On swine flu and discrimination…

Well, I’ve been in Tokyo for four days now and it is such an amazing place. Seeing so many new things and meeting such interesting people has been awesome, but still, there are some things I’m experiencing in Tokyo that I’d never want to endure again. Has you may or may not know swine flu is spreading rapidly in southern Japan and just yesterday the first case was reported in Tokyo. The Japanese are taking this spread very seriously and the news is spreading fears to the general population. What this means for Americans in Japan is that we are looked upon as plague bearers by a lot of people. As a Caucasian in the US, I’ve never really experienced discrimination. It is so strange when you are walking towards someone and they suddenly notice you and shield their mouth and nose until you pass. On the subway we have had people leave to other cars when we enter. A mother we sat near on the subway saw us and frantically rushed to tighten the face mask on her child. These are all just examples with random people; we are also being forced to limit our interaction with students on our university trips, and other restrictions on company visits.

Aside from this Influenza crap, Japan has given me memories that will last a lifetime. Here are some pictures I’ve taken so far. This is only scratching the surface of what I’ve seen.

Business Visits

More information on these later on... I'm out of time for now.

Little Update

We're edging closer and closer to our departure from Taiwan. I'm going to miss Taipei so much. This city has an endless supply of sights, sounds, smells (sheesh some of the smells I could do without), and great people. The pictures below were taken when I decided to just go out and get lost for a day. This is the shopping area next to Taipei 101 (the worlds tallest building atm). The statue of liberty is pouring a bottle of m!ne beer into a mug below.

This building is called the Living Mall. I was one of the first people into the mall that morning and got to witness how serious the Taiwanese people take their work. Every shop attendent was standing at the entrance to their respective shops, standing tall with hands behind their backs. It was kind of creepy walking down deserted corrodors with lines of people staring forward waiting for you to enter one of their stores.

This is a picture inside Longshan temple during morning prayers.

Outside Longshan Temple.



This is just a highschool I found interesting. It was branded the "Microsoft Highschool of the Future".

Old and new collide. This is the S.Y.S memorial building with Taipei 101 in the background.

Taipei 101 up close.University parking lot outside of a building I was in. This picture really shows how much Taiwanese culture revolves around mopeds.

It's going so quickly

Our days are so filled I can barely find the time to post. I'll try to catch up with what I've been up to. Yesterday we went to a market that was far out of Taipei built into the side of a mountain.

Gah.... seriously, my laptop is about to die again. When we leave our hotel rooms the power turns off to save energy... and so does my battery charger.

.......Okay, last time I tried to finish this my battery died (see above) but i'm back! This has been the best experience in my life. For the rest of this blog entry i'll just be posting pictures and describing them because i'm so far behind that going in chronological order would be way to hard.

This was a mile long tunnel that used to be for trains. The tunnel was converted into a bike path and is almost perfectly level the entire distance.

The bridge to the beach we went to is featured above. Beaches with sand are relatively rare and when you can find them are small because of tensions with China right across the straight. Beaches are easy landing points.bBut when you can find them... they are beautiful.

This was a meeting before splitting up in a city known for producing pottery.

I found a place to hike!! Another part of the trail they allowed me to go on while everyone else was in a spa. I just couldn't pass up a trail in a tropical jungle.It was worth passing up the spa. For me a hike is far more relaxing then sitting idle in water.

Well, I have to go again. There are so many other things to show you guys but not enough time. Later

It's Alivvveeeeeee

Finally got the laptop up and running so I can finally tell everyone whats been going on. It's weird flying so far in the opposite direction of the sun. We traveled for nearly 24 hours and the sun only set when we arrived in Taiwan. On the way we stopped in Tokyo for a lay over and had our first run in with our friendly quarantine officials.

We had a slight scare when someone answered a quaratine question in correctly and said they had a cough the last week. Half our group was kept for a flu check on the plane. We all passed.

We got to Taiwan at around 9 at night and boarded a pretty interesting bus and headed for Taipei.

After about an hour on the road we arrived at the Hotel Flowers in the middle of Taipei.

We went to bed and got ready for the long day ahead of us. At 8am we got up and had our hotel breakfast. After we ventured out to find the subway in route to the temple district.

The temple distric was... awesome. The main theatre and concert hall were the two building with the orange roofs while the blue roof housed a giant statue of Chiang Kai Shek(spelling, theres no time to check this stuff haha).

I have a ton more pictures and i'm just out of time and have to stop here...

Technical Problems

I'm here and it is awesome. The plugs and my laptop are not agreeing with one another so i'm borrowing a friends to type this. I'll try to have pictures posted tomarrow sometime. It was such a busy day and we aren't done yet.

Until next time...

Everyone is asking for an itinerary of sorts so I borrowed one Joshua made over at his blog http://belliveaujd.blogspot.com/. Anyways, here it is:

Thursday May 7 - Depart Charlotte at 9am EST

Friday May 8 - Arrive in Taipei, Taiwan at 7:25 PM (their time)

Saturday May 9
- National Palace Museum
- Jinaguo Holiday Flower & Jade Markets
- Taipei 101 - The Tallest Building in the World (for now)

Sunday May 10
- Fulong Beach Resort
- Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area

Monday May 11
- Babangan Spa and Hot Spring Resort
- Yingge Ceramics Street

Tuesday May 12
- Giant Bicycles Inc.
- I-Cheong Machinery Inc.
- Saxfone Museum

Wednesday May 13
- Presidential Office Building
- Hsimending
- Singing in a Karaoke Box
- Massage Therapy for Relaxation

Thursday May 14
- Joy English Enterprise Inc
- National Taiwan University
- Calligraphy Class

Friday May 15
- AGV Beverage Inc
- National Chung Cheng University

Saturday May 16
- Farewell Party (to Taipei friends)

Sunday May 17
- Arrive Tokyo, Japan at 2:10 PM (their time)
- Subway to hotel - arrive around 5PM

Monday May 18
- Meiji Jingu Shrine
- Welcome Party at Gakushuin College
- Flower Arrangement Class

Tuesday May 19
- Japanese Calligraphy Class
- Japanese Tea Ceremony
- Japanese Business Class
- Ernst & Young
-Social Activities with students from Michigan State University

Wednesday May 20
- Kimono Shop
- Japanese Business Class
- Evening time with Japanese students

Thursday May 21
- Harley-Davidson Japan
- Sumo Wrestling Tournament

Friday May 22
- Sony Inc.

Saturday May 23
- Nikko World Heritage Site (optional)

Sunday May 24
- Yokohama Harbor City (optional)
- HSBC or Navin Gupta's home for tea

Monday May 25
- Leave for Charlotte at 11:30 AM (their time)
- Arrive in Charlotte at 3:20 PM (our time)

Akihabara Presentation

Akihabara

"Field of Autumn Leaves"

Also called Electric Town

Located in the heart of Tokyo's Taito Ward. It was once a part of the gateway to old Tokyo and home to many dealers, craftsmen and lower class. A fire burned down everything in the area in the late 1800's. In order to protect inner Tokyo from future fires the area was cleared and a forest grew in it's place. This cleared land would be used in the future to create one of the most well known technological centers in the world.

After World War II, the area hosted Japan's first school of eletrectical engineering. Electronics such as radios and vacuums produced by students at the school began filling small shops in what was called "Electric Town".





With the addition of rail and subway lines directing traffic to Akihabara and the introduction of Nintendo's Famicom in the mid 80's the once cleared area became a thriving technological center. The city is now host to several chain stores of the world's largest personal computer, gaming, manga, and eletronic companies. These companies include NEC, Sharp, Dell, Apple, Fujitsu, and many more.



Akihabara is also the center of the relatively new "Otaku" culture. Maid cafes', coffee shops with employees dressed up as french maids, are scattered across Akihabara. Manga and japanese animation retailers are also becoming more and more common.

Traveling to Akihabara is as simple has boarding a train or subway car. The Akihabara Train Station is located in the center of the city. The station is accessable by the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku, and Chuo Local lines. By subway, the station is a part of the Hibiya line (H15) or Ginza line (G14).

First Post (04/21/09)

Just an initial post.

Destinations:
(Click the CIA links to learn more)

Taiwan (05/08/09 - 05/17/09)

In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the local population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.(CIA World Factbook)

Japan (05/17/09 - 05/25/09)

In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854, Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1931-32 Japan occupied Manchuria, and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, elected politicians - with heavy input from bureaucrats and business executives - wield actual decisionmaking power. The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally. In January 2009, Japan assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term. (CIA World Factbook)