Japan

It’s my last weekend in Osaka. I haven’t quite grasped that next weekend I will be in Hong Kong, and the weekend after that I will be home. This entire experience has been surreal, and I thought there would be nothing better to appreciate how lucky I have been this past semester than by spending […]

One of my coworkers yesterday asked me “what will you miss from Japan?” I gave a completely blank stare. Even though I have less than two weeks left of my internship, I had not thought about this question at all. The coworker rephrased, “what are you excited to do when you get back to America?” […]

Can you guess what I did this weekend in Kyoto? If you haven’t already pieced it together from the title, I got to finally try a kimono!! I can’t express how excited I have been for this day. I was a little nervous because I didn’t want to culturally insensitive, but the female coworker in […]

This was my most spontaneous trip during my time in Japan. I had originally planned to celebrate the week of my birthday by going to Wakayama Adventure world which has five pandas! However, as the week approached, I felt like I wanted to do something more than a day trip, and just two days before […]

I began my last day trip to Kyoto back in Arashiyama Bamboo Park. We arrived at 8 in the morning, before the tour crowds came, specifically so we could enjoy the natural beauty before the road turned into chaos. The next stop was Roikoin temple which you actually need to get tickets for in advance! […]

This might be the hardest blog to write of them all. I have tried to deny to myself that I am leaving Japan, but with my final presentation done and the last two days winding down I can no longer refuse to admit the inevitable. I have an open suitcase with a few bits of […]

900 meters high, two and a half hours from Osaka, 2 trains a bus and a cable car away resides Mount Koya (in Japanese it is called Koya-san with the “san” referring to mountain). I had planned to explore Koya-san after my supervisor recommended it; in fact my supervisor loves Koya-san so much he has […]

I’ve waited a while to write this because every time I think I’m over culture shock, something strange happens and it hits me all over again. My first indicator that I may be finally getting used to the world around me was when I went out for dinner with some co-workers and, out of the […]

I decided on this blog title after trying to explain who the Kardashians are to my coworkers last week. I do not watch “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” nor do I follow their lives on social media, but to live in America it is assumed you know about the Kardashians. The topic of the Kardashian […]

Who has heard of Fukuoka? I know at least I sure hadn’t before coming to Japan.  Japan is made up of many islands,  but the main three islands are Hokkaido (where Sapporo is) in the north, the main island including Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka, and the southern island including Fukuoka and Nagasaki. Fukuoka is […]

For those of you that know me, one of the first descriptors that may come to mind for me is A-type personality. I love, and often need, every aspect of my life to be as organized and well planned out as possible. My planner for school consists of five different colors associated with different projects, […]

(Before reading, don’t worry about the title; even cheap sushi is good sushi in Japan!) This weekend was a lot more laid back for me compared to other weekends because I have had so much homework for the internship class I am required to take part in while I intern abroad. Because my weekdays are […]

I spend every day of the work week in a lab, a science major’s dream. I get to work on a project for the BioChemical team of Osaka Gas and not only is it using many of the techniques I am familiar with, but I’m also learning many new ones! When I’m not doing experiments, […]

While interning in Japan, I was lucky enough to have my family come visit me for 6 days! While it was initially exciting, the thought of seeing my family after 3 months, but quickly I realized the enormous task in front of me: showing them the best Japan can offer in less than a week. […]

Cherry blossom season in Japan is incomparable with anywhere in the world (sorry, that includes you Washington DC) from sheer abundance to endless varieties to traditions of having parks dedicated to cherry blossom trees to hanami (cherry blossom viewing parties) that make the experience even more spectacular. In the full bloom of cherry blossoms in […]

I am obsessed with Kyoto. This has been my third trip to Kyoto and I still haven’t seen everything! Kyoto boasts over 1600 temples and old fashioned Japanese roads lined with temples, restaurants, food shops, gift stores, and then -wait for it- more temples. This time, I went with my family who were visiting me […]