So, what does an IBP student do in Japan?
Random photos from Tokyo thus far:
You gotta love Japanese bread shops - there are just so many delicious items to eat in there =) Chinese bread shops are gangsta too, in a more ghetto way, but (most department store) Japanese bread shops (in both Japan and HK)... pure class. (See that bread roll at the bottom of the tray I am holding? That must be one of the most delicious item of bread I`ve ever eaten, plain yet understatedly sweet).
(And wearing Shinjo tees around Tokyo is pretty gangsta as well).
Free food from Professor Abe! Sushi in Japan is gangsta. Free sushi is even more gangsta (this is some genuinely expensive shnit).
Japanese people does a great job at hospitality if they invite guests over... For this particular night, Professor Abe provided the sushi and the (very nice, for Tokyo standard) apartment, and students from his class provided the cooking of sukiyaki (?) and cold ramen. Gotta love Japanese hospitality!
(And can you imagine a professor inviting all of his students and selected visiting international program students to his own place in Australia? Highly doubtful... difference in culture I suppose, but the warm reception Japanese people generally give to foreign guests is definitely a positive part of Japanese culture).
Japanese students, overall, are pretty cool cats.
Asakusa. One of the first points of call for any Tokyo tourist. Lots of souvenir type tourist items to buy if you`re into that sort of thing (and I guess I have to count myself as one of those people).
Tokyo YMCA. Not the biggest room ever, is it? (Actually - not the neatest room ever either, is it?). Still, it`s very simple and good enough for my needs for the first two weeks, it gets enough light into the room and all the essentials are there. It could, however, do with a much harder bed...
(No cable television, by the way, but Euro 2004 is on free-to-air so it`s all good - gotta get your priorities right, you know?)
Akihabara. If you`re not looking for electrical items, don`t bother; gotta love all the neon signs though.
This is the Trojan horse from Troy. Pretty cool; pretty damn big (must be at least 6-7 storeys high?).
8000 yen rockmelon in Seibu is what I`m talking about!
(I am sure that some grapes come with it too; still, 8000 yen...)
Japanese students are, for the most part, real cool people. Really friendly, usually interesting, just about always jolly, always wanting to try their English (they can usually read English okay, but cannot listen or speak very well; then again, I have to say their English is way better than my (non existent) Japanese), extremely polite and just about always, just real good people. I don`t think I know any of them very deeply, so perhaps it`s different when you dig beneath the surface, but the first impression that I get of just about every student I`ve met here has been an extremely positive one.
You see a lot of happy faces in these photos... that`s because, for the most part (I still have to study for exams, missing Australia occasionally etc...), it`s been a happy tour thus far =)
(P.S. Congrats to Julya, Matin & co. on their graduation, by the way =)
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