I made it! After 13 hours on a plane, crossing over the international dateline, I am finally in Tokyo! I'm staying in the Weekly Mansion Takadanobaba, which is in the Shinjuku-ku district. I have an apartment all to myself with a private bathroom, which is a luxury, considering that all other dorms have shared space for bathrooms. I've got two Pachinko arcades up the road along with Big Box, which is a HUGE department store, 9 floors. One floor is a restaurant, another is an arcade run by Taito, two floors are dedicated to a gym, while another two have various stores. There's plenty of places to eat around here, along with two grocery stores and TONS of vending machines.

Today is actually my third day in Japan, I've just been way too tired to actually put coherent thoughts into words. On the first day of arrival I had to hop a bus from the airport for an  hour long ride to a hotel, where I met up with Temple University reps., who put me in my cab to my dorm. After I dragged my luggage upstairs, I headed back out to explore and get some groceries at the local market, SEIYU. After that, it was time for bed. OH! Some of my roommates and I went out to dinner that first night as well, and I got beef curry. It was all right, kinda tasted like the chili in the US.

The second day here, I gave myself a minor coronary. I was supposed to meet my dorm manager and the rest of the study abroad students on the second floor because we were all going to head to the train station and find our way to the school. When I woke up, my alarm clock said 8:46. I freaked out and ran downstairs to use the pay phone to call my dorm manager, who informed me that I still had twenty minutes. Apparently, Japan doesn't do Daylight Savings Time, and my iPod, where I got the time from, does. So I made it to the meeting and the school no issue.

And today the dorm manager took us on a walking tour of our local neighborhood. Really the only thing of interest is various restaurants, an english bookstore and a music shop. After that we went for a walking tour of Shinjuku and Harajuku, stopping along the way at a park and Meiji shrine. From there, we crossed over into Harajuku, walking to various places like Kiddie Land [a five story toy shop] and passing through smaller stores along the way. Since we didn't have time to stop in any of them, I'm planning on going back tomorrow. We ended the day with sushi at one of those places that has it coming around on a conveyor belt. Really yummy.

I have pictures that I want to post here, once I figure out how to do so. They start with my journey over on the plane and go through till today, with pictures of various things, places and people.