I know, how original

Hello to one and all!! I'm sorry for having neglected you all so long, but I am indeed now in Japan and having an amazing time. I will warn people do not come to Japan expecting to be able to do anything without help - everything is quite vastly different here... but I think that's all part of the fun. The food is great, the people have all been so lovely so far (although another thing is you KNOW you are a foreigner in Japan) and of course the views are spectacular.

I do a lot of local travelling at the moment - nothing beyond a couple of hours were I live but it happens just about every week! I went to Amanohashidate last weekend (it's the most beautiful cultural heritage site, close to Kyoto in Japan - Wikipedia it) and I'm off to Himeji this weekend and Osaka next week. I'm hoping to travel further afield once the holidays begin - this is where possible Tokyo, Hokkaido, Okinawa or even Korea and China shots might come! It's all stuff up in the air at the moment, and it would be very expensive to do them all... but here's hoping!

Otherwise I'm making loads of new friends - quite a few of them being my Senpai's friends as well (a.k.a awesome guy who makes Izzy stupidly happy...) I'm going out quite a few times a week now... and become slightly more wreckless with my money. This might actually be a good thing - I think I was too paranoid last year. I also have a lovely host mother who takes me out on weekend trips (a.k.a Himeji), and if I ever need some English support, it's nice to know one of my best friends is only a train ride as well (which in Japan feels so much more accessible than it would back in the UK).

There is something about Japan's natural beauty - or if we think about their gardens, perhaps their way of controlling beauty. I hope it's starting to come out in the few pictures I've uploaded - I'm now really trying hard to think what the meaning behind my shots are rather than just going for something pretty. XD Although I still love my flower shots!

I'm really hoping I'll be able to catch some great seasonal shots since they mean so much to the Japanese. I already feel like my Autumn shots are well on the way with the changing leaves and Momiji being quite central to the Japanese at this time of the year.

Here's a question though - is there anything people wanted to particular see a capture of? If you have any requests of what you'd like to see whilst I'm in Japan do send me a note, a comment or whatever and I'll do my best!!

With that being quite a long journal entry, I think I shall love you and leave you all to go actually do some Kanji work (¬_¬ ) yeah... unfortunately there's still the academic side to achieve...