| Hello everyone! I moved into my dorm in Tokyo today after four days of orientation and two weeks of travelling with Ashley! We travelled to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kurashiki, Okayama, Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. I had a blast seeing so many things with Ashley and the trip also helped me adapt to Japan a little bit. In Hiroshima we went to the A-bomb peace musuem, which though it was good to see, it will make any one feel sick for quite awhile. Miyajima was a lot of fun. It is a small island just across the bay from Hiroshima. We saw the famous red gate in the water, the temple, the agressive deer (deer our considered sacred in Japn and therefore allowed to roam the streets free of harm) and took a gondola ride of to the highest point of the island where there are many monkeys and a great view. In Kurashiki we stayed with Ashley's former host family. It was a neat and frightening experience to be imersed so deeply all of a sudden. Though they didn't speak very much English, the family was very nice and fed us well. They took us to the beautiful canal area of Kurashiki, where I got to meet my mom's best friend from Japan (where she studied abroad when she was in college) Kumiko. She was very nice and treated us to aisukurimu (ice cream). Ashley's host mom also drove us to Okayama so we could see the castle and one of Japan's three most beautiful parks. Then we went to Osaka where we went up in the Hep 5 ferris wheel, which was on top of a department store. We also went up in a sightseeing skyscraper called the Uneda Sky Building, both offering great of views of the city that spread endlessly to the mountains and the ocean. We visted the Osaka Aquarium, Osaka Castle and the Osaka Human Rights Musuem. I was shocked at how many opressed minorities there are in Japan. Then we went to Kyoto where we stayed in a somewhat traditional style inn. We saw all the famous sites such as the golden temple, Nijo castle and the red gates going up a mountain. (we only made it halfway up the mountain) Our last day we went to Nara to see the largest wooden building in the world with the largest Budda in the world inside it, as well as more sacred deer. Be sure to see my photos on Facebook! Orientation took place in Makuhari, just east of Tokyo, just a few blocks from my school here, Kanda University for International Studies (KUIS). Makuhari is very clean and modern. It was good to meet the staff and my fellow American students. It feels very weird to now to be on my own here in my dorm. Yes, there are seven other Americans in this building, but we are very spread apart. I had gotten used to eaither follwing Ashley or large groups of fellow (english speaking) students. These past couple of weeks I discovered how little Japanese I know. I can not hold a basic conversation or read hadly any signs. I know I will learn a lot of Japanese this semester, but for now I feel very ignorant and illiterate. I can get around alright, but I still feel quite uncomfortable. Maybe I need to feel uncomforatable though. I am just now starting to read Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution. He questions how can American Christians justify living so comfortably while so many others suffer. So maybe this experience will help to show me that I can live my life differently, more simply and less comfortable. Afterall I am still living much more comfortably here than someone who has no shelter or food. How can I justify that? I miss you all back home and I hope you are doing well. To my Lambda Chi Alpha brothers, good luck with rush! |
