Hey everyone!  I finally got the internet set up in my room, so now I will be able to post and keep you updated on my trip for the rest of the summer.  Now… to get you caught up on the last three weeks…..

鶴見 – My Home

I am living in one of Toshiba’s company dormitories, located in Tsurumi.  I have a room and bathroom and even a little balcony (everyone has a balcony here!), and there is a community kitchen on each floor.  My room is smaller than my dorm room at college, but I think it is plenty of room.  Here the sun rises at about 4 a.m., which I love!  I normally get up between 5-6 am, and catch a bus to get to the station at about 7:40 where I get on a train to commute to the office.  My daily commute one way is about 50 minutes which is not bad at all, some of my friend’s at Toshiba commute an hour and a half, even two hours every day- one way.  

                                                                         私のへや

かんげいかいー Welcome Party

My first day at Toshiba was so busy!  I had an orientation to the company first, and then  I went to meet the eleven people that I am working with.  It was awesome how excited everyone was to meet and get to know me.  After I introduced myself to them they called a meeting so that they could individually introduce themselves to me as well.  After that I was given a tour of the building, which is huge so we didn’t cover all of it.  The building is 43 stories tall, and I work on the 27th floor.  My ears actually pop going up the elevator every day!  I ate lunch with my co-workers, who had a great time laughing at me, but were also sincerely interested in me.  After work that night they threw me a welcome dinner at a traditional Japanese style restaurant.  We had a room to ourselves and the waiters would periodically bring out dishes of food for us to nibble on as we socialized. Throughout dinner, they made 6-7 toasts to me and my being in Japan.  Later that night I discovered that five of them speak English very well, even though I had no idea since they had been speaking to me in Japanese all day.  Everybody wants to help me learn Japanese, so they are very diligent about avoiding English!　

日本語- the Language

One thing I have realized for sure is that my Japanese speaking ability is not nearly where I want it to be!  Although I improved considerably in the first week, the first couple days I had no idea what anyone was saying to me.  After a week, my comprehension improved to the point that I could actually hear the language and distinguish the words rather than just hearing a a string of sounds.  My comprehension is continuing to improve, although my range of vocabulary still limits a lot of my understanding.  I began making a list of new vocabulary to review every day, and I also study grammar in my free time too which has been helping me.  I also watch TV every morning and night or at least listen to it while I get ready to help attune my ears to the language, a method which I believe has worked great so far.  However every day conversations are much easier for me, as well as going to the store or a restaurant on my own, and having a conversation with someone I just met. It is primarily language in a business setting that challenges me since this is my first time to be exposed to it.  

原子力- Learning about Nuclear Power

On day two I learned more about what we do in the Nuclear Power Systems and Services Division of Toshiba.  I went on tours of the engineering center where they design nuclear power systems and equipment, and a manufacturing facility where they produce a lot of the machinery that outfits nuclear power plants.  I feel like an expert on nuclear power now! (Just kidding, although I definitely understand it now.)

We finished the evening with dinner at a SUPER traditional Japanese restaurant where we left our shoes in lockers in the lobby and sat at a sunken table.  We ate sashimi and other delicious Japanese foods, and it was my first time to try sake as well. 

しゅまつの楽しいー My Weekend Trips

On the weekends I usually pick a station or two in the Tokyo area and then go there to explore.  So far I have been to Ueno, Kamakura, Harajuku, and Shibuya.  I have seen many beautiful shrines and temples, went to the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Zoo to see the pandas, and so much more.  My trip to Kamakura, a beach-side town, was especially great.  I went with two people from Toshiba who have been instrumental in planning my internship from the beginning. We went to several gorgeous shrines, and for lunch  had okonomiyaki, which is so far my favorite Japanese food.  

                                                                    The Great Buddha

                                                                       おいしかった！

Okonomiyaki is kinda like a vegetable pancake.  The waiter brings you the ingredients in a bowl (usually cabbage, other vegetables, egg, and your choice of meat-we had clams) and you mix it up and then fry it on the grill which is built into the table you sit at.  Fun to make and delicious to eat!

While visiting the shrines and temples they taught me the traditional way you pay respects to the gods.  At Shinto shrines they throw their coin offering in the box, bow twice, clap twice, and finish with another bow.  At oteras (Buddhist temples) you throw your coin in and then fold your hands and bow once.  Also, there is always a fountain with dippers that people use to wash their hands before entering the shrine. 

じしん- Earthquake!

About a week after I had been in Japan I experienced my first earthquake.  It occurred at 1:30 a.m. and woke me up. It was shaking pretty hard for about 45 seconds (that is my estimation that I made in my state of sleepy delerium, it could have been longer), and then there were some softer tremors in the minutes following.  At first I thought "What in the world kind of maintenance are they doing on this building in the middle of the night???"  And then it dawned on me, oh this is an earthquake.    I figured it was not worth getting out of bed for unless it became serious, so I just went back to sleep.  About five days later there was another, although smaller, earthquake around 5 p.m. while we were still at the office.  As soon as it started everyone turned and looked at me!  They all assumed (correctly) that I would not be used to earthquakes and wondered if I would be scared.  I wasn't however, I just laughed at their reaction of immediately looking towards me.       

東芝のやきゅう- Baseball

I attended a Toshiba baseball game, which I can proudly say Toshiba won (by the way, two games later, the Toshiba team is on its way to play in the national championship at the Tokyo Dome).  The best thing about baseball games here is the cheer squad and the crowd.  They are so excited and everyone is cheering the ENTIRE game.  Toshiba's cheer squad is about 40 people, men and women, and they have a band as well. The cheerleaders lead yells throughout the whole game and the crowd is loud, excited, and lively the whole time too.  It was an interesting contrast to the office environment where everyone is usually quiet and serious. 

新しいともだち- New Friends

I have made several new friends both within Toshiba and people that I have been introduced to outside of the office.  I have already had some great times with the people here including going to a bowling party, and going to see the Tokyo Skytree- the tallest building in Tokyo that just opened two weeks ago.

                                                                     Tokyo Skytree

Welcome Ceremony

Toshiba hosted a welcome ceremony in honor of 4 new employees and myself as the new intern.  The managers made toasts and speeches, and all of us 新人(newcomers) also gave speeches. About 100 people attended and plenty of food and drinks were served.  I also experienced the Japanese tradition of a ceremonial clapping for good luck in the future that is done on special occasions. Also, I am apparently the first international intern that my department has ever had, so that is one reason I am told that everyone was excited about my coming to Toshiba. 

Week Three Surprise

On Thursday the manager of my group presented me a gift on behalf of the department I work in.  They gave me my very own hancou.  A hancou is a personalized stamp that has your family name on it and is used as your official signature, rather than just signing your name with a pen.  You use red ink to stamp your name with the hancou on a document when it needs to be certified with your official signature.  I was so surprised and delighted when they gave me this hancou, I feel like it is a very special gesture and it is without a doubt the most perfect gift I could have received from the people I work with.

The people I work with are so incredible.  In the first couple days of working several people outside of my group approached me to introduce themselves and welcome me to the company.  They even began inviting me to lunch, to get coffee, etc.  I cannot imagine feeling more welcomed than I have been by these people and by this company.  Many people here have gone above and beyond to make sure that I am safe, having fun, learning, and enjoying my time in Japan.  

京都- Three Days in Kyoto

This past weekend I spent in the big and beautiful city of Kyoto. In preparation for my trip many people at Toshiba gave me recommendations on places I could go, and helped in any way they could to prepare me for traveling there.  Even people that were still complete strangers to me have provided me with recommendations on places to go, and even made maps, and found resources in both Japanese and English to help me get around easily.  The lady that is supervising me even went with me to buy my tickets for the しんかんせん (bullet train) to make sure that I had no trouble getting the right tickets.  

One of my friends at Toshiba grew up in Kyoto, and after she found out that I was traveling there alone she called her mom and they planned for me to meet her so I would have some company over the weekend.  

My trip started with a ride on the Shinkansen.  It really is a neat experience to ride the bullet train, it feels like you are flying except that you have a way better view outside your window!

                                                                 ふじさま- Mt. Fuji

I stayed in a small ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese style inn, owned and operated by a single family.  It was very simple, but I had a 5 tatami mat room, with a floor futon, so it was exactly the traditional experience I was looking for.  

                 The view from my room towards the lobby- where all the guest's shoes are lined up.

One of my favorite places to see was 金閣寺, the Golden temple.  

As I was leaving I was approached by a Japanese man who asked if I could help his students practice their English conversation skills.  Of course, I was happy to oblige.  It was a group of junior high boys who took turn asking me about 4 questions total.  I was very impressed by their great pronunciation.

That day I also went to Ryonanji temple which holds the famous zen rock garden.  When I decided to head back to the ryokan for the night I got on a city and bus and met a young couple from the Netherlands and a French guy, they had just met the day before in their hostel.  We had a great conversation on the way back to Kyoto station about Japan, our other travels, etc.  

The next day I went to Kiyomizudera, which is the most famous temple in all of Japan.  After going there it is easy to see why, is it すごい大きい！ It has so many buildings and a path that winds through the forest,  There are so many different views where the tops of buildings peep out of the trees. 

Next stop, Yasaka Jinja.  Perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have been so far.  It has a gorgeous park behind that is full of nature and has some exquisite scenes. 

Later that day I met my friend's mom!  She was so sweet and kind to me and we are pretty much on the same level with our foreign language skills so with the English and Japanese we had between us we were able to talk to each other and enjoy our evening.  We went to the Arashiyama area of Kyoto which is very pretty, to walk down the Bamboo Path and along the big bridge where we ate gelato.  For dinner we went to her favorite okonomiyaki place (which is coincidentally her favorite food also!)

My last day in Kyoto I visited Nijo Castle, Kyoto Imperial Park, and went to Kyoto Tower.  Nijo Castle is so huge and it is awesome how they have it set up where you can walk through the palace and see all the different rooms.  One thing I think is really neat is the "Nightingale Floor," the floor was built so that it squeaks when anyone walks on it as a way to detect intruders.  

The main palace inside Nijo Castle

The second Palace within Nijo Castle

Moat around the castle

A view from Kyoto Tower, this city is huge.

Well that was a crash course update on my first three weeks in Japan, more to come soon!