I leave on Monday for San Francisco and then all 48 of us will depart for Tokyo on Tuesday. In San Fran we will be oriented to Japanese culture and the expectations of us while we are visiting. For example we will be instructed about how to take off our shoes when we enter a house or school, we will be coached on the proper procedures for bathing while we stay with our host family (you must wash with soap and water BEFORE entering the communal bath water), and how to use chop sticks. I have been asked to speak to the group about my experience two years ago with the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. Check out the hotels I will be staying at while in Japan - pretty swank! In Tokyo: http://www.keioplaza.com/index.html. In Hokkaido ( the north island) - I will staying at the Happy Valley Golf Resort. I seemed to be haunted by golf. If you know me well then you know that I really hate golf , my whole family plays the game - I cant get away from it, but I guess I will have to suck it up! this hotel looks pretty awesome. http://www.happyvalleygc.jp/en/index.html .
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This sounds incredible! I hope you have a great time and hopefully this keeps you inspired to keep making a difference!
ReplyDelete-Calvin
Karen,
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you up here in Hokkaido! The Keio Plaza in Shinjuku is a posh oasis on the upscale, Tokyo metropolitan-government side of the tracks, but make sure you check out kabuki-cho on the other side of the station while you're there. That's the down 'n' dirty entertainment district.
Happy Valley looks like a typical Japanese white elephant project. Let's hope they have you there to expose you to the unsustainable side of the equation, though I'd be surprised if they are even aware of the irony. Care for a round of 18 with me?
P.S. While you're at Happy Valley you may want to help them with their English! Babelfish is incapable of making an understandable Japanese to English translation.