原宿

I was thrilled to visit the Harajuku district in Tokyo. This is where you see all the teenagers dressed in street fashion. You see everything from Gothic Lolita to Neo-Nazi Punk. Love it!

Takeshita Street, is a very touristy area and is where all the teenagers buy their costumes. It's so crowded and very claustrophobic with all the people trying to squeeze by each other. Two Japanese girls who were shop workers didn't seem to take to fondly to tourists. They would roll their eyes at all the international customers and call them "gai-jin," which means "foreigner" in Japanese.



I wanted to buy everything especially in this one clothing store on Takeshita Street. Everything looked so delicate, very Alice in Wonderland. Japanese fashion is so cute (kawaii). Think lots of layers, leggings, frilly skirts and dresses. Full makeup (fake eyelashes), hair did. Also these ladies wear heels rain or shine! Flip-flops are unheard of and scowled upon by the older generation.

Day One in Japan

I'm studying abroad in Japan for a month. I'll be attending Trident College in Nagoya. Nagoya is located between Tokyo and Osaka and has a population of over 2.2 million. I will eventually be staying with a host family so I'll have a dad who is an office worker, a homemaker mom, a 24 yr old office worker sister, and a 19 year old sister who goes to Trident College with me.

I flew from Austin to LA which took about two hours. I saw Ron Jeremy in the bookstore looking for his own biography. He was creepy as expected and uninterested but nice enough to spare a moment and take a picture. After about a 2 1/2 hour layover at LAX it was off to Tokyo, a 10 hour flight. Ouch! Next time first class, it was very uncomfortable. Narita airport in Tokyo was hard to navigate but I eventually made it to my gate. Then off to Nagoya in a Japanese airplane. This airplane was sick. The seats were like futuristic little pods. They had massage and were automatic, you could recline all the way flat like a bed. The plane also had a camera on the front and you could view this on the TV screens but it was dark and cloudy when we were flying. It was a 45 min flight so didn't get to enjoy it too much. Why couldn't we have had this airplane on the long flight to Japan?

Since there was a big swine flu outbreak in Japan we are being quarantined for 3 days at a hotel on Nagoya island which is a man made island. The hotel is walking distance from the airport. I have a lovely view of the airport from my tiny hotel room! The bathroom is cool though. When you sit on the toilet the water starts to fill up and it has all these buttons for washing yourself. It reminds me of the newer Asian rice cookers! Not much to do on the island. We're not aloud to explore. There's a reggae festival going on by the airport. I saw an Japanese girl with really long dreadlocks at the hotel! I'm pretty much blending in until I start talking. I don't get the stares from Japanese people like the other students!

Had my first bento box that night at the hotel. Interesting. I tried everything but can't say I liked everything. Some things were bland and others were just too squishy in texture. I was way to tired at this point to eat. It still hadn't really registered that I was in Japan. Took a hot shower and went to bed finally.