Two Weeks and Counting

It's amazing to think it's already been two weeks since I arrived in Japan!

While the last set was more involved with my initial mis-adventures (and I'm tempted to believe my sister has me jinxed with the notion that no matter where I travel, I will undoubtedly encounter foot problems), I want to focus more on my novel adventures. Also, since my last post was bereft of pictures, I'll try to illustrate my story with the photos I've taken!

The first picture of my trip is rather...err...uninspiring to say the least, but I didn't take any pictures at the airport, so the best I could do was a picture en route from Narita airport to my hotel in Tokyo. We do, however, see an awesome invention that should be on ALL buses everywhere (they're on Japanese buses anyway...): The collapsible cup holder!

Our fancy hotel was nice enough to provide us with hard and soft in-room slippers, as well as sleeping Kimono!

They were also kind enough to provide us with SHISEIDO face wash...I was tempted to take it, but I don't know the hotel policies in Japan. The last thing I need is to be deported on my first day for stealing soap...

 

 

 

 Once actually in Tokyo, there was very little time for sight-seeing. Our conferences were basically 8am-8pm, and by the end you just wanted to pass out. Luckily, I was able to meet up with my good friend Sugao for a bite to eat.

   

He made sure I saw ALL of Tokyo IN ONE NIGHT...from the observatory at the government center! Unfortunately, all the pictures for that came out crappy, so you'll have to come see for yourself ;-)  It really is a stunning sight, to see all the lights glittering across the city, endlessly!

 To Kumamoto...

Though after my 12-hour flight and ankle swelling I would have been happy never to see another plane again for another year, I had to board yet another flight three days after arriving in Tokyo, this time to Kumamoto City in south Japan. Lucky for me, I got to ride the mysterious Dreamliner! Behold, the new Boeing 787!

 Yep, rainbow ceilings and all. Unfortunately (or I guess fortunately for me...) it was only a 1.5 hour flight, so we didn't get to check out all the cool night-travel features.

I did, however, get to travel with the other JETs going to Kumamoto Prefecture. I was the only one going to Amakusa, but I made friends with some pretty cool Brits, Scots, Canadians and New Zelanders who I recently got to see again at Kumamoto Orientation.

Mama-Se-Mama-Sa-AMAKUSA!

 So I'm picking up my bags at the carousel in Kumamoto Airport, when I notice a ruckus outside the glass doors in the waiting area. I'm in my suit, dying already from the humidity, and find my welcome party holding a ridiculously awesome sign with my face on it...and they're wearing FLIP FLOPS!

 The two holding the sign are Emily (a 3rd year JET and RIDICULOUSLY awesome at Japanese) and Marie, one of our prefectural advisors...who used to be a JET in Amakusa! The guy with the beard is Len, who lives down the street from me and will be working with me at one of my schools, and in the middle is my awesome supervisor from the BoE.

Instantly we were out on our way to Amakusa, and stopped for lunch at a mall. This was my first encounter with Yaki Niku, litterally "meat grill." There's a fire pit in the middle of the table. You place your order, they bring out your desired RAW cuts of meat, and YOU cook them to your desired doneness!

  

After lunch, we drove into Amakusa....and drove into Amakusa...And drove into Amakusa. It takes about 2 to 2.5 hours from Kumamoto City to where I live in Amakusa, mostly because drivers are slow (aka, adhere to the speed limit), which I guess is safe since there are mountainous  winding roads and such. We broke up the trip by stopping at this little tourist village of Amakusa.

This is a giant statue of Amakusa the MAN, the one who led the (failed) rebellion of Christian converts way back in the day. Some people said he was the second coming of Christ, but mostly he's famous for being a rebel...

At this village, we also fed these ridiculously large and aggressive Koi fish - though Lord only knows why, since they're fat enough already! They were swishing and jumping over each other in order to get the food, to the point that a few of them beached themselves...

There was also this cool little shrine in the bushes against the rock face...

At this point of the trip, my ankles had swollen so badly that Len had to give me his man sandals...And my supervisor and Emily took me to the hospital, where tests were run and found negative (thankfully). Afterwards, however, I went to my wonderful host family's house, where I slept wonderfully for the first time in DAYS. Could it be that they knew I love Hello Kitty?! (They prepared for me a Hello Kitty Futon...)

  

Nah, it's probably that they're Japanese...Or, you know, have two small children!

The next few days were uneventful, just running around and getting my phone and other stuff up and running. Nothing really cool happened until...

I SAW MY FIRST WATER SPOUT!!!!!!

I was out with my supervisor, and suddenly, out in the distance I see this conical cloud...and realize it's spinning It was beyond the mountain range, over the water I'm sure. I was able to get this cool picture right before it dissipated.

That concludes week one of my first two weeks...this is getting too long and I'm sure you need a break as much as I do!