Doneski

The bike has been my transportation for 4 weeks. I think I am going to miss being able to bike everywhere instead of cars/buses or whatever.


I went to a school to help with English class, all of the kids there were amazed by our sunglasses! We mostly just spoke Japanese and no English was learned...













Also went to a taiko drum class and we all learned a routine.. I think we got pretty good! There is a video of us all playing somewhere, and I need to find it. The picture is of me hitting a gigantic drum.. we had sticks but they were being used at the time. Finally, I managed a picture of my otoosan (dad)... he is very camera shy. He is also over 60 years old, I hope I age like Japanese people.And that's it for Japan... leaving tomorrow. But then Egypt! I really am going to miss this place and can not wait to return, さよなら日本！

Tokyo
Went to Tokyo over the week, it was about a 5hr trip by train. In Tokyo I mostly ate a ridiculous amount of food, walked around the the entirety of the city (which is much more spread out then say New York), and enjoyed their nightlife... I will say, Americans know how to party far better than Japanese!
This is the gate to the Imperial Palace. It is always closed off to the public though..Imperial Palace
In Shibuya (shopping/ nightlife/ restaurant district) they have the busiest crosswalk in Tokyo. It is sort of like their Time Square. They also have this very famous dog, where people always meet... it has a story behind it, good "Hachiko" and wikipedia has it.




















This statue was at a park by the Imperial palace.. thought it was cool!

Monday, Tuesday

Not much to say.. just wanted to post this picture really. Karaoke was awesome! Also went to "Ninja Temple" but pictures were forbidden.. secret ninja things, you know.

Sunday

Sort of a tour of Ishkawa prefecture today. Few words, more pictures.

Friday, Saturday
Nothing much Friday except a very fun club experience where I made some new Nihonjin friends and saw Katamachi's (downtown Kanazawa, the city I am living in) most famous drag queen. Apparently everybody knows her/him.
Saturday was very cultural. There was the million man parade, which celebrates the Daimyo Maedas entrance into Kanazawa castle. Very cool!















After that my older brother threw me a bbq!! No hamburgers and hot dogs though, it was Japanese style with a chisai grill and items such as intestine, chicken skin, and pig toes along with pork, salad, and normal chicken. The stools we sat on were also ridiculously small... but still lots of fun with much kampai! About 20-25 people showed up, and they brought Japanese wine! Different, but still good.

Thursday
Cooking ended up not being cooking, but "desert making" instead that involved no ovens, heat, or a kitchen really. We made mochi, which goes with green tea. I made those beauties in the picture below.












When we ate these it sparked a spontaneous tea ceremony, which I messed up horribly because I A) don't understand Japanese and B) Had no idea how many traditions went along with it. The woman in yellow is my mom for the trip! She is teaching my brother's wife how to do everything.

At school we went out and interviewed random Japanese people, it was the best day so far! While interviewing we stopped in a few stores as well and I found these shirts...









After dinner and the tea ceremony we went to the on-sen and then to a big festival ritual. People walked down the street chanting, following Buddhist monks. Then the monks did lots of strange things to ward off demons and created a big fire.






























There was also a taiko drum show... and PS some of these pictures were taken with my phone and infrared to my computer, gotta love Japanese phones! Thats it for now... this weekend is a huge festival and my brother is holding me a big bbq... ja!!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday I went to a police academy and watched/ learned a little kendo. Lots of pictures taken.... the older man is Khan-sensei, our teacher from the academy.

Today I finally got my hands on a ketai (Japanes phone)... this has been difficult because you need to be a Japanese citizen, but I borrowed someone elses address and was able to get it that way, take that Japan! Its just a simple prepaid phone that will probably only work here... but I've been traveling around without one, so if I were to get lost or have something come up I think it would have been dangerous.

We had most of the day off, and I mostly relaxed... explored the city some more, saw Prince of Persia, and ate a really nice dinner. Tomorrow, I cook!

Dan