back to SF

helloooooooooo its toyomi!
i know our trip is over, but i just wanted to upload some pictures we took for the last few days!
ive been to japan at least 5 times, but this trip has been the most memoriable and the best trip ive had!
thank you sensei for taking us everywhere and planning this whole trip.
and thanks to everyone who went on this trip!
this trip would have not been this great if you guys werent there.

RINAAAAAA i know youre reading this.
ahahahaha thank you for spending time with us!
it was soooooo fun seeing you!
disneyland was a funnnn!!!
weeeeeeeeeee


sensei! thank you for letting rina and rie stay with us for the last 3 days!!
osewa ni narimashita


i know this is a random post, but yeah enjoy hahaha

FINAL DAY

Hello all, this is Hadrian. Sadly our time in Japan is drawing close to an end. Honestly, the feeling didn't hit me until I had started packing for tomorrow's flight back to San Francisco. Everyday was surprising and entertaining. There was so much one could possibly do on this trip, and only two and a half weeks to do it.

Everyday I learned something new about this country and myself. Everyday I had fun and garnered memories. Everyday I was shocked, surprised and astounded at what this tiny island nation had to offer to a tourist [sorry miami]. Everyday I got lost, only barely managing to make it back to my nights accommodations through a bizarre mix of luck, and my embarrassingly broken japanese.

From the mean streets of Asakusa to the quiet countryside of Miyazaki, there was so much to see, do and experience. One things for sure, the experience of trying to translate the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" into japanese for a middle-aged housewife is one I'll never forget. And this is just my own experience. When you next see whoever you've been following this blog for, be sure to ask them as much about this trip as you can.

And so, with a suitcase full of gifts and souvenirs, and exactly 390 yen to my name, I bid good night to Japan one last time.

Roppongi hills and our penultimate day

Hello all you blog followers [or at least followers of this blog], this is Hadrian talking about how everyone spent what is close to our final day here in japan.

Because of the freedom many people went to see different parts of Tokyo today. One of the reasons we had today free of itinerary was that Steven was staying with his uncle overnight and couldn't join us for most of the day. And he wasn't the only meeting up with friends in japan. Today, many of the girls went out and had lots of fun Karoke-ing with new or old friends who they will have difficulty seeing again very soon. Although apparently close to each other on a map, the U.S. and Japan are separated by an ocean which is much vaster than you'd expect. Especially when it is keeping us from loved ones.

I also met with close Japanese tomodachi [friends], and we had a great time. My old friend Toshifumi and his mother, having lived their lives in Mito found Tokyo as new to them as it was to me. However that didn't stop us from seeing as much as we could. We revisited old spots that our group had seen earlier [Shibuya, Akihabara] to give them a more thorough tourist investigation.

Finally, when the stars came out, the whole group met up again to gaze at the view from beautiful Roppongi Hills. A mixed media/residential shopping area, Roppongi Hills is reminiscent of San Francisco's Sea Cliff-an escape from the bustle of the city for the wealthy and well-off.

In Roppongi Hills we went to the top of the Mori Tower on the 52nd floor to get a sky-side view of Tokyo. Tokyo at night, from that height, was breath-taking, wondrous, and captivating to say the least. Although photos were difficult in the dim lighting, the memories of that view will easily last me a lifetime. A fitting end to one of our last days on this amazing trip.

The Nakahara Experience

Hello again everyone! This is Steven Ichikawa here again to give a rundown on our Japan trip! Today I am going to talk about my stay with the Nakahara Family (Mom, Dad, Ryosuke, Sayo, Daichi, and Naoto). First of all I wanna say that I am glad to write this blog because I had a really great time and if anyone else had half the experience I did then they would be elated.

Okay so after I went home to their home, I was welcomed with open arms and full plates of food. It was my first time eating Shabu Shabu and it was delicious. After we watched Tonari no Totoro which is a pretty popular anime movie. To wrap up the night we had cake bought from Chopin Patisserie. Best blueberry cheescake in awhile.

In the morning we had a pretty traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, miso shiro, bacon, fish, and salad. Nothing beats homemade haha. During the early afternoon I attended Ryosuke, Sayo, Daichi, and Naoto`s gymnastics practice. I was really amazed at how athletic they are. The flipping, rolling, jumping they were doing is like stuff you see on TV. Very impressive, really. After, we had Ramen at Jyuu Hachi Ban. It was also delicious. Notice a pattern with the delicious foods here haha? Afterwards, we went to a few malls to spend quality time and well, buy stuff. Upon returning home I had a warm bath and intend to fall asleep rather quickly.

Now that I gave a quick breakdown of the weekend, I wanna talk about how surprised I was at how nice and awesome this family is and how beautiful Miyazaki really is. When i heard we were visiting the countryside the firzt thing I thought was `Red Necks.` I was completely wrong. The area is surrounded by beautiful nature everywhere. It wasn`t just flat plains, there are mountains, waterfalls, forests, etc. Like Japanese Lord of the Rings, yeah? Anyway about the Nakahara family, everyone is THE BESSSSTTTTTT. Mommy and Daddy are definitely parents of the year material and mu little siblings are so cute OY MHY GOD! And then Ryosuke is chill too plus he can flip and stuff and he`s ripped as hell, no joke. Definitely a great and memorable time. The family paid my way for basically everything and they loaded me with gifts. Words really can`t express what a great and close knit family they are.

To conclude I just wanna talk about the impact of Japanese pop culture. Some of you may have heard of Arashi, a popular Japanese singing group. Now I like Arashi, but I didn`t realize how much of an impact they had on the youth and even the older generations here. You know if you can make a 7 year old boy cry and have a whole family know lyrics to your songs that you are really really really famous haha.

Okay that`s all for now, just wanna give a quick shoutout to the Nakahara family, I love you guys and THANNKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah. Till next time, be easy people!

-Steven.

A message from Sensei

Today (July 24) and tomorrow, you are spending time with your host family. I hope you are having a wonderful time together with your family. Ms. Lem and I went out with administrators and teachers of Miyakonojo-nishi High School tonight. They treated us so well, and we had lots of talks. Unfortunately, the next trip in November from Miyakonojo-nishi HS will be the last visit to George Washington High School. Due to numerous difficulties, they needed to review their trip, which I understood totally. However, we all hope that you will continue corresponding with your new friends from Miyakonojo-nishi HS for a long time and maintain a life-time friendship with them.

This morning, I rented a bicycle to visit local tourist attractions in Miyakonojo. On the way to the attractions, I had many opportunities to meet local residents of Miyakonojo. I've never felt so close so warm to meet people like I had today. I believe that people in Miyakonojo have such an open and warm mind. Unlike big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, people here are extremely friendly and kind to others. I do think that you felt the same way with your host family. Please enjoy your time with them and continue your friendship with your host student and his/her family for a long time.

Visiting Miyakonojo became my highlight for this trip. Meeting students and teachers of Miyakonojo-nishi as well as residents of Miyakonojo made me feel so good and proud as Japanese.

Thank you all for giving me this opportunity.

sensei

Tonishi HigH ~

Hey guys. This is Dexter Chen. I have already graduated from George Washington High School so whoever is reading this, enjoy your high school life!

Today is July 23. Sensei woke us up at 7A.M sharp T.T We all went to got ready and packed our stuff. Everyone met up at the lobby around 7:30 and we all screamed "itadakimasu" before we starting eating. They served rice, soup, eggs, some veggie and some meat. I didn't eat much because it was still early.

After breakfast, we all went to our room and got our stuff. We all a mini meeting at the room where we all met before night we stayed at the youth center. After that, we got on the bus and had a 45 ~ mintue ride to the school to meet our host students.

When we arrived, we met the principle and the vice principle and some other staffs of Tonishi. They welcomed us like VIP guests. Their welcomes were really friendly because everyone seemed like they were really eager of meeting us. Then, we all went to this room in second floor and we had our introduction and presentation there. The Wash students sang the song "Lean on Me" while the Tonishi students sang their school songs and the theme song of One Piece. I was really nervous in the beginning, but the butterfly started to disappear when my host students showed me how friendly they were.

After lunch, all the Wash students got to experience what it means to do "souji" at school. I was so amazed when I saw the japanese students cooperating together as they cleaned their homeroom. After souji, our host students showed us around. I can't really tell if Wash is bigger or not because they have many clubs here that we don't have back at Wash.

When we all met up again, all the Wash students went to the calligraphy class and experienced what calligraphy really is. It is actually way harder than it seems. Kanji has never been a problem to me, but when I tried the calligraphy, I felt like I didn't know kanji anymore. It was my first time and it was really fun ^.^

Around 5:30, we all went back to the room on second floor and waited for our host family to come. I can see that everyone had a nervous look on their face (including myself). My mind was blanked the whole time! Good thing my host family is really nice, I was able to go home with them while carrying on easy conversations.

My host family's house is 30 ~ mintues away from Tonishi. They all welcomed with and bow when they saw me entered the house. They showed me my room. Kazuki (my host) took me to his room to chat while the family perpared for dinner! So Far So Good =P

Miyazaki!

We first started our amazing and memorable day by waking up at 6:30 in the morning. Trust me, waking up early is tough for teenagers. After struggling to wake up we headed to Osaka airport to catch the flight to Miyazaki. We landed in Miyazaki airport after almost an hour.

First thing that comes to our mind when we walked out of the airport was "HAWAII!!!!!". The sunny weather, palm trees, and the amazing beach proved me right. We took a mini bus tour around Miyazaki. We first went to the temple near the beach. I cannot recall the name of the temple but i am pretty sure it was a temple where you pray for your love ones. Well, since i don't have a love one, i pray for my family. =)

" Hi CaRmEn & TrAcy!!! (my sisters) I am Cherry!! If you are reading this ~~ then you know that i am having a really fun time in Japan!! Don't worry about me!! I can take care of myself!!I LOVE you guys!!!!" Okay so back to my AWESOME day. We went to this really famous waterfall in Miyazaki. We all wanted to cross the bridge to get a closer look of the waterfall. Unfortunately, due to rainy weathers we cannot go today. *sad face...=(

During break time Toyomi, Liz, Jennifer (LaLa), and I got the famous Angelica Keiske ice cream. *umm.... taste so GoOd!!! (It's a kind or plant ... i think.... well that's what sensei told me) Carmen played safe and got the mango flavor. Michelle, the one always searching for adventures got the shrimp flavor ice cream. You guys should really try it!! It taste so funny that every time i took a bite, I laughed.(yes... i was stealing ice cream from Michelle... yes... yes...) What happened to the other people? Well, Jen, Yuki, and Hadrian went down the long stairs to explore around. I envy them because they still have the energy to walk around under this HOT HOT weather. Dexter??? As always, he wander somewhere that no one knew where he went. (haha)

We arrived at the Miyazaki Youth Camp at around 4 o'clock. We were immediately greeted by the staffs. They gave us an orientation which lasted for about half an hour. (Rules) * So many rules....><''' we have to turn off our lights by 10 and the air conditioners will turn off by itself at 11... *sad face =( but they taught us how to fold futons... so i guess that's alright.

Guys and girls are split into two building...

Ok ... i am in a hurry right now.. i'll finish this later... BYE

Instant Ramen Museum

Hello everyone back in the cold and miserable weather of San Francisco! Tis I, Yuki Fujita reporting from Osaka! Hello Mom… :D! Walking out to the humidity every morning is always a shock after spending a night in a comforting air-conditioned room. I’ve found out the hard way that in Japan during the summer, you sweat in places you never knew you could.

During our train ride to the Instant Ramen Museum, as always more than half of the group was asleep. My mission for the trip was to take a picture of every person while they were napping and I accomplished it all thanks to Steven’s failed resistance.

As we arrived in beautiful Ikeda city, Sensei’s stylish, sweet mother greeted us in the train station with a warm smile. We walked down only a couple of blocks but again, Cherry and I ended up in the back. As we entered the museum, we were greeted with the friendliest welcoming and a cool AC. We waited in line and I was paired up with Jennifer L. (a.k.a. LaLa).

We walked up to the second floor and received an apron and a bandana with the main symbol of Cup Noodles, a cute, cartoon chicken on it. Some looked like factory workers and the others looked like housewives.

We were instructed to combine the flour and oil mixture and mix it thoroughly in a circular motion. Then our instructor told us (all in Japanese with translations from Toyomi) to make a ball with the dough and put pressure onto it to flatten it. Our next step was to put it into a machine 10 times to flatten the dough and I let Jennifer with her muscular arms to do most of the work.

In the meantime we had the chance to design our own cover with markers to make it our own. We then proceeded to flatten the dough more until it was the perfect size and shredded it into noodles and cut them into 20cm strips. After, they took them away to pre-boil and gave us the crumbs to taste. Supa Oishii! They wrapped them up and gave us each our own individual noodles that we made.

We also got to check out the hundreds of different kinds of instant cup noodles they had in their museum and created our own flavored ramen! Yay! Since I am a big fan of noodles, making my own was a dream of mine. With a choice of flavor, toppings and our hand-made cups, makes me water at the mouth just thinking about it. We finished up the day by riding the train back to Osaka while Sensei, his mother, and Hadrian went to Kobe.

After we arrived back at the hotel, some of us tried to watch a scary Japanese movie in the dark on Steven's laptop. It was pretty much a disaster due to the lag on the videos and too many were either afraid or tired. Everyone was exhausted from our trip so most napped while me and Jennifer To had some bonding time. Teehee! :) Anyway, our stomachs started to grumble and craving some delicious Japanese food. Toyomi, both Jennifer's and I went to the populated part of Osaka to shop and grab some Takoyaki. Koodos to the man making it in the freakishly hot weather and still working his tail off and going as quick as I have ever seen.

Random note, I was amazed me most was how many Korean people there were. Okie Dokie then, thanks for reading it even though it will be arriving a couple of days late.

Peace outside guys! Yuki-chan desu!

P.S. I'm sorry but I'm going crazy due to the heat!

NARAAAA!!!!!

HELLO!!!
My name is Toyomi. Today is currently the 8th day of our Japan trip! its been sooo hot and humid, but I still CANNOT get used to it..

Today we first went to Nara, and visited the Todaiji temple. on the way from the station to the temple, we saw SOOO MANY deers, walking around in the park. Liz and I bought some of the deer crackers, and right when she got it, the deers attacked Liz! and one of the deers bit my shirt.. Liz said that she got bitten twice on her stomach area. hahah! Some deers were really aggressive, but some were sooo polite and cute! they bow to you if they want some crackers. haha

The temple was REALLY big! there were three HUGE buddha statues and they were really old. there was a block of wood with a hole in the middle! its told that, if you can go through the hole, you'll have good luck, so cherry tried it, and when she was coming out, sensei said that she looked like sadako, that scary lady from the ring. ahahahaha!


after we went through the temple, Jennifer T, Jennifer L, Yuki, and i ate some SUSHI!! this is the first time we ate sushi in japan during this trip! i think the four of us were eating soba or udon noodles for the most of the time before since jen LOVES soba!!! haha! right after lunch, yuki san and i ate some soft cream!! it was soooooo good. the hot weather makes me crave for some cold ice cream :P

We met up after lunch again, and went to a little buddist museum? called Kohfukuji. It had many sculptures and statues of buddha. some of the statues were freaky looking. there was one with a body of a human, but with a bird face. there was another one with LOTS of arms and faces. they reminded me of spiders.

After we got out of the museum, we went back to our hotel. We had free time since then, and we went to don ki ho-te to go shopping! the hotel is really close to namba. so it was really easy to get there. we stayed in the store for like an hour, and went to a ramen restaurant right next to the store. that place was SUPER good!! even thought that place looked creepy with dragons everywhere ahahah!

tomorrow we are going to KOBE!!!!
hope i get to eat some yummy beef.
we're going to the cup noodle museum! i would like to make my own special cup of noodles for my goooooood friend! yayayay
i hope tomorrow will be another fun day :)

Kyoto~~!!

Hihi everyone! This is Carmen blogging today! Japan's been great so far, good thing there wasn't any rain at all for the whole time we were here.
So we went to Kyoto yesterday and boy was it hot!! Felt like we were literally being grilled in the sun, but the scenery was beautiful so it was all good. It was not as tiring cuz we had this bus take us to all of the places, so we didn't have to walk around as much. We got to go around to many shrines and temples, and my favorite was the garden in Tenryuji Temple in Arashiyama. The nice weather added to the beauty of the garden. We also got a bit lost looking for the meeting place after we had free time in the last stop we went to haha. And when we thought we were in the right place, turns out we were close, but we were on the wrong gate haha. Oh well, at least we all made it in the end.

We got back to the hotel after the tour in Kyoto at around 5:00 PM and just chilled there for a little bit before meeting everyone again for dinner. It was nice because it was the first time during this entire trip that the whole group got together and had dinner together. We went to a restaurant called Chibo and we all had Okonomiyaki for dinner. I've made Okonomiyaki before with JNHS, but that's nothing compared to the ones at Chibo. The waiters make it for us right at the counter and it was just really cool watching them make it. I loved the way they put on the mayonaise for some reason haha, it was really fast. And of course, taste-wise, it was CHO UMAI, MECHA UMAI, MAXIMUM UMAI!! Best Okonomiyaki that I've ever had!

After dinner, we went around the Namba area and shopped for a bit and then went back to the hotel. And today we went to Nara, but I'll let Toyomi-san tell you guys all about that! That's all from me, bye bye!

Osaka!

hey there family and friends from across the country. Hi I`m the other Jennifer, Jennifer L. So currently we are all at Osaka in the Super Hotel. Osaka is definitely different than Tokyo. More green grass in the areas and more thicker fluffier clouds. It feels much more hotter than Tokyo which is so unfortunate because Tokyo was already hot now it feels twice as hot than that. We took the bullet train here. Which mostly I fell asleep on and cramped my neck alot ): But it is nice to be here. Super Hotel is definitely different than NYC. So much more fancier and we get our own rooms and bathrooms! A downside to this hotel is just the elevator which only has one and slowly goes and up and down. So after dropping our bags from last night we went to the aquarium and shopping center. The aquarium was very cool and beautiful. Very different than the aquarium back at SF. We first went to the shopping center. We ate lunch and browsed around. I ate green tea and vanila swirl soft cream (not ice cream but kinda like ice cream but softer haha :D) So good. Shaved ice looked very tempting to eat since Jennifer and Cherry bought it. There was a stage inside the little center which had many different performances such as cheerleading and dancing. After that we headed over to the aquarium and stood in line in the boling hot sun. It was so busy and crowded just maybe because it was a Sunday. Many families were there. I`m thinking everyone had the urge to go near the cold air spitter thing and under the cool tent. Going in the aquarium was like crowded torture. I felt i didnt get to see some of the animals ): because it was so cramped. Later on though i did get to see the animals and fishes. So cool and interesting. There were these huge fishes, huge sea turtles, giant looking hamsters,sharks, these other unbelievable sights of sea animals. You gotta ask your kids to see the pictures ! After that we all went back to the Super Hotel to rest for an hour and went out to eat dinner. Morikawa sensei brought us down to the underground shopping and food areas. Its like a whole new world down there. All in all we were all tired from waking up at 6 we were all tired from waking up at 6 in the morning so we headed back to the hotel. So ending with me now blogging :D Well we miss you all and is happily enjoying the trip right now :D

Asakusa + Odaiba

Hello everyone. It's time to update you once again about this wonderful, and amazing Japan trip. So everyone here is doing great. We often arrive back at the Youth Hostel with aching feet, but that helps us have a great night rest. So to start off the day, we woke up at our usual time of 7:15ish. We met up with everyone at the usual "D Building." We walked over to the cafeteria to have our morning breakfast together. After breakfast we allleft for Asakusa.Today was Dexter's turn to give a tour. When we arrived at Asakusa, we made our way towards Sensoji Temple. The place was beautiful and HOT. There was many vendors on the was into the temple. They sold many various things such as, food, clothes, toys, wigs, masks, shoes, purses, etc. The place was completely packed with so many tourists and visitors. The gate was HUGE and pretty. On the gate hung a huge lantern. When you walk through the door, the temperature seemed to spike even higher. It was probably because of all the people in such a crowed area. So we made our way to the temple that was at the back of all the vendors and stores. It was a very crowed and hot walk. When we arrived at the actual temple, we let ourselves become scented with the incenses placed at the bottom of the steps. Even though the incense was extremely strong, the Japanese custom believed it brought good luck. So after we "soaked" ourselves in the incense smoke, we walked up the stairs to the temple doors. In front of the temple door was yet another wish "box." Many of us made a wish, threw money, bowed, clapped, and bowed once more. There was so many other visitors that it was difficult to keep track of one another. Luckily we found one another in the temple. We observed the architecture of the temple, and looked at huge Buddhist statue it contained. So after taking a couple pictures it was time to have free time. So everyone broke off and went to look at all the vendors and look for some gifts or souvenirs. The shaved ice was delicious. Haha. So after slowly heading back to the front of the temple to meet up with Sensei and everyone, we left for Odaiba. We took a cruise to Odaiba!!!!!

The cruise was beautiful. They had a top, bottom, and back deck for all different types of views. Most of the students sat down stairs because it had air conditioning. Haha. Sensei was up stairs I believe. Luckily one was "sea sick," so the ride went one without any difficulties.

Once was reached Odaiba, we made our way towards the "Statue of Liberty." Haha Yes, Odaiba has a mini Statue of Liberty. Amazing isn't it. Odaiba has many different types of attractions. AquaCity was the shopping center, Joypolis was the huge indoor amusement park, Palette town had the huge ferris wheel, and huge indoor arcade. There was also the Fuji TV Station, a museum, also a toy convention center. So we basically had free time until 4PM. That was two hours of fun. However, Sensei told us it is okay for us to stay longer i

f we wanted to. We just had to let him know that we won't be coming back to the meeting place at 4PM, but we will be back at the Youth Hostel at 10PM instead. So everyone broke up into groups to hang out. Some people went shopping, others went to eat, others went exploring, while the rest went to the amusement park. The majority of us decided to stay at Odaiba to explore more. Two students went back with Sensei and Ms. Lem, but they took a detour and went to Shibuya to go shopping. The other 9 students decided to stay and hang out. They met up and decided to go to the huge arcade together. 5 of those students went into the Haunted House at the arcade. The other 4 were sitting outside waiting and laughing because they could hear the other students screaming from the mini speakers.

After the haunted house those 9 students went to the bowling alley, karaoke, place upstairs. They all were playing at the game machines or billiards. The billiards game was funny because most of the people who played, never played before. After billiards took place, they all went outside to catch the HUGE ferris wheel. The view from the ferris wheel was wonderful. It was a view of Odaiba at night. So many shiny lights and the Rainbow bridge that lit up. After the 15 minute ride, we all decided it was time to head back to the Youth Hostel. Once we arrived back at the hostel, everyone's legs were hurting and sore. We all took our baths and hung out in each other's rooms. Then it was time to fall asleep because we all have to wake up early for the train ride to Osaka.

So thats all the update for today. ^^ Remember to check out the blog tomorrow for an update about out trip to Osaka!!!! :D

We miss you all. :]

This is a blog from Jennifer T.

Tsuru High School

Hey guys, how are you enjoying this blog so far? Today, this will be Elizabeth Lan writing today's blog. So, we wake up in the morning feeling ready for the 3rd day of our trip. We brush our teeth, wash our face as usual and once again meet everyone in the appropriate building. As we finish our breakfast, we set out immediately to take the JR train to a new location.

Riding the JR all the way to 'Otsuki' stop, the one hour and and twenty five minute wait has come to an end. Kindly waiting was Austin Hedani; a student also from George Washington, has guided us all the way to Tsuru High School. The fact that the buildings looked just like in television or in manga, has amazed many of us. Welcome signs were all over the school and the warm atmosphere the Tsuru high school students have created (as well as the weather) was very heart-touching for us all.

As we were guided through the school, we first walked into the first year's english class. All of us shy as ever, we introduced ourselves and communicated with them smoothly. As the class period came to an end, we were prepared for a private bus tour to see Mt. Fuji! During the ride, we were able to see Mt. Fuji (if it was not too cloudy ><) and 5 famous lakes of the Yamanashi Prefecture. There was also an amusement park very well known that excited some and frightened some of us, but it definitely amazing. v(OuO)v

The private bus tour has taken us to Mt. Fuji shrine, which is was more of a starting point if you wanted to climb Mt. Fuji. However, stuck to a tight schedule, we either made a wish at the shrine, bought gifts, or took pictures. As we returned to Tsuru High School, we were set up for an 'assembly' ready for action! Speeches were given, thanks was taken, and gifts were accepted. Everyone warmed the room with our friendship with each other and we all could not part from the students.

Yet, even us could not stop them from their duties, let it be studying, or going to sports practice. Their amazing hard work inspired us all profoundly. Such respectful and hard-working students who excel in their skills are really amazing! I can't simply stress that any more of the asian students who work very hard till its time to go home for dinner, pretty much. AMAZING!!!!

Sadly enough, everything comes to and end so as we finished the assembly and gathered ourselves, we were given a tour thanks to Hedani-sensei of most of the clubs that were going around. First was the Choir group, whose angelic voices had excited us all to meet more students.

Good bye Tsuru High School, Japan trip of 2010 is grateful for your hospitality and kindness. We will never forget all the wonderful memories you have given us and we hope we have done the same to you. Now it is time for us to relax, hang out, and get ready for another big exciting day for the Japan group of 2010. Thanks for reading my very long blog guys, hope to write to you again. Till next time~~! ^o^

P.S hahahah.....Sensei fell asleep on the train! And he warned US not to!!! hahahahahaha He must be tired. We're very thankful for the arrangement he has set up for us and he worked just as hard as us to get gifts for people of Tsuru High School.

Fish, (imperial) family, and festivals

Hello everybody back in America! This is Michelle Otoshi. :D The Japan trip has been amazing so far. Even though we spend hours walking each day, all the sights, stores, and surprises make up for our aching feet. Today (or actually, yesterday was) July 15th.

First off, we took a train to Tsukiji to see the Tsukiji Fish Market. I don't think any of us knew what to expect there. The place was humongous and very busy. We had to walk in a straight, single-file line and felt slightly out of place because workers and vendors were rushing about. Nearly getting run over by carts and cars is scary. Nonetheless, I saw some of the biggest fish heads I've ever seen at the Fish Market, and everything there was so fresh! Wish I had some sashimi to eat right now...

Later on, we went to Marunouchi and got tickets for a Sky Bus tour. I've never been on a double-decker bus before, but it was amazing. The tour was about an hour and we got to go directly underneath Tokyo Tower. The wind in our faces and the beautiful view of Tokyo Bay is almost indescribable. The tour was entirely in Japanese, but we could understand most of what the tour guide was telling us. Did you know Tokyo Tower is as old as Michael Jackson?

After the Sky Bus tour, everybody was really tired and quiet. I think it was just too much excitement for all of us. We headed over to the Imperial Palace afterwards. The palace's architecture is so interesting, and even the moat around it was beautiful. I wish we could've spent more time at the Imperial Garden next to the palace. "The grass is always greener on the..," actually no. The grass is very green in Tokyo. Let's just leave it at that.

Akihabara. Akiba. Otaku haven. Whatever you want to call it, it's crazy. (In a good way, of course.) We had some trouble finding the tourist spots we wanted to go to and the locals didn't really know where to direct us to either. We decided to eat a late lunch and go shopping at the Yodobashi Camera department store. This building has 9 floors of crazy goodness. 8 floors are dedicated to shopping. They have a floor for books, a floor for video games and toys, and a floor for cameras/phones. The top floor is the food court. The small group I ate with had to make our own tonkatsu sauce, but who knew it would be so delicious! The fruits of our labor. Or should I say sesame seeds?

The Mitama Matsuri festival was our last stop. This is a memorial for all the people who died for the emperor in the war. Each lantern features the name of the soldier and there are a countless number of them. Despite this, the festival's atmosphere was very exciting and happy. There were many vendors selling okonomiyaki, takoyaki, drinks, etc., and many people were dressed in pretty yukata. There was so much to chose from and eat and the crowds of people there were a bit intimidating, but it was definitely a great experience. I'd love to go back again.

Well, that was our busy day. Hope everyone at home is having fun without us. Or maybe it's the other way around... Anyway, with spiked hair and sore feet, I'm out.

Until next time,

Michelle Otoshi

夏恋

Welcome family, friends, and stalkers alike to another addition of Washington High School's Japan Vacation. ようこそ。My name is Steven Ichikawa and I will be your blog host today.

So what can I say so far about Japan? The weather is a perfect blend of wind and humidity, the people are nice, and the overall atmosphere is great.

So today our adventures took us to Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku areas of Tokyo. As you can see in the picture, when we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, we met this cute cute cute baby. He was posing with all the Asian girls with pictures. Not even smiling; just mugging the camera the whole time. That was definitely the most memorable part of the day.

After we left the Govt. Building, we went over to the shopping areas of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku. Definitely a great set up as they have clothes and shops for people of all interests. My favorite personally is Shibuya. There are a lot of high end shops as well as well priced retailers so everyone can blend in. 最高だぜ！

The last significant place we visited was the Meiji Jingu Shrine. Even though it neighbors the bustling streets of Shibuya, the area is so serene and peaceful you wouldn't even think it was in a major city. It was like a forest straight out of Lord of the Rings.

To conclude, this day was great and I've seen so many cool things so far in Tokyo. On a side note, people saying they don't want to go to Japan because they can't speak Japanese need to do some research. I've only used Japanese twice in 3 days. This place is so easy for people to live in. Be Easy everybody.

-Steven

夏のかけら

Even disembarking on the plane I hardly felt like this was a real experience-I kept believing I would wake up, ready to go back to school the next day, no promise of a summer trip to Japan waiting on the horizon. But it is real. As ethereal as it felt on the 10 hour flight, it couldn't compare to coming into Tokyo on the Narita express line, ferrying us from the Narita airport into the mean streets of Tokyo.

My name is Hadrian, and this is just a brief glimpse of what the first day of George Washington High School's 2011 Japan trip has been like.

Everything we've encountered so far seems geared towards convenience. The flight itself didn't feel like a 10 hour flight. It couldn't have been. I was too comfortable, I had too much leg room. But the simple fact that I managed to watch three in-flight movies and still catch a quick nap reminded me just how long I had been flying. The train itself was shocking in its efficiency. When the train stopped briefly before we got on, a team of attendants rushed through the car cleaning, straightening, and perfecting the car for the next lap on its tracks. The seats themselves could rotate so that we could face each other, or ride against the inertia of the train [if we felt so inclined].

The train ride itself was beautiful, reminding me of old New York of the industrial age. On the far outskirts of the city, people lived in rural and semi-suburban homes and could easily get to their urban hub by convenient public rail lines. Tokyo has kept this old pattern of urban and rural transit, making for beautiful scenery juxtaposed against stunning modern cityscape. America could learn a bit from Japan in this regard, but unfortunately we have carved up our countryside in favor of inter-state highways. Just the first of many differences I look forward to seeing in this Japanese trip and exploration.

Welcome to Japan!

Welcome to Japan!

日本へようこそ！

Konnichiwa! This is Sensei. I've been back in Japan for the summer break. I was in my hometown Kobe, visiting my parents. I had lots of oishii homemade foods everyday. I was willing to loose some weights while in Japan, but I guess I have to postpone my plan a little bit. I love Japanese foods here. It's different from the ones at Japantown, SF. I had Ramen for lunch in Tokyo. Oishikatta!

Tomorrow, I am going to welcome 11 students and one chaperone from George Washington High School. This is my third trip with Washington students. This year's highlight is to visit our sister school in Miyazaki. They always come visit us in November, but we've never been there so we decided to visit Miyakonojo-Nishi HS in Miyazaki. Students will stay at their host family's house and visit the school. It will be nice to experience Japanese home & school life. Oh, we have another school to visit this year. All my students had a pen-pal project with Tsuru High School throughout the last school year. We are also going to visit their school, which is located near Mt. Fuji. Hope the weather will get better so we can see the beautiful mountain. Japan is in the middle of thetsuyu (rainy) season now. Tsuyu brings lots of humidity and rain. Not so comfortable, especially if you get used to the weather in San Francisco.

During the trip, all of us take a turn to report our trip to you! We appreciate your comments also. Check this blog everyday and see how we are doing.

jya ne

Sensei