JosephConley.com Wastin' more bandwidth everyday.

Today we left Asakusa and brought our baggage to Tokyo station. The plan is to catch the last express train to Tokyo/Narita airport, and even though our plane doesn't leave til noon tomorrow, we just want to be there early. Also, since our rail passes for free train rides end today, we wanted to save the money for the train ride, and also a hotel. Hopefully we'll just be so tired that we'll sleep the whole plane ride, and be back on America time when we get back.

Tonight is the last night we're spending in Tokyo before heading to the airport. In the morning, I went to Starbucks, and then to Ginza one more time. At Ginza, I went to the music store we visited the first time we were in Tokyo before the KIT program. Then I went to the Apple store. They have about 14 or 15 iPhones on display, but they actually don't sell them at the Apple store because I think you need to buy a plan from SoftBank, the cell phone service company that Apple partnered with in Japan.

Today, I got up pretty early, and finished my souvenir shopping in Asakusa. Then I came back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. For lunch, I went back to the Indian restaurant we found.

Today I wanted to look for a shop that sold Japanese baseball merchandise, so I asked the front desk where I might find that sort of thing. They recommended either shops outside the Tokyo Dome where I think the Giants play, or a department store called Keio in Shinjuku. I went to Shinjuku since it seemed a little easier.

Today we left the Yokohama hostel and went to Asakusa. This will be the last place we stay before we fly home to America on Friday. The hotel we're staying at is pretty nice, but it was a little more expensive than the other ones we've stayed at. The most important part is that the neighborhood is much better.

In the morning we woke up and the teachers were there to see us off when we left Nishikawa Heights, hope we see them again. We took the bus from KIT to Kanazawa Station, activated our rail passes (free Japanese Rail trains anywhere in the country for 2 weeks) , and then went to Tokyo station. Instead of going straight to Yokohama like I planed for, Trevor talked me and Xander into going to Mt. Fuji with everyone else. So from Tokyo station we called our hostel in Yokohama to cancel that day.

Today in class, we had a guest speaker, Nik Nedig, who was a participant in this study abroad program just last two years ago I believe. Since then, he completed his masters degree and found a job with Goldman Sachs Japan Holdings. He was a programming major, and he works on the companies infrastructure for managing transactions and such. Living in Tokyo, he has a pretty small apartment, probably a lot smaller than our rooms here at Nishikawa Heights, and it's decently expensive. In the realm of NYC prices for housing probably.