Currency: Japanese coins and paper money ranging from 1yen to 10,000yen.
Flight to Canada: The first leg of my trip to Japan. I had to make a stop in Canada for a couple of hours before going switching flights for Osaka.
KIX Airport: I was kind of freaked out at the airport because the guy from Nova was a little late, so I thought I had gone to the wrong place and paced up and down the airport for 20 minutes. But I did eventually find one on the only caucasian guys in the Airport holding a NOVA sign and was soon on my way to my hotel.
Night out in Osaka: I got to Osaka and the weather was humid, and overcast. There was a slight drizzle of rain as well, before turning into a full blown waterfall. I checked out the city for maybe 30 minutes to an hour before finding a place to eat and then returning to the hotel. If it wasn't raining then I could have checked out some other places.
Daytime in Osaka: There wasn't any rain the next day, but the weather was still humid. The city still looked cool, but not as good as it did the night before.
My Hotel Room: My small dinky little room.
My Apartment in Fukuoka:A lot of people have said that I lucked out with the apartment deal. I have one of the newer NOVA apartments to myself and I'm in a very good area (Nishijin). There are a lot of shops, restaurants, and pachinko parlors nearby. The subway is less than 10 minutes away, and I also have grocery stores, and an internet cafe nearby.
#1: This is a look at the inside of my apartment such as the living room, dining room, kitchen area, bathroom, and shower.
#2: A look at the bedrooms.
#3: A view of the outside of my apartment.
My fellow NOVA Staff: These are the people I work with at my NOVA branch in Hakata Youme Town. It's a shopping mall with tons of kids running around. All of the teachers and Japanese Staff are nice and pleasant to work with. I guess I won't go into how unhappy I was before I came to Japan, but it feels refreshing to have a healthy work environment.
Nishijin: This is the Area I'm living in. It's wonderful with lots of people everywhere you go, schools nearby, discount stores, and almost every kind of restaurant you want to go to within in walking distance.
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Hawkstown: This is the mall area around Fukuoka Dome where the Daiei Hawks play. It looks like they're on their way to the Japan Series. Almost everyone in Fukuoka is a Hawks fanatic!
Arcade: I went into an arcade one day to take pictures but I was too tempted to play the games! I limited myself to a round of air hockey with my first discussion partner so I didn't get a chance to play the other games, but it was a fun place.
Miscellaneous: A collection of random stuff.
Subway: A quick look at the subway system. I need to get better pictures of this section up.
Bus: A couple pictures of how the buses work over here.
Hojoya: Hojoya began as a harvest festival, during which birds and fish were released in a symbolic prayer for all living creatures. This ceremony is conducted biannually. Today, other attractions at Hojoya include ghost trains, old-fashioned freak shows, and stalls selling traditional toys and candies. (as you can probably tell, I took this information from another site as I am tolazy to research it for myself)
#1: Daytime at Hojoya. There are usually many more people than this, especially at night, but I only had patience to take pictures during the day.
#2: Here are some pictures of the temple.
#3: This Russ and I eating some food at the festival.
Hiroshima: Various pictures from Hiroshima which were UNBELIEVABLE!
Shinkansen: An extremely comfortable ride and fast ride. It was so much different from the first time I rode on it. I actually got a seat and got to enjoy the scenery.
Countryside View: Here you go Mr. Tsang, these are pictures that I hope you appreciate! =)
Peace Park: Take a view for yourself. This park was created after the devastating bombing of Hiroshima to remember the reason why peace should be kept.
Atomic Bomb Museum: I only took a few pictures of the museum because it was too overwhelming just looking at a few of the exhibits.
Miyajima: Here are 4 different pages of pictures from Miyajima (one of the three most beautiful spots to visit in Japan)
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Sumo: I don't completely understand sumo and the way it functions so I'm asking my friend Leanne to write me a brief synopsis in lamence terms of how sumo works so even someone as simple as me can understand! I'll post that up later, but for now here are the pictures.
Bayside Place: This is a great place to go at night in Fukuoka. Although it's mostly for couples and dating, it's still a nice to see at night when it's lit up(even if you're single).
Canal City: This is a beautiful mall in Fukuoka which houses so many things such as a movie theatre, clothes stores, pet stores, coffee shops, etc...There's usually a performance going on everyday which attracts tons of visitors.
Korea: Yeah I was in Korea for 6 days and 5 nights, but only I only had 4 full days of exploring because I arrived late on the first night, and left early on the last day. I think the best amount of time to be there is about 3 days because you can see eat everything in this amount of time.
Food: The food was terrfic and I had fun trying all the different varieties in both restaurants and the out door stalls.
DMZ: The demilitarized zone is definately a trip worth taking when you go to Seoul. Some people say it's overrated but trust me, you feel how tense things can be when you're there and it's a unique experience.
New Years: There was a lot of stuff going in the street in front of my Hotel so I didn't have to go very far.
Kyongbokkung Palace: My favorite one because of it's large size and number of sections within the compound. I was in awe the whole time I was there.
Yeongryeongjeon Palace: Ranked #2 on my list of palaces
Jongmyo Palace: #3!
Toksugung Palace: My least favorite of the 4 but the pictures are ok.
Korean Folk Village: A day trip I took out to a village with a traditional appearance.
Christmas Images: We had a Nova x-mas party at my friend Leanne's place and it was a lot of fun. Mexican tacos with the works of guacamole, sour cream, salsa, etc. I'm kind of stealing these images from Leanne because she took them, so I'll apologize now...Sorry Dude!
More Pictures: I had to make a link to another webpage because I ran out of room on this bakabuddha site.