Date Description 28 Dec (1998) Just a few more days to go! My plane leaves around 2:10 PM on January 2. I'm told the flight lasts 13-14 hours. If all goes well, I should be able to update this Web page once a week or so while I'm in Japan. Once I start taking pictures, I'll make some good ones available on this Web page. 02 Jan (12:14am EST) I'm all packed and ready to go! This will be my last message from the USA. When I get to Japan and get settled in, I'll let you all know... 06 Jan In actuality, my plane left on January 3 at about 4:30 PM. I've taken some pictures and placed them on this Web page. Be sure to take a look! I'm doing fine in Japan. Shopping and dining out is sometimes a challenge if the people working behind the cash registers start asking me questions! I don't know enough to read most signs, but that usually doesn't stop me. Classes start tomorrow. Even though I've already had some Japanese (only 10 weeks), I still have to start from "Level 1". I'm sure it'll move at a quick enough pace to catch up to my 10 weeks in no time. 07 Jan I've had my first day of classes. They said it would be "intensive," but I guess I didn't really know the meaning of the word until now. The instructor taught us about 15 Japanese phrases in 2 hours, talking at full speed and with no English. If you blinked, you missed something. It's nothing like any class I've ever taken. It was very effective, though! He taught by example, and by repeating the phrases many, many times, and calling on each of us to repeat them. I've added some more pictures. Take a look! 09 Jan How's life treating me? Pretty good! Tomorrow I get to dress in a kimono, learn the Japanese art of flower arranging, eat a free lunch, and take pictures of the whole thing. I originally planned to update this page weekly, but I seem to be updating it almost daily. Don't be alarmed if you suddenly don't see anything for several days, though. I may get overwhelmed in the future if I keep this pace up. But just because you don't see any pictures doesn't mean that I'm not taking any... 10 Jan Dressing in kimono was fun, but the best part of the day was going to a place called "Ayuya no Sato." It was a marketplace where many different kinds of Japanese foods were on display, with free samples and lots of fancy packaging. One of the reasons I wanted to come to Japan was to try all kinds of new food -- I love to taste new things. When I walked into the marketplace, I was completely overwhelmed. We only had 15 minutes to look around, and there must have been at least 200 different foods I had never seen before! I want to go back! I'll have pictures of the kimono, flowers, and marketplace up as soon as I can. 16 Jan I've been taking more pictures, and it's getting harder and harder to keep up with them! The updates to this page will probably become more infrequent as time goes on, but that doesn't mean I'll stop taking pictures! I have a 4 day weekend, so I'll be having some fun and also spending a little more time getting all the recent pictures onto this Web page. 18 Jan I've explored a lot more of Hikone now, and found some good places to go shopping (streets lined with little specialty and gift shops). I also visited one or two temples, some residential districts, and a few other places. I'm still working on all of those pictures; it's going to take me a few days to get them online (there are so many). 22 Jan I apologize for the tardiness of my newest pictures, but I have a good excuse! The weather's been really nice (sunny, and hovering around 6 degrees celcius). I've been finally getting out of my room to see all sorts of things. Here's a list of things to come: Viva City (mall) Views around Hikone: Stores, houses, streets, mountains, restaurants Old New Town Soan-ji (temple in Old New Town) JCMU night at Sugimoto bar Trip to Kyoto: Kyoto train station, Kyoto tower, temples, shrines, sights Another trip to Kyoto (I'm going again today on an official field trip) My conversation partner, trip to Okonomi House restaurant More Japanese food, snacks, and Jenglish So I'm sort of behind on the pictures. But I promise I'll put them on the Web the next time I get some "stuck indoors" time. 25 Jan Ack! I did get some pictures on the Web this weekend, but I still have so many more to do... I went to Kyoto a third time, so my weekend was even shorter than I wanted it to be! :) 26 Jan I've updated the latest picture section with two new pictures, and I added a better version of "View 4" from Johoku dori. More Hikone pictures are on their way; I just need to type up the text that goes with them... 01 Feb I'm now about 13 days behind on my pictures! I won't apologize anymore, but I will tell you what's coming up: Kyoto trip 1 Kyoto trip 2 (field trip) Kyoto trip 3 Osaka trip More Hikone More Japanese food 03 Feb Today was a snow day! We got at least 10 inches of snow overnight, and they called off classes for the day (in Japan, classes are usually never called off for snow -- most Japanese did go to school today). I took pictures of the snow (of course), but you might not see them for a while! There are quite a few other pictures to put online first. I did get a chance to go through the first set of Kyoto pictures today (I wasn't about to ride my bike through 10 inches of snow). Enjoy! 05 Feb Tomorrow I visit my first weekend host family (near Hikone). The family's last name is Yamada, and has the following members: Takashi (father, 39) Mitsue (mother, 29) Sanako (sister, 10) Shuusaku (brother, 8) So, I'll be occupied all weekend, and you can bet I'll be taking lots of pictures! 09 Feb I apologize to those of you who check this web page (and your email) frequently; I have been very busy lately. I am having a great time, taking too many pictures to count (I've taken over 1,000 so far in Japan), and becoming busier all the time. Thursday is a Japanese holiday, so over the next few days I'll catch up on my email replies and this web page. 15 Feb Brace yourself for a novel, because that's basically what I just finished typing. Some of you were asking about my homestay experience. I said it was wonderful, but to really understand what I mean, take a look at the latest picture section. I figured it was more important than many of the other pictures "waiting in the queue," so that's why there's a jump from section 1.18 to section 2.07. I'll fill in the skipped sections in time. 17 Feb I've inserted picture section 1.19. It has pictures of a few different kinds of Japanese meals and snacks, my Japanese conversation partner, and some more pictures taken in the Sugimoto Bar. 28 Mar Hey, I'm back! Welcome to Dan in Japan's new look! I've re-done the page from scratch and officially made it a project for my Japanese Culture & Society class. Hope you like it! I've also finally added the Kyoto field trip pictures. Dozo, mite kudasai. (Go ahead, please take a look.) 31 Mar I've created a section that shows some pictures from the first year Japanese classroom (teachers, students, etc). I've also added a few pictures to the "Dan at Work" section. 11 Apr I've added my Japanese class final speech to the web page. You can listen to it and read the text of it in Japanese or English. 14 Apr Well, I've only got a week left, so I wrote a "conclusion" of sorts to Dan in Japan. Dan in Japan the Web site is no where near done (and I will finish it), but Dan in Japan the person is almost done... 21 Apr I'm leaving on Northwest flight #72 at 1 PM Japan time (Apr 21), arriving at 11:55 AM Michigan time (Apr 21). 22 Apr I've arrived safely back in Michigan! Over the next couple of months I'll be incorporating the rest of the pictures I took in Japan into this Web page.

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