Why not some gratuitous shots of Nagoya city? I've gone into the hub of Nagoya, where the train station is, as well as back to Sakae a few times. While you guys back home are battling ice and snow storms (this refers of course only to those of you in Kansas), it's still pretty autumn-y over here. Winter should reach its peak in February. I had a Japanese girl pretty shocked when I told her that no, we do not have mountains where I'm from, but yes, we do get snow. I guess she thought that where there are no mountains in view, it cannot snow. Given that Japan is about 70% mountains, I guess I see how she could get confused--you can still see mountains even from the flattest parts of Japan.

I'm actually pretty enthusiatic for some snow over here. I know it's wet, and cold, and slick, and pretty much not that great, but there are Australians here who have never seen snow before and I want to see them see it for the first time. I was a little surprised how much they didn't know about--when I mentioned a "blizzard," I had one say, "So is a 'blizzard' something to do with... sleet?" Then again, I kind of imagined Australia as a bunch of cities on the beach around the edges, then desert in the middle. But apparently there's a good deal of grass and farmland in between the two. So I guess we're even, although I'm still working on convincing people who have watched too much American TV that upon arrival in the states, you will not be stabbed, shot, mugged, and raped all at the same time. Too many crime dramas, I think.

These are the Nagoya Towers, or Nagoya JR Central Towers. The shorter is the Marriott Hotel, and the taller is Office Tower, filled with offices, obviously. The lower part has shopping and restaurants, and houses Nagoya station, with the JR train lines, and connects to the subway. My tourism class actually took a tour of the Marriott and got to go to the second-highest floor, into the Imperial Suite (big, luxurious, etc). Unforunately, I didn't have my good camera, and camera phone didn't take very nice pictures. You can actually see Nagoya Castle from there (as well as most of the rest of the city), all tiny in the middle of its park.

Currently, the towers make up the tallest structure in Nagoya, and I believe, in the whole prefecture (like a state). They've only been up since 1999, but right beside the towers a new building, pictured here, is going up. Once it's completed it will be taller than the towers. Actually, I think it's a little unfortunate they're so close together--imagine paying a thousand dollars for a top room at the Marriott only to get in your room and all you can see is the skyscraper next to you? Ah well, I don't expect I'll have that concern anytime in the near future.

In other news, this semester is winding down for me, and I've already turned in a few of my final projects for classes, with just a few tests left. I've decided it would be nice to actually speak Japanese, though, so I'm going to be switching into the intensive language program next semester. I've been freaking out a little thinking that my stay is already half-over, but actually, since there's a three-month break between semesters I have plenty of time left. Because I'm not doing an internship (my current program's classes finish before our winter break, and we have optional internships to fill the two-week gap before the end of semster), my vacation will start early, and I'm off from December 17th until about April 3rd. Nice.

The picture randomly paired with the last paragraph is a big metal spiral that stands in front of the Nagoya Towers. I guess it's just a sculpture. It looks a little scary to me, like something sci-fi rising up from the ground. This last picture of Oasis 21 in Sakae (you can see the TV Tower in the background). It's hard to explain what it is--this structure has water running over the top, then there are shops and restaurants underneath, and an area where they can set up soccer games and such. It also connects to the subway. I believe the specific structure is called "Crystal Plaza," or "Kurisutaru Hiroba" to the Japanese.

posted by No_Fluff_Reviewer @ 10:00 PM