old emails

#1.

Dear mom and dad,

This is my itouch so forgive the grammar and brevity. I'm with shota right now at hossei university waiting for ryu. I'm safe & doing surprisingly well with public transit here. Surpring but true. Japan has lost it's novelty for me, bit instead it feels like my other home. It's like abnormally comfortable for me...even more than last time.

This trip is making me tougher than before. I walk 10-20 miles daily.... I don't even need to run! It's like I'm a nomad. I've also gotten good with the train. I also sit ok only a pillow on a hard wood floor. I sleep on a loft on a thin rollup mattress. And yes I still wake up at four daily. Such is japan for me.

My first day was a bit awkward, but after that night my Japanese brain switched on and I started talking effortless and I rememeberef how to walk the narrow streets with cars and human traffic. I'm eating really healthily, and avoiding too many sweet temptations...at least so far. I know about the phones but it seems like a confusing hassle. I've been using payphones friends and strangers so I'm fine. I'm crafty. I do feel a bit naked but it's a bit liberating. It's ok.The iPhone is confusing....I can't scroll down. Maybe skype in Kyoto.Love heatherFruit is expensive but seafood vegetables and yogurt are not.

#2.
Im having an amazing time, but I too am strapped for time. I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow afternoon. I should get there around 4:00.

I went to Izakaya last night in Ginza...it was amazing! So classy and delicious. We got a huge discount, and my friends paid for part of my bill, so I only spent like $20, but for three of us without the discount it would have been like a $170 bill. We ate such amazing food. More pictures and details on that later.

The store owner is friends with my friend who works there, and they were so impressed with my Japanese (and they wanted to meet me), so they gave us a big discount and free stuff. I'm supposed to go to a club with some people from there and my friend Ryu later.

It's really humid right now...

Oh yeah I met my new roommate! She is awesome! I think we are going to get along so well. She seems very nice, and is very funny.

#3.
Dear Mom (and dad?),

My intenet has been really crappy, but I do have internet right now...internet in Japan is just really slow unless you pay for it or are willing to use a cell phone keyboard. I will see how my opportunities in Okayama are. I really want to keep up my blog! I have been in Kyoto for three days now, and I LOVE IT! I wish I was here longer. I foolishly thought that because I had spent a week in Kyoto before I needed to spend more time in Tokyo. Boy was I wrong...Tokyo has much to do, but it is all the same. Kyoto is so beautiful, but now I know, and now I have the Tokyo experience out of the way, so my next trip (I am sure I will come back again someday) will be more in Kyoto. Fortunately I do really like Yokohama though. I will be spending over a week there, so I better. Yokohama has much to do, but it's close to Tokyo so I can still meet with friends if I choose. That was one big convenience of Tokyo.

I really picked a fantastic time to go to Japan. It's the 150th year anniversary of Yokohama...Commodore Perry made his journey 150 years ago! Only that, but look how American Japan has become. There are also a lot of festivals going on or about to start, and there is a bunch of cheap shopping. I bought a cute pink leather purse, a skirt, a dress for really cheap in Kyoto. I also bought one high price item in Shinjuku, but you have to do that once right? It was nearly $100 for the "set" or outfit, which is adorable, and that was half off! ...but that is Tokyo for you. It is very classy though, and that was my one crazy thing. There are so many cute handbags that I want, but I am making myself hold back. I already have enough, but I am debating buying one and putting it away until Christmas. The really nice ones I want are all between 80-100 dollars, and they are all worth more than twice that, but there is a big sale. I kind of want to wait until Korea because that will be even cheaper. I am really excited for Korea, but I am enjoying my trip right now a lot.

Funny...I didn't realize it was 4th of July until midday. I actually coincidentally did fireworks at 1:30 AM today...isn't that funny? I was thinking, oh I love Japan, we can only do this on fourth of July, but it was Fourth of July!

Yesterday I did karaoke...I have gotten surprisingly good at it! At least some songs. I had a really good time with my friends last night. I guess I forgot how close I am to my Kyoto girlfriends. I guess I just needed to know more girls from Japan in high school and junior high. Today a bunch of my friends came from Osaka to meet me, and we went to my favorite temple, Kiyomizu, and after we ate splendid European cakes and parfaits. They were so pricy, but definitely something I had to do once. I spent about $6 for a small peice of cake, but it was one of the best peices of cake I ever had. It was raspberry mouse with 3 layers carefully scattered with berries on top. My friends spent between $8-10 on theirs.

I am actually not spending that much on food though, and I am eating pretty healthily. It is the awful train and subway that kill me. I easily was spending $10 a day on that in Tokyo, if not more. Now I am enjoying my JR pass, but I can't use it on the Subway, which Kyoto relies heavily upon. I am going to make sure to use that pass like crazy though.

Anyways, I go to Okayama tomorrow to meet Eri, my penpal from high school! I am excited. I will go to many gardens. After that I am going to stay at Ryu's house in Yokohama, go to Mt Fuji from there, leave some luggage there, and then spend a long time on the train going to Sapporo.

I am feeling really good about public transport. It's an amazing feeling. I feel so confident...I am so shocked!

...Did I mention I met my new roommate in Tokyo? It was so wonderful! She is awesome! I am so excited...oh can dad append a clause to the contract...actually I can do it. She wanted a clause that said if she was seriously ill or something along those lines where she had to return to Japan we could terminate it. She seemed really excited to live with me too. I really liked her.

...I just remembered I went to a really healthy buffet two nights ago! Everything was vegetable based with high quality organic vegetables. It cost me about $20 for dinner, but it was so good! Even the desserts were vegetable based, but they were amazing. They even had I vegetable drink I loved. I have actually been drinking a lot of vegetable and carrot drinks to try and stay healthy and keep my nutrition up. $20 was actually the most I have spent other than Izakaya and Monjayaki which were the same. Typically I can eat any meal deliciously and healthily for less than $10, if not way less. I am limiting my desserts, but indulging a bit. I am soooooo skinny/fit right now. Probably because I typically walk over 10 miles daily, and I have been running now.

I feel so at home here.

Oh yeah tell grandma thank you so much! You can forward her this if you want. =-) I actually barely use my cabellas card though. I typically use debit because they tend to make me use cash in Japan, but I did use it twice so I know it works. At clothing stores I can use it, but honestly I haven't even spent $200 on shopping yet, all clothes and presents included. I am very close, but not quite. I cringe to think how much I have lost on debit charges, international charges, and how crappy the exchange rate is right now. With that I have probably spent over $200 on shopping. It is not good, but not horrible. About 92-93 yen to the dollar, but I get charged $5 each time I do ATM. I wish I had more travelers checks, but oh well. I know for next time. Places where you can exchange travelers checks are also scarce.

Love you guys, and yes I definitely want to see King Tut! I can sleep on the plane! haha

NEWS: Yes I know about Michael...that is the biggest news here since I got here. I karaoked michael songs in his honor. Did you see him before, he looked very unhealthy...his hands looked like a corpse. I literally just found out about N. Korea on TV when I read this email. Yes I know about Sarah Palin, it was on Yahoo mail preview. I am very skeptical about that...I hope it's because she is being blackmailed not because why I think it is. haha ...does she honestly think she could win a presidential election when Hilary couldn't? She is the reason McCain got brought down. She reminds me of a character in 24....so scary!

Love,
Heather

Emails to family & friends

Ok, so I have been really busy, lacking internet, and I am also lazy because Japanese computers are slow and hard to type on...so I will post these emails I sent for all to read! haha

I promise I will write more later though...but at least this is a start!

BUT FIRST SOME UPDATES!

1. The flight from Japan was great. I met these two guys from Seattle who go to Stanford, and for a minute I was jealous and wished I went to Stanford, but then realized I probably wouldn't be on this very trip, and certainly would not have met all of my wonderful friends if I had not gone to Davis. The guys were so funny though. They spoke zero Japanese and never had been to Japan. They were limited to a small guidebook and phrasebook, and their pronounciation was hilarious. After sitting quietly and giggling silently to myself for about 40 minutes I decided to help them. I sat next to a really nice Japanese guy, and he was so helpful after I got off the plane helping me find where to exchange money and find the next train. So many seats on the plane were empty, so I didn't feel so cramped. I had an empty seat next to me. I can tell the airline companies are hurting.
2. I got into Japan, and it felt wonderful, but I had this feeling that something was different. Then I realized Japan had lost its nostalgia for me. It wasn't new or foreign at all, but instead it felt as though I was coming back home after being gone a long time. It felt really good.
3. I am doing surprisng well with public transportation!!!! Can you believe it!?! I had a few minor flops, but it was because I asked someone if I was on the right train to confirm things, and they told me I wasn't when I was...but other than that I have been good. It is very reassuring, and it makes me feel very confident.

Weather:

It has been fairly humid, but the usual for Japan, and not overly hot. It started raining a bit in Tokyo, but nothing really heavy. The weather is fairly good.

Food: (thus far)

1. Monjayaki & Okonomiyaki in Tsukijiya
2. Izakaya in Ginza
3. Yuuki's delicious cooking (vegetables, curry, stir fry, eggs, and various things)
4. Convient store food: delicious and wonderful...and cheap!

• A lot of yogurt
• some banana pan
• pizza-mon
• sushi
• pre made ice cream cone
• mochi....

1. Takoyaki
2. Delicious raspberry mousse cake
3. An amazing vegetable buffet
4. A Delicious chicken salad
5. Amazing sweets and treats in Kyoto
6. Delicious crepes in Yokohama
7. Gyoza-dog in China town with coconut milk
8. Ramen near Waseda

So far:

-Tokyo (Shinjuku, Ueno, Asakusa, Meijiro, near Waseda, Hossei, Ginza, Akihabara...)

-Kaiwagoe

-Kyoto

-Yokohama (China town)

NEXT:

-Okayama (tomorrow)

-Yokohama

-Osaka/Mt. Fuji?

-Sapporo

-Yokohama

-Various parts of Tokyo

Pictures from last trip

Old Memories.

One day before I go!

So here I am, sitting in my old bedroom in Tehama. It feels so strange to be here right before my trip, it's sort of deja vou of two years ago when I went to Japan for the first time.

The only difference is instead of a chaotic trip with 10 people that surprisingly didn't kill themselves after spending a lot of time together in close quarters after a month abroad, this time I will be all on my own. Don't get me wrong, that last trip was amazing, and one of the best most memorable experiences of my life, but I think this one will be even better! It's really enthralling to think about. I'm quite excited for all the indepence, freedom, and openness to possibility that this trip will bring. Yet, at the same time, being home like this is kind of eerie. I'm kind of glad I came home first though because I really enjoy Davis, but since I'm already here it's much easier to go. However, there are definitely some people in Chico I wish I could spend more time with, but being isolated in Tehama is not quite the same thing as being in Chico. I love my parents, but I've reached a point where I can't live with them anymore, and they can't really live with me either.

Being here definitely brings a lot of memories back though. I'm going to definitely miss some people in the US, but I'm really glad to be seeing old friends and seeing off newer friends one last time for perhaps a while. This will definitely be a trip and experience to remember.

I pretty much have everything in Japan figured out now, except I have like 3 days that I can kind of change around if I like...I think I might use them to go to Osaka or Mt Fuji, but I might just go to Fuji when I'm in Yokohama.

This is my itenary so far:

-June 25-July 2: Tokyo (Yuuki's apt)

-July 2-5: Kyto (Asami's apt)

-July 5-9: Okayama (Eri's house) (going to Himeji in there)

-July 9-11: ???? Yokohama/Fuji? Osaka/Koyasan? and maybe leaving late at night to Sapporo

-July 11-14: Sapporo (visiting Kouki & staying in a hostel)

-July 15: JR PASS EXPIRES! :( (I'm going to try and be in Yokohama by night, but I'll probably be riding back from Sapporo half of that day)

-July 16-22: Yokohama (Sanae's house)

KOREA:

July 22-Aug 2:

I basically have no clue what I'm doing...I have some ideas, but I don't know when yet. I just know that I'm staying with my best friend Jung-eun.

Stay posted, and I'll write & post pictures as my trip progresses!

The Japan & Korea Trip

I actually finally have all my details ready, but the threats of Swine Flu and North Korea still pose a possible problem.  I'm pretty much going to just keep watching the news, live like nothing is going to happen, but make all my plans cancelable in case worse comes to worse.  I hope nothing bad happens because I'm super super excited.  It's finally all starting to become a reality!

So far my Japan Itenerary is: Tokyo for 7 nights, Kyoto for 3 nights, Okayama for 4 nights, and then Yokohama for the remainder (with a two night trip to Sapporo in the middle of that).  I'm also going to make day trips to Mt Fuji and Himeji.  Other than that I'm up for the suggestions of my friends. :D  I'm going to stay with friends the entire trip, except in Sapporo where I'm going to stay in a Ryokan.

Korea is pretty much up in the air.  I'm going shopping, to the Korea bay area, clubbing, to JP's farm, and Korea University.  Beyond that is up to my friends so far. lol

I'll keep you guys updated!