A Catchup Blog because I am Unreliable

Wassup Hoes,

I know there have been a long break in blog updates and I'm sorry. I've been really busy updating my blog I have to do for my German class and I've let this one fall to the wayside. Anyhoo, this is going to be a pretty picture heavy entry for that reason as well.
THE ZOO:

A lot of the international students and some of the Japanese students went to the zoo on October 1st. It was a lot of fun and it even had a petting zoo so I was all over those goats. It was a nice time because we also got to hang out with some of our new Japanese friends during the weekend instead of only during school. Highlight of the Day besides the goats? Little kids yelling for the Elephants to come outside. They had the kids yell "zou-san,zou-san" and it was pretty cute.

Osu Kannon:

Osu Kannon is a stop on one of the lines of the subway, but it is also a large Temple dedicated to Kannon, the Buddha of mercy. There ius a large open area in front of the temple and for just 50 yen you can get a seed plate and feed the resident Pigeons!






Osu is the actual name of the area and in addition for being the home of the temple it also has a very large shopping area that is sort of like a strip mall and outside market combined. A little ways away from that is another shopping district called Akamon and it seems to be a shopping area for mostly electronics.

Entrance to the Shopping Area

 

 

 

A Random Shopping Street

School Field Trip :

 Shirakawago:

A Shrine inside Shirakawago

On October 13th and 14th we were able to have no class and instead go on an epic bus trip through the mountains. Our first stop was Shirakawago, this is an old village that is a UNESCO world heritage site. Many people recognize it by the traditional roofs that the buildings have. It was very pretty and they gave as a nice small lunch, although I wasn't able to eat most of it. We then were turned loose on our own for three hours to explore the village and its many omiyage (souvenir) shops.

The view from the Observation point

After Shirakawago they herded us back onto the buses and it was ahead on our way again. I don't know if the Japanese were worried we couldn't hold it or something, but we stopped at a large number of service stations throughout this trip. After another hour drive we arrived at our next destination.

Takayama:

 We stayed in a tradtional(ish) Japanese inn while we were here and that includes hot springs. I didn't not go into them however. We arrived at night so we didn't have a ton of time to do stuff, but by the time we arrived the hotel staff had prepared a HUUUUGE meal for everyone. I always feel like I receive good service whenever I stay at a hotel in America, but the way that they treat you at this hotel was out of this world. I felt like I was famous or something.



The next day,after being given a large breakfast, we were given time to walk around the city and see everything and so we went to the temple, but didn't go inside as it cost money. We also walked through an area of Takayama that was like "old streets" and the area resembled a traditional Japan. It was pretty cool but we didn't get to spend much time there as we had to get back on the bus and go somewhere else.

Otaki Cave:

The Shrine

The last place we went was on the way back from Takayama. It was this small area in the mountains that housed a cave that had a shrine inside of it. The first thing we did when we got off the bus was eat a huge lunch, it was prepared like nikuyaki but with a stone slab instead of a grill and they were once again really accommodating a gave me a whole platter of vegetables to eat rather than meat. After that we took a cable car thing up the mountain and to the cave entrance.

The walk back from the cave

All in all it was a really fun trip and I'm glad that I was able to go. I haven't done anything super exciting since then and so this brings me to the end of this blog update.

Until Next Time,
~BPuddin

Guys...We're Going to Need an Ark...

Wassup Hoes,


I want to post more but the days go by so quickly/slowly that I can't always find the time. So here is another big update about the sometimes dubious adventures that our merry band takes part in almost everyday. The day after of awesome fun big time adventures in Kanayama, we got into some shenanigans in another big shopping district of Nagoya, Sakae. We had wanted to do some shopping but we came a little later because we were traveling with the guys and they wanted to go to a pub, so most of the shops were just closing up as we got  there. Anna still got to go see HMV though, a really popular music and movie store in Japan. All the
 buildings looked really cool at night.

This is Nagoya TV Tower

Anna told me that this is one of the most famous things in Nagoya, Nagoya TV Tower. It looked pretty cool lit up from afar but we really didn't very close to it. There was also a big Ferris wheel attached to the side of a building that was lit up all different colors.

This was one of the streets off of the main road in Sakae, they had arches over them, although I wasn't paying attention to what they said on them. I also had my very first Japanese Starbucks experience here, it was very delicious and I was quite pleased.

Like everyother place we've been to so far in Japan, Sakae had it's share of Pachinko parlors. We tried to go in this one but you needed to get a card to play the machines instead of just putting cash directly in them and so we decided to put off pachinko for another day. It was a sad sad day in my life.

After we stopped in the pachinko parlor we continued walking around. Bre pointed out this cool looking area and we decided to go inside. Surprise! It was a really big shrine, so we wandered around it for a bit and admired it. We also found another shrine on our way back to the main downtown but it was next to a police station so we didn't want to go inside in case we weren't allowed to.



The next day was pretty much a resting day for us, we were all pretty tired and so we didn't do much aside from the fact that I wanted to go back to book-off. This time I was prepared with what I wanted from it and I knew I would leave victorious, and I did! We took the train this time, making the book-off trip significantly better for all persons involved. After leaving book-off Anna and I decided to just head up to Atsuta shrine because it's really close and it's one of the most important shrines in Japan. The object enshrined there is the sword that is part of the imperial regalia along with the mirror at Ise shrine and the jewel which is with the family. On our way there we stumbled upon other shrine, it was pretty big and we had never seen it before.

We dunno what this shrine is for but it looked as cool as the others we saw, so of course we took pictures. I really like the architecture of them.

We continued on and then we saw the opening for Atsuta shrine. This complex for the shrine is epic. Its just covered in trees and its just really cool and really pretty. This is the Torii gate at one of the entrances, it was huge. The whole place was pretty big, the mood was also set by some crows that we creeping behind us as we walked up.

This is the purification Water

After washing your hands and mouth with the purification water you can continue on to the shrine. This is the place where you walk up to pray to the kami in the shrine. The actual place that the item is enshrined is way past that building in another building. No one but the royal family and a select few priests ever get to see the actual item. It's very cool as esoteric. so we threw money into the offering thing did the typical clap and speak to the kami thing and then we were on our way.


Our Days are always filled with fun stuff and that's why we also went to the nearby gardens to look around and stuff. I was pleased that the garden had multiple ponds, and each pond had koi. The garden also had koi food for sale for 50 yen a cup. I bought four cups, I really enjoyed feeding the fish. I actually even got to pet one because they were all coming up right next to the bank in an attempt to get food. They remind me of like dogs but dogs that swim. There really isn't much else to say about the garden, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Today is going to be a lazy day instead of my first day of class because we have a typhoon going on! I don't have any pictures yet, but the rain was intense all yesterday and today as well. I slowly watching the soccer field behind my dorm turn into a lake. At this point in time, the rain is going almost horizantal thanks to the rain, it's all very interesting. We shall see where this leaves us.

Until next time,
~BPuddin

Everyday I'm Hustlin'

Wassup Hoes,

I'm sorry for the delay of my posts, it has been a whirlwind of a first week here in Nagoya, but it was a totally awesome whirlwind, aside from the placement test of course. Anna, Jay and I have been out wandering around the various streets of Nagoya every evening and we have had some of the most fun doing it. But first things first, here are my pictures of the communal areas of my dorm room.

 This right here is my lovely shower/bath room. It is quite....cozy I suppose. It wasn't until today that I figured out it is possible to acquire hot water when taking a shower, before it was very cold.

This is the sink and next to it as an area you can fill buckets and clean stuff so that is kind of convenient to have. The toilet is also off of this area but I thought it would be weird to take a picture of that so I didn't.

This is our kitchen, it's actually really nice. We have a rice cooker now as well and while we don't have a stove per se, the hot plate seems to work well enough. I haven't actually cooked anything in here yet but my roommate and her friend are always cooking up something and it usually smells really good.


Well that's it for what constitutes my living space for the duration of my time here in Japan. It isn't super exciting but it is much nicer than what I'm going to come back to America to so that's a little sad. As for what we've been doing this whole time I haven't been updating, the answer is pretty much anything and everything. The day after we found the pachinko parlors we did find the book-off. It was so glorious, and things were bought and all was good.

After that we decided to walk to Kanayama station. Our friends had said that it was really cool and had a legit arcade and while it was kind of a walk it wasn't too far at all. Lies and deceit. It was a really,really long walk but we eventually arrived and it was as cool as he had said. It looked a lot like the Japan that everyone sees on TV and it was bustling and crowded.

We went to the arcade here and it was so stereotypically Japan. The had UFO catchers but they also had the typical arcade games. It was pretty big, three stories tall so we spent some time in there. Then we went off in search of a place to eat and that's when we found it....JAPANESE DENNY'S. It is the classiest fucking place here which is so weird considering Denny's in America is a piece of shit and a half. After that we decided to head home, but we couldn't bear the thought of walking all the way back there since it was such a hike. Instead we decided that it would be the perfect time to try and figure out Nagoya's subway system. Buying the tickets seemed a little confusing at first so Jay pressed the call of assistance button. I was looking around for someone to come up and help us when all of a sudden the wall next to the ticket machine opened up and a man stuck his head out and asked us what we needed. All I could think was what the fuck Japan, what the fuck.

The Japanese subway, at least in Nagoya, is a lot like the el so I didn't feel too overwhelmed. A ticket to the next station over is 200 yen, which isn't too bad. Now we know better than to walk our asses to Kanayama in the future.

Last night was Anna and Bre's birthdays. Jay said we had to do it big and so it was done. A lot of the international students came out with us and we all went to karaoke. It was actually a lot of fun. I'm glad that we get along with most of the international students on campus so far. Today we are also planning on celebrating Anna's birthday round 2 so the plan is to go to Sakae which is the next stop after Kanayama. That means Sakae is the main objective for today's shenanigans but it has an important prerequisite. I need to go find an ATM to get monies. So far, Japan has been pretty expensive and I wasn't completely expecting that. I can't live without fruit so I am paying some less than stellar prices for it. I'll let everyone know how Sakae is in my next blog post!

Until Next Time,
~BPuddin

The Trip Over and the First Day

Wassup Hoes,

This is a catchup post, to let you all know how my flight went and how yesterday, my first full day in Japan was. The good news about those things is that I don't have any jetlag at all, thank you staying up all night. Now, without further ado I give you the Flight

The Flight

I was worried about flying out of America on 9/11. Not because I was afraid of terrorists or anything, I was just afraid of what a zoo security was going to be and all that good stuff. Security wasn't that bad at all I was really surprised. I also liked the added touch of playing the 9/11 specials on the TVs near the gate. That is definately what I want to watch before I get on a 13 hour plane flight. While I was in economy, the seats weren't too bad. We were still packed like sardines but it was probably one of the most comfortable sardine cans I've ever been in. We also got served like...2 and a half meals during the flight and they were all really good. I got a special meal because I let the airline know I was a vegetarian and there were no problems with that.

The First Meal

The second big meal looked pretty similar to that. I also didn't feel that bored on the plane, they had a lot of stuff to do, like play video games and watch movies. I started to get really antsy during the last 2 hours though. When we got into Narita airport, we had to go through customs and immigration. I don't know what I was expecting but wasn't at all like I thought it would be. On the plane I had to fill out a customs card, declaring what I was bringing into the country. When I got to the customs desk I handed it to him and prepared to have my stuff searched. Nope, nothing of the sort. Perhaps America has just prepared me to have all of my shit searched at the slightest provocation. After that we had to go through security again to get to the domestic flights, also way easier than I ever thought it could be. I didn't have to take my shoes off! It was like a whole new wonderful airport security experience.

The second flight was really nice, it was about 45 minutes and the view from the window was awesome. I wish I had been able to get more pictures. What I did get a picture of however, was the in flight magazine.

Nothing Says Welcome To Japan Quite Like This

We also made some new friends that were going to Nagoya Gakuin as well so that was nice to have a larger group of people traverse the airports with us, moral support and all that. Once we arrived in the Chubu airport we had to wait for the other people to get off their flights so a bus could take us all to the school. I went ahead and snapped this as the start of my adventure proper.



The First Day

While I did end up going out the night of our arrival in Japan, it was only to grab dinner from a convenience store, so I hardly think that counts. I was freaking out because I didn't have an ethernet cable, but I managed to just go to sleep because I was so tired and then I just acquired it the next day. I got some pictures of my room, so everyone can see it. It's pretty nice.

The View From My Balcony

These are all photos from my personal room, my roommate has a room that's really similar minus the closest. We share a balcony, and a bathroom and kitchen. It is a lot bigger than I had thought it was going to be going in. This is the place I had
applied for a dorm in, but I like it so it doesn't really matter.







I'll upload the communal areas soon, I feel like this post is super picture heavy already.

When I got up the next day, I had pringles for breakfast so I figured I might as well go and get some more food, I happened upon the other Gaijin while walking and so we all ended up going to the Yamanaka grocery store. So I am eating fruit AND pringles, very healthy. After that I went on a traumatizing search for an ethernet cable. They don't tell you how to get through a conversation like that in Japanese class, but I managed to get to Kojima, which apparently is an electronics store, and get one with no real issues. After that we had a meeting for all the people who are living in my dorm the seminar house. Post-Meeting we went in search of the book-off but ended up finding a Japanese McDonald's and two pachinko parlors. You know what...I'll take it. Looks like the objective for the near future is find that damn book-off!

Slightly unrelated note, I'm pretty sure I've spent like....10 dollars in vending machines already. Oh well.

Until Next Time,

~BPuddin