Blogs from Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan, Asia

Wow, so I finally made it to Japan. I have been here for about a week so I will try to do one entry a week while I'm away. I always wanted to come to japan just so that I could experience the culture and learn the language. After a long flight, all of the students of the program I'm involved in (IES) were taken from the Tokyo, Narita airport to Kaihimmakuhari to stay in the Hotel Springs for a week to do our orientation week. The staff showed us around the city and thankfully showed us how to withdraw money from the Japanese ATMs. They had been so helpful up to this point of the journey so I'm very thankful for what they have done. The first night I was in Japan, I went with ... read more

There is a group of "golfers" at Invesco. I wouldn't so much call them golfers as golf enthusiasts. They absolutely love the game, and hosted one of their two annual outings a couple of weeks ago in Chiba. Chiba is about a 2 hour drive outside of Tokyo. You have to drive under Tokyo Bay to get to it. Back in the bubble days here, the government built one of the most expensive tunnels ever running underneath Tokyo Bay. Otherwise, you would have to drive the coast of the Bay which would take an extra hour. They've since paid for the tunnel, but they still charge each car about $70 to drive through it. Chiba golf used to be HUGE. They have over 1000 courses where the plateaus of the city start meeting the rolling hills ... read more

Today, finally, I almost feel healthy again. Certainly well enough to resume class on Monday. I've felt very confined here, ill and unable to go anywhere or do all that much, and I really look forward to being able to get out to school. My host mom must have sensed my restlessness building up the last couple of days, and she has been phenomenal in keeping me company and helping me to recover. Thursday morning, I had my follow up from Wednesday's doctor's appointment. In the afternoon, we all, except for Otoosan, went to see Shrek 3, which was a really fun experience, even though it was all in Japanese. I mostly followed what was going on, and Shrek's voice actor turned out to be a famous Osaka comedian, so I finally got to hear a ... read more

And life is good again. A few hours ago, I went for some karaoke with my host mom and sisters. You can't imagine how wonderful it is to go shake off some stress in high Japanese style. This time, we spent two hours in karaoke, and before that, my host mom showed me a local closing sale, where I managed to buy some more souvenirs for family at home, and an omiyage for my host father, a cute yellow necktie with chickens and eggs printed on it. I doubt he'll ever wear it, but I want to show that I'm trying to adapt to Japanese culture, including the gift-giving aspect of Japanese life. I managed to impress my host mother with my English, on accident. When we were at the karaoke bar, I found the English ... read more

Many things have happened since the last time I updated in this journal, yet while it feels like I was just here updating yesterday, a whole week has already passed. Japanese class is basically the same as ever, frustrating, long, and boring, but its the life outside the classroom which makes up for it. On Tuesday, the UNC group went together to a nearby elementary school, broke off and went to visit with separate classrooms for the remainder of the school day. I was assigned to a first grade classroom, and the children, of which there were about 30, were incredibly cute and interested in me, and a lot of them tried using the English phrases they knew with me. I didn't get to see them until lunch, because they were swimming for the first part ... read more