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November 01:
Back from Japan.

Banzai! I'm back home, happy and energized. Thanks for all the messages you nice people left for me and my beloved "guest blogger" and his, *ahem*, one and only entry (na-shy na daw sya). We really appreciate them. (:

I can tell you more about my Japan adventures thru the photo album (soon, I promise) but let me just list down some random notes first:

Tsukuba, aka Science City is home to Japan's brilliant minds.

ï My mom, Calvin and I stayed with my dad in Amakubo, the Foreign Scholar's Residence, located within the University Campus. Papa is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Tsukuba, where he also taught from '94-'97, and will be staying there for a couple more years. It wasn't our first time to the city so Calv and I already knew our way around and spent the past 2 weeks doing the rounds of our favorite haunts -- Ishimaru, Seibu, and Wondergoo, haha.

Papa, on his way to class.

ï I couldn't write here nor answer e-mail since the nearest net cafe requires a membership fee on top of their regular rates. My main reason for wanting to go online was so I could write to Arn, but I figured that I'd be spending almost the same amount if I talked to him for at least 5 minutes everyday using phonecards so naturally I chose the latter. (:

I so wanted to get us keitais because they're so cute, light and surprisingly much cheaper than the phones here! (A model that takes pictures is about 20,000 Yen, roughly 1/3 the price of a Nokia 7650.) Alas these beauties can't work with our local network providers, sigh.

ï Tokyo is an hour away from Tsukuba by bus (more if you get caught in rush hour traffic) and is a good place to go to only when you have lots of Yen to spare. The bus fare alone is enough to cause a dent in your budget (2500 Yen = P1250!) so going there twice was enough for us this time around. I was supposed to go a 3rd time to have lunch with my friend, Sophia Univ student Jenny but we couldn't make our schedules work (sayang ano, Jen?!).

An intersection in the busy Ginza district.

ï Because transportation (like everything else) is so expensive in Japan, most residents rely on good ol' bicycles to get around. My dad bikes to his College everyday and so did my brother when he was studying there. They used to have a spare bike that I could use but it has since been discarded so on this visit I had to rely on my poor legs and feet to get to wherever I wanted. At least the constant exercise gave me an excuse to eat all that lovely Japanese food, mmmm.

Okonomi-yummy!

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By the way, I was surprised to find out that this site somehow found its way into the PWA semis list while I was gone. Gee, thanks!!! I haven't accepted the nomination because Arnold & I were both invited to judge for the Finals and having this site in the running would make for an iffy situation, ne? Still, I really appreciate the recognition. (: