Finding my feet

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I've been here a week now and I've got to admit it has been rather weird for me. I have absolutely loved most of it as I have met some amazing people and seen some beautiful places but at the same time there have been a few times where I cant get it out of my head how far away from home I actually am! I guess this is just part of settling in and the culture shock though so I wont bore you with that... all I will say however, is if you are reading this with the intention of doing a year abroad here, you should definitely be able to speak at least basic Japanese (and if anyone from Bristol uni is reading this it should be pushed upon the law students to study Japanese as an optional unit in their second year to prepare them!). Without writing a blog entry every day, it is impossible to include everything, however I'll try to include the best parts of my week.

So from my first week here in Japan, the most siginificant japanese I have learned is 'Nomihoudai', which is effectively all you can drink deals offered in most restaurants and bars and also how to ask where the toilet is... two phrases i feel go hand in hand and are very important haha!

After an orientation meeting and what felt like the filling out of endless paper work (only if you come to live in Japan will you really understand just how much paperwork there actually is!!), we decided to go and explore the night life of Fukuoka and find a bar. This was the first time I had heard of Nomihoudai but it was so much fun, for around 1000 yen (about £6) we could drink as much as we wanted for an hour and a half! This was a good way to get to know each other better and since this I feel I've made a great group of friends. We unfortunately had to be up early the following day so we managed to get the last subway home that night.



The following day we had to be at the international student centre for 8.50am in order to catch our coach for our trip. The first stop on the coach was these beautiful waterfalls and for lunch at this tiny Japanese hut-like restuarant! The waterfalls were amazing and it was such a nice atmosphere amongst everyone. We were all so excited to be there! The next stop was The Bridge of Dreams. It was a huge suspension bridge up in the mountains which overlooked valleys of trees and waterfalls! I was sooo excited to be at a suspension bridge as it reminded me of Bristol!! After this we were driven to our home for the night up in the mountains. It was very traditional inside, for instance we slept on japanese futons on the floor but I really love that kind of thing (for anyone who knows what I'm talking about, it was like a room full of stigs!). What made this place so special however was the hot springs, or the Onsen as its known in Japan. This one was essentially a huge bath with water pumped up from the springs but even still it was so lovely. The shocking part was when we were told you have to go in naked as part of Japanese tradition! We were even told we couldnt go in if we had tattoos but i managed to hide mine. It was split up into seperate male and female baths, as you might expect but still being naked in front of people I'd only just met was quite an experience!

The next morning we set off for the top of the mountains and the view when we got there was unbelievable. The mountain range was made up of a number of active, semi-active and inactive volcanos but right in the middle was almost like a huge crater where a whole new village/town had been built. It was apparently the result of a collapsed volcano and is one of the largest of its type but it made for an amazing view!! After this we went to a farmers market out in one of the mountain towns and here i found cheese!!! Anyone that knows me will know how much i love cheese and how scared i was that I wouldn't find any in Japan. However, although this was not anything amazing, just the fact there was cheese was great. We also bought a camembert cheese cake! Our final stop, after lunch at another traditional Japanese restaurant, was Kumamoto castle. It was really beautiful and so different to the castles I've seen in England before! The view point right at the very top of the tallest tower was the highlight for me. There was a 360 degree view which included mountains, fields and partly city. I've attached some of my pictures from the trip but in all honesty, the pictures don't do the real thing justice!



After getting back from our trip we were all exhausted but people wanted to go for food. We ended up with a group of about 13 of us going to Tenjin - our group's favourite place and an on going joke between us all. Here we found another Nomihoudai restaurant so we ordered food and again had all you can drink, this time for two hours! Within this time we consumed ALOT, I mean there is no way they made a profit from us. We made friends with a group of Japanese boys sat on the table next to us and that was good fun trying to teach them english drinking games and stuff! After the meal most people went home, however a group of 6 or 7 of us decided it would be great to continue the night at a karaoke bar!! As experiences go, I cannot have lived in Japan and not gone to karaoke bars but i can tell you now, my head did not thank me for it the next morning!! I missed going to sort out my residence card (dont worry its sorted now!!) and we had a 4 hour orientation meeting that felt like it went on for ever and ever and everrrr. After all of that we had a film night and we all dragged our bedding into one bedroom to watch Iron Man, it was actually really nice to all just chill together as we had spent hardly any time all in our rooms!



Today was the most homesick I have felt I think. After being here a week, I woke up feeling really down. This is so unusual for me as I don't get home sick at all at uni at home! But anyway, I decided I needed to keep busy and to go and explore. I was so glad I did! We ended up going to Canal City which is like a huge shopping mall with a stream going through it with water features and all sorts. At one point we were sat by the fountain and as the clock stuck 4pm music began and a water show to the sound of 'Be My Guest' from Beauty and the Beast began! It was like nothing you'd see in a normal English shopping centre. I also finally managed to get myself a kimono, or more specifically a yukata!! After this a group of people were meeting to go for dinner at our halls so we set out to go with them. Some of the japanese tutors were going too and its always great to go out with the o This was the first time I had 'tabehoudai' (all you can eat)! The tables were set with little BBQs built into the middle of them and you were brought plates of different meats, fish and vegetables to cook for yourself. There was also a salad and a dessert bar. This was probably my favourite meal in Japan so far! It was a really good atmosphere and the food, unlike the traditional cheap rubbish you get in English 'all you can eat' places, was soooo nice!!!



So that pretty much sums up my first week in Japan... a bit homesick at times but loving it overall and really looking forward to beginning my proper Japanese lessons so I can experience more!!

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