Tokyo

A friend at the international house had some business to take care of at his embassy in Tokyo and he asked if I wanted to go and so I decided to go to Tokyo. We left in the morning and traveled to Nagoya where we got on the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo. When we got to Shinagawa we traveled to where all the embassy’s are located in Roppongi. Since the American Embassy was near, I went to go see it. When I compare it to all the other embassy’s in the area, it looks like we are on edge or something. After seeing this I went to Tokyo Tower. When he finished at his embassy, we took the train and traveled to Shibuya. I got to see a really fancy McDonalds there which was amusing. After walking around there, the next stop was Shinjuku, that place was interesting. I even got to see this area that was lined with very expensive shops. Since it was getting around the time we needed to get back in time to ride the Shinkansen back to Nagoya, we took the JR line back to Shinagawa and traveled back to Nagoya by the Shinkansen.

Osaka

I thought the last day of winter break was a good time for a trip. So, I decided to go to Osaka. I left in the morning and traveled to Nagoya. I met some interesting people that I talked to along the way. When I reached Nagoya, I went and purchased my tickets for the Shinkansen, or bullet train. After purchasing, I made my way to the terminal and got on the Shinkansen that was heading for Osaka. The ride was awesome, the inside looked like an airplane. This was my first time riding the Shinkansen so it was really fun. When I reached Osaka, I switched to the subway and went to Namba, where dotombori is. The many shops there are impressive. The thing that was really interesting was the signs and various statues I saw. I saw some famous ones that I heard about, as well as many I haven't. I think getting to see it in person was really neat. While I was there, I tried some Tocoyaki, Ramen, and Oconomiyaki. The food was really good. After exploring, I walked to America mura which had a lot of shops there. The decorations and wall murals where impressive. The next area I wanted to see was Osaka castle. So, I got on the subway and rode it until I got to Morinomiya. When I exited the station, I was right by the castle which was pretty cool. The castle was neat as well as getting to see the artifacts in the museum. After I finished touring the castle, I tried a footbath. The water was really warm and combined with the wind, felt really nice. I also talked with some people visiting from California on some sort of a school trip. After finishing seeing the castle I thought it would be interesting to see the American consulate. I ‘ve never seen one before so I thought it would be an interesting side trip. The building was really huge. After seeing it, I walked back to the subway and returned to Shin-Osaka and got on the Shinkansen to return to Nagoya and then used the train as well as bus to then return to AUE.