Resistance is futile in Japan!

[Futile Resistance]

I've arrived in Japan!

The 13 hour flight into Narita, then the wait and another 2 hour flight to Fukuoka was intense, must've stayed up a total of 30 hours with barely any sleep (I'm horrible sleeping on the move).


So I'm with my class touring schools and will be taking language classes (studying abroad). If anyone's ever watched slice-of-life animes or japanese TV dramas they've got a good idea what the culture's like. Polite shop attendees, cute girls with cute attitudes that're so sweet I'm getting a toothache, and punk guys that try to look cool by smoking.

I'll be in Fukuoka for 3 weeks, then in Tokyo for 6. Afterwards I'll be doing a Tokyo -> Kyoto bike trip (that's pedal bicycle). I'm hoping I'll survive... At worst I'll have to eat ramen every night to save on the budget.

Anyways, hope everyone's having a lovely summer!

[Plovske]

sounds nice, give us some pics if you get the chance

[BlackDove]

Awesome. Hope you have as much fun as possible.

[Padishar]

GL with that m8, sounds like a great experience!

sounds nice, give us some pics if you get the chance

Definitely will have to show us some pics if ya can bro,
esp a few of the 'cute girls with cute attitudes'

[Futile Resistance]

Didn't bring my laptop alongo (big regret) so I've got about 2k worth of pics to go through. Will be uploading a few next week.

The trip's been awesome so far. We were in Fukuoka, where the average age is 35 yrs old. Lots of young college students away from parents for the first time. As a friend of mine said, "Hot Sexiness" (my standards have gone up since then)

Seen alot of castles, temples and shrines, and... The red light district (a small one compared to the ones near Tokyo). Made some good memories... *evil grin*

We just got to Tokyo and we've staying in some camp like place... Bugs everywhere - horrible.

Anyways, rarely able to get online - but I hope everyone's having a pleasant summer!

[Anubis]

Sounds like you are having a lot of fun. Looking forward to the pictures

[Riccko]

Hope your having a nice time

Oh btw SS said can he have some nice pics of japanese girls

But send them directly to him


Have you tried any unusual meals out there

[SoulSeeker]

........ or even their mums

[Ismona]

**sigh**


I have always wanted to go to Japan...I guess I can live my dream out though your pics.....looking forwad to seeing them.

Word of advie, if you see someone walking around with alot of tatoos on the arms, walk the other way. Probably already knew that though

Enjoy yourself.

[Svarog]

FOR TEH WIN! u shud engrave ssx on ur bike and make it say epic mount lol

[Futile Resistance]

OK... I'll see about getting a few pics up before I start my bicycle trip (this Friday, June 27th).

It's been hectic as my study abroad classes chose to nail me with vocab quizzes (60+ Kanji) and homework everyday for a week and just finished a final project and am currently studying for my final. *takes deep breath*

I'm going to be busy shopping for a cheap multi-speed bike on Thursday (and have a technical japanese essay due - yes, there's a whole seperate rule set for writing technical papers in Japanese... And you thought business Japanese was bad).

I enjoyed Fukuoka the most - lots of young people (very friendly). Tokyo not so much as everyone's busy, not as friendly and it's very expensive to live in Tokyo. The whole school thing's about burned all the students out on this trip.

One thing I've learned (so far, the bike trip might change things) is that I don't want to live in Japan (in terms of working here). At least in Tokyo, it's always crowded, busy, very uber city like (I'm a suburbs kind of person). If I do live and work in Japan, it'll definitely have to be for a foreign company (preferably American) as they're less strict about the whole business ettique.

And lastly (hrm... this must be the most I've ever typed in one post on the SSX forums) is to the remark about tattoos. While I was in the red light district (it's amazing how organized they are there. They've got staff standing around with cell phones etc. to give directions if you seek any certain desires) the group I was with had 2 American guys (white). We were barred from entering a certain club. First and most blatant sign of racism yet (their excuse was that the girls aren't used to talking with gaijins though we clearly told them we could speak japanese and carry on a conversation. Bah.

So we ended up having to ask the standing staff in the streets for directions to another place. The guy called in, asked a few questions as to our preferences and a really shady looking guy (with visible tattoo from his neck down, I suppose) led us half way through the city... Escorted by yakuza - definitely a unique experience

Well, I'll see about those pics (uh... somehow... Photobucket maybe...). Hope everyone's having a blast!

[zero506132]

I already posted some pics of the trip on my facebook but thats about it.....btw I went on the trip as well :P

[Futile Resistance]

So, I'm back in the States.

The bike trip from Tokyo to Kyoto went down in flames. Apparently, the guy who I was supposed to bike there with does NOT know how to ride a bike properly. He's ridden one before... Back when he was a kid and it wasn't even a multispeed bike (the kind where if you want to stop, you kick backwards on the pedals). The day we tried going from Tokyo to Yokohama (about 50km) he fell a couple of times and eventually ended up scraping his knee along the bike (the bike cut into his flesh so he had trouble walking after that, biking was out of the question).

A bit disappointed, even shocked. But not mad (that he didn't tell me beforehand that he couldn't ride a bike very well)... It's good in that the trip was poorly planned. I hadn't even figured out where I was going to stay each night and my idea of a "route" was following the main highway (or below it since we can't ride on the highway) from city to city.

All in all, I was getting a little homesick. That along with a dwindling bank account forced me to go back to the States. And now that I'm back, I'll be able to post pictures!

[Futile Resistance]

So I've just uploaded a bunch of pics on Facebook. FB's open to anyone to join so feel free to join and click on the picture links I've posted at the bottom.

Akihabara

Tsukiji Fish Market

Glover Garden

Ghibli Museum

Fukuoka

Confucian Temple