Internet at the apartment

We got the internet set up at the apartment, so this is the first blog posted from the apartment.  The instructions are all in Japanese, so it took some translating before we understood what to do.  It seems to work just fine now.

When we arrived we had our names translated into Japanese.  The Japanese language doesn't have all the same sounds that we have in English.  The other day I decided to figure out what our names became when translated to Japanese.  So here you have our names translated from English to Katakana and then back to English:

West Kyle= ウエスト カイル uesuto kairu

MacInnes Breanyn = アキネス ブリア-ニン = makinesu buriao-nin

On a blogging note Bre added a view counter to the blog.  I see that we are at 1005 views as of this posting!  I am excited to see that so many people are reading the blog.

I took some photos while biking around the apartment this afternoon.  Below you can see McDonald's in Japan.  I have not tried it.  I just like that it is there, like a reminder of home in a foreign land. 

 There are beverage vending machines are all over.  I think this the most entertaining one, Boss Coffee.  I guess Tommy Lee Jones is the Boss in Japan, or perhaps gangsters run the vending machine companies.  Who knows?  (To my Japanese friends who are reading this blog, please note that I am just kidding )

 These photos are from the north edge of the University, or Kita (in Japanese).    There are stables and what looks like an arena for jumping.

 These mats get placed over the shrubs to protect them from the winter snow.  I like how they look like a bunch of over-sized hats.

 These are some of the old buildings on Hokkaido University's campus, from around the time the university was founded.  If they look like buildings from the Western United States that is because the university and had a large American influence in the early days (mid-1800s.)

 More photos of the trees in the late afternoon sun.  For you photo buffs out there I moved the f-stop up to 8 to get a greater depth of field in these photos.

 There is a major road that goes under the university campus in a tunnel near our apartment.  This is a photo from the Western end of the tunnel looking West.

 I love the signs of the guy with a top hat.  Here he is holding his daughters hand as they walk towards a bicycle. 

That's all for now,

Kyle