http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ShellBeauty/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ShellBeauty en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:46:58 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:46:58 +0000 Ani and I arrived in Osaka and for a minute I was reminded of LA It was a side of Japan you don't get to see in Tokyo. There was barbedwire on some of the fencing and a lot of homeless people in the street. It didn't help that the directions we had gotten to our hotel from the website were absolutely unhelpful. But luckily the famous Japanese hospitality also applied in Osaka. We entered another http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/blog-28164.html Okay I know this is really really late I was encountering...technical difficulties...and therefore am only now updating. But yes I am still alive and for now we'll pretend that I wrote this on 106...lolAfter an 8 hour bus ride Ani and I arrived in Nara at around 5am. Nara is in the Kanto region of Japan near Kyoto. When Ani and I stepped off the bus the place looked like a ghost town. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/blog-28160.html I just had to report the first earthquake Irsquove felt since my arrival to Tokyo. It was just a little 4.2 so nothing to worry about. It did get some of the other study abroad students a little shaken up though. For those who had just experienced their first earthquake some were excited and some were a little frightened. I was at Dennyrsquos with Ani and Christine and might otherwise not h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-20516.html The EdoTokyo Museum was very interesting. It held exhibits of different eras of Tokyo formerly known as Edo. Irsquoll let the pictures talk for themselves. It was definitely interesting traveling with a group of over 60. It felt as if the Americans had taken over the museum for the day. It was fun though.Right next to the museum was the arena for the Sumo Tournament. The center area is consid http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-20463.html Tsukimi is the moon viewing festival at the harvest moon. We went to a garden near Yokohama to watch the moon. Unfortunately some of our group was running late so we missed the moon rising which is supposed to be beautiful. Once at the garden it was obvious this was a popular viewing spot. There were quite a number of people. Unfortunately it was too dark for any of my pictures to come out. We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-20462.html I just have say that we're in the middle of probably the funnest thunderstorms ever It's right over us so there's lots of lightning and thunder. And lots of rain It was quite a downpour. It's calmed down now. It's probably just passing through since it came in really quick.So I've now been in Tokyo for two weeks and three weekends. It's been fun and interesting getting to know everyone. Especial http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-19318.html I finally took the time to take some pictures so this is just going to be a photo tour of where I live and the area around.For all those who have asked anything mailed to me has to go through TUJ so make it out toOIS OfficeAttn Shellynne AllenTemple University Japan2812 Minami Azabu MinatokuTokyo Japan 1060047 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-18457.html So I've had almost a week of classes and I'm already beginning to see how this semester is going to be. Democracy Capitalism and Socialism is going to be the class that constantly pisses me off. The professor is biased toward an opinion that I don't necessarily agree with and the text book he assigned shares that bias. What's more is that book is out of print so the only way we can read it is on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-18277.html Yesterday was quite the day. So we started off the day with the group as it was still part of our orientation. We took the train to Shibuya and got off at the station famous for its statue of the dog Hachiko. This statue is dedicated to an Akita who so the story goes used to walk to the station everyday to wait for his master to come home from work. One day his master did not ome home due to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-17940.html Good news I finally got the computer thing solved. I don't need an adapter to plug in my laptop and the dorm provides us with plugs that I can plug my laptop into and then plug the other end into the wall. I also discovered that my computer has a slot for my memory card so I finally can upload pictures. I'll take pictures of the room once my roommate gets here and we organize a bit. So yesterday http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-17704.html I've now been in Tokyo for a full day and I have yet to meet my roommate. Earlier today was really boring as it was pouring and I couldn't find anyone around the dorm. So I stayed in my room and watched TV. Well I watched the pictures anyway. And of course since I had nothing to do that was very entertaining the jetlag kicked in. So I took a nap around 230 and woke up an hour later. When I we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-17504.html Okay so this is a day late but I was way too tired last night. I came into Tokyo at Narita Airport at about 400pm yesterday afternoon. unless i say otherwise all times are based on the time here. Customs wasn't anywhere near as complicated as I thought it was going to be. I just went right through. After that I was a little lost when I was trying to find the bus I needed to take but the peopl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-17457.html