Day by Day

Back late again last night meant another difficult morning. None-the-less I managed to get up and get off to school. Today we had Yamada's language class all morning, but before the lesson Nabe-chan presented us with tickets to a baseball game Friday. Nabe-chan has really been going above and beyond for all of us, he's a really great guy.

After class I headed down to the cafeteria, but since I ate during the morning break I just grabbed a juice and hung out. I saw my conversation partner from yesterday, Chihiro, so I sat with her and talked for the lunch period. She's a really fun girl and very positive. I invited her to join our afternoon lecture since Japanese students were allowed to join. At the class I found out she was a senior and she was writing her senior thesis on us, the American exchange students.

Dr. Hayashibara gave us a lecture on Japanese Business and Industry, but it was more about bowing, our stereotypes, and the atomic bombs. Afterward I hung out in the hall with Seth, Chihiro, Haruna, and Ronnie as we waited for conversation partners. We all took turns putting on Seth's huge sunglasses and posing for pictures.

At conversation partners I worked with Seth and a girl named An. Her name is actually a lot longer, she's Thai, but An is much more pronounceable. She was very knowledgeable in language and worked us very hard, but we learned a lot and she was very fun. Today was probably the most enjoyable conversation partners I've had yet. I hope to work with An more.

Later we headed to the gym and played table tennis for a while. The guys in the table tennis club are incredibly good, I can't even follow the ball. I contented to playing with some girls at a much more enjoyable pace. Around 6:45 me, Seth, Yuu, and her friend went to Saizeriya, the Italian place I was at the other night. We had a good meal, Seth and me bought the girls desserts, and we ended up being there for almost 3 hours just talking about movies, anime, and video games. Eventually we headed back to the apartments where we hung out with Mike, Dani, and Roshan in Seth's room for a bit before Yuu and I left for our respective apartments. Back at my place I found Alex and Yuki. Mariko came down a bit later, and the rest of the night was spent just relaxing.

Seth plays table tennis with a club member.

I think every day I've been in Japan I've made at least one new friend. Today was An, yesterday was Chihiro. I know its mostly because of our special status at Keiwa that makes it easy to find friends, but the friends that I have found are some of the best people I've ever met. Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Chilean, American, we're all here and we're all having an amazing time. I try not to think about the fact that someday soon this will all come to an end and we'll all have to part ways. I think we all know it deep down, so that's why we're going all out with our friendships, letting them flourish even though we've all just met. I'll never forget the people I've met here, this summer semester has been the greatest time of my life.

ARRR!

After a full night's rest we went back to the same deal as Monday, 3 language classes followed by conversation partners. Today me and Seth worked with a girl named Chihiro who was a lot of fun. We taught her about the origins of our last names and where they came from. After conversation partners I headed downstairs and met Yuu. We went to the front entrance of the school where everyone agreed to meet before heading to the movie. Since we were a bit early Yuu and I talked for a bit. It was pretty difficult since neither of us are very strong in each other's language. Eventually Nate, Austin, Mariko, Toniya, Alex, Yuki, and Saiyou showed up and we prepared to head out.

The movie theater we were going to was in downtown Niigata. To get there we took the Keiwa bus to Sasaki Station, a short drive from the college. From Sasaki we rode the train to Niigata Station and then walked through downtown Niigata. Niigata is a much bigger city then I had originally thought, on par with many large U.S. cities. We got to the theater, bought our tickets, and then had a snack since we were a little early. You can pretty much wait until the last minute to go sit down since seats are reserved in Japanese theaters.

Left to right: Yuki, Yuu, Toniya, Mariko

The movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was great. It was really weird, but since I'm a massive POTC fan, it was awesome no matter what the story did. It was really neat with the Japanese subs, sometimes I'd be able to catch a word or two, but not much since I couldn't read it fast at all. I'm so happy I was able to see Pirates even though I'm halfway across the world.

After the movie we took the train all the way back to Murakami Station where we had dinner at the restaurant where Saiyou works. We met up with Ronnie, another Chinese exchange student from Keiwa whose English is absolutely amazing. After eating a big shared meal with everything from sushi to fish to wontons we all took taxis home and called it a night as it was already 1:00am.

A great day to say the least, mostly because I got to see the movie I've been waiting so long for. Also because I got to have a fun time with a lot of great friends. Its just incredible how well friendships can form even with language barriers. If anything, something this trip has taught me so far is just how remarkable humans can be.

Back to School

On a cold Monday morning we headed back to school from a long home stay weekend. It would be a full day of Japanese language courses, so we had to buck up, especially since the night before was once again spent up late talking and composing my extra long journal entry.

Our first class of the day was especially difficult on me. The professor moved very quickly and I barely had time to write down the necessary information before she moved on. After a hectic hour we were given a 10 minute break before the class carried on. I used a majority of this break to get some quick tutoring from Seth. Thanks to him I was able to catch up and the next hour of class went a little smoother.

Lunch was back to the adventure of the Keiwa College cafeteria. After eating I grabbed a seat next to You and Saitoru and talked to them. We talked about going to the movie Tuesday night and some other things. You was her ever loud and rambunctious self.

After lunch we had class with our other language professor, Onuma, the teacher we thought was 25 but claimed to be 40. Once again her lesson seemed to impact us the most as it was taught without any English cues, only Japanese and pictures. After class we wandered around for a bit before heading over to conversation partners. Many Japanese students showed up today to help us but not many ERAU students showed up because many were volunteering in Joy's English class. I would have gone as well but I told Megamu I would help her friend at conversation partners. The friend never showed but I did talk with Yuki and a couple guys from the basketball club. I showed Yuki my iPod and upon seeing some of the Japanese pop I had she let me listen to some on her cell phone (Japanese cell phones are at least 2 generations ahead of American cell phones). After language partners I went down to the basketball court and played with the guys from the basketball club. It had clearly been a very long time since I had played basketball.

After I wore myself out playing basketball I headed home and rested for a bit before meeting up with Alex and Mariko. We hung out for a while before getting hungry and headed out to a local Italian diner. Japanese Italian food is pretty interesting to say the least. We had a couple small pizzas, none of which contained typical American toppings (and we certainly didn't order the squid pizza). Back at the apartments we planned out tomorrow's trip to the movies with Saiyou, You, and one of their friends. Alex and Yuki came by to help with translating and after an hour we had things figured out.

Mariko and Yuki then stopped by our apartment for a bit before heading out. I ran around from apartment to apartment getting some things sorted out. I finally sat down to finish this and listen to the CD that Yuki very kindly burned for me of some Japanese pop. Tomorrow should be tons of fun, I'll finally get to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

Left to right, Yuki, Alex, Mariko

Home Stay

Going clubbing the night before the home stay wasn't the greatest idea in the world. A painful wake up and a not-so-refreshing shower managed to get me out the door and on my way to school with Mike and a few others. I grabbed some coffee and headed up to the meeting room with Daisuke, a Japanese student who was self taught in English. After a while just sitting around we finally split into our home stay groups and headed out.

Brett, Tyler, and myself met Hisako Katagiri, a wonderful woman of over 50 years that doesn't look a drop over 35. She is the only one in the family that we're staying with that speaks English, so it was set to be an interesting weekend from the get-go. Hisako's son came and picked us up in van (think American mini-van, now think smaller). We then drove to their home, located in a village which is nestled into a valley in the mountains.

After snacks at the house we went to the prefecture police station (like American State Troopers or Highway Patrol) where Hisako's son works as a motorcycle patrol officer. There we were given the special privilege of seeing their various patrol cars and motorcycles up close. They had an unmarked car with a flashing light that popped up through a trap door in the roof. They also showed us the 3 different kinds of patrol motorcycles used. The highlight of the visit was the station's RX-7 pursuit vehicle. Hisako's son gave us each a lap around the parking lot in it.

RX-7 Police Car

After the visit to the police station we went to a nearby city to have lunch at a traditional sushi restaurant It was a bit hard communicating what kind of sushi we liked, especially since I don't know what most of it is called, but we managed. Hisako and her family thought it was odd when I didn't eat as much as everyone else. I was honestly full, but I couldn't convey this. They found it hard to believe a 6 foot American could eat lightly.

Next we drove to a local sawmill so Hisako's husband could pick something up. Here we parted ways with her son and went to the super market (like American grocery store, only very different food, like squid) to buy food for tonight's dinner. We then headed back to the village where we went to the family's old house. This house was built in 1898 and was filled with the family's oldest possessions. We would have dinner here later but first we walked back to the new house where we relaxed while dinner was prepared at the old house.

Around 8 we walked over to the old house where we joined Hisako, her husband, her parents, and a family friend. We sat around a firepit, warmed by burning bamboo charcoal. Dinner consisted of miso soup, a sort of pork on a stick with onions, Japanese radish, a delicious salad with sliced beef, rice from the family's fields, and the main dish, tempura Japanese pumpkin, mushrooms, and mountain vegetable.

The village

About a half hour into the dinner Nabe-chan showed up with a six-pack of sake. Evidently the Katagiri family were old friends of his. The rest of the night was filled with laughter as Nabe-chan as his usual self. Just having Nabe-chan's company for dinner made the home stay worth it.

We all called it quits around 11:30 and headed to bed. Tyler, Brett, and myself would spend a peaceful night in the old house. It would be the first full night's sleep I'd had in 3 days.


The next morning I woke up a little after 8. Tyler was out for the count with a hang over from the previous night (6 big cups of sake) and Brett was already up. Hisako came and brought us over to the new house for a Japanese breakfast (greens, beans, toast, and yogurt). Tyler went back to sleep while Hisako led Brett and myself to the village shrine. The shrine sits hidden in the trees above the village on the mountain. Its 108 steep steps to the shrine. Hisako explained that it was built 600 years ago by her ancestors. She then led us down a mountain trail, showing us the various plants that could be used for food or medicine. All the greens used in our meals are either picked from the mountain or her garden. Hisako took us to her husband's shop where we saw the equipment used in the rice paddies.

Shrine Steps

Back at the house we relaxed until some family friends came over to help prepare lunch. Then we went back to the old house and made soba noodles. Not being good in the kitchen I went outside and helped with the fire for boiling the noodles. Funny how men can stand around a fire and without saying a word, communicate what they think, even if they are from completely different parts of the world. Once the noodles were boiled we had a soba noodle lunch with leftover tempura.

After lunch Tyler and Brett laid down for a nap while I had green tea with Hisako, her husband, and her friend who designed Japanese houses (architect I guess). Hisako took me out to where her father (ojee-san) was making bamboo charcoal in a kiln. She then took me up the mountain ("yama" is Japanese for mountain) to chop bamboo saplings. Then helped her pick greens from the family garden for dinner. On the way back to the old house we took the long route around the town and she did her best to be a tour guide, despite the language barrier. Then she headed off to prepare dinner so I wandered around the town for a bit. Only about 100 people live in the village, so walking from one end to the other is nothing.

I made my way back to the new house where I relaxed until dinner. Dinner was Chinese won-tons, although Hisako had a completely different name for them. We enjoyed a wonderful meal while telling the family about our own families and lives back in the States. It was a great evening and after group pictures Hisako drove us back to the apartments. I spent the rest of the night relating my own experiences with the other students who had returned from their own home stays.


This ends my first week in Japan. For an entire week every day presented a new challenge which I could have never experienced in America. Each morning I had to tell myself that I wouldn't be afraid of new things, despite how culturally different they might be. My mind can't even begin to comprehend the amount of amazing things I have experienced. I can already feel myself becoming a different ("chigaru"), braver person. Tomorrow will bring even more challenges, and after the first week, I'm more then ready to face them. "Ganbate!" (Go for it!).

Hisako and her family, me in the back middle.

Castles and Clubs

Friday rolled around along with our first field trip. We had to get up early to get to school by 9. Once again I had stayed up late talking with Japanese students (Yuki, Megumu, and her friend) and I felt the same as when I had first arrived in Japan. I think between adjusting to the massive time difference and lack of sleep, my body just became hammered. I would feel this way for most of the day.

Once at school we loaded up on a Keiwa College bus along with Nabe-chan, Dr. Hayashabira, and Professor Brown. Our first stop was the Shibata post office so some students could make withdrawals at the international ATM. Once this was taken care of we headed off to the first official stop of the field trip, Shibata Castle. Shibata Castle is at the very heart of Shibata, which is a castle city. The streets of Shibata are designed to be purposely confusing to slow down invaders. The castle itself isn't so much a military fortress as it is a government center. Much of the castle has been rebuilt using the old techniques (no nails, all intricately designed joints). About half of what would of been part of the castle grounds is now a JSDF (Japan Self Defense Force) base. This is obviously off-limits but it could be seen rather clearly from the castle walls.

Shibata Castle

Our next stop was a local Sake brewery. We were given a full tour of the small facility by the owner, who had studied English in America so he was very fluent. Niigata prefecture has the most sake breweries out of all of Japan's prefectures, totalling 97. However, these are smaller breweries and Japan's largest sake manufacturer's total output is larger then all 97 Niigata breweries combined. Those of us that were of drinking age were allowed to try some samples of different kinds of sake the brewery makes. I tried a few cups but found it to be too strong a taste in my opinion (that and I don't like alcohol in the first place).

After the brewery we walked to the Shimizu Gardens. Shimizu Gardens were the suburban home of the Shibata Clan. The site also includes the last remaining example of a soldier long house from the period, and is considered a national treasure. Shimizu Gardens was like entering another world. Despite the fact that we were squeezed in the middle of Shibata City, the gardens was an absolutely peaceful place. Many of us just sat down and relaxed our minds and bodies in the beautiful environment. It once again reminded me of the recurring thought in my mind that coming to Japan is a bit like stepping into an alternate world.

After the gardens we made a quick stop at a local art gallery (I was far too exhausted at this point to remember many details of that) before heading home. Many of us went straight to our rooms and passed out for a few hours before getting ready to head into Niigata City to go to a club. Although clubs aren't exactly something I get into, I wanted to compare my experiences with American clubs to their Japanese counterparts. It was a lot smaller then the American clubs I've been in, and the dancing wasn't as sexually oriented as their American counterparts. We did run into a few locals who were all too happy to have fun with the Americans. I did find that Japanese youth smoke a lot, way too much in fact. We dragged Megumu and her friend along but they didn't seem to be into the club atmosphere so I spent a lot of time outside the dance floor with them. Just as well, Japanese seem tolerant to much higher temperatures then Americans, and the club was very atsui (hot). We managed to get home at about 3:00am, not so good considering we need to be at school at 10am to meet our host families for our weekend home stay.

My laptop will stay here so I'll have a two day update on Sunday night.

Back to Kindergarten

Another slow start today, we stayed at Saiyu's far too long last night. We went to school a little early today just to hang out. We had a new class for Language again, and a new sensai, Onuma, a woman who looks twenty but claims she's 41 (we still don't believe her). She taught the class without speaking English, instead using pictures references when needed. It felt like a much better process for learning Japanese because of the way it worked our brains. Many of us remarked after class how we preferred this method of teaching.

Our culture class today was a sort of arts and crafts class where a local traditional lamp maker came in and showed us how to make lamps. We each made our own lamp, which will be sent home after they dry (it takes about 10 days for them to dry). The lamps are made from the bark of local trees that is soaked and made into a sort of paper mache-like paste that is applied over a balloon. I assume once the bark dries the balloon is popped and pulled out and then a lamp is placed inside. Between Onuma's style of teaching and the lamp making, we felt like we were back in kindergarten.

Making Traditional Lamps
From front to back on the left: Andrew, Toniya, Nate
Front to back on the right: Austin, Tyler, Seth-chan

After arts and crafts we had conversation partners. Today I worked with Alex, Andrew, Mariko, and our partner was Yuki. It was the usual today, but we invited several of the language partners to dinner with us. We ended up taking the entire study abroad group and about 6 Japanese students to a buffet at the mall. After dinner we wandered around the mall for a while before going back home in their cars. I don't think I'll be getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road anytime soon.

Once home I went back to my room and studied until Alex, Mariko, Yuki, and Austin came over to watch You Got Served (apparently its Yuki's favorite movie). Later Andrew and Nate stopped by and then Megumu brought a friend over. After the movie we hung out for a while before the American students headed to bed for our early wake-up for tomorrow's field trip. I'm going to have to finish this entry before the night is over because its late and the Japanese girls are still here. I'm honestly too tired right now to even properly close this out, so oyasumi (good night).

Tea, Karate, and Tomodachi

Thursday started very slow considering the events of the previous night. I only managed less then 7 hours of sleep and Alex was even worse off with a hangover. However, we needed to go into school early today to have Keiwa IT set our laptops up for use on the Keiwa network. A small group of us walked over to the school with our laptops and met Doctor Hayabashira and Nabe-chan at the entrance foyer. They took us up to IT where we dropped off our computers and then went to Japanese language class. Today we moved onto more complicated rules of hiragana and reviewed the previous day's work. We also wrote our names in katakana (like a lower case hiragana, as foreigners it is proper for our names to be spelled in katakana).

After language class we headed to lunch and met up with Saiyu and Yuu in the cafeteria. Hayabashira spoke at length with Yuu and thought she was an interesting girl. Yuu isn't like most Japanese girls, she is forward and raises her voice, much like an American. She's very animated and helpful, a great friend. Saiyu is from China and is a bit more quiet, but he's very kind. Its hard to tell, but he might like Mariko a bit. Its hard to tell because many of the Keiwa college students like Mariko. The guys glance at her in the halls all the time and today at lunch a female student came up to her and with some help got her e-mail all while telling her she was "kawaii" meaning "cute". Mariko agreed to be her "tomodachi" or friend and the girl was elated.

After lunch we went across the hall to attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony hosted by the tea club. We sat on our knees on "tatami" mats while the club members presented us with sweets and tea in the traditional Japanese manner. The motions of those presenting and preparing the tea are carefully practiced and precise. A lot of bowing also takes place as each item is placed or removed. The green tea we were given was very rejuvenating and the whole ceremony was a unique experience.

After class we attended the Karate Club's practice. Yuu is a member, she may be the captain, I'm not quite sure. Saiyu is also in the club. We spent the afternoon learning kicks and punches and different ways of fending off an opponent. Just outside the room Seth and Robbie learned Kanji (advance form of Japanese writing) from some students they had met. I was really surprised by the number of students that participated in after school sports activities.

From left to right, Mariko, Saiyu, and Dani.

We left karate early to go buy groceries for a meal we were going to make in return for Saiyu and Yuu's kindness the night before. Mariko and Andrew made teriyaki chicken in my apartment and then brought it next door to Saiyu's. Many of us crammed in and enjoyed chicken and rice. There were a lot of tired study abroad students that left early, and Saiyu had to go to work, so the twins, Mariko, Alex, and myself stayed with Yuu and Saitoru (the student from last night whose name I couldn't remember). For hours we talked back and forth in Japanese and English. Yuu helped us with our hiragana and eventually, Megumu, my reading partner from the first day of class stopped by. It was 11:30 before we finally called it a night, and it was worth it. Hanging out and trading off our languages like that helps me learn a great deal. Classroom learning only goes so far with my mind, I need real experience to cement things in.

Today was my fifth day in Japan and I feel like this has been some of the most amazing five days of my life. There is no doubt in my mind how happy I am that I went for this opportunity. To anyone who hasn't travelled abroad before, I have to say, the world is an amazing place. I've discovered so much in fives days, I can't imagine what awaits the next twenty five.

Making Friends

Tuesday rolled around and so began our first true day as Keiwa College students. We walked over as a group to the school and one of the local professors, Nabe-chan, greeted us at the door. What little English Nabe-chan can speak he makes up for with pure enthusiasm. No language barrier stands in the way of his ability to make us laugh.

Nabe-chan brought us upstairs to our Japanese Language classroom. Here Professor Yamada awaited to introduce us to Japanese. Right from the get-go we were in for a surprise, it wasn't only speaking Japanese we would be learning, but also Hiragana, a form of Japanese writing. It quickly became apparent why we would be doing this, as hiragana is the essential building blocks of the Japanese language. For more then 2 hours each morning we will drill hiragana and Japanese into our minds. It actually moves quite quickly, and the staff are ever encouraging.

Keiwa College

After Japanese Language class we break for lunch. Getting lunch at Keiwa is an adventure in itself. We head down to the cafeteria and get in line, after a while we come to a sort of ticket machine that lists the meals available that day. We put in some money and push the button of the meal we want and it spits out a ticket and our change. Then we move into the proper line for the meal we ordered, noodle dishes in one line, rice dishes in another (as far as I can tell). I ordered fried chicken with white rice. The meal came with a large bowl of rice topped with a hearty helping of fried chicken, a bowl of onion and tofu soup, and a mixed greens salad. Japanese school food is absolutely delicious, much better then anything served at ERAU. I sat at a table with Dani, Mariko, Andrew, and several local girls. The girls were planning a drinking party for the study abroad students, somehow I think its a bit different then an American drinking party. As I was eating the girls commented on how well I used the chopsticks and eventually one asked where I had practiced using chopsticks. I told her of the Chinese food place at Embry-Riddle and that my old roommate's girlfriend was Chinese.

After lunch we attended Professor Brown's Japanese Manners class. He spent the time allowing us to describe what we had noticed about the society and its mannerisms so far. He then related his own findings as an American living in Japan. Professor Hayashibara then added his own ideas on the difference of culture. We learned a few new good and bad manners, such as not rubbing our chopsticks or tapping them on the table.

Our final activity for the day was meeting with conversation partners for one on one Japanese lessons. Since there wasn't enough student volunteers for one on one teaching, we split into small groups. Robbie and myself worked with a freshman student named Megumu who was very helpful. She helped us with some first day basics, and showed us some neat shortcuts with our hiragana writing. At the end of the session we were given information on logging onto the campus network. IT had passwords and usernames for us within a day, very helpful.

We headed back to the apartments and hung out with Andrew for a while until we got hungry and decided to go for sushi. As we left we passed Dani and Mariko who were coming home with groceries and much alcohol. After sushi we headed back joined everyone at Robbie's room for beer pong (Japanese study abroad style) and later we played Kings. Around 9 everyone was getting tired but Mariko, Mike, Dani, and Alex all decided to go get more alcohol so I joined them. The only place open this late in Shibata was 7-11, which none of us knew how to get to. So while wandering around the rice paddies at the edge of town trying to figure out where the hell 7-11 was, we ran across what looked like a business man on his way home. Alex decided to ask him for directions and moments later we found out he was a well plastered business man who was more then eager to drunkenly show us to the 7-11. I have to admit, this has to be one of the most absurd moments in my entire life. Wandering around a Japanese town at night with 4 drunk Americans and a three sheets to the wind Japanese business man. Alex spoke with him on the way (evidently Alex is practically fluent in Japanese when drunk, but it also helps if the person he's talking to is drunk too). We found 7-11 and parted ways with our inebriated Japanese friend, bought the booze and headed back to the apartments.

On our way into my apartment we ran into the Japanese students living next door. They very kindly invited us over (perhaps not realizing 4 our of 5 of us were shitfaced). So this is how we met (begin name butchering) Abe, You, Seiyou, and one other Japanese student whose name I can just not remember. We spoke with them in our broken Japanese with their broken English for hours. They offered us drink and food (the food was amazing, it always is here) and took many pictures. We agreed to go with them next week on the train into Niigata to see Pirates of the Caribbean and then get some ice cream afterward. I had a wonderful time with them, and they were very helpful in teaching us Japanese. It was 1am before I headed back to my apartment to type up this entry before falling asleep.

I came to Japan with the full intention of making Japanese friends. Tonight I think I made some. However, one thing I didn't expect was the kind of friendship I would develop with the fellow study abroad students. I'm really amazed how well I've gotten along so far with many of them. Its only the 4th day of this trip and I already don't want it to end.

First Day of School

Today was our first day at Keiwa College. We met Doctor Hayabashira outside at 9:45 and walked together to the school. Once there Professor Brown brought us up to a meeting room and we went through some basic information. The president of Keiwa College came up an introduced himself and then Brown took us on a tour of the school. Keiwa is about the size of a large American high school, or a small American community college. The tour was rather quick, but we got to see many of the Keiwa students. In Niigata there aren't many foreigners, and the only white foreigners are Russian (Niigata International services Russian airlines). So, for the students and the college, having a group of American students is kind of a big deal. That being said, everywhere we go in the school, we seem to attract a ton of attention, even more so then we do just being Americans in Japan.

Our first sunny day in Shibata afforded us a beautiful
view of the local mountain range.

After the tour we went back to the conference room where we went over some more information such as schedules and field trips before we were served a light lunch. The lunch consisted of many traditional Japanese foods, such as sushi and fried shrimp, all of which was absolutely delicious. In America I was very hesitant to eat any sushi, but all the food here is so delicious that I'm almost never afraid to try new things. As we ate several of our professors came in and introduced themselves. We each told them our majors and what our hobbies were and several pictures were taken of the group. The first day filled us with a bit of celebrity status with so much positive attention being directed at us.

After the lunch we were given the rest of the day off so those of us who volunteered to help out in the English classes (that is, classes for Japanese students learning English, the opposite of what we are here to learn) came back to school and attended the class. The professor teaching the class brought us up front and introduced us while many of the students took pictures of us with their camera phones. We watched the end of What's Eating Gilbert Grape (they had already seen the first part) and then discussed it a bit. We actually ran out of time early because of the introductions so we'll finish those up next week. It was a fun experience getting to see the opposite side of what we'll be doing, and I hope to help out Japanese students as best that I can.

After class I went out with some of the study abroad students to a local sushi bar. This is a great place to try new things in my opinion. I didn't eat much, but considering I couldn't read the menu, everything was an experiment, and it was all very good. I went out again later with some other study abroad students to a local Ramen restaurant and got to try some real ramen. Its definitely not the insta-crap I used to make at home. After dinner we came back to the apartments and hung out in me and Alex's place for a bit before one by one everyone called it a night. Our bodies still haven't adjusted to the massive time change, every afternoon feels like 3am for us. It feels like I'm fighting every night just to make it to 10pm. Also, sunrise here is 4:30am, we haven't figured this out yet, it must be something with the time zone.

Tomorrow we start actual classes and meet our language partners. I don't doubt that it will be a fun time for everyone.

Panorama of Shibata from ontop of the apartments.

The First Day

Despite having been up for over 26 hours the previous day(s) I woke this morning at 6:30am after about 8 hours of sleep. Alex got up a short while later and we decided to go out. The weather is wet and cold here. We're in the rainy season so rain is to be expected, but the average temperatures for this time of year should be low 70's, not low 60's. We walked about a block to the local McDonald's and had breakfast. A number 2 at McDonald's in Japan is not a double quarter pounder but is instead a fried shrimp sandwich.

After we returned to the apartments for a bit some of the guys from Prescott came by and invited us to come with them to the local shopping mall. We headed out with most of the study abroad group minus Mariko, Tonya, and the students that had yet to arrive. It was about a mile walk to the mall through a bit of a rural area. The mall itself is a lot like an American one. In fact it reminded me greatly of a smaller version of the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. Alex and myself split off and wandered around the mall's largest store, Jusco, for a while. Jusco can be compared to a multi-story Super Walmart, it literally has everything. Alex got a new camera in the store's electronics department and then we met up with the group again. It didn't take us long though to wander off on our own again and we headed into the mall's arcade. The arcade consisted mostly crane games with photo booths taking up the entire back third of the area.

Shibata Neighborhood and rice paddies

We headed back into the mall and I heard someone yell my name, I turned to see Mariko and Tonya. They joined us and we went back to Jusco and talked with the local cellphone dealer about temporary phones for our stay. It was fun to watch both parties patch together enough of each other's language to get a conversation across. We decided to ask Professor Brown or one of the Japanese students to come back with us later to help. Then we headed up to the food court and tried out the Baskin Robbins there. Mariko wanted Green Tea ice cream that she had heard about. I ended up with a Guava Frozen Smoothy, ever since Hawaii I've been in love with Guava. One thing I should mention here, customer service in Japan is top notch, everywhere you go, even at an ice cream shop, all the employees are very nice, helpful, charming in every way. They also thank you for your service every time. Its a definite difference from the American south (Florida especially) where customer service is subpar at best.

On our way back to the apartments we stopped by two stores. One was Hard Off (yes, its called Hard Off, I giggle every time I see it) The bottom floor is for books and dvd's and tons of anime I'd love to watch but can't understand. The top floor has all kinds of used electronics, everything from old TV's to Super Famicoms. They even had a new in box Super Famicom. I'll definitely be back there before I leave for personal souvenirs. The other place we stopped was a 100 yen Store, which would be like a Dollar Store, for a few essentials and school supplies.

We came back and rested for a bit before we gathered a larger group, now including three guys from Prescott; Seth, Robbie, and Mike. We went looking for food and found a Chinese restaurant. They sat us upstairs in a smaller diner area that was empty apart from us. The general consensus is that they put us up their because they assumed we were typical noisy Americans. They were probably right. The food was delicious, I had a dinner that included ramen, a small salad, and a sort of beef main dish. I tried my best to eat it all, but I'm terrible with chop sticks.

Tomorrow we have our first day at Keiwa. We're meeting at 10am for an orientation of the campus. It will be my first experience with Japanese college life, I can't wait.

Welcome to Japan

Going into my final summer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University I found myself pondering the prospect of applying for a Study Abroad program. Having never travelled outside the country, save to Canada, I was rather interested. Once I saw that one of the programs was a month studying Japanese language and culture at Keiwa College in Niigata Japan, I was hooked. With the full support of my family I applied to the program and, much to my surprise, was accepted.

Flash forward to June 18th.

Boarding Delta flight 55 (Boeing 777 from Atlanta to Tokyo-Narita) I found that I was nervous, but not frightened. I had every right to be considering I'd never embarked on an adventure of this magnitude before, much less alone. In 13 hours I would be landing at Tokyo-Narita Airport, looking out the window at a land my eyes had never before seen. Rice paddies littered the countryside, with small villages dotting the landscape. Cars drove along the left side of the road. Minutes later we landed at Tokyo-Narita International, and airport filled with jumbo jets from all over the world.

I followed the signs provided in English and cleared customs with no problems. After gathering my luggage I walked down to the Narita Train Station to wait for Doctor Hayabashira, who would be meeting me and a few other students and guiding us to the Shinkansen bullet train which would take us to Niigata. Soon after entering the station level I found myself face to face with Amanda, a student from the Daytona campus. She asked if I was from Embry-Riddle (I was wearing my ERAU baseball cap) and invited me to join her at Starbucks to wait for the others. After a while we caught sight of another student, Toniya from the Prescott campus. Hayabashira showed up soon after and after the girls transferred some money at the exchange, we ran into Mariko, another girl from the Prescott campus, and the last one that would be travelling with us today.

After hanging out at Narita for a bit we got on the Narita-Tokyo Express and went to Tokyo Station. Once there Hayabashira left us and we boarded the Joetsu Shinkansen for Niigata. At this point I had been up for 24 hours, I honestly have no idea where the energy was coming from. Travelling with the girls was fun though, and being in a reverse Riddle ratio situation wasn't terrible either (having more girls then guys). We arrived in Niigata a little over 2 hours later where we were met by Professor Brown, and American from Keiwa College. He drove us to our apartments which are a short walk from the Keiwa campus. After giving me my key and an information packet, I dragged my self and my luggage over to my room. Inside I found my roomate, Alex already asleep. I apologized and told him not to worry, I'd be passing out soon enough. I basically dropped my luggage in the corner, unfolded my bed, and promptly passed out. I'd awake 9 hours later to my first real day in Niigata.

Our apartment in Shibata