First Few Weeks

Well three weeks have passed since my arrival. Not sure how that happened...
Haven't had much time/energy to keep the blog updated, so here are some photos from the past few weeks.

Still having fun making panoramas of things. This is the view from my host family's house.  It's a two story house and my bedroom is on the second floor. This photo was taken from a small balcony connected to my bedroom.

Some Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) on campus, back when they were in full bloom.

 

Tokyo International University (TIU) campus

 

 

A park not far from campus

My fellow Japan Studies Program (JSP) students and I went together to the city hall to apply for our green cards. Afterwards we toured around the Kawagoe area a bit.

Gardens inside Kitain-temple

Also inside Kitain temple, these statues are supposed to be representations of the 100 disciples of Buddha. Each one has its own unique features and personality.

 This is the Kurazukuri, or warehouse style mud covered buildings.  They were built with tiled roofs and thick walls plastered with mud to be more resistant to fire.

Headed to Tokyo with a friend on a quest to get headphones and see the city a bit. On the way we encountered this ad.

 "It tastes like Seattle"

 Testing out some headphones.

 One of the aisles in the headphone section of one of the biggest electronics stores in Tokyo.  The selection was a bit disappointing, but I managed to find a good pair. ;)

A life-sized whale sculpture near a park in Ueno, Tokyo.

The next day, the JSP students went to a park about 30 minutes by train from campus to do some hanami, or cherry blossom viewing.  The weather was great and the blossoms in full bloom.

Last weekend, I went into Tokyo once again for a music festival.  The event was held in Odaiba, Tokyo, which is an artificial island in the middle of Tokyo bay.

 

 The strange building with the ball in the middle is a television studio, Fuji-terebi.

This is where the concert was held, near a museum built in the shape of a cruise ship.

In search of lunch, we encountered a large robot.

This is a Gundam robot from a popular cartoon series. This statue was built a few years ago.

Back at the festival. 

 

There were only two performers that I was familiar with.  They performed later in the day.  For the meantime we hopped from stage to stage listening to different bands.  Most of the performers were from Japan, but there were a few bands from the US and the UK.

 The reason I bought a ticket to this festival in the first place was to see Mouse on the Keys. We managed to get a good spot and their performance was great.

Here's a video I took of their encore.  The sound quality isn't so great though...

After it was all over, we headed back to the Gundam to see it all lit up.

I wish I had more time to write more in-depth about what I've been doing, but it seems like my school schedule is going to be keeping me busy.  I'll do my best to keep this blog updated with photos and updates. As always, feel free to leave any questions or messages in the comments.

Panorama photos

I've been experimenting with a program that will stitch multiple photographs together into a panorama. Here are a few from the past few days.

 At a park not far from campus

 

Taken from the top floor of a building on campus

First Few Days

Here are some photos and quick notes about what's been going on the past few days. First, the view from the top of a building on campus along with some photos of the campus itself.

My host family the first night. It was quite the crowd. My host mom invited her sister, and my host father invited his brother. One of my host sisters that lives in another town also came, along with her husband.

The food was VERY good.

 

They even had a cake made with my name on it.  It was quite the welcoming party.

 

The next days my host sisters, host mother and I went to the station to get a rail pass for my commute to school. Afterward they showed me around the main shopping street...

 

And a couple temples...

 

The Sakura (Cherry blossoms) are in bloom in Saitama this week, so the temples and parks were crowded with people doing 'Hanami', 'cherry blossom viewing.'

 

Next we went to the oldest part of Kawagoe, with all it's old traditional style brick buildings.  The streets were lined with shops selling souvenirs, japanese candies and artisan goods.

 

Nearby was the Toki no Kane, or Bell of Time.

 

 

Here's a street not to far from my homestay. At the end of the street is a school that both of my host sisters used to attend.

 

More to come!