Blogs from Uji, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, Asia

It has been quite awhile since I have had a moment of peace to sit down and write. I will open up and say that this blog was written in a period of one week because I have been so busy with school and everything. April has been an amazing month and I can't believe how quickly time flies by. I have just finished my 2nd complete week of school (the first week was only 4 days and most of it was orientation) and I have settled into a nice little routine. I haven't had much time to write due to many things, but the top 3 are easily school, travel, and the fact that everyone in I House has been sick for the past week and a half. It is changing seasons everywhere and colds ... read more

Well! What a big day yesterday was; and our last in Tokyo. Adventures in a Japanese Post Office, Sanrio Puroland and then taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. We got up early and packed up our room at the Shibuya Tobu Hotel, dumped our bags and then raced for Shibuya station and the train to Keio-tama-center. A shout out to Deki for all her research and help with our Hello Kitty adventure (amongst other things) - the Keio train map was very very helpful! Within a week we had bought enough to be able to send a big box home (Butters: I always wanted a huge package from Japan! Koh-neechy-wah!) so we hit the post office to get rid of it before our next major move, ie the next time we had to lug our ... read more

We left London Heathrow in the morning and landed at Charles De Gaul in Paris to get our connecting flight. We decided to fly with Air France and it was a enjoyable flight with a good media database with a screen to yourself also the food was good for airplane food. The flight time was just under 16 hours long which went quite quickly, and some exceptional sights just before landing of the surrounding countryside. After going through immigration at Osaka, which was very brief and easy with the officers being polite and friendly (unlike U.S immigration officers) we went and collected our luggage and rail tickets. The first thing that grabbed my attention was how clean the airport was and with such a clam atmosphere seeming it is a busy airport. We got our ticket ... read more

Who would have thought that I would pay money (voluntarily) to consume foamy green stuff and a pink thing that looks like an overgrown moth ball? And who would have thought that I might actually like it! Yep, for those in the know, I finally tried Mocha. Mocha is the foamy green tea that is used in tea ceremonies, and the mothball thingy is a delicious cake that accompanies it. The tea is bitter and has foam sorta like a cappucino... only green and without dairy products involved. It's sakura time in Japan. Think anticapation, excitement, special weather forecasts, people keeping a constant eye on the 'terebi' and the paper, and a general air of festivity. Tents are being errected, parties planned, sake purchased, and festive markets held. So what's all this about, you ask??? And ... read more