golden Gate park in San Fransisco. We walked around and took some photos. We passed the lake which had lotus plants growing on it. They stood a couple feet off of the water, but there were no blossoms because it was too late in the summer.

Finally it was time to head home on the train. It was a nice ride because of all the walking we did. Mr. Miwa said it was more than a few miles according to his pedometer. Right now we are relaxing and getting ready for the sushi dinner we are going to have tonight.

Chiba, Japan by bicycle

Last night I slept on a futon on the third floor of Miwa-san's home. I was a little worried about jet lag making me want to sleep for a really long time. I was also worried about the heat disrupting my sleep. It must have been the futon I slept on because I slept really well and I woke up 5:30 am this morning.

Mr. and Mrs Miwa are the people I am staying with. Jesse did a really great job finding them for me to stay with. Jesse works in the same research company as Mrs. Miwa. They were kind enough to let one of Jesse's friends stay with them. Mr. Miwa is a retired business man who used to work for Unisys, a maker of large computers (second only to IBM). Mr. Miwa also worked for Yahoo! BB in Japan after he worked for Unisys. Now he is retired and he is able to show me around the Chiba prefecture in Japan.

Today I got to do something really fun with Mr. Miwa. Mr. Miwa took me on a tour on bicycles. I thought it was a really fun and authentic way to see the area.

During the first half of the bike ride we went to a few parks in his neighborhood. The parks were really nice and peaceful. The first park had a nice long lake with a path around it, so we walked from one end of the park to another. I liked the pond because it had a bunch of turtles in it. After walking to the other end of the park we rode our bikes to another park and took a few photos. I really liked the parks because they had buildings with traditional style architecture. After seeing these parks and a few museums in the area I was really impressed with how perservation of older society and culture is widespread. It is probably similar to America, but I probably do not notice historical preservation signs when I am in Seattle parks. I think I will try to do that more when I get back to Seattle. Also, the number of shrines and temples still standing might be because this area has been inhabited for a much much longer period of time than Seattle or many places in America.

Anyways, back to the fun we had. After visiting the parks on the hill we rode them down to the Edo river. Edo is the old name for Tokyo. On the Edo river there is a small boat which ferries people across the river for 100 yen or one american dollar. I was impressed by the boat master's ability to steer the boat. He used what seemed to be a large rudder to paddle and steer at the same time. This might be something easy to people who paddle the boats, but I am used to row boats, which don't have rudders, and other small boats that only use rudders to steer and not to propel itself.

On the other side of the river Mr. Miwa and I were going to Shibamata, Tokyo. Our first stop was Tai Shak Ten. It is a Bhuddist temple open to visitors. After I washed my hands and cleaned myself with incense smoke we walked around the temple. This template had lots of ornate wood carving and one section of the building has been enclosed in glass. I think it is for two reasons, one to help preserve the carvings and, two, to make it easy to charge money. After walking around and appreciating the temple, the detailed carvings and the cleanliness of the temple we went to eat lunch. Directly opposite to the entrance of the temple is an old stone street with lots of little shops. Mr. Miwa chose a nice little restaurant where we ate tendon. Tendon is tempura with rice.

After eating we headed back across the river because it was starting to sprinkle. When it rains the boat master stops running his ferry. We did not want to be stuck in Shibamata because we would have had to walk a couple of miles to get back the other side by crossing the closest bridge. When we reached the dock it looked like the boat master was gone, but the flag was still up, so Mr. Miwa had another man yell across the river. Luckily the boat was still there, so he heard the yelling and came across the river to pick us up. I really liked taking the ferry because I don't think I would have taken the ferry if I had not been staying with the Miwa family.

After crossing the river we rode our bikes to the company where Jesse works. It seems like a pretty discrete location. After talking with Jesse I know that they do some pretty interesting and cutting edge research. If I was to see the company without knowing this I would not have guessed because it looks like a pretty normal office compound in a residential neighborhood.

The next stop was the local supermarket because it is the Izakaya (pub) where I will be practicing English with Jesse's coworkers tonight. After a short walk in the store it was time to head back home and relax and share the photos we took that day.

Izakaya Matsuda

This summer Jesse has been working at a research company where he does reseaarch half of the time, but the other half of the time he teach business communications to people in his department. Jesse has shared stories with his students about his friends, so naturally they knew who I was and that I was coming to Japan. Jesse was going to try and have me come to class at work, but that was too difficult. However, Jesse's coworker came up with a great idea. Rather than me going to where they work, instead, I would join them at the local Izakaya where the usually eat and drink and practice their conversational english.

We all had a great time together at the Izakaya. We ordered dishes of food, like yakitori, ngiri and some dishes I have never tried before. The atmosphere was really nice because we had our own tatame room, so we were able to be laugh and be loud. I felt like I was back in Seattle having dinner with all my friends.

After a couple hours of sharing stories it was time to head home because it was alreaady past my curfew. I have to thank Jesse for calling Mrs. Miwa to let her know. After we said goodbyes we walked backed to the Miwa house. Mr. Miwa and I had travelled the route from the top of the hill near the Izakaya to his home three times that day, so I was able to remember it. This was good because Jesse or Hiroko did not know where we were going. Earlier in the day I found all sorts of landmarks on the way to remember the path back. Since I did not know street names these were the directions I made:

1. Walk behind the Izakaya, turn left where you see the clinic and the McDonald's.
2. Go down the hill until the lot where the kids were fighting with rocks and plastic swords.
3. Turn right at the park.
4. Go a block and turn towards the vending machines.
5. Walk until I see a poster of the prime minister and turn left. He looks kind of like Richard Gere, so you can't miss him.
6. Walk up the road until you see a blue wall and turn right at the end.

Somehome, this managed to work in the dark and we got home safely. Now it is time to go to bed since I need to get rest for our trip to Tokyo tomorrow.

Crossing the Pacific and Landing in Japan

Well last night did not go as planned. I guess I can also procrastinate in packing just like I can in school. Because it was my last night in the United States I called up Sandra to talk. She and my mom also had a nice long conversation about my visit in Florida. They got along real well. After talking on the phone for a while I also cleaned the kitchen floor because I know it would be hard on my mom's back and I can do it much faster. Then I had to pack a box of stuff to send to Seattle and anyways, I didn't get to bed until 4:00 am. That was not very good since I needed to wake up at 5:00 am to get ready to leave.

Getting to Miami Airport was not very hard at all. It only took about an hour to get to the airport and parked. Check in was easier this week than last. Because of my experience at Sea-Tac I had the foresight to take my new skateboard apart and put it inside my backpack. Since we were a little early my mom and I went to Starbucks and bought coffee. We sat down for a while and chatted about the trip and where I would be stying in Japan. My mom thought it was bad for me to go to Japan and taking the train by myself without knowing Japanese. I said goodbye to my mom and went through security. The security seemed to be extra rigorous at Miami International Airport, but I think it was only because there were no other passengers and security was bored. One lady looked at my camera and had to open it twice just so she could check it out. Then I overheard her and a coworker talking about pot.

When I was waiting at my gate for the plane to arrive I was surprised to see Sug Knight, president and CEO of Death Row Records come to wait for the same plane. He is actually a pretty big person, but he is not really tall. Before the flight he bought some food at Burger King for him and his friend.

My flight to Los Angeles was really boring. I had a window seat so I took a few photos along the way. Check them out, here. I spent a bit of time trying to nap. The only exciting thing was the amount of smog in Los Angeles. After landing I got some quarters and called my brother to tell him that I was going to fly to Japan. After our conversation I boarded to plane and took off for Japan. There are also pictures of my flight into Japan in the gallery.

My flight to Japan was a lot more exciting even though at 11 hours, it was 6 hours longer than the 5 hour flight to Los Angeles. On the flight I did a lot of readin and I almost finished Fellowship of the Ring. I also met a nice girl from Korea. We sat next to each other on the flight. Her name was Hae Lee and she was returning home. This summer she had an internship in Sacremento for something related to dentistry. I think she liked talking with me because she was learning English. To make more conversation with her I showed her pictures of my friends. She said that my girl friends are beautiful. After I showed her photos I let her listen to my Korean music. I think she was really surprised that I had Korean music. When we landed in Japan she told me 'Good luck in Japan' and I told her 'Have a nice flight home'.

The Narita Airport is a really nice airport and I think it is one of the nicer airports I have been in on this trip. The top 3 airports would be Sea-Tac, Narita and the new terminal in Detroit. Ft Lauderdale is not too bad, but I think that Miami International Airport and LAX are not very nice airports. It was very easy to go through customs and get my baggage. I think that the customs official did not want to deal with me very much since I did not speak any Japanese. As soon as he said I could go I went to buy a train ticket.

Riding the train was a little scary for me since I am not familiar with the train lines and I don't know any Japanese. Jesse had given me instructions to take the Sobu Sen line to Ichikawa. I was able to find the JR Line to Ichikawa right away so I bought a ticket. Afterwards I was worried that these two lines were different lines and that they would go in different directions. Fortunately when I got downstairs I was able to read that they were the same line. Later Jesse told me that JR is the name of the company and Sobu Sen is the name of the route. The train ride was pleasant and it gave me a chance to sit down. I also got to see a lot of the country side near Tokyo. Looking out of the train windows reminded me of when Sen rode the train in Spirited Away.

I got to Ichikawa station successfully, but this is where a small detail in Jesse and I's plans to meet was forgotten. I knew which station to meet Jesse at, but the station had many exits, so I did not know where to meet Jesse. I went out of an exit that I chose randomly since I did not know where any of them went to. I went outside and then walked towards the bus depot because I thought Jesse might be waiting there. ... but he wasn't. I saw a pay phone and since i knew Jesse's cell phone number I decided to try and call him. Unfortunately I got a crash course in how to attempt and fail to make a local phone call from an international pay phone. Apparently in Japan there are two types of pay phones, one for local calls and one for international calls. After this didn't work is when I started to really worry about what I would do if I could not find Jesse. The thought of being in Japan by myself was a little scary. I decided to relax a little and try looking for him again. I went back into the station through another entrance and I was able to spot Jesse leaning against a pole really quickly. I don't think I have ever been so relieved to see Jesse before.

After we met he took me to a nice little restaurant where we ate pork tonkatsu and had a beer. I did not drink much since I was very tired. At this point I had been awake for almost 40 hours with only a few naps that didn't last longer than an hour each. After dinner Jesse showed me how to use the phone. Then we bought some cake for my host family, the Miwa family. That night I also got a crash course on how to ride the bus in Japan. It is really similar to Seattle except you always pay when you get off. Also the layout of the seats is different on the bus. The biggest difference is that people are charged by how far they go. There is an electronic sign on the inside of the bus which tells how much people have to pay based upon a number they pick up when they get on the bus. The bus is also more expensive than in Seattle. It costs about $3 to go from my host families home to the Ichikawa station and the ride is only about 15-20 minutes. On second thought, the bus systems are pretty different.

I met with the Miwa family and we talked about how long I would stay and what we would do. We also talked about the curfew and when I would wakeup and shower and eat breakfast. I was pretty tired because of the layover and walking around, so I went to bed a little early and Jesse walked home to his dormitories from Miwa-san's home.