I'm finally here.

So I got into Japan tonight, the flight was about 12 hours long, but I got the new Orson Scott Card book, Shadow of the Giant, beforehand and I had some good Japanese Dramas to watch.




My last view of the California coast. America, sayoonara.



Mount Fuji from above the clouds.




I'm ready to get there.




Brian, Wei and me in the airport.



Kelly and me in the shuttle, with Shamika and Priscilla in the back.



Yep, all the signs are in Japanese, and notice which side of the car the driver's hand is on.



The welcome dinner.



Enjoying my meal.



Me, Dimitris and Brian out for our first night in Japan.

So far, the culture shock hasn't been too bad, but I've been around all English speakers for the most part. Kyoto is a really nice city, the Kamo River (Kamogawa) is really pretty, and all the cherry blossom (sakura) trees are cool too. My hotel room is super tiny, and the bathrooms are too. They give you little slippers to wear, and I mean little. It took me awhile to figure out how to flush the toilet since it had all these buttons on it and they were all labelled in Japanese.

I'm pretty tired considering it's now 8am back in California, so I've been up 24 hours straight. We'll see how well I can sleep tonight.