Rantings of a white man in Japan

Afternoon all. Finally got down to writing another entry. Sorry its been so long since I've posted anything but I've been unable to gather my words correctly. Anyhow since last I spoke on here the school trips have been very fun, we went to a couple of art museums which has given life to my thoughts on going to museums again especially the photography ones because as a kid your mind cannot process the complicated thoughts and emotions evoked from certain artistic pieces.



We went to the tokyo metro museum in Ueno and the mori art museum. Both good, but the mori art museum I preferred, simply because it had an amazing exhibit and very controversial pieces from a chinese artist named pei wei wei (that could be spelled wrong). Anyhow the mori art museum was at the top of a building in roppongi which gave fantastic views and was pretty awesome to see. I'm considering to go back at night.



In Ueno we went to the museum saw some history and walked around the town itself. Myself, Liz and Alex, decided to just wonder cause we got separated from the others and found ourself back in akihabara which is where we went the week previous after roppongi. I love akihabara it is the mecha of electronics. Especially at yodabashi camera there are things you can get that are on display that you would have to order online its rediculous. Anyhow that was goodtimes I picked up a lens cleaner and a remote for my camera which is working great. I'll really be able to take advantage of my tripod when i get home now.



I find it interesting that on a daily basis if you walk around at night you will see kids talking and making out on corners. Reason being they don't have the personal space to do this in there own homes because they live with there family. It makes the whole dating process much different and also gives a boost to the love hotels. Love hotels are places people can go to get it on for a price and they are usually some sort of theme. Walking home is kind of funny because you have that awkward moment where you walk by these people and they're just like weird random american just walking by.



I've been keeping a low profile mostly just making trips with people into town on different occasions. Went and got my jr tickets in shinjuku. Went to a dive bar in hon atsugi that was really really amazing, very 20s jazz atmosphere would be a real throw back if i wasnt with a bunch of crazy americans. But the coolest thing about this place is that the bar and tables were fishtanks, it was straight out of a james bond movie. Anyhow the drinks were rediculously expensive like you would expect so i only had 2 of the fruttiest cheapest drinks just to try because it was rediculously tasty; cocktails are an art form here and I was quite impressed. I didnt get any photos but I will go back and take some soon.



Anyhow its halloween now not much is going on, might go with my roommate into shinjuku then go do stuff elsewhere not sure leaving today open. Might not do anything at all. I need to pack for kyoto, I leave tomorrow so that will be an interesting little trip. Considering whether or not to bring a suitcase or the 2 carry bags i have.

Will be sure to update with photos from kyoto and the majority of the photos I've been taking in the last while but I'll load some on here for now.

nick

SOON

I will update this soon with the happenings of late

Just some thoughts

You know living here for the couple months I am really is a blow to the mind. First of all half my mind wants me to go all over travel and do things all over the country but the other half of me knows I can't do this every day or I will end up broke. It's really quite confusing, I'm in such an amazing place and I want to go and do things but I must reserve myself for the time that I can do things and the time that I can't. After that its the language it really doesn't feel like I'm living here because I am basically a literate to the point of a 1st grader and I don't even get to wear* the cool hats that they do. Then there is the homesickness not having any of my family or friends around is a real blow to the head also. It makes me rethink things over and over and over and I just have to put my mind elsewhere. Anyhow I go to hakone tomorrow so afterwards I'll post all the pics that I haven't in my picasa as well as some videos and such. Take care.

Tales From The East

Hey everyone! Everything is going well here. Just booked my hotel in osaka and kyoto for the week off about 200 dollars for 2 different hotels 3 nights each. Not terrible at all bout the same as a cheap hotel in the US. I will be rooming it up with sean for the week. Today we went to Mt. Takao which is I believe the closest mountain in the area about a 2 hours drive from town by bus. Ofcourse on top of every mountain there is a temple and all the goodies along with a temple. Cool place not much in the ways of vantage points which was slightly dissapointing but it was a fun trip. We got up the mountain by cable car which is apparently the steepest cable car trip in the country.





The previous night Jonathan and I went into hon atsugi to get our keys because we missplaced them. Afterwards we got dinner then attempted to walk to toys r us which was a failure because it was closed when we got there. Then started walking towards home in hopes to catch a bus. Ended up walking most the way missing one bus and catching another which just took us about 2 stops near my apartment.

The last weekend was pretty fun. There was a sports festival that was going on so we watched some of us participated to. There was a food race where students ran to eat something at 2 stations that were nasty concoctions of curry marshmallow and calpis(a popular local drink company that makes soda) and coffee beans. I played a little basketball with our roommate and some other japanese students.




Monday we had off so I hung out with folks and relaxed. Tuesday was most difficult because our launguage teacher decided to test us and basically show all of us in the advanced class that we suck. Never the less it wasn't a serious class.

Forgot to tell this story that I told to my ma the other day. Justin, Michael and I were in shinjuku going to our train and this mild mannered japanese man asked us if we spoke english then asked if we could give him three hundred yen, then he preceded to bow down on his knees and beg for the money, totally unnecessery but we gave it to him because whats 300 yen gunna hurt. Anyhow it was weird but it just goes to show for a very stubborn honorable country you must dishonor yourself if you are begging for someones money. Its just one of those experiances.

Thats about it for now will update in another few days anda I will have a video coming soon as well. Take care!

Live From Japan

From Japan

From Japan

Hello everone Nick Strite here straight from Japan. Lately I've just been doing a lot of living and relaxing, its been raining a lot which led to my first typhoon which is just japanese for hurricane, no big deal I slept through this one just like I did my first hurricane in florida. Anyhow after the typhoon it was gorgeous out so my roommate, alex and I did a bit a grocery shopping. Then I went to have a look at the temple and graveyard next to our house. Quite the ominous and peaceful place.

From Japan

From Japan

Anyhow the previous day was our field trip to the metropolitan museum of photography, the travelers shrine in meguro and shibuya! Quite the inspiring visit to the museum though I may just go back because there was one particular exhibit that I wanted to see and did not have the time they had a lot of tasty lomography cameras there as well. The shrine was quite nice right in the middle of it all but it was very cool with all the rain. Its almost too coincidential that all this nice weather headed our way after the sickness and typhoons comes after a visit to the travelers shrine. Anyhow shibuya was cool lots of fashion concious japanese even though it was gloomy with all the rain. Afterwards we all split off and headed for home.

From Japan

From Japan

From Japan

What else has been going on hmmm. OH my roommate and our language partner went out for a family sushi dinner which was awesome, a very family sushi dinner indeed lots of kids very loud. We also played some games with her and such lots of slots and other awesome games like card games that you play with cards that are read by a screen and produced onto a monitor, I was quite impressed and really wanted to play. OH yeah our language partner trip part 1. We went to Akihabara and Ginza. Ginza is a very rich area with lots of dept stores. Akihabara is electric town filled with everything electronic you could want and all the manga and anime you can fill your head with. This was all very fun. We also went to one of the maid cafes which was quite hilarious for a substantial amount of 1200 yen a person you can take a picture and have a drink in the company of 18+ year old girls dressed as french maids.

From Japan

From Japan

From Japan

The most bothersome thing though on my mind has been the language. I have fun learning it and all but it really gets to me daily when I can't understand the box of cereal or bag of rice because I don't know the kanji. Oh well so be it. I can still get by.

Everything is vastly more expensive then I thought, especially the food and transport. The typical foods like hunny and peanut butter are crazy expensive 12 dollars for a tiny thing of honey*. I guess that explains the lack of bees. Still WTF? Though I am a good frugal capitalist and should be ok; but if anyone is feeling particularly generous you can donate money to my japan travel fund on paypal which sends money directly to my savings account. It'll definately help with my week long trip to kyoto, osaka and nara. I'll also be willing to get souvenirs for anyone thats wants something straight from japan LET ME KNOW. Thanks.

Now thats it for my sales pitch.

So yeah that about sums it all up on my end again keep in touch im me on aim or call me on skype. I miss everyone so much hope to hear from you soon.

apartment

My apartment excuse the mess more to come