If you don’t know what mountain this is, you are seriously missing out.
That picture contains none other then Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san as the locals like to call it. For the past two months I’ve been lucky enough to live close to Fuji-san. I can see it nearly everyday, depending if the weather is on my side or not. Luckily, the weather is usually stunning over here in Omeazaki, Shizuoka, Japan. Even though it’s Winter, there have been plenty of beautiful (albiet chilly) blue skys. The cold just makes the stars shine brighter at night.
The house I live in is only a minute away from the beach, which did make me worry about tsunamis when I first came here, but Omeazaki is actually in a really good area because of the ocean currents. During the March 11th Tsunami, Omeazaki only got a meter wave. I think I saw a wave biggar then that on the beach today, and I’m pretty sure there weren’t any earthquakes or tsunamis today.
This picture is of the temple that is right behind the house I live in. I’m actually in Japan on a 90-day tourist visa while staying in a house that a lovely couple who run an english school let volunteer teachers (like me) stay in.
I’m actually working on traveling around the world right now and I have been using workaway.org to find people in different countries that could host me in exchange for some work on my part. Japan is the first place I’ve used Workaway.org in, but I’m going to go to another workaway place in South Korea soon. So far so good.
And here is Tokyo Station, which had been renovated a few years ago, and is quite pretty at night. There is a beautiful peice of artwork in the tower, which I was luckily able to get a picture of. I also saw a girl in a cat costume, but I did not get a picture of her.
The only problem was that you can forget trying to buy anything at Tokyo Station unless you’re rich. My host, who had so nicely taken me along with her to this trip to Tokyo, bought a 2 inch by 2 inch cake that cost 500 yen, which is about 5 USD. She actually gave me some, and although it was good, I don’t think that little cube of sugar was worth that much.
However, there are still some good, cheap places to eat in Tokyo if you look close enough. We actually went to this odd vending machine-type resturant where you order your food with the vending machine and then sit down to wait for your food (which is served by living, breathing, humans). I got a lovely bowl of leek and udon for less then 2 USD, not bad if I say so myself. The options that were more filling though, with meat and other food assosories, cost more around 5 USD.
Still not too bad, but it would probably be cheaper to eat at one of the many convinence stores that are located everywhere in Japan.
All in all, this trip to the more rural side in Japan for the last two going on three months has been a wonderful experiance. I’ve been able to really relax and not worry about anything, the biggest problem being that I’m still having a bit of trouble trying to follow Japan’s confusing garbage policies.
The people around here are very nice and welcoming, though, and I have made some friends to last a lifetime. I have also had an opprunity to talk (or at least try to) some of the local people in broken japanese and english. They are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met and I am already planning to come back here one day when I get the chance.
My bio:
Hello! I’m a 19 year old American girl who is traveling the world a bit before heading off to a life of University and debt. I have so many hobbies it’s not a surprise I don’t have much of a life, but I still try to get out for at least some vitamin D so I don’t have to spend money on buying the pills. Writing is one of those hobbies, and if you would like to check out more of my travel writing/pictures, please go here: www.sohelloworld.blogspot.jp
I also have another blog that incorporates my drawing hobby as well as my hobby of embarrassing myself, which can be found here: www.sergentflowers.blogspot.jp