I've been a negligent poster...sorry about that

So...it has been awhile since my last post and I really do feel a bit guilty about that since it isn't from a lack of topics or interest; rather I simply find it difficult to sit still and write things down...In any case now that I have managed to begin I shall endeavor to be as interesting as possible!

To begin, my trip to Tokyo Disney Sea was absolutely awesome! We visited on December 24th so the entire park was resounding with Christmas festivity which was both very comforting yet slightly surreal. Even more interesting was the general demographics of my fellow park goers...this place is DEFINITELY a couple spot, especially on Christmas Eve! (Many people spend Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day with their significant others)

It really was fascinating and fun to see that the vast majority of the people at the park were young couples obviously out on dates. There were actually very few children or families which was kind of nice, giving the park a very relaxed and slightly more mature feel (reflected in the decorations and attractions, also they serve alcohol) from the Disney parks I've previously visited in the states. In any case, the rides were fun, the decorations really well done, and the lights show and parade were beautiful. I definitely enjoyed my time at the park and feel that it was an experience that I wouldn't really have been able to replicate at one of the Disney parks elsewhere. Though I understand that if you do want the Disney "family" experience that Tokyo Disneyland suffices quite well.

My trip to Nikko and Ashio was also quite worthwhile, the scenery was beautiful and it snowed the whole first day! It was absolutely freezing but we did go to an onsen so we managed to stay warm. I saw lots of things but to be honest one of the most interesting moments was glimpsing a wild monkey wandering by the road! I learned a bit more about Japan's native beliefs and practices as well as having a fairly interesting bonding experience with my professors and fellow students.

My classes have been going fairly well though I am looking forward to finishing with my exams soon and beginning my 2 month long spring break! I will be returning to the states for a bit of the holiday but first I may get the chance to take a short trip out of Tokyo to some of southern Japan(I'm not entirely sure where yet). I'm very excited since Tokyo does get a bit cold for me in December and January and I really want to spend some time with my friends hanging out on a Japanese beach. I am trying not to get my hopes too far up since I'm not totally certain we're going but I really hope we do make it down south for a bit!

Additionally, I recently saw a friend of mine perform with a local band (Harsh Jokers) in a really cool area of Tokyo that I've spent a fair bit of time in, Shimo-Kitazawa. Not only was it a great show with lots of energy in a cool venue but I definitely suggest spending time here for any reason or no reason at all. It boasts tons of awesome restaurants, shopping, and music, at reasonable prices and is a great place to waste a few hours or afternoons! Plus there aren't nearly so many gaikokujin, and thus tourist traps, as there are in the more famous and crowded areas of Tokyo.

I've also been sucked in by the awesomeness of Book-Off, a chain of stores selling cd's, dvd's, books, and video games. They're located throughout Tokyo generally by train stations and I love, love, love their 500 yen and 250 yen cd sections...it's quite fun to collect cd's since I spend a good bit of time on the train and like to be able to update my ipod with music, both Japanese and western.

Lastly, I had dinner at an awesome organic restaurant called Piazza Eco Farm Cafe in Harajuku 3 days ago. I feel obliged to mention it because while there are countless unique restaurants and eateries throughout Tokyo and Japan this place stuck out as a relaxing and DELICIOUS oasis in the center of a very busy and chaotic area of Tokyo that really appealed to me on a personal level...

With that, I do promise to try to update a little more often in the future and also I understand that many of my readers are having difficulty leaving comments. If this is the case, please feel free to email me (baranowski85@gmail.com)since I do enjoy the idea of feedback and tailoring this rather lax venture towards what people want to hear more about it!

"Time of Your Life"

So it's once again time for my monthly update! November was a great month, I managed to complete all my presentations for my classes, fly through midterms, and still have a fantastic time with my friends! Apart from the usual escapades of going to karaoke and izakayas in Shinjuku and the like I'm again expecting to have some great new adventures in the coming month!

I've been busy planning for my class's trip to Nikko and Ashio which should include visits to Onsen, a national park, temples, and a museum! We're writing our own guidebooks for the event so it's personalized to what we'll see on the trip, which does mean a little more work but it's probably worth it. I'm really excited to see a new area of Japan and learn more about Japanese culture and religious practices. Plus, it gets fairly cold in the area so I might get to see some snow!

However, I'm also really looking forward to my upcoming vacation in December, which I plan to kick off with a visit to Tokyo Disney Sea http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/

It's New Post Time!

October was a great month filled with schoolwork, a 4 day weekend, discovering the wonder that is tomato cheese ramen, and lots of time spent wandering around Tokyo!

One of my more unique adventures was a visit to the Tokyo Food and Drink Expo with my host mother and another host family. It was huge and featured everything from Sake and Whiskey to ramen and maguro! They even had samples of desserts, one of which featured milk tea flavored gelato! Additionally, they had a demonstration of sushi chefs cutting up giant slabs of tuna and turning it into nigiri and rolls! I got some pictures and some amazing samples of fresh tuna that were fantastic! It was an awesome expo filled with tons of new things to see and try and I had a great time.

Halloween weekend was also great since we were given Monday and Tuesday off of school, so I had lots of time to relax and meet up with friends over the 4 day weekend. I had a great time at a couple izakayas and then almost died laughing when we followed up with karaoke and demonstrated our lackluster skills in vocal performance.


Of course I've also been rather busy with schoolwork since 3 of my 4 classes are requiring oral presentations. One of which involved a trip to Yasukuni Shrine as part of my research on the infamous sites' controversial status in international politics. I got some interesting pictures and was mostly struck by how normal it looks considering some of the major issues it's caused with Japan's relations with China and Korea.

In any case, it was a fun and full month and November is shaping up to be just as interesting! See you next month!

P.S. If any of ya'll visit me in Tokyo, I'll make sure to take you out for tomato cheese ramen! It really is some of the best ramen I've ever had...

Woah.

So, it's only been about a week and a half since my last post but I feel like I've done more in a week and a half then I ever have in New Orleans! (This is probably because of the fantastic rail line in Tokyo....)

To recap, I've taken a trip to Harajuku and Meiji Jingu (a huge shrine set in the middle of Tokyo), hung out in Shinjuku, wandered about Chinatown in Yokohama, took a weekend trip to my host family's second house about 3-4 hours outside of Tokyo, visited two Onsen, saw some DEER, went to a farm festival, opened a bank account at the post office, joined the Aikido club at my university, and started classes. Not to mention that I am currently experiencing my first Japanese "typhoon".

Firstly, I love Harajuku. There are so many people and so many clothing stores and not near enough time to see them all! I cannot wait to go back and do a little shopping...plus people wear some ridiculously bizarre outfits.

I also had a great time in Shinjuku, there are tons of really interesting people and we had a blast doing Karaoke. (The Final Countdown, of course, was a necessary decision).

However, one of the funniest places I've been to yet was in Yokohama. In accordance with the Japanese people's seeming ability to sleep anywhere, we went to a restaurant that featured an enormous bed that spanned the entire wall, complete with pillows and blankets for your napping needs. We hung out there for a couple hours reveling in the simple yet wonderful idea to lounge on a bed that fits all your friends while snacking. Honestly if they ever opened something like this in the states there would probably be more of them around than Starbucks...

In the meanwhile I started classes and so far they're all pretty interesting and all my classmates are uniquely fascinating. Just the fact that all of us seem to have our own reasons for traveling all the way to Japan and come from all over the world makes for some excellent conversations.

Not to mention all the Japanese students who to a fault are insanely welcoming! The first day was a little disorienting, since everywhere I looked on campus there were people with features that bore no resemblance whatsoever to mine, but I've adjusted pretty quickly and love, love, love just people watching here. Seriously, the clothes alone that the students wear here are impressively entertaining. Almost everyone looks like they walked out of a fashion magazine! In any case, I've already made a few Japanese friends and have also decided to join the Aikido club at my university after watching one of their practices which was rather impressive. I get the feeling that it will also really help me learn more Japanese since the members all seemed very friendly and seem to want to help me to learn more Japanese in addition to practicing Aikido.

I really got a chance to relax this past weekend when my family took me out to their second house which was in a more mountainous area and featured beautiful landscapes, deer sightings, a small festival, and trips to onsen! The onsen really were spectacularly relaxing, after you leave you feel like you could fall asleep within seconds.

However most currently I have the day off of school because of a typhoon that is causing insanely high winds to cripple the trains resulting in Sophia canceling classes today! Even on the other side of the world it seems like I can't escape weird weather...

The House and Bamboo

Neat Bamboo Grove by the path I take to the Train Station:

(I expect to glimpse a fox god any day now...)

The Ito Family's Front Gate:

Where I'm Living:

Where I'm Living 2:

The Front Door!

My Room and Stuff

The View From My Bedroom Window: It's our garden!

My Bed!

My Closet!

A View of My Room and the Other Window!

First Post!

This blog is specifically intended to let anyone who is interested follow my upcoming school year in Tokyo, Japan though anyone and everyone are welcome!

In starting this off, let me first give a few background details. I am living with a Japanese family in the suburbs of Tokyo, fairly close to my university, and they are awesome! I expect to have a great year with them and also learn a lot of Japanese! They have hosted foreign students for several years and are quite relaxed.

Now let's start with my first impressions of Tokyo! Firstly, I love the trains, they're easy, fast, and fairly entertaining to ride. Additionally, the ticket machines function in English as well as Japanese, which makes things much less stressful.

Secondly, there are tons of little green spaces throughout the suburbs and it's very entertaining to glimpse an orchard, garden, or park amidst the press of houses and roads.

Thirdly, I love seeing all the little references to mainstream Japanese pop culture that in the U.S. are considered part of a sub-culture. Posters displaying Japanese pop stars, anime, and manga are used in shops, on billboards, and in commercials. It's fun to see something that in the west is considered slightly unusual be totally mainstream. It's an obvious point but highly entertaining to see in action. (Just to name drop a little, ARASHI was one of the first examples I noticed, for those who don't know who they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asgI9Yzc17U)

Lastly, CELLPHONES! Cellphones here are attractive and functional. They don't just come in black, silver, and red. They have phones in every color imaginable with interesting and creative designs that are also pretty cheap. Not to mention the amazing amount of functions that come STANDARD on most phones. Just to mention a couple out of many, mine not only has a pretty good dictionary but also automatically informs me of various holidays. If only it also worked in the U.S. where the idea of an "amazing" cellphone is the iphone which, while excellent, is foolishly expensive.

P.S. Did I mention I love the trains?

So in my first few days here, I have gotten a seemingly magical cellphone, tried numerous tasty Japanese foods, explored a little around my family's neighborhood, visited a Japanese department store, and also an outlet mall. The outlet mall btw, was really cool and is apparently very popular with most Japanese. Though my favorite part had to be all the people walking around with their dogs, I even saw a corgi!

Hope this was enough to intrigue everyone and see you next week!

P.S. Pictures are here!