Leaving

Yeah! Finished MBA!

Leaving Tokyo in a bit...time to go home...Later~:)

Piggy は 京都 にある

July 14th-17th, 2007

Stayed 4 days in Kyoto while there was a big earthquake somewhere...walked 4 days, from one temple to another--I have never seen a city like this, which is made by temples, every bus line has at least one destination to some temple...but those are really amazing temples, like different beautiful pictures putting together...

Happened to meet the big festival called 祀园祭 there, got my kimono, ate along the street as my favorite "street culture", and saw the parade...

Slept only 4 or 5 hours each day, and walked almost 12 hours every day, so tired, but nice food, nice festival, nice temples, nice walking...it's worthing...:)...

Traditional japanese culture is in the air everywhere in Kyoto...lol

Full Album:

Kyoto

Piggy は 東京 にある VIII-Shibuya Night/Roppongi/Akihabara/Asakusa

July 13th, 2007

Rabbit arrived on the 12th, since he hasn't arrived until 6 p.m, I thought he's got lost, but I met him in the street...OMG!!!

We went to Shibuya the night of 12th and ate the Japanese hot pot and FUGU (the famous poisoned fish), then visited again the temple at Asakusa, the electronic street at Akihabara and ate at Roppongi for dinner--his first ramen in his life:)

Rabbit seems so excited seeing so many cute Japanese girls and looked for girls to take photo with the whole time he's in Japan...*^^*!

Full Album-Shibuya Night (July 12th, 2007)

Shibuya night

Full Album-Asakusa

Asakusa(浅草)

Full Album-Akihabara

Akihabara(秋葉原)

Full Album-Roppongi

Roppogi(六本目)

Piggy は 東京 にある VII-Shinjuku & Shibuya

July 11st, 2007

One day off from school, I went to Shinjuku this morning...Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden(新宿御苑) is right by the subway station, so I went there first, 200 JPY admission fee:)

It is formely the property of the Imperial Family, is now one of Tokyo's largest and most popular parks for strolling or admiring the flowering shrubs and foliage. A huge park, and nobody there since it was raining~I don't know if anyone else will be as romamtic as me who walking in the rain in the garden by myself...lol...but it is really a nice place, with garden and forest~ i only visited part of it (mostly Japanese Traditional Gardent and 母の子森林), and it was already more than 1 hour passed...

Then went to some temples and shrine I met on my way, and walked around Kabukicho (歌舞伎貯) and Shinjuku's Skyscraper area with a cluster of ultra-modern high-rise buildings from 25-55 stories in height--hotels, mall, official buildings etc...

Kept walking, didn't know where as usual, and I arrived Shibuya--God, guess how far I walked...my feet were done!--I was looking for the famous statue of Hachiko (ハチコ) Dog everywhere, but it was right by the subway station...too small, and was hidden:P... Looked at the buildings in Shibuya, where Simon said was "Tokyo Time Square", I thought it liked more JieFangBei (the center city of ChongQing...lol)...Except everything is in Japanese~^o^!

OK...Pause for my feet tomorrow, whole day of class, and exam, which I know nothing so far...continue my trip on Friday, with Rabbit:)

Gotta work now... ...

Full Album-Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Shinjuku Gyoen national Garden (新宿御苑)

Full Album--Temple & Shrine

寺庙与神社

Full Album--Shinjuku

雨中的Shinjuku

Full Album--Shibuya

Shibuya(涉谷)

Piggy は 東京 にある VI-Ueno-Onshi Park(上野恩賜公园）

July 10th, 2007

No class in the morning, so I took the time to visit Ueno Park, it is a quite big area--walked the whole morning, my feet hurt now:( but it was good~

I went to lots of shrine and temple, and put a wish board in almost each of them with different wishes~The one in Shinobazu Pond was the first one I put, since I thought that was a very romantic and nice place, so I wrote a board said that even if we cannot stay together forever, I still wish that after 5 years, the same day, he would be here with me...however, right after I hung that board, it began to rain!!!!--What the hell is that? Even the heaven don't want me to think about him any more?...and even more weird is the last board I put in the shrine where was good for love wishes, i wrote, alright, let him stay in the past, and wish me find another one who really loves me, cares about me, and understand me, but at the same time I still wish that he would be happy...After I hung this, it stopped raining and the sun came out...I don't know what to say, it might be some coincidence, but it looks like a sign for me, and I know, I should never think about him any more...

Alright, anyway, pretty nice trip, I'll continue tomorrow in Shibuya...lol

Full Album--Shinobazu Pond (不忍池）

不忍池(Shinobazu Pond)

Full Album--观音，如来，神灶，东照宫

观音-如来-神灶-Toshogo

Full Album--Kan-Eiji Temple（宽永寺）

宽永寺轮王殿

Full Album--Park & Museum

Ueno park & museums

Piggy は 東京 にある V--汤岛天神

July 9, 2007

After the Asian Culture Club, I went to the shrine called "汤岛天神灶", wrote my first wish board and hung there:) It seems to be a very good place to pray for study and work, almost all the wish boards there are about exam or work, so I put one for myself too~Make a wish that I will be able to join the graduate program of M&A in Wells Fargo next year~and also I bought 2 cute little wish pockets, one for study, and one for work...Yeah!

Full Album:

汤岛天神

Had a little tour around 不忍池 after the shrine, looks like a pretty and romantic place, but it was too dark at night, and my camera was out of battery, so I'll go back tomorrow morning, and upload the picture later...Ja Mata~!

Piggy は 東京 にある IV-Asian Pacific Culture Club

July 9th, 2007

Went to the Asian Pacific Culture Club this afternoon. It was a small japanese house a bit out of center Tokyo...

3 Hours, we have experienced the Japanese pray, cither play, わふく for girls:), calligraphy, and Japanese tea ceremony...We four girls were became "super star" with our わふく~So priceless, hahaha, and served those guys tea in a very traditional Japanese way--that was those men's dream~

Full Album:

Asian Pacific Culture Club

Piggy は 東京 にある III-Got lost on the way

July 5th, 2007

Followed the girls who came to pick up and walk us to the school yesterday, we tried to find the way walking to school today, since it seemed not to be that complicated, I really didn't think that we would have a problem getting there. Left the hotel about 7:10 a.m., and thought we would be there before 8 a.m.,however we got there at 9 a.m--walked for 2 hours!!!!! And if we haven't met Rodney and Subash, I would never get to school unless I took a cab:(

It was really funny, standing there, so lost...so I took the pictures along the way back today after class. There's not that much intesesting things between our hotel and the school, but I keep those pictures as a guide, so that I would not get lost again~ :)

From Hotel to School

Took a nap back to the hotel, and went out for dinner with Ryan, Toshi, Garrett and Claudia--thought to go to a look-nice noodle place, but there were too many people there, and we were all too hungry to wait for one more hour, so we just randomly picked up a shitty restaurant around~the food was good, but not that great, so don't need any special description here, hehe...

Then we went to the bar at the 40th floor of "Grand Prince Hotel" for a drink. Very awesome view of the whole Tokyo, but very expensive too--900 JPY per person just to sit down, drinks are around 1850 JPY--Well, we are in Tokyo, should enjoy!:) Took some pictures around, yet since my camera was out of battery, we used Claudia's--it always takes her forever to do things, and she never remembers anything: forgot her cable for transfering the picture in the States, and nobody in our class has a SONY computer to read the memory card--my computer read all the cards except SONY's, so the photo will not be available until we buy a cable to download the photo, hopefully she will not loose her camera before we get the cable...lol

Piggy は 東京 にある II--Tokyo Tour

July 3rd, 2007--Tokyo Bus Tour (TUJ)

Akasaka（赤坂） - Meiji Shrine (明治神殿）- Tokyo Tower - Asakusa Kannon Temple（浅草観音寺）/Nakamise Shopping Arcade

1. Meiji Shrine (明治神殿)

This is Japan's most famous Shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his consort. Our first destination. Quite a big one, and different from Asakusa Temple, this one is very Japanese.

Full Album (Meiji Jingu) :

Meiji Shrine(明治神殿)

2. Tokyo Tower

Said it's Tokyo Eiffel, 330 meters high in total (taller than Effeil Tower?). We went to the 150 meter main observatory first, looks pretty good, but the weather was not too nice today, or we may be able to see Fuji Mountain:( However, we did enjoy a panoramic view of Tokyo...

Some time left still, so we went up to the 250 meter "special observatory", but quite disappointed because it is still an inside observatory and seems that there is a construction there, so they put something outside, and we could hardly see outside~555555~~~

I still prefer the real Eiffel Tower tho^o^!

Full Album (Tokyo Tower):

Tokyo Tower-20070703

3. Asakusa Kannon Temple（浅草観音寺）/Nakamise Shopping Arcade

Asakusa Temple was our last destination for the first-day bus tour. It is the oldest and most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Like most of the temple in China, but this is more Japanese style...Japanese culture is everywhere in the air...we can feel from anything...lol...Also there's a colorful shopping arcade leading to the Asakusa Kannon temple, lined with tiny food and souvenir shops. Really cute, and really crowed too...

Full Album (Asakusa Temple):

Asakusa Kannon Temple(浅草寺)

OK, done with the tour...went to a noodle place in the main street of Akasaka for dinner--cheap and nice~! So cool! I'm in Tokyo!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!

Piggy は 東京 にある I--First Arrival

July 1st, 2007 (JFK,New York -- Narita, Tokyo)

The plane took off at 12:20 p.m. in JFK, New York, and Piggy began her trip to Tokyo...Still could not believe that she would be in Japan in 13 hours, Piggy was excited, but a little bit worried too--knew nothing there, didn't know what she was gonna do when she arrived there with her 2 huge suicases (you may say that's what this piggy always did, and she's tough enough to survive anywhere...Yeah, that's true, but the problem is she doesn't know this language!!), didn't know how to get the place she should go...but well, on verra!...lol

July 2nd, 2007 (Narita Airport -- Akasaka -- Shinjuku)

After 13 hours tough flight, the Piggy arrived safely at Tokyo Narita Airport (东京成田机场) at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time:) It was quite easily passed at the custom, but when Piggy got out of the custom, she was a bit lost...Looked at those familiar but strange characters everywhere, heard that strange but familiar languages, she didn't know what she should do--where to change the money? Where to take the bus? Where the bus will take her too?...

When she figured out anything, and bought the bus tickey for 30000 JPY, she took the bus #6 at 3:30 p.m. to go to Akasaka(赤坂), where she's gonna stay for this whole month. It was a long way from Narita to Tokyo, almost 1 hour 30 min in the bus--people drive on the left in Japan...hehe, good to know:)--then taxi, and at last she found the hotel and set up...everything's good, except she was so exhausted~!

Showed, felt better, gotta eat...Piggy was hungry!!! Toshi came--he's so cute, we all miss him so much--so 16 people when out for dinner together~We went to Shinjuku (新宿), it is so cute, just like a Tokyo Version Time Square~with a lots of restaurants...but we didn't went to the ones showed up on the main street, instead, we went to a crappy narrow forking road, with lots of small restaurant with barbecues, just like in China~!Cool! At last we picked up a restaurant called 十三夜, it was good~!We had fish, whale, horse...hahaha...

Some people went to the bar after dinner, but i was too tired to go out, so just took the subway back--great! I can take the metro by myself the first I arrived there, hehe~

Full Album--First Day in Tokyo:

1st day in Tokyo