Nagahama, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara

So, I think I misjudged the amount of free time I would have while in Japan. I don't know why I didn't realize it, but fitting all of the things I wanted to do while in Japan on top of class and schoolwork proved to be nearly impossible in ten weeks. I will quickly recap my adventures in Japan right now...

June was my first month in Hikone. I didn't do much traveling aside from a brief (and failed) afternoon excursion to Otsu and Kyoto. I spent most of the month adjusting to the differences between Japan and the United States, exploring Hikone, and going to class/studying. I made some new friends, Japanese and American both. Oh, and drinking. There was some of that too.

July was slightly more eventful, though I don't mean to express that in a way that makes June seem like it was boring, because that wasn't the case at all. Back to July. I went to a few places, made some more new friends, and studied a lot. Let's see... At the beginning, there was the Tanabata Festival in Hikone at Shiga University. That was fun, even if it was a bit small. It was cool seeing everyone--both Japanese and foreigners--in traditional dress for the festival.

I went to Nagahama with Tisch, Jackie, Sang Yun, and Heather, and we met Kailey there (she was doing a homestay in Nagahama) the first weekend of the month. We hung around the festival there, did some shopping, and went to kaiten-zushi (a revolving sushi bar in which plates of sushi are distributed on a conveyor belt to the masses). There was some drama during that day as well, but I'll withhold that from a public setting.

I also went to Osaka with Niki, Sang Yun, and Tomoyo. Honestly, that might have been the most fun I had up to that point in Japan. Osaka is such a wonderful city. When people think of Japan, they tend to think of Tokyo and Okinawa... but Osaka doesn't get the credit it deserves. I can't judge Okinawa because I've never been, but I like Osaka a lot more than Tokyo. Anyway, we shopped around Namba,

went to Takatsuki for okonomiyaki,

went to a karaoke bar,

and got back to Hikone really late. It was so much fun! I wish I could have gotten back to Osaka one more time before I left JCMU.

I also went to Kyoto for the Gion Matsuri (Gion Festival) with Jackie, Heather, Tamika, Masa, and Yohei. Well, we tried to go anyway. By the time we actually got to Kyoto, the festival had already ended. But we made do... we went to the River, walked around the shopping district, etc. It was SO hot outside, but it didn't even matter because the day was so fun.

The next day, I went to Nara with Tisch and Kailey. We ran into our friend Katie at the train station, so we convinced her to join us. It took us a while to get to Nara and meet with Jackie and her friend Yuri due to some unforeseen conflicts, but we made it! We went to Todaiji (a large temple in Nara), which is famous for the Daibutsu (the largest bronze statue of Buddha in the world!).

We also just walked around the town, fed some deer (more on that shortly), and did some shopping. Once again, it was incredibly hot outside all day, but was a great day nonetheless. Okay, so, the deer. In Nara and Hiroshima, there are deer EVERYWHERE. And they just walk around freely, unafraid of people. If you have food in your hand, they aren't shy to just snatch it from you. It's so bizarre.

I feel like this is going to come in two parts. More later!