Hey all,
Well, today is Friday and I'm leaving on Sunday. There's only two days left in Japan. I can't believe it!
Today we are going to Kyoto for the last time. Ryan(friend from Colby) is up visiting us from his program in Nagasaki and we'll show him around. But its raining, its already late in the day, so I don't expect to hit up more than one temple (probably Fushimi Inari). And we'll have our last ramen and karaoke at Kyoto Eki.
Tomorrow Okaasan wants to go to a museum & movie & shopping, so that'll be a full day. I'm just worried because i haven't really packed yet! That's not good...today i'm going to try and ship something out but its pretty small.
So, let's continue from where I left off yeseterday:
Things I will miss about Japan:
5. The clean, fast bus system. You can always count on them. As a matter of fact, all the safe, fast transportation here. Its great!
6. Conbinis. That is to say, convenience stores. There are so many here, and they all are cheap with lots of stuff. There's a conbini store culture here, where people can live off these stores. You can do it, I've done it.
7. Japanese TV. It is just too much. The absolute trashiness of it somehow becomes attractive after watching it for a while. But there's only so much I can take of celebrities sampling local dishes and saying "Oishii!" or talking about current events or participating in stupid contests and making fools of themselves (because those three things alone comprise approximately 73% of all Japanese TV). And of course there's the J-doramas, the news, and then educational programs and anime. That's about it.
8. Anime culture, of course. It will just be sad to leave a place where many many people like the same stuff I do, and where its really easy to watch anime or to get anime-related goods. Thats one thing I will miss very much.
9. Being less than an hour away from interesting sights and interesting things to do. I've never lived this close to a big city where there is lots of stuff to do. I mean, Colby is in the middle of NOWHERE and Glastonbury is not that much better. I will definitely miss that.
10. Prettiness. Japan is pretty. It is full of pretty things, and it is kept very clean. They all recycle to a degree that Americans do not understand, and the janitors here are very serious about thier work. Policemen and bus drivers wear white gloves, and of course many people wear the surgical masks. It is just so clean here, it will be hard to adjust to American again.
Well folks, thats it for now. I don't anticipate having time to update again before I leave on Sunday, so - here's Kim, signing off from Japan. I'll catch you on the flip side!
As always, comments are appreciated.
PS - Please do keep checking this blog, as when I return to America I will continue to make posts and pictures that I didnt have time to before. Check it out!
Thanks for your patronage this semester!
