Welcome to JA-PAN!!!!

Hey everyone... So I have internet at home now, and that means that the adventure online can begin. I've been hoarding a bunch of photos so little by little I will get them all out there... but we'll start at the beginning... Tokyo. I landed in Tokyo on the hottest afternoon ever. After I stood in customs for over an hour, I grabbed my luggage (all of it made it! yay!), and walked through the departure gate and was met by CAMERAS! Yes, I had people sticking video cameras in my face and asking me in Japanese-English "How do you feel right now!?" I had just sat on a plane for 13 1/2 hrs... how did you think I felt!? My legs and ankles were actually swollen pretty badly from the long flight!

But soon I was on an air conditioned bus and on my way to the Keio Plaza in downtown Tokyo, where I stayed for 3 days. It was an amazing hotel, and they took such great care of all of us JETs. I only got to see a bit of Tokyo because of the conference, but I made it out into the streets at night. The whole joint glows. Lights everywhere... vending machines everywhere.... video game parlours EVERYWHERE! The first drink I bought out of a vending machine here was called "Life Partner" by Suntory ("For relaxing times, make it Suntory times..."). It had a cute heart on it and it's much more delicious than any flavour of Gatorade. It's a very faithful and satisfying drink... it's never let me down.

Anyways... I also went to the Canadian Embassy while I was in Tokyo and drank Moosehead beer and hung out with some other Canadian JETs. It was a nice night... and the embassy was just like Canada: big, spacious, and COLD. The air conditioner was on full blast!

Tokyo is really not as intimidating as it looks... so long as you view it from street level. It's when you are high up and can't see any sign of it ending that you become slightly intimidated.

I would really like to get back to Tokyo soon... there's so much to do!

Enjoy the following pictures...