Chisan Hotel Okabe Fukaya

My first trip abroad was to Chichibu, Japan - my hometowns sister city. I had been bugging my mom to go abroad ever since those groups like Ambassador to Ambassador started sending info fliers to me about going to Australia and other places. And so, when this opportunity came up, I really went for it! I was technically too young (you were supposed to be 15 when you applied and I was 14), but got in! :) First off, the ...

... room ,rest for a while ,we start our planned one day trip to Kawagoe.
From Ikebukoro ,take Tobu Tojo line (450 yen) and travel for 30 mniutes.
When we reach Kawagoe the first thing is finding somthing to eat as it is almost 1 o'clock.We choose a tonkatsu restaurant on the 2 nd floor of the Kawagoe station for our lunch.

So, Tokyo was fun, but....it was nice to get out. Back to the 'countryside' (comparatively) town of Isesaki we went. We kidnapped Samantha (unless her grades suffer- in that case she came on her own freewill!). Her apartment was blessed with construction noise all night- both ...

... bad because of a temperature inversion) and land in clear Tokyo air. Never been to Japan? Well there's lots of things to talk about THIS country... The main underlying theme that I've settled upon, is: "it just doesn't translate". This applies to more than just the language, but also the culture, the history, the day-to-day living, the advertising, etc. I do like the description that Japan ...

Some pictures from my new home town Higashimatsuyama. I am going to stay there usually all the time during my stay in Japan. This week we were playing Baseball and Futsal together with some new japanese friends. Have also a look at the videos! The horse riding video is very, very funny! Enjoy!!! :-)

Awesome 3 days summer camp in Gunma with Kokusai High School. We spend our time talking, walking, exploring and enjoying the great hotel. The scenery was awesome, the food was delicious and the students were "genki" and adorable. Honestly one of the best times I've had in Japan so far.

Exciting to see this fall. You can approach very up close to the fall. Of course, you have to be very careful because the rocks are very slippy. Like Niagara fall, huge amount of water is falling which create dynamic sound and mist into the air. The fall is located on rocky valley. So, you could also enjoy walking and viewing great rocks around the fall.

... of Kokeshi, Mr. Usaburo has been challenging new style of Kokeshi. Usaburo Kokeshies are the great harmony of traditional and modern style of Kokeshi which produced by the greatest designers. http://www.mustlovejapan.com/area/gunma /usaburo_kokeshi/

... of day where you body is all sticky and sweaty! We were lucky enough that part of our train ride from Toyama to Iruma was on the Shinkansen or bullet train. It really is incredible that a train can travel as fast as the Shinkansen does. Very much like travelling on an airplane. Upon our arrival in Iruma, we were picked up by Noriko, Yu, and Haru (Hana's cousin's wife and two sons). Yu had arranged with his school principal for us ...

... of buddha or warriors carved out of single tree trunks. Some were hollow on the inside while others were not. It is a shame that more western museums do not display more artifacts of Asian heritage. There is usually a small section dedicated to this, but it does not do it justice. Met up with my cousin for dinner. He is a producer at NHK, the main television station in Japan. After our main course, we walked around Ginza looking for ...