Just a quick post to let you all know that I arrived safe and sound in Kyoto this afternoon. I took a two hour shinkansen ride from Shingawa in Tokyo. The train ride was fine - I sat next to a man who slept the whole way and they cranked up the heat in the train cars as usual. I watched my final fantasy movie on my PSP and enjoyed it.
I took a taxi to the Sun Hotel Kyoto. The taxi driver spoke such thick gutteral Japanese that I could barely understand him when I made conversation about there being a lot of my fellow students coming to Kyoto today. He said foreign people come here for jobs and then leave (I think). I have a single room the size of a broom closet but it least it has a fridge and TV. They give everybody nifty button up yukatas. The other kids on the program are nice - mostly men, only four girls. A lot of them know each other from class and similar friend groups. I know a couple of people going in. This afternoon Kevin and Jean and I (I had I-Hum section with Jean) walked around down town Kyoto and by the river.
Kumi Kato and Lisa Honda came to get us at the hotel. Lisa (the social coordinator) is American so she speaks perfect English - I'd say she's in her late 20's. Kumi (the internship coordinator) is in her early 30's and is loud and direct - everything you wouldn't expect from a Japanese woman. I think she's great.
We walked a few blocks for our dinner of Japanese food - A small sushi appetizer, udon bowl, tempura, and beer (they billed this as a light dinner). The food was pretty crummy. The sushi cuts were rough and grisly and the tempura got cold way too fast. At least Asahi never lets me down. There were a few speeches made by Terry MacDougal (the head of the Stanford Japan Center) and Prof. Bob Tatum (Mr. Concrete) and his wife Dale (Mrs. Concrete).
A few kids have cell phones but only a few cell phones they have actually work, because they were in such a hurry to get one that they falsefied papers and didn't get the subscription set up right. They were trying to do the pay cards at the convinence stores. I'm gonna wait for my host family's help.
I was impressed by how well the kids ate. I know all the stuff already, but I forget that some people have never seen daikon tsukemono before. I find an intense urge to speak Japanese that is not being fulfilled. While there's nothing wrong with the Stanford kids (I made some friends over dinner I think), we speak in English all the time, and they operate entirely in English. I've been in Japan for two weeks now already, so I'm well into operating in Japanese mode. Only my friend Kevin from 4th year understands and wants to be fluent like me. The rest of the kids are just so thrilled to be in Japan. I started talking to Kumi and Lisa in Japanese, but they preferred to bantor back and forth to each other about all the logistics for tomorrow.
I like Professor MacDougal - he's very nice and knowledgable (though he took SO damn slow). He might be a little intimidated by me cause I know a lot of stuff. When the beer wasn't coming, he tried to signal Kumi in English while I just asked the waitress as she walked by.
I like Kyoto so far. Downtown is nice, but nowhere as overstimulating or crowded as Tokyo or Sapporo. I think the girls in Kyoto are way better looking so far than the other places of Japan I've been. Sapporo comes in second and Tokyo third. I also see quite a number of white people (my guess is they're students with various programs). Also, a lot of people ride mopeds and the architecture is of course much older looking.
I still have a cold and started to feel sick during dinner, so I returned to my room for some R&R. Some other kids wanted to go drink and do karaoke, but I'll pass for now. It'll be more fun when I can breathe.
I stopped at a store to get some stuff for breakfast as always. Tomorrow at 8:45 we go to the center. I'll update you all tomorrow evening on my orientation.
B.E.W.
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