Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 234

Having spent the last 2 days travelling, we donned our best walking shoes and hit the streets of Tokyo. We started the day with a leisurely breakfast at Johnathan's cafe just up the road with our guide, Mako. They say that the Japanese are a reserved bunch but since meeting Mako, our extremely fun and friendly guide, it's fair to say that she is the exception to the rule! What a stroke of luck. We hit it off straight away and before long, she was whizzing us through Tokyo and showing us just what a wonderful city it is. She first introduced us to the Senso-ji Temple in the Asakusa region, guiding us through the rituals involved and giving uis a chance to experience what it is like to worship in Japan. First you have to ... read more

Hey everyones, Tonight Tomo will tell her mom about us. She didn't before because we are in Japan... things are so much differents. I think it's a good thing that she tells her parents, the only problems, maybe her parents will start beeing really strict with her. She may be 26, but as long as she lives under her parent roof, she have to listen to them. So this means maybe their parents won't let us come to Quebec together... So right now I am praying everything will go fine. I am starting another cold... temperatures here are crazy. It's like 10 degree in the morning, so you dress with hot clothes, then around noon it gets really hot, around 30 degree, so you sweat a lot. Then around 3-4, it starts to get cold really ... read more

Bonjour everyones, Yanick, if I don't speak about our personal wars again'st the black lotus ninja's guild, it's only that I do not want to worry people in Quebec. Talking about love will only smoothen their fears of us beeing far far away. By the way, did I show you my brand new bag of shurikens? They have poisoneous blades which can desintegrate a rank B ninja instantly... /geek talk I would like to thanks friend that warned me about somethig great happening in Quebec on August 2nd... not only System of a Down is giving a show at Parc Jean-Drapeau, but Avenged Sevenfold will be one of the guests. I'll be there for sure, but I wonder if Tomoko will like that =/. The morning Melyss told me about it, I was actually thinking "hey... ... read more

First off, let me apologize for how simple this post is going to be. I'm incredibly tired right now, so hopefully when I regain some energy I will be able to fill in any gaps. Afternoon Orientation Got into Rice after the awful 5:35 am flight (and connection). Thankfully other people from the program were there and I hitched a ride to campus. Around 1 pm we went to start the orientation. We didn't find out much that hadn't been posted on OwlSpace in the preceding two weeks. That night a few of us ended up chatting on the balcony for a while for lack of anything better to do. This was pleasant and gave me a good chance to meet most of the people. Lots of Flying The whole trek started at 4 am at ... read more

Japan is extremely expensive. I would never have been able to afford to come here if not for Risa's parents. It cost them $35 dollars to drive on the highway to the airport...each way. A man's haircut cost between $30 and $40. So far budget is doing awesome. This is my third day here and I have only spent $20. Once again thanks to Risa's parents. I was looking at some hats yesterday and I did not see one for less than $30 and up to $70. Kimono's range anywhere from $70 to more than $300 or $400. (Sorry Shannon, but Jon did not give me any money and the cheapest one is a whole day's budget for me, but I will try) They have very fresh seafood here. I was in a food store yesterday ... read more