last days in Japan this time

I will likely post some more pictures and such from favorite excursions or events, but my last days in Japan were spent trying to make my stuff fit back in my suitcases, cleaning my apartment before departure, meeting the girls who were going to be attending the next semester at Global College Japan Center, saying goodbye to teachers at the university, and spending some time hanging out with a friend. I miss Japan already and have only been away for a day and a half.

I planned a stopover in Hawaii on the way back since it was on my flight itinerary as a transfer point anyway. My mom met me here and in a few days my dad will meet me here. It is a good transition from Japan to back to Washington as there are lots of Japanese places around here, Japanese food, Japanese kanji everywhere, Japanese newspapers and businesses and such, as well as all the American things here. I did NOT miss the traffic of the US, and Hawaii is no exception. I really loved getting around almost everywhere in Japan via bicycle, foot, train, or bus.

I am having a wonderful time with my mother here. We walked to the zoo today and took pictures of many beautiful flowers, as well as plenty of animals. I will post some as soon as possible, though tonight I think I'm headed to the jacuzzi for a bit, first.

A group of people sat down beside me, speaking Japanese, and I realized that I am quite pleasantly comfortable, hearing that spoken and am wishing to go back to Japan before too long. I love Kyoto, and what I've seen of the rest of Japan.

My birthday in Japan

I didn't have particular plans for my birthday, but a friend of mine had been planning to show me a cool airsoft shop in Osaka, and the day we could go happened to land on my birthday.

Other than with school groups, I hadn't done any traveling outside of Kyoto so I really looked forward to this...plus...airsoft shop!

I wish I had pictures, but though both of us planned to bring cameras, neither of us remembered.

We rode two regular trains and two subway trains to get there. Public transportation is generally nice here in Japan. I enjoy the trains, particularly, and use the buses occasionally, also, though they are a bit more of a pain, and a bit more expensive.

The airsoft shop has a testing area and we fired a variety of airsoft guns. My friend's favorite was a Tokyo Marui USP AEG (here is a link to a picture of one: http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/ProductDetail?prodID=22325 . I really liked that one, but I also liked the Tokyo Marui P90 http://steelhawkairsoft.com/p90tr.html.

I also discovered that I have a high liking for tactical vests for some bizarre reason, but now I really want one. They had some green ones I really liked there.

Since I don't have photos, here is a link to a video that shows some pictures of the inside of the store. Our trip to the store was a bit milder than this. http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjf2QF5k2sA

Was a pretty fun thing to do on my birthday!!!


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Pictures of me with Monkeys

Family have been asking for some pictures of me on this blog so here are a few taken by my friend, Will, when he and Jesimee and I were on our monkey park expedition.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I've enjoyed my time immensely with Jesimee being here in Japan these last few weeks with me! We've had some amazing times, and I'm really glad she could be here. We both really love Japan, and have had some great times with each other and with friends.

We've been to a variety of shops, both for looking and an actual bit of shopping. Jesimee was hoping for some clothes from here, and that goal is accomplished between her Christmas presents from me and Will and some of her own purchases, she has a really fun outfit, a new coat, and some new boots. We've been to temples, shrines, parks, a castle, and she went to Nara with one of my friends from school one day while I was busy finishing up some writing projects. We've tried a variety of foods together...I'm glad Jesimee was willing to try sashimi (raw fish), though I think it won't be on her list of favorites any time soon. I have learned that I really like certain kinds of sashimi, particularly salmon and tuna, and I'm wanting to try more before I go, but got full at the restaurant, what with all the varieties of sushi I already tried.

Himeji Castle

Spent a fabulous day touring a castle with Jesimee and our friend, Will. I recommend this to any of my castle-loving friends, or to any of my camera/photo-loving friends. Well, the upload on photos is being SUPER slow, so I will add more later.

Size perspective of the entry gate door:

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji, one of Kyoto's very famous temples, is very near my apartment here in Japan. Jesimee and I visited it today.

After that, we met with our friend, Will, and spent some time at a shrine in Arashiyama, as well as doing some various shopping and eating (of such things as mitarashi dango in the picture). Also, today marked the first snowfall of the season in Kyoto...a delightful surprise this morning!

Monkeys!!!

This last Saturday was one of my top two most amazing days in Japan so far! I had a fabulous time biking to Arashiyama and visiting the monkey park there. I loved everything about going there...well, okay, monkey poo smells a little weird and there was plenty of that around, but hey, what do you expect?

Walking around outside, we were right with the monkeys, lots of them! Inside the building we could purchase small bags of apples, peanuts, or chestnuts and feed monkeys through the fence. They would take the items right from my hands and I could feel their soft palms and see the finger-print style lines on their hands. I bought about 7 small bags of food as it was so delightful to feed them. I'll add more photos later, but here are a few favorites for now. (Edited with some more photos now.)