We woke up early to get our laptops today. They broke us up into groups so we didn't all just come right when they opened. We figured they would just give it to us one by one when we got there, but instead we waited for everyone from our group to show up before we received our laptops. It was kind of indicative of Japanese culture and how they tend to think in a group mindset instead of focusing on the individual like America.
Don't Go In the Pool
Today we got the keys for the bikes that we can loan from SGE, and we rode down to the a general store called Seria. It's another 100 yen store, but unlike the grociery one this had all kinds of daily living supplies, and absolutely everything was 105 yen, which is just about exactly $1 right now. I bought school supplies, a wallet, soap, sandles and a bunch of other stuff.
Then after we came back, we went to the ramen shop down the street. I got some onigiri, or rice in an triangle shape wrapped in nori, or edible sea weed, and a bowl of rice. It was under $2.
Hyakumangoku Matsuri (Festival)
Today we went to downtown Kanazawa to see the Hyakumangoku Matsuri (Festival). It took place through the streets of downtown Kanazawa and near Kanazawa Castle and Kenroku-en Garden.
Nishikawa Heights
Opening Ceremonies
Today was the first day of official KIT business for the IJST program, so we had an opening ceremony where the president of KIT, Ken'ichi Ishikawa and other officials were present, as well as all the Japanese professors from our program. We were dressed up for it, and we must have looked really out of place on the KIT campus.
First Day In Kanazawa
Today many of us woke up early and decided to check out some of the town. Me and my roommate Ted from Rose-Hulman walked around town for a little while. The SGE students had given us a nice hand drawn map of places they suggested that were close to our place in the Nishikawa Heights building, including grocery stores, amusements, electronics stores, convenience stores. We walked down to the supermarket / 100 yen store (dollar store) they recommended, but it was like 6 or 7 AM so they weren't open.