"Living on the Wild Side"

I'm in Japan.

It feels good to say that after all of these years. After all of the hard work and fascination over a country, I can say I am now a study abroad student. But like before, I am getting ahead of myself.

I left Wednesday, August 26th, at 12: 40 p.m. and arrived in Japan on August 27th, at 2:15 p.m. The flight was good and I slept most of the way. This is key to those who wish to study abroad as the more you sleep, the better you'll feel the next day. I arrived at Nippon Airport, got my luggage, filled out some more paper work, waited an hour and a half for the bus to come (even though I could have taken an earlier route, the ticket specified a specific time and the Japanese like everything to be specific), took an hour and half to get the hotel, then waited because the staff did not have me listed (that took another half hour), and then another forty minutes to get through traffic. Let's say I was exhausted at the very end.

The next day, we had orientation for the entire campus. I am doing my study abroad program through Temple University, which is pretty nice in Japan. We did the standard tour of the campus, how to commute to campus (about forty minutes by train on the JR Line), how to get to other necessary areas, and how to survive the school year. I have been told that this semester will NOT be a cake walk and that I can expect real work.

To say I was disappointed with this revelation would be an understatement. 

But, all is well. The first few nights here have been fun and I have made friends with people in my dormitory (I'll have pictures of my room next time). Japan is awesome and I can't stress that enough. It is a wonderful and exciting country to be in right now and I am so happy I am here right now. 

The first night I was here, a group of students from my dorm went to Shibuya from Takadonababa. Takadonababa is where I live now and it is the closest district to the heart of Tokyo. I am blessed with this because I was able to travel to Shibuya and experience the life that is Japan. To those who have never seen a picture of the heart of Shibuya, you came to the right place!

If you have seen pictures of Shibuya before, they are usually overhead pictures of a triangle square with hundreds of people crossing. Well, I can assure that all of that's true as hundreds of people would cross this electronic heaven every minute. The group I was with later went to a karaoke bar. Hilarity ensued.

It was an awesome evening, full of crazy shenanigans, getting lost, Queen, Beastie Boys, and other famous singers of the karoke scene.

After a great first night in Japan, I spent the next day really absorbing my new home of Takadonababa. I just traveled in a straight line for a good three miles and turned around to see some of the sights of the city. I saw many, many shops, a great bakery where I now head every morning for breakfast, interesting citizens running for political office (the election was held on August 30th with a landslide election for the opposing party, the Democratic Party of Japan), and two shrines.

The thing you must know about Japan is that it deposits more concrete than any country in the world every year. More projects are funded by the government and taller buildings are built within the span of a generation. On my personal tour of Takadonababa, I found two shrines, tucked away from the public. I was the only one there and it was peaceful, yet unsettling at the same time. The reasons for this was because of a concrete city now surrounded two shrines that are now centuries old. I gave an offering, a pray for good luck, and was on my way...

After my scenic romp, another group of students, including myself traveled toKoenji to celebrate a music and dancing festival. The festival is held every year, with 12,000 dancers and 12 million spectators attending. It was very cramped, but my friend and I got squashed to the very beginning of the parade and had a great spot to video tape.

The festival was fantastic, as we were witnesses to a cultural phenomena where practically the entire country participates in dancing and singing. It truly was a sight of wonder and I was elated to have attended such an awesome event. We left early, hoping to escape the crowds. Nope, it took over fifteen minutes just to get a ticket and we arrived home, it was quiet with no one on the streets. It was a surreal night, one that I will fondly remember.

The next day was an electronic, euphoric experience.

I got to pilot a Gundam.

 To those who have no idea what I am talking about (namely, you, who are reading this), a Mobile Suit Gundam is a giant, mechanical robot, piloted by humans to defend or attack one another. Of course, this is base off an anime of the same name (or multiple names and re-imaginings) and it is not real. Instead, video game designers thought it would be cool to construct giant pod arcades, to simulate a gundam battle, complete with pedals, levers, a headset, online play, all for three dollar membership card, where you join a side, upgrade your mech, and have at it! It was a lot of fun, as I did pretty well. I did not face any real players because I would have been decimated. Instead, you have to go up in rank in order to play matches with others, in order to ensure people keep playing (and believe me they do).

Where this all took place was Okikabora, an electronic district of Tokyo. Anything electronic can be found there, from lamps, to digital camera, far superior to ours, to phones that project video imaging in real time without losing a beat. There were a number of gadgets, videos, games, anime, movies, and music for the electronic geek in Japan and there was plenty to buy from everywhere. Arcades are still in style, where most of the Japanese drop their yen on fighting games. I played Street Fighter IV only to be challenged by another person. Suffice to say, I survived and held my own with a win. The crowd was cheering and the people glared. It was another interesting day in Japan and an area I plan to return to.

And with that is my first few days in Japan. I promise to upload at a faster rate, as these past few days I go to bed at around 8 for some reason. I am now acclimated to the food, culture, and now school. I plan to go on trips across the country and I will blog about that later. Until then, true believers...

(Just ignore the "Caffe" part).

"A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born." - Saint Exupery