Day 2

I made it to Japan and so did my luggage! After we arrived we went and got on a train. I sat next to Katherine and we played travel scrabble (this is a great way to pass the time). I think that my best word was 'Catwig' which may not exist but it was creative all the same =) After that train we switched to the subway. We took three different subway trains and on the last one this group of older ladies (Japanese of course) gave me and the 5 other Franklin students that were in that car bottles of Green tea and these little cakes. The funny thing is that I have no idea why, but perhaps it was just a welcome to Japan. Plus it is not like they couldn't deduce that we had just arrived from the luggage, the tired faces, and the English. The green tea kind of tasted like grape nuts but the gesture was nice, and it covered for my plane experience. Oh and I feel so tall here in Japan and I am only 5'6" . Well after much train riding we finally made it to the Ryoken (non western business hotel). Amanda and I lucked out because we got a room to ourselves. Now a Ryoken is hard to explain but generally there are the common baths and showers (separated by gender). In the rooms at this Ryoken there wasn't a personal bathroom or shower. There us a small entryway where you have to take off your shoes before you enter your room and that is also where our luggage got to live. Then you step up onto the matted floor. That is where these is a tea table with pillows around it to sit on, two mattresses on the floor to sleep on (which are very comfortable) and also there is a linen closet. Now the bathrooms come in two forms 'western' and 'Japanese' which the Japanese can be described and are lovingly called squatty potties. We had dinner at 6. They really like pickled things here. Everything at dinner was either pickled, rice, ginger, or fish. We had tempora tonight which is battered deep fried fish and shrimp that you dip into soy sauce. But this was after fish water soup (not real name), pickled cucumbers with shredded fish, grilled fish bits with soy, and rice, oh and more pickled stuff with pickled ginger (which is really strong). It was all mostly good, and I am full. Oh on the way home from the restaurant which was just a little bit away from the hotel we saw this Japanese guy talking to himself and peeing right outside the hotel. I am sure this was not normal, but still this is a very different cultural experience. Oh and Amanda is sad because she hates fish and it turns out that even our breakfast is going to be fish. Oh I almost forgot we had an earthquake here about 30 mins. after we got into the hotel. All of a sudden the room started shaking and the ceiling lamp was swinging, I guess that it was just a small one but it was a little scary. Well, until tomorrow.

Second Day without succumbing to Hello Kitty