Niigata Trip!

"I love Kashiwazaki"


Here are the blog entries from my trip to Niigata with Keisuke!

Niigata Day 1

Today I met Keisuke at Omiya station. He was running a half hour late, but when we arrived we bought our tickets and said our byes to his girlfriend Miyuki. She went back to her hometown in Tsurugashima.

Me and keisuke took the bullet train to his hometown called Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture. His parents were waiting in the car outside the train station. They greeted me with big smiles and immediately welcomed me in their car. They were surprised by my Japanese skill. His mom said I improved since the last time she saw me in the fall. It took about 30 minutes or so to get to his house. We arrived at the house and I immediately felt at home. They gave me some beer, Japanese snacks, and Japanese style cucumbers and pickles. They were from his grandma. Apparently they are better than what you can find at the supermarket. I took their word for it because they tasted really good. After awhile his parents went to bed, me and keisuke went to a local ramen shop and had some spicy ramen. There keisuke saw a father of one of his middle school friends. The guy seemed to be with his colleagues and was pretty drunk. He talked about dirty things including cheating on his wife. Keisuke couldn't believe it. Afterwards we met one of his junior high school friends and talked for about 10-15 minutes. Keisuke told him I could desk Japanese, so he talked to me using fast japanese. After that we went back to keisuke's house. He showed me his yearbook and a photo book full of pics from the big Niigata earthquake in July 2007. The pictures were devastating but also interesting to see what earthquakes can really do.

Niigata Day 2

I woke up around 10 or 11 and downstairs were some sandwiches that Keisuke's mom had prepared for us. We showered and headed out to the area where he went to high school. We went to sports shop where he bought a tshirt. After that we went to this soccer field near his high school. There we played soccer for about 2 hours. The heat and humidity were intense, but there was s breeze from the sea that helped out a lot. I was getting tired and bored bug keisuke kept on going. It's no surprise that he likes sports. He loves being outside and having fun. I took some videos and pictures while were there too. After that we went for a drive to the sea. He took me to an area known as "lover's point" which was a high rise above the sea and you could get a great view of the sea and landscape surrounding it. We tried climbing this one path but it was off limits and the plants had grown so much that it was difficult to navigate through. After giving up there we took a drive to the sea and walked along the beach. I took many pictures and then keisuke took off his shirt and wanted some pictures taken. I saw little crabs and bugs that you don't see in Michigan. We went back to his home and prepared for the barbecue. There I met some friends of the family. They had a miidle school aged girl and an 8 year old son that practiced his English. We took pictures and chatted for awhile. After the barbecue me and keisuke went to meet friends at an izakaya. There I met his high school friends named hiro-chan and jibu. They talked a lot and I couldn't understand everything but I still enjoyed my time there. Afterwards hiro-chan drove me, keisuke, and jibu home. Me and keisuke chatted in his room before sleeping for the night.

April and May (4月と5月)

I am too tired to write this in Japanese today...haha! Since I haven't updated in a while, I am going to sum up the last couple months in this entry. And from now on, I will try to post every weekend until I leave Japan.

School started in the beginning of April. I had a good feeling about this semester when it first started. Many things have happened this semester so far.


My first day of class started at my Itabashi Campus with my Korean Class. At first I was only going to take it with Sumino, but Ryota decided to take the class with us because he had the free time. After class I was going to go to Tokyo with Kaitlin for Cherry Blossom viewing, but it ended up not working out. So instead, Sumino invited me to the Cherry Blossom viewing barbecue with the International Circle from my university. I went there and met many many Japanese students. Most couldn't speak English very well, so I was able practice my Japanese a lot. After the barbecue, Sara joined me and Sumino for some bowling with the gang, but afterwards Sara and Sumino went back home. I ended up going to the Izakaya (a place where you can drink unlimited alcohol for 2 hours) and ended up being the only foreigner there. It was a little overwhelming at first, but I got over it quickly! Haha!



Other than that, the semester is going pretty well. My classes are really easy (as I thought they would be) and I have a lot of friends to talk to this semester. The weekends are always busy. It seems like I never have any free time anymore. I am not complaining though. Haha!

There have also been many parties here at my dorm and I have gone to Tokyo many times to drink with friends. I can't write every detail, but I will be posting pictures of the past events these past 2 months. Every Saturday has been spent with Sara, Ryota, and Sumino because we are now all taking the class together at my Itabashi campus. So we usually go around in Tokyo and explore new things, eat new foods, and see movies. A lot has happened, but I cannot express in words everything I have done. The pictures will explain everything, including my feelings. As mentioned earlier, expect more detailed updates with many pictures!



But today, I went with Kelly and Louis(friend from the UK) to Ginza (central Tokyo) and ended up in Odaiba(South Tokyo) just by walking. It was a looong walk but it was a lot of fun! I was able to see some new sites of Tokyo. Pictures from this will be posted as well.

久しぶり！！ Long Time no See!!

From now on I will be writing this blog in English and Japanese!
今からこのブログで英語と日本語を使います！

I am sorry for not writing in this blog, but I will try to update more often!
このブログで書かなくてもごめんなさい！もっとよく書いてみます！

These days I have been really busy. After the final exams I had a two month vacation. During this two month vacation I had a English teaching job for 7 weeks in Higashi-Matsuyama. There I taught English to adults! Even though people did not know much English at all, it was still very fun to try and teach them!

最近僕はすごく忙しかったです。期末試験の後、２ヶ月休みがありました。二ヶ月の休み中に東松山で七週かん英語教えるバイトがありました。そこで大人に英語教えました。学制は全然英語を分からないのに、教えるのはすごく楽しかったです！

After the teaching job, I stayed at home for awhile to save some money. During that time I bought some Korean textbooks and started to study some Korean. I only know how to read some of it slowly. Because of my interest in the Korean language, I have decided to study take a Korean Language Class at my university.

教えるバイトの後でお金をためるためにうちにいました。その時、韓国語の教科書を買って歓呼後の勉強を始めました。ゆっくりだけ少し読めます。韓国語が興味があるから、日本の大学で韓国語の授業を取ることにしました。

Towards the end of the spring vacation, I started hanging out with my friends more.　Also, my Aunt Susie came to Japan to visit for two weeks. It was a lot of fun because I was able to seem many places that I have not seen yet. For example, I was able to see Odaiba, Yasukuni Shrine, and Mt Fuji from Hakone! After Aunt Susie left Japan, I visited some of my friends again.

もうすぐ終わる春休みに友達ともっと遊びました。それから、アントスージーは二週間に日本に来ました。まだ見なかったところを見られますから、とても楽しかったです。たとえば、お台場や靖国神社を見られました。箱根から富士さんも見られました。　アントスージーはアメリカに帰るの後で、友達に会いました。

Here are some pics I took throughout the Spring Vacation:
こちらは春休みの写真：



Other pics can be found on my facebook account! Here are the links!
ほかの写真はフェースブークのアカウントでありますよ！こちらはリンクです。
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Mid October-ish

I am sorry for lack of posts, but I keep forgetting to take my camera with me wherever I go, so all I have is my cell phone. The pictures aren't the very greatest on that, but better than nothing right? Well I bought a new bag to take with me so that I can carry my camera with me at all times.

So this past weekend I went with my friends Sara and Leah from WMU to tour some famous places in Tokyo! First of all I take a train line called the Yamanote Line (山手線). This line circles around Tokyo and arrives at most of the important train stations in Tokyo. From my place I have to take the Tobu Toju Line to a station called Ikebukuro Station in the western part of Tokyo. Its about a 45-50 minute train ride to there, but it costs me about $2 to get there. Very cheap! Here is some interesting information too. Ikebukuro Station is the 2nd busiest train station in the WORLD, and Shinjuku Station is the busiest! I often go to Shinjuku to see my friends. About 3-4 million people travel through these stations per day! Its so hard to dodge your way through people sometimes!

This is the Yamanote Line that takes you to the big stations in Tokyo:


Ikebukuro Station:


Now anyway, on the Yamanote Line, I went to a place called Harajuku (let me remind you all of these stops are in Tokyo). Harujuku is very famous as a fashion district in Tokyo. Here you can buy expensive or inexpensive clothes, depending on where you look.

After that we went to Meiji Shrine. Shrines are places where Japanese go to pray for anything from good grades on a test to good health! Most of the Japanese population practices the Shinto religion. These shrines are dedicated to that religion. Now Meiji shrine is one of the more famous shrines in Tokyo and many people come there every year to visit it. Its a great site to see! I have pictures posted on my facebook.

After that we went to Yoyogi Park. Now the weather here in Japan still hits high 70's and low 80's, so it was a perfect day to walk through this park. Many Japanese come here just to relax. There are many spots to have picnics and lay down in the cross. Here I saw many dogs. Just to let you know, most people have small dogs in Japan. Anything from poodles miniature dachshunds.

After that, we hopped onto the train over to Ebisu Station. Ebisu is a very high class and expensive place, but it is a really beautiful place to see. Many famous TV shows do some recordings here! I saw a TV show take place in this place before! It was really cool.

Next we went to Kanda Station. This is a place where many business men go after work to eat and socialize because there are so many restaurant there! Me and my friends went to a soba restaurant and I bought some Curry (which is my favorite Japanese dish). Ask me and I can make some sometime! I think I have perfected it by now!

After that I took about an hour train ride back to my dorm and rested for the rest of the day. It was blast! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I do have some on my mobile uploads on facebook!

Here is the link:
Mobile Pictures

September 2009

Wow I can't believe how much time flies! I have already been here for 3 weeks! I have done so much that its impossible to explain in detail everything I have done.

I have had a few parties with the international students. We have all bonded really well, which is good because there aren't many of us at Daito. So its good to be friends with the ones that are there. Slowly I have been meeting more Japanese people. I am happy to say I have some new Japanese friends now. Slowly, but surely I can tell my confidence is growing. I realized that I do know a lot of Japanese, but I am not too confident at speaking it. September was a great month, but my goal for October is to use a lot more Japanese! I have been using too much English! I need to step out of my comfort zone and start using more Japanese. Thats the only way I am going to learn. And also, that was my whole purpose for coming here! I am not expecting to become fluent at all, but if I can get comfortable speaking around other Japanese, then I know I can eventually become more and more fluent!

I do get frustrated a lot at this school, but I am still happy that I chose it. Since barely anyone here understands English, we pretty much have to figure out what is going on by ourselves. Its frustrating, but its a great opportunity to start using Japanese. At my campus many students look at me and talk about me, but they never come up and say anything. I guess its expected because I am in the countryside and many of these people don't see foreigners on a daily basis.

So I have done many things this month, but I will talk a little about what I did. I have many pictures posted on my photobucket account, which there will be a link at the bottom of this page.

First of all, I want to say that the campus here is beautiful!! Its quite big for a Japanese campus. Campus is made up of many building surrounding a giant pond. So campus is like a giant square! But there is a big long tunnel that goes over the pond to the opposite side of campus. I will post some pictures here!



Like I said before, there have been many parties here too! Here are some pictures.


I have also met up with some old friends that studied at Western!


My friend Ryota, who picked me and Sara up from the airport, took us to a high school festival and temple near campus! The festival was so much fun! Kids dressed up and there were many activities including, making own soap, giant-sized bowling, and people dressed in maid costumes! haha!

School Festival:



Temple near campus:



Well that all for my adventures in September! There are many more to come! Sorry for the long wait, but I will post when I can. Classes are keeping me kinda busy! Here is a link for the rest of my pictures: http://s815.photobucket.com/albums/zz78/andrewjpitts/September