❅ ❄ ❆雪が降った！IT SNOWED!❅ ❄ ❆

❅ ❄ ❆ Oh no! APU is under snow! ❅ ❄ ❆

❅ ❄ ❆ Classes were cancelled for this. ❅ ❄ ❆

There are many people who have never even seen snow! So I guess this comes to a shock for them. There were people playing outside in the snow, making tiny snowmen or having snowball fights. Of course everyone was bundled up tight too! Classes were cancelled, but I don't have Wednesday classes anyways! Too bad the snow is just one day late! I wouldn't mind classes cancelled tomorrow!

❅ ❄ ❆ Slippery! ❅ ❄ ❆

❅ ❄ ❆ The deepest part I could find. ❅ ❄ ❆

The best part of the day was coming home to find two Christmas cards in my mailbox! The kitty one is from my parents and the snoopy one is from my friend Jenn! I am so happy! I feel very Christmasy for sure! I really miss home and am sad that I won't be home with my family, but I will celebrate with them when I get home!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! 

I've said this many times. Host families are literally the best people you can hang out with. They welcome you, a foreigner, into their home without knowing you at all, feed you, take you on fun trips, talk to you despite maybe not knowing the language. There is so much at risk for them and yet they STILL welcome you.

I stayed with them for half a month, which is a lot of posts, so I will maybe squish multiple days into one and talk about what we did together!

First things first, my host mother is crazy about climbing mountains. Like, the whole huge backpack, mountain climbing sticks and all that fun stuff. We climbed a baby mountain to practice for a big mountain later.  I thought it would be a nature walk. Aside from bugs, there are no animals up in the mountains. It's quiet. DEAD QUIET.

This was the look out point. We could have gone further up, but it was raining and I was ready to die. It was fun though. I was drenched in sweat and eaten alive by bugs but my host mother is so sweet and happy that it was so much fun. Japanese mountains are just... nothing like I've seen before. The forests are so different. I don't live near mountains nor had I seen one really until I came to Japan and holy crap.

SEE A PATH? I DON'T EITHER.

 After that we went to an onsen. Literally that was my whole trip. Climb a mountain, do something intense, then go to an onsen. Once getting cleaned up in lovely happy onsen (hot spring) we went to a shrine we went to back in March. No more cherry blossoms, but it is still a lovely walk!

One bell for family, for partner, for friends and for strangers.

Today I decided to go to Akihabara. It's known for it's electronics stores (some which are rather sketchy), games for cheap or the top of the line games, and anime/manga. Out of the station I got a little turned around and had difficulty finding the main shopping street.

Akiba, for short, was probably my least favorite place on this trip. If you are really into games, anime and pop culture, you'll love it! Oh, and you should probably be a guy. If you are on a family trip to Japan with little kids, also do not go here. It's not a place for kids, nor girls by themselves.

There were many foreigners here, including myself. But the male to female ratio was astounding. Sometimes I had to search for females who weren't working in a cafe. Japan is very safe and I was never hassled. It was still very unsettling and not my idea of fun.

If you are looking for that retro game you've been dying to get your hands on, or the latest Final Fantasy 45 (or whatever number they are on) then you will find it here. Need a figure of your favorite character? Also here. Want your favorite anime character made into an adorable cake served by cat girl maids? Also here.

**My word of advice. Please, keep this in mind:**

The bottom floors of shops are open and mostly rated G. (Japan's G rating for anime is sometimes astounding to me) but as you go up, it gets older, older, older, and they don't stop you, or your kids. (There sometimes won't be warning, gotta look around.)

It is completely possible to bring kids, just keep an eye on them, don't be alarmed at the trash on the street and stop when you get to the third floor.

For girls, especially foreigners, do not wear skirts or dresses or shorts. If you do, be aware of escalators and 'up skirting' with phones. Walk in groups or bring a guy friend with you.

After a long day in Himeji, we went to Osaka. We never stayed in a hotel in Himeji, as it was only about an hour and a half between there and Osaka on the local JR Sanyo. (So on one ticket we went from Okayama to Osaka at less than 20US.)

I stayed with my friend who lives in Osaka! She was very kind to let me stay!

The first day we were prevented from much because the typhoon hit. It was basically a bad hurricane, as typhoons are pretty much hurricanes. Lots of rain, lots of wind, trains were shut down. We stayed in, slept in, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. My American friend, Jenny, who traveled with me up until Osaka, had to leave just two nights later.

Naruho and I visited Fushimi Inari Shrine in Southern Kyoto. (Kyoto is near Osaka.) It's a brilliant red shrine with several thousands of red gates. Each year there is a new one. You can walk up the mountain under them, then back down. There are two sets of gates (an up one and a down one, although some foreigners made their own rules). 

Fushimi Inari Shrine

And it goes on and on and on and on

Inari is the Shinto God of Rice and a fox is said to be the messenger for this god, therefore there are many fox statues. There are thousands of shrines for Inari, but this is the most important. This shrine has also been labeled as one of the top shrines for foreigners to visit. (Kyoto is the most popular city, not Tokyo!)

Fox!

**A Shrine is Shinto, a Temple is Buddhist.

Our last day trip was to Himeji.

If you take a look back on the map I posted a few posts back, you'll see that we've been following the JR Sanyo line mostly, as it goes to Osaka. It's perfect for poor college students. I'll make a final post about it at the end of this long set of blog posts.

Himeji Castle

Himeji is known for the large white castle featured in James Bond 007. It's used in many foreign movies as the typical 'Japanese place' as the Eifle Tower is used to depict Paris. It is known as the building that looks like a white crane, as it has the appearance of a bird taking flight.

One of the main gates

The castle was under construction so we were not allowed in the main keep (which is main feature usually) but this castle was huge. Not to mention the rained stopped just as we got there and the day turned out beautiful.
Those dots on the top are crows, which made this castle even more creepy like. As to preserve it's beauty, it constantly undergoes reconstruction. If you have noticed, the castles I post are either white, or black. Kumamoto Castle, one of the first castles I posted about, is jet black.

Inside Hallway

 As this castle is a fortress, there were many look out holes (not just windows) that arrows could be fired from, or guns, when they were introduced. Also, as like every other castle, you have to take your shoes off open entering! No shoes!

**Admission for the castles I have been to are usually 600yen or less. They rip off a tiny piece of the larger ticket which has a beautiful picture of the place you are going and therefore is a lovely keep sake! Larger shrines do this as well. Many historical places in Japan are close to free!**

This is not a castle. This is death. This thing is about the size of my palm and is on every tree. More like five per tree. They are terrifying and annoying. Their stupid 'ween ween' noise alerts me that it is bloody hot out. Just look at how gross this nasty thing is.

You can see how intense the rain was...

 Okayama was... wet. It rained. We lucked out in Hiroshima, but Okayama was wet. Typhoon was upon us.

We had an amazing little hotel, Hotel Maira. The room felt more western, as it was bigger than I expected, with wifi, a comfortable bed and a nice clean bathroom. They had free vanilla ice cream, coffee/drinks and free breads for breakfast. It was about twenty-five per night. I would have liked to stay longer just because the hotel was nice and in a central location

We arrived early, left our stuff there and went out exploring, despite the rain.

We went to Korakuen, one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. Even soaked and hot it was beautiful. We had a beautiful view of Okayama castle (which is much smaller than other castles we have seen.).

Beautiful koi filled lake in the center.

 We crossed a bridge to get to the castle which was setting up for an event later that night. If it had been nice out we would have gone. It was a relaxed day for the most part, as we weren't far from our hostel. A short walk and bus ride.

Golden fish from the top observatory

Okayama Castle. Raining, and bloody hot, yet still beautiful.

Okayama was a nice city, very green. We didn't get to see too much since we were there for a day. Despite having one of the top three gardens and a creepy black castle, this city is famous for PEACHES. Peaches the size of your FACE that taste so wonderful. They cannot be compared to any sort of peach in America. Completely different and so wonderful.

A famous childrens tail takes place in Okayama, and it has to do with peaches! A boy born from a peach! Here is the tail Momotaro (The Peach Boy!).

First stop is Hiroshima. We arrived later than planned on the 6th, therefore we ended up missing the Peace Ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Park. So we went to the hostel, which ended up being close to the station. I definitely recommend it! Hiroshima Peace Hotel. We stayed in the hostel style, cheap lodging, but it was air conditioned, has laundry and clean shower/toilet facilities. The staff is nice and there is a small kitchen we took advantage of. Unfortunately they were only available for one night and we had to switch to a different hostel that morning.

First off, we went to Miyajima, which is an island not too far from Hiroshima. It has a famous red gate sticking out of the water. Being low tide, we could walk out to it. The whole temple is on stilts, as the tide comes far up to make it look like it is floating! Oh, and just like every other random place in Japan there are wild deer that don't care.

That is the boat we took. Maybe 20 minutes.

Baby deer, Mom deer is close by...

Chocolate Chip... maybe

Inside Itsukushima Shrine

So now that I am back at my school, I think it's time to start posting. I have been on vacation for a little over a month and have been many places. I'll be posting often about where I have been and what I have done!

To start off, as I mentioned before, I stayed with my host family for about a week, then began my long journey to Hiroshima. That turned out to be a little exciting.

Seishun 18 Kippu (Young 18 Ticket)

I traveled with that ticket there. (Not my photo). For about 100 US, for any five days I can use the JR for as much as I like. It is available for "Young 18" year old students to use it while on vacation, as it is only available in August (summer vacation) and February (winter vacation). So a trip that would have been over 250 US in trains alone turned into just 100 US.

From Arao we took the local JR commuter to Hakata station in Fukuoka. I met up with Jenny and we took the slow, local JR lines with multiple transfers. The whole time we were being chased by a nasty typhoon as well. For most of the day it was nice out. Although we painfully spent it on trains. I do mean the whole day. About 9 hours. We started at 10 am and arrived in Hiroshima at around 8.

We didn't have trouble, at first. But the train from Shimonseki to Hiroshima was delayed because of a nasty mudslide on the tracks. My nasty, I mean 72 people have currently been declared dead with many still missing and now assumed dead at this point. We passed damaged houses covered in solid masses of mud. There was so much rainfall and more to come. (Since dad would have had a heart attack at the time, I decided to keep that until I got home.)

The best part of taking the slow trains was the beautiful scenary. The shinkansen, as fast and cool as it is, goes through tunnels while the JR typically goes around mountains at low speeds. Japan is not full of robots, high tech and factories. It is filled with fields of what looks like bright green grass, but is actually rice. I don't see just grass often. Mountains are huge, covered with rows of tall green pines that looked like they were planted in perfect rows. So thick you cannot hike through. Scattered towns are huddled close together, with houses without yards, but surrounded by massive rice fields or gardens.

Please note this trip will be divided into multiple parts, so please check daily for the next part!

Last minute I decided to go to Kyoto and Osaka to with my friend Jenny and Akane (who lives in Osaka). My honorary professor, Dr. To convinced me to go and I didn't once regret the trip! (He is honorary because I've never been able to take his class...) So, I bought the tickets two days before we were planning on leaving.

We took a massive ferry. 12 hours long, but an awesome experience. We stayed in a room full of futons on the ground with about 10 other women. Everyone is nice here, so you don't have to worry as much about losing stuff or getting stuff stolen.

I went from Beppu to Osaka, marked in black.

We arrived in Osaka on Saturday morning and met with Akane's parents. We then went to our first stop which was in Kyoto, not too far away, Byodo-in Temple. Might I also add that it got up to 40 degrees. (Over 90). Every day here was hot, humid and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky!

We then went for lunch in Uiji (where Byodo-in is located) along this really awesome road. It was beautiful, with local shops and restaurants. There were many tea shops, all hand ground teas. Too bad I don't really like matcha (green tea powder, very bitter). At the restaurant we went to I got coffee jelly which is still the #1 reason to go to Japan. Comes with ice cream and whipped cream.

Next we went to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) which, as the same suggests, is gold! It is beautiful and the walk was nice because it was shaded. I was sweating awful buckets by now. I bought a good luck charm there, as well as some post cards. Most of the souvenirs I got were post cards because I can hang them on my wall.

No, I am not done yet. It's only around 2pm at this point and we decide to go to Kiyomizudera Temple next, which was the worst, yet best walk ever. It was about a half hour walk up the long road of shops and restaurants. The road was a huge hill the whole time. There were sweets shops, fans, yukata (summer kimono) and many other shops.

About Half way

This temple was my favorite because the view was amazing from the top. It was nice and breezy up there, but still hot. Since we got there a little late, not all the parts were open, but all the good parts were.

The large bowl makes a beautiful ringing noise when hit (above the white marked places) and while it rings you pray.

The fountain (the other small picture) is where you wash your hands then drink. First wash your left hand, then right, then drink. It's sacred water said to clense you. There are small ones at all temples, this was just big and fancy.

No, I am STILL not done yet. After that, we went home to Akane's house. Her mother, Jenny, Akane and I went to the public bath house. Chances are, the first question you ask will have a yes answer. It is separated by guys and girls of course.

We went to the restaurant there first, then to the baths. There was a sand rub and sauna, as well as a carbonated bath. In total there were at least 15 baths. All different temperature. There were TVs, playing Iron Man in Japanese. The best ending to a fun day.

Then finally. We went to sleep.

That was day one.

As a God I send the clouds to Beppu.
I did not have my actual camera so these are taken with my phone.

Sorry Beppu. Those clouds are not even moving, just sitting there.

This is not abnormal either. I just never got a picture of it before. Those clouds sat on campus almost all day. The fog was so thick I walked into people and missed my classroom building. Everyone had their umbrellas for the torrential down pour, but it didn't help.

Not only that, but it was really hot out and I felt sticky and gross when I got to class. YAY!

Either the weather here is gorgeous and sunny and warm, or it's rainy and foggy and super windy. Not just a light breeze, but knock-you-over wind.

If a week goes by and we don't get a fog/thunder/wind warning then it's weird.

On my day off yesterday (Wednesday) I decided to walk through campus. It was 70 out, so I couldn't not go outside! Although the sakura have passed, there are still many beautiful flowers and plenty of butterflies. There are many places to eat lunch outside, including Beppu-wan, which is the rest stop up the stairs from our school. You'll see in the video!