Akuczmarska

This past weekend was fantastic. Dan and I visited Kyoto, which we felt was superior to Tokyo. When you think of Japan, Kyoto is probably what you think of. In the city, there were many different sites to see. I highly recommend seeing Toji temple, even though it is not one of the "must-sees" in Kyoto. It has some really cool golden Buddhas inside- this is probably the best temple with these. Also, if you go into the souvenir shop in many of these temples, there are some really cool carved Buddhas. There were many larger, intricately crafted Buddhas/temples, but they were about $600, so for those of you who can afford it, the artistry was great. During our stay, we took a walking tour through the old traditional streets near Gion. I highly recommend going ... read more

Although this was two weeks ago, I still strongly recall the pain that was Mt. Fuji. At first, it seemed like the hike wouldn't be too bad...long and not really what you would call true hiking. But, then it got worse. Because we were hiking on a three-day weekend, there were so many people there. Rather than enjoying the hike up the mountain and the beautiful view when you looked down, it was like waiting in line for what seemed like forever. My favorite part (of course) was when we got to the top. The view was pretty amazing. For miles you saw mountains and rolling clouds below you, absolutely beautiful. The hike back down was easier because there were no lines, but it hurts your knees and legs quite a bit. My tips: Go to ... read more

On June 11th I arrived here in Tokyo. After leaving Narita Airport, I went to go see my new apartment in Roppongi, one of the most well-known districts of Tokyo because of its night-life. My apartment is nice- it has just enough room for my boyfriend and I. The most interesting part about our apartment are the buttons- the incomprehensible ones even to my boyfriend who has had two years of Japanese. In the kitchen there is a set of buttons to turn on the bath and heat the water. When the bath is full, the sound of a woman's voice sounds (translated): The bath is ready- go and play! Although the washing machine/dryer was difficult to figure out at first, we were finally able to do a load of laundry last night. Victory! On weekdays, ... read more