Hey everyone! How was your holidays?? Actually I had only three days off including Sat. Sun. and Cultural day. I mean I didn't have 2more days off which many of you had....;-(

Anyway, I spent these days off going to school festivals(not at my uni) with my highschool friends, going to Kyoto with Mina, and working. When I went to the school festival, I felt strange because there was few foreign people there, only around five. I realized how international my uni was. I ate a lot at the uni and dropped at Umeda for shopping. My favorite food there was a flavored cotton candy. My friend bought strawberry flavored, and I bought lemon flavored. Both were delicious!!! Next day I went to Kyoto with Mina. We walk around Sanjo and ate a piece of chocolate tartelette. After that Mina and I bought lanterns in which we can place aloma candles. They have pattern of snow flakes on them and very romentic! By the way, did anyone see my T-shirt today? I bought it at Kyoto, and Mina wore same one with different letters today. It's cool, isn't it??

When I visited Kyoto for my first time, I thought Kyoto was historical place. I visited around Kiyomizu temple at that time. But 2nd and this time, I thought Kyoto had both historical and modern faces. I personally think in my home town Nara, it's hard to find sceneries like Kyoto,where historical and modern characters harmonize well. In Nara city, you can find temples and shrines after you work about 10 minutes through modern shops and amusement stores. Don't you think this is unattractive?? If you really want to enjoy Nara, you should visit Naramachi, the only place I can think of. Naramachi has historical aspect. But I think you can't enjoy harmonized sceneries in Nara. I feel sorry for dissappearing fascinating place in Nara.

People from foreign countries may expect to visit historical places in Japan, but are they satisfied with present Japan without tradition??