Arrival

Well after two flights and roughly 20 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Japan.
After meeting up with other Japan Studies Program (JSP) students and shipping our checked luggage to our host family's houses, we caught a bus to Kawagoe, Saitama.
As I mentioned before, Saitama is just north of Tokyo, so the drive from the Airport took us near the city.
The view from the freeway reminded me again just how immense Tokyo really is.

Tokyo Sky Tree, a new television broadcasting tower and observation deck that recently became the tallest tower in the world (and the second tallest structure in the world), dominated the view of of the city. Unfortunately I did not have my camera readily available to take pictures, but here's a CGI image the gives you an idea of its scale.



Here's another picture that gives you an idea of the size of Tokyo.


It took about 2 hours to get to Kawagoe from the Airport. When we arrived we were taken to a hotel by some Japanese students from the university and then went out for dinner.
It is now 5:30 in the morning here. I managed to get about 7 hours of sleep before my PST internal clock told me to wake up.
Here are a couple pictures taken from the window of the hotel room.





The plan for today is to head to the school for orientation and then meet up with our host families.
I just saw an announcement on the news about how the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. I'm excited to explore more of the Kawagoe area and see what there is to see.
I'm not sure yet if I will have internet access at my homestay, but I will try and keep you all updated with photos and things from the next new days as I get settled in.
Until then, じゃ、また。