The Final Moments

The very day I was leaving, Sho offered to drive me to make the trip a lot easier. Well, Sho had a party the night before my departure and was completely incapacitated. Nervously, Mayu agreed to take the wheel, since she was the only one with a driver's license.



Mayu at the wheel as we pull away from Makino Train Station.





Hide in his apartment as we picked him up.





Everyone in the car. You can't really tell, but it's Mayu, Me, Mami, Shiho, Sho, Hide, and Taka.




We arrived at Itami Airport and were walking toward the check-in counter from the Parking Lot.





Later on Ai, Ryu, Yuki, Michiko, and Shota showed up to see me off.

After this last picture I failed to take more pictures, because my camera died. I said bye to everyone and got on the plane. As the plane was pulling out, I looked out my window and could see everyone at the Observation Deck waving... unfortunately they couldn't see me. I was very happy that everyone came to see me off. Those that couldn't make it called and said bye.

Over all, I had an extremely wonderful time in Gaidai, and miss everyone tremendously. I didn't feel ready to come home, but I have to graduate. haha This definitely isn't my last trip to Japan... Be ready for another Blog... I have plans in the future to study in Okinawa for a year... we'll see. Thanks for those who followed the blog and I hope it may have helped in answering some questions about Japan. If you've been dancing around the idea of Studying Abroad, I hope my blog has helped in your decision making.


Thanks again and if I go back, there'll be another blog...

Ishikawa Japan

Japan has a total of 47 Prefectures. The map below gives you an idea of where they are. The last week of my stay in Japan I went to my girlfriend's home prefecture in Ishikawa. Mayu's Grandmother made reservations in a "Ryokan," or a resort hotel with hot-baths and other accommodations, and we stayed there for three days. We took a bus from Kyoto through Fukui and into Ishikawa. The following are pictures of my stay.

Check out the map to get an Idea of where I went. I stayed in the Kansai area and stayed mostly in Osaka. I visited Kyoto, Nara, Okinawa, and Ishikawa.



Map of Japan. Click to get a bigger picture.




The first night I was there we went to Mayu's classmate's bar.... and Yes Jack Sparrow showed up. Yes people... Jack Sparrow is also Japanese. I spoke english to him and he became extremely tongue tied and said in Japanese that he doesn't speak english.




Yes, he has a gun.... and instead of a sword he carries around a Japanese Umbrella. His gun is a lighter. Jack Sparrow is a smoker.




He does like his rum though.




Mayu and Jack Sparrow.




Mayu and her friends. This is where I spent my Christmas.




We moved to Karaoke and was there till about 7:00am.




More friends.




Back at the Ryokan, we spent the day in our Yukata.




Me, Mayu, Mayu's mother, and Mayu's Grandmother.




We had crab for dinner... it was delicious.




This was the scene from outside my window. Mayu lives in Kaga city, in Ishikawa... and there really isn't anything there. The weather wasn't too nice, but way in the background in the picture are some mountains.





On our ride back home it began to snow... so I was lucky enough to see some snow.





More snow.




More Snow.


The trip to Ishikawa was really nice. It was very relaxing and the food was delicious. Mayu's grandmother and mother were very nice and Mayu's Grandmother paid for EVERYTHING... I was very grateful and couldn't thank her enough. I really hope to go back again someday.

Kyoto Trip Part DUCE

Me, Mayu, Sho, and Shiho decided to take a trip back to Kyoto to check out Arashi Yama... A place I went to once before, but when it was raining. This time it was nice out and they were going to be lighting up the mountains. The following are from that trip.


From left to right. Me, Mayu, Sho, and Shiho. We stopped at a Takoyaki restaurant and ate some lunch before we headed off to Arashi Yama.




The bridge in the background heads to the mountains. There were lots of people here, but not as many people from the time we went to Kiyomizutera.



The four of us on walking down the bridge pictured above.



They lit up the Bridge once night fell and this is the picture of the bridge.




The mountains lit up.




Once again.



We took a bit more of a walk and were able to check out the bamboo forests.



At Arashi Yama train station there was a christmas tree made of apples... Sho took a bite out of one and it was not tasty.



After Arashi Yama we were able to stop by Ichikotsu and eat some wonderfully delicious food. I got a chance to turn the Tako Yaki... I wasn't very good.




Mayu took a try as well.

The Log Cabin

Near the end of exam week, my friends and I got together and rented out a log cabin for a night. It was cold... and we didn't sleep... luckily I didn't have class the next day until 1:00pm. The following are pictures of that night.



Down in the bottom left hand corner is Mayu, in the center is Mami, and in the top is Ai. The cabin was really awesome. We step into the room and it opens up to the living room and to the right is the ladder pictured above. Across from the front door is the sliding glass door to the balcony. This is the first room. This room was connected to another room designed in the exact same way. One problem... we had to pay to use the heater. 100 yen for two hours... We payed up.



We're starting our "Nabe" party. Nabe is just a pot with water and we add some flavoring then throw in vegetables, meat, and tofu.




The group waiting for the food to get ready.




Sho finally showed up and brought about 5 pounds of meat.




Sho and Masato.

The cabin was a fun time and the next morning we had to check out by 9:00am. This was the reason we stayed up all night.

The final days of Class

As the last days of class drew near, things were getting much busier... lots more studying. During the busy time we were able to squeeze time for pictures in class. I never took any pictures of my other two classes, but the following pictures are of my Japanese Spoken lvl. 6 class and Japanese Reading and Writing lvl. 4 class.



The girl in the left is Yan san, and the guy on the right is Matt san.
Two class mates of mine in my Spoken class. Yan is from Korea and Matt is from Utah.




This is Vicky. She is in both my Spoken class and Reading and writing class.
Vicky is from California.




My entire class for Spoken Japanese. Top row left to right is Matt, Brittney, Yan, Christina, Lauren, and Towa. Front Row left to right is Me, Okawa Sensei, and Vicky. I probably butchered the spelling. Okawa Sensei was really good and an extremely friendly teacher. Brittney, Lauren, and Towa were from Australia. Christina was from Brazil.




This is me and my Reading Writing teacher Miyauchi Sensei. Also a really great teacher.




A picture of mos my class mates in the Reading and Writing class... I unfortunately do not know most of their names. But I had a great time in class.


The Japanese classes in Gaidai were really good. Most everyone I spoke with would say the same thing about their teachers. I found out in the middle of the Semester that an extremely well used book in Japanese classes called "Genki," was made at Gaidai. I personally never used the book, but many of the exchange students in Gaidai had used "Genki."

The Kyoto Trip

In Japan when the leaves change it's a BIG DEAL. I'm serious. On the news they talk about the status of the leaves in different areas of Japan and when the best time to view the leaves are. Kyoto happens to be one of the more famous places to check out this beautiful time of year. The following is my experience in Kyoto checking out the changing of the leaves and the Temples.



This is an example of ENGRISH... Japanese clothes designers will often throw anything on clothing if it has english... well poor Saya didn't realize what this meant in English... We had fun teasing her about it.



All of us gathering to decide where to go first.



Us having fun walking down the back roads to our first place... Keep in mind how narrow the road is... just remember that for a bit.



Our first stop was this temple. We didn't go in, but it was very pretty and cool to take a picture of this Pagoda. We weren't too keen on paying to enter any of the temples we went to... for many reasons, but it was still very beautiful.



Reason 1 for why I asked you to keep in mind the picture of the road in the last picture... This is a picture of one of the roads we went through to get to another temple... The day we went to Kyoto happened to be a very popular day...



The same pagoda pictured above.


A temple with a huge buddha... Many of you may know that I'm buddhist, but none of these temples have anything to do with my school of buddhism... i'm sure you didn't care.



Another temple with a bunch of people... and the tree in the background is the main attraction... rather many trees like it. This theme of "bunch of people" is a theme to keep in mind.



Me, Sho and Hide taking a picture together of that tree above.



Another beautiful tree.



Mayu and Saya 100 yard dash... Mayu won by a bunch... Saya just can't run well.



The tree in the background is really pretty...



This has nothing to do with trees or temples... but it was a cool car.



Reason 2 for keeping in mind the picture of the road and "bunch of people." This was on our way to Kiyomizu Dera a famous temple in Kyoto and a World Historical Site. It's hard to see from this picture, but we are crammed in the road like sardines. I have never been in a crowd this large, this packed, and this determined to to get to the same destination. Hide was surprised too.



Finally Kiyomizu Dera. This was the main gate and the whole temple ground was roped off so people had to enter through the main gate. There was a huge line and we all tried to do our best to avoid paying, but unfortunately we had to pay to check it out... so we sucked it up and paid.



The large crowd is what we had to hike through in order to get to the Temple... and most of the crowd in the background is actually the line to enter the temple and buy your ticket... We kinda cheated and sent Mayu and Hide to sneak through the line, buy all our tickets, and then hand them to us through the gate... it worked.



A beautiful picture of the gate on the Temple Grounds.








This light could be seen for miles and was shining at the top of the Temple... once we arrived at the top of the Temple we took a break and began to make jokes about the beam of light... Sho said it's a huge Marlboro cigarette....

It was a wonderful trip and we had a great time visiting the historical sites and seeing the beautiful trees. Afterwards we hit up some "Yaki Niku," or barbecue I guess... We ate a ton and it was delicious. I highly recommend that you experience this event in Kyoto if you're ever in Japan.