I AM FINALLY HERE!!!!!

This post will be lengthy. It was a long journey, but I finally made it and I'm here in Tokyo. I am already loving this and I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity.

This was the sign that greeted us as we checked into the airport in San Francisco. The flight from San Francisco to Tokyo was 10 hours and 15 minutes. The worst part was the seats were not any bigger than regular airplane seats. I thought they would be. We were allowed to get up and move around a bit and that helped.

Even though I left SF at 11:30 Monday morning, I arrived in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon. That was weird for me. There are several people who are suffering from jet lag. I am doing ok I just don't have a very good grip on what time it is.

The Japanese government is called the Diet. It is similar to Parliament. We toured the building but were not allowed to take pictures inside. The lower house might be dissolved soon since the Prime Minister recently resigned.

This is a picture of a gate leading up to a Buddhist temple. The place was crowded because there was some sort of ceremony going on. As a foreigner I was not allowed in but I still enjoyed walking down the streets and standing outside the curtain of the temple.

That's me on the temple steps.

We were treated to a performance of traditional Japanese theater this afternoon. It was in the Kyogen style. It was a short play and had some humor to it.

This is a picture of one of the many vending machines I have seen. These were mostly juices and some water. The machines really are everywhere.

I can't believe I'm really here, doing what I've been looking forward to since March. I have met some wonderful people and know that the next 15 days will be a big adventure!