WOW...I'm in Tokyo!

This trip is so incredible! I have so much to share and now that I'm finally on-line I don't know how to begin writing all of the amazing experiences I have had on my way here to Tokyo. I am writing a journal each day and will be sharing that when I get a minute, so for now let me just start with my arrival in Tokyo.

First of all, it is beautiful! So many lights and buildings that reach up to the stars. We landed around 4:45 Japan time at the Narita International Airport which is 13 hours later than there in Ballentine. When we arrived we went straight through the customs area. After giving our fingerprint reading and getting our photo taken we went to our luggage claim area. My luggage is easy to recognize (hot pink with black and white giraffe print of course) so I was able to just stand and watch all of the people who were traveling through the airport. As you can see, BES the bear is traveling with me. That bear has been very popular with all of the people I have met along the way and I'll have lots of great photos to show you all of the places and people BES has come in contact with. Here you see BES in the luggage cart that we used to take our luggage through the Duty Line. (See....even when I'm not in school I still had to do the "duty" thing). Walking through the airport was surreal. I mean I knew I was there, but everything was in another language and even the signs looked different. The Fulbright organization is so organized. I can't explain how much they have done for us to accomodate our travel. They are with us every step of the way which has been reassuring. Once through the airport we boarded a bus with our group. My group is the Uki group because I am traveling in one week to Uki, Kumamoto. 16 of us will travel there and focus on the school system, signs and points of interest specific to that prefecture. We traveled another two hours into Tokyo where we stopped at the New Otani Tokyo Hotel. It is huge. I couldn't get a lot of good pictures tonight because it was raining, but I will get lots on Wednesday. When we traveled here to Japan, we crossed the "International Date Line" which moved us into the next day. So right now we are ahead of you in time.

Tonight we met with a local college student who took a small group of us out in Tokyo for dinner. We went to a local restaurant called the Shirokina. Our student was Shogo Yoshida, a student who is studying physics. He has been to the US twice, but would like to study international business. We tried lots of great new foods. I've loaded a couple of photos.

On Wednesday we will spend the whole day touring the city and the afternoon is filled with teacher meetings. I am so excited about keeping all of you up to date on my trip. I wish you could be here. It is overwhelming in the most incredible way!

OK, here is your question of the day...Name the coins used in Japan today and name their value.

Until next time...