駐輪場で自転車を駐車した！

Having only had the privilege of parking my bike outside 7/11 s and at uni where the bike parking place (駐輪場) is just a big covered yard I got to park my bike at a more specialised place when going to town. It had the bike racks where you store the bikes and can hoist them to the roof. A very in genius idea and saves a lot of space too. Its only been something I've seen on TV so it was interesting to finally use one myself. Nothing special, but still something that has to be done while in Japan.

Induction to Ritsumeikan University

Welcoming speeches and the people who would talk to us about safety.

During our welcome ceremony that included speeches in Japanese and English, there was a group of old ladies that "taught" us how to carry our bags and purses properly while walking in town to avoid getting robbed. Even though Japan is one of the safest countries in the world they were adamant in telling us to hold on to our bags as tightly as possible. Also, if you have a bag in the basket of your bike you should cover it with a net so that a thief can't do a drive(ride)-by and steal things out of the basket. They taught us these things while doing sketches. It was pretty funny to see.

The Old Lady Gang with a bike skit

Yesterday a friend of mine left his wallet in his basket before going into the store. A person outside walked by and saw this wallet and then went into the store where we had parked outside of trying to find the owner. We got it back 10 minutes later, without even realising that it had been left outside. Japanese people are very very nice!

The Police department's judo sensei came and showed us some basic moves in case we were confronted with an evil doer. ^_^

During the welcome ceremony we got food. Free food :) Everyone had a great time. I tried some squid that was tastier than I had expected. Overall, I think we are 99 exchange students for this semester! Lots of 外人 gaijin (foreigners)

京都！！！ Kyoto!!!

A couple of days after arriving at my dormitory, International House II here in Kyoto I finally managed to wake up early enough to do some exploring of the area near by. My dormitry is a 45 minute from the main shopping district of Kyoto by bike. It is not centrally located but it is not too bad.

I'm loving Kyoto. It is so easy to get around. The city is very flat, and the roads are so smooth. What a difference to the potholed footpaths of the UK and hilly Borås. After going down the (only) hill from my dormitory to the shopping street I rode absentmindedly. All of a sudden I was right next to a small area of Kyoto that is full of old wooden buildings that have the feel as if they were built 50 years ago, but with the modern look of today's architecture. Only later did I find out it was called 嵐山,　Arashiyama. Apparently they have a monkey park(!) and the best time to go sightseeing there is fall when the leaves change colour and spring, for sakura season. There is also lots of small local restaurants, temples and gift shops here. Unfortunately I haven't had time to explore of all of Arashiyama yet, but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities.

I want to go to the monkey park!!!

On the way to Arashiyama I saw a Panda =P













Might go and eat here and post a review later.

Arashiyama























































This is my bike parked on the corner ^_^ . It even has a basket and everything. Perfect for my shopping. Haha. But there are no gears and sometimes the breaks don't work. Oops









Small narrow streets, with lots of people and cars and BIKES of course







A statue of a Tanuki
A creature from Japanese folklore - Translated it means Raccoon Dog. Usually they are seen as mischievous and playful creatures.

This tanuki is drinking alcohol and smoking.





















Temple