I went to a world heritage sight in Japan called Shirakawa

First let me say, hi Miho and thanks for the comment. I understand your English rather well. I hope you had fun on your trip to Europe and that you learned more English as you had intended. I am not sure if my Japanese is good enough to communicate with you. I can usually understand what people say, but it is more difficult to answer. I find it difficult to express my feelings in Japanese as well. Maybe in a few more months I will be able to express myself in Japanese much better. To answer your question, I have never compared my writing to that of another English speaking country so I cannot tell you if Americans write better or not. But I can say that we have to start writing essays from the 2nd grade and we have to continue through college. Next time I comment on your blog I will try and write in Japanese. Talk to you later. じゃあ、またね。

Now, (there are more photos, I will post them in a day or two)
So it's been a while since I wrote an article, but it has also been a while since I went anywhere. This time, all of the monbukagakusho scholars went on a trip to a place called Shirokawa. Some of the buildings date back to the Edo period. It is a world heritage sight. It's a very nice and clean place. I would think that the number of the tourists would annoy the people who live in the town. But, the scenery was great. Of course you can see the pictures. I hope that you enjoy them. Not only did it look nice, but the weather was much cooler than Nagoya, so it felt good outside. I would like to live in a place like that if I didn't have to deal with a ton of tourists everyday. It was great, but again I wasn't feeling 100% okay on the way back (it may have had something to do with the 3 hour bus ride there and another 3 hours back). The town itself was very nice and enjoyable.

So anyways, I found an apartment. On top of the apartment building is a small temple. Actually, there was a large temple there at one time, but it was destroyed in WW2 by American bombs. I talked with the main monk at the temple and he said (in Japanese) that he was against the war (he lived through it) so he was not upset that the temple was destroyed by the Americans(basically letting me know that he was not apposed to me staying at his apartment complex->and I mean he owns it). If I were him I would have been upset I think, atleast when it happend. So I felt a little strange and bad about it at the same time. Anyways, if you look down my 6th floor balcony you will be able to see a shrine (and the grave that the shrine is dedicated to). It belongs to the 4th son of Tokugawa (a very famous figure in Japanese history-the Tokugawa shogunate as it is known in English). So I think it is interesting because their is a grave below my balcony.
It's an alright apartment. I found out that I can make about $1000 a month by teaching English for 10 hours a week, now if I can only find the time. That would let me fly back and visit more often (during every major break). I feel a little strange teaching people for money when I have been doing it so long (and continue to do it now) for free. I don't think that people should have to pay to learn a new skill, if they want the knowledge I would rather give it to them.

I got some gifts for my little sisters at Shirokawa today. I will try and send them by tomorrow along with some of the pictures that I have taken since I have been in Japan (6 months now). Tomorrow is the graduation of the 6 month Japanese course. I really don't feel like going, but since my professor will be there, I think I have to. We were told to wear our country's traditional dress. So I thought I would show up in cowboy boots, spurs, cowboy hat, giant belt buckle, chaps, gun belt (without the gun), cowboy vest and shirt and everything cowboy (even though I ain't no cowboy), but I didn't bring this stuff with me to Japan, unfortunately.

I'm kind of booked with things to do for a while (mostly moving and lab experiments and Japanese study). Still trying to figure out if I will have enough money to make it back to Texas for the holidays, but I'm working on it. Even if I don't make it back this Christmas and New Years (I was thinking for about 3 weeks actually), I will make it back on the next major holiday in May. I will be planning on it. Well thanks for reading and I hope that everyone enjoyed the pictures. Here is the quote of the day:
From the great Dr. Fermi
"It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge."

I'll See Ya'll Later
and Adios