I Heart Japan: December 2008

~Narita~

~historical street filled with many shops and restaurants~ very quaint!

~Entrance of the shrine to cleanse your hands. I thought it was really pretty~

~Main gate/lantern into Naritasan (Narita Temple)

Kashima Antlers November 2008

~Lionel came to the game too! It was so much fun! He loves soccer/football~ It was fun to see him again!

~Emily, Me, Liyan, and Erin at the game!~

~rainbow at the end of the game just as the antlers scored!~ They are the J.League Champions 2008!!!

~Hakone~

~The Pirate Ship we took across the Lake Ashii at sunset~

~Fujisan (Mt. Fuji) at sunset from the cable car~ We rode over sulfer fields. Hakone was absolutely beautiful. However, the orginization of the trip caused us to loose a day so unfortunately the trip felt very rushed :(

Waiting for the cablecar to go up and over to Lake Ashii

~Annelyse, Lionel, and I~ "I wear my sunglasses at night" was a song Annelyse was by chance singing. Therefore we all broke out our sunglasses. This picture was taken right outside of Shibuya station. It was a very fun night prior to us going to the very crowded Hakone the next day.

~Criston Cafe in Shibuya. If you are offended at all by religion this place is not for you. However, it was a very fun restaurant and I highly recommend going back!~

~My apartement on Thanksgiving!!~ We made a huge feast! It was grand :)

~Part of our Thanksgiving Feast! We had fried chicken, salami, cheese crackers, olives, salad, soup, confetti cake, it was very delicious!~

~Making confetti cake with Erin and Andrew!~ Oishii!

~Oh, come on..don't tell me you don't do this because I know you do! Its the best part of baking a cake or baking cookings! The RAW stuff!!~

~Katori shrine again. The beautiful shrine very close to my home~

~I went there to see the beautiful fall leaves~ Aren't they gorgeous?!~

~more leaves in katori, chiba. Give it a google search! If/when you all come to visit I will take you to this sweet little town~

~walking up to the shrine itself~

~ I decided to take the woodsey path~ It was so beautiful~

~I love fall~

~not sure the name of this flower but it is in full bloom here. I love Japan because of the things that are in bloom now that are not in America. The flowers and strawberries - ichigo in Japanese - are my favorite :)

~Part of the shrine :)!~

I think this image captures Japan really well. It was a very misty day so it made the shrine that much more enjoyable. It is very haunting and peaceful at the same time. It is wonderful.

~Sunset in Itako over one of the many beautiful bodies of water~

The international festival in tsukuba! high school sumo wrestlers!

*Cat and I being silly wearing costumes from Trinadad and Tobego*

a funny character that came to attack Bea and I! Isn't he hilarous!?

Bea and I made Christmas decorations for 500 Yen ~ about 5 USD. I hung my in my apartment and it is still hanging. It is quite dried out and needs to be thrown away now but has lasted me almost 2 months!