1st Day
I’m without a phone for the next 4 weeks, so I decided that I would do this to keep some sort of contact with everyone back in the states. Hopefully I’ll be able to update at least every other day, I’m not sure how consistently I’ll have internet yet. Either way I have to submit a photo journal at the end of all this, so I’ll be prepared!

After an 11 hour flight and 4 horrible movies I landed in Tokyo, Japan! At the airport we went through customs very easily, and had 2 hrs till our next flight to Kanazawa. Excited to do “something Japanese”, parts of the group found a noodle place… first Japanese meal! Their rice isn’t even comparable to whatever is served at the best Asian places in America (Japanese rice is forbidden to be exported).

Before flying we found out the plane didn’t have room for us to check our bags, so some of us volunteered to have ours shipped to the hotel we were staying at for the first night. I was one of these people… a little scared about receiving it back.
I also had to figure out Japanese bathrooms… the picture says it all.

After the small plane ride and checking into the hotel some of us toured around Kanazawa at night (around 11pm Japan time). We were determined to reach a Coco’s Curry (which every American visiting Japan has fallen in love with). Unsure of whether or not Coco’s would accept our cards, we stopped at about 10 different ATMs on the 30 something minute walk there… no luck. Japanese banks only.

At Coco’s they didn’t accept our cards, and Geoff lost the 2000 yen bill he had with him on the walk… bummer. So cashless we turned around and went to a very cheap place where we could scrape up 380 yen and buy a single bowl of noodles. Let’s hope for better luck with ATMs tomorrow!

Back at the hotel we found a beer vending machine (one of the wonders of Japan). All of us were pretty exhausted… myself especially since I didn’t get to sleep between ring dance and my flight to Japan!

Tomorrow I get to meet my host family and will hopefully finally get my hands on some yen and my bags!

Ja mata