Copied from Catherine's journal:

I looked up the flight number just now, and it is scheduled for 9 in the morning NOT 9:26. didn't know if that meant anything. Should we be there earlier? if anyone has heard anything give me a call please (704.9758). I'm planning to be there at 8.

Hello!
This is our first night in Japan and we are all very tired. Our flights were relatively uneventful. We got to the hotel at 630pm Japan time. Everyone is really tired from flying across 15 time zones. The airline food was not very good but we got through Customs without a hitch. The train was an interesting experience in itself. After a brief rest, Dr. Farber had us walk through the park that is right across the street from our hotel. The hotel rooms are very small, but cute. All in all, it is shaping up to be a fun experience.
Sayonara!

Hello everyone,

Today has been quite the experience for us all, our first whole day in Tokyo. We started the day out with a nice journal and book discussion in the park adjacent to our quaint hotel. The park is full of beautiful trees, a peculiar sight for being in the middle of a bustling city. Our next stop was the Senso-ji Temple. We walked through a long marketplace where they sold everything from candied apples to Geisha dolls. The temple was really neat and there should be some pictures coming soon.

We had an interestin encounter with what Junko, our guide, thought was a member of the Yakuza. For those who don`t know who they are, the Yakuza are the notorious gang in Japan. Meredith calls them `gangstas`. They run most of the Pachinko parlors. This guy in bright yellow pants approached Dino and started aggresively slurring at us. We had no idea what he was saying, but Junko said he was angry because we were in the way. She apologized for us, and he stormed away, shattering his drink bottle at our feet. Not exactly a fine example of the politeness we expected, but most everyone else has been.

After the temple, we went our seperate ways to complete our first CITY AS TEXT assingment- finding a museum and travelling at least three stops on the subway. You will all have to ask your Japan traveller about their experiences with this assignment, because they are all different, but every one being quite an adventure.

Well, it is just about 9:40 here. Most of you are probably just waking up, unless your a sleep-in person like me. We miss all of you and hope everything is well in Jacksonville or wherever you are. Check back soon for the latest update. Till then, Sayonara.

Internet access at the Rickshaw Inn is limited, so the frequency of updates may be lower.

Okay, so yesterday (sunday the 16th) we got on a bus for Takayama from Tokyo. The bus ride was nice, About six hours long but nice. Takayama is in the mountains, so the ride was very scenic. The mountains were so beautiful. From the bus we saw the green, green mountains, and the torrid river down below. The water was a jade green color in some places, muddy brown in others. There were wispy clouds lacing through the mountains and rivulets and waterfalls tumbling down the rocks and through the trees. Once we got to Takayama we walked 20 minutes to our hotel. My shoulders were sore from carrying my duffelbag! We have done 2 city as text assignments and I am loving it. Food is so much easier to find here than is was in Tokyo! We have found a great convenience store that I love. Sometimes we just buy stuff to find out what it tastes like because we can't read the lables. Sometimes we are pleased and other times we're not, but it's all for education, right?

On our last night in Tokyo, we finally got to view a sumo match, and not on TV either. We were there!!! We arrived at the sumo arena during the latter part of the daily bouts. It was interesting to hear a bunch of Japanese guys all screaming out their favorite wrestler's name behind us, while we were snacking on Japanese snacks. Personally, my night was even more exciting due to accidentally purchasing an alcoholic beverage (thats what happens when you don't read or speak the language). The sumo arena was very nice; cleaner than most sports venues I have been to. The bottom part closer to the ring, or dohyo, is made up of zabuton (cushion) seats while the upper part has conventional seats. As in every place in Japan there were some very steep stairs. Since seeing sumo in person it has been much more exiting to watch it on television. Our hotel lobby in Takayama is a regular gathering place for watching sumo on most afternoons. We cheer as loudly as we would for our favorite football team. Well, maybe not... but we cheer...

Hey, everyone! Just lost the server connection, so I will try again, and I hope this works. Today we had a free day, which means that we did not have any meetings, assignments, or journals to write. It's been fun. Many of us slept in and went shopping later, while others visited onsens and watched sumo tournaments on the television. We have all taken to sumo very well! We think the US television stations should show them. Later this evening we'll probably look for some new place to eat dinner. We just found out that there is a typhoon on the coast, but not to worry, mothers. We are far from harm. We are just getting drizzled on right now, and it's a little chilly. However, we are all healthy, hapy, and safe. We hope all is well in the States, and we look forward to seeing you all again. Until then, sayoonara!

This was our last day in Kyoto. Tomorrow morning we leave for Shimoda and Shirahama Beach. I cant wait. Kyoto is a little like Tokyo because it had a lot of traffic and tourists. Unlike Tokyo there are a lot of temples and shrines. The big activities of today were Zen meditation, market/free time and City as Text presentations. A Zen abbot ( I didnt know they even had abbots) showed us how to meditate. It was interesting; he described Buddha as a psychologist. My foot hurt from the half lotus position afterwards!
Most of us went to a huge outdoor market in the city afterwards. The only way to desctibe this market is a huge garage sale with food vendors. There were kimono, swords, old records and LPs, ceramic and potetry and weird junk people had laying around their houses and wanted to sell.
This evening we presented the information from our City as Text projects. The topics were things like Japanese College Culture and The Development of Pottery in Japan. Yesterday we broke into groups and gathered information for our projects by doing interviews, taking pictures and making observations. All the reports were really interesting; I hope everyone comes to our symposium at the end on\f the term.
Im not sure what the internet will be like in Shimoda, it might be quite limited. ( I know we say that almost every time we go someplace else, but this time it might really be true) Some of us are a little homesick and stressed out, but I think taht overall we are having a really good time and seeing so many new things and doing to many new things. One more week!

Some people have been wondering why there have been no photos posted. In Kyoto we cannot hook our laptops up to the internet so were using the 100 yen per 15 minutes at the hostle. I dont know when more will be posted. Sorry!

Today was our second day at Shirahama Beach. After our City-as-Text assignment, our afternoon was free, so most everyone is out on the beach again. Tonight, there'll be a bonfire celebration on the beach. Take a look at the individual journals for details of our adventures.

Additionally, there is reliable Internet access here at Pension Sakuraya, so expect more consistency in journal updates and a very large batch of photos uploaded.

SEE TRIP NARRATIVE LINK FOR COMPLETE & UPDATED JAPAN TRIP NARRATIVE
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