Finally. Finally I have an idea of where I'll be staying and what I'll be doing in Japan! I got the an email from AFS Tuesday morning while I was (quite desperately) refreshing my inbox, hoping something other than spam would pop up. Unfortunately, I find myself doing this way more than I should, but that morning I prevailed and finally received the long awaited information about my host family and host school. It was hard for me to concentrate on the rest of the school day after that, but as soon as I got home, I did all the finding out I could. Here's everything I know so far about where I'll be for seven weeks in Japan!
Aichi-ken (Aichi Prefecture)In Japan, They do not have states, per se, instead, they have a system of prefectures denoted by the suffixes "ken", "fu", "to", or "dou". In total, there are 47 prefectures in the country. Aichi, also referred to as Toukai (East Sea), is located near the center of Japan's main island, Honshu. Aichi Prefecture faces the Ise and Mikawa Bays to the south and borders Shizuoka Prefecture to the east, Nagano Prefecture to the northeast, Gifu Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture to the west. The capital city is located in Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city! Summers are usually very hot and humid. The population of Aichi consists of approximately 7.43 million people. Recently, Aichi has become an economic powerhouse. Own a Toyota? Their headquarters are based in Aichi prefecture along with Suzuki and Mitsubishi factories.
Nagoya-shi (Nagoya City)
Nagoya is located in the eastern part of Aichi and is the prefecture's largest city. The city is mainly industrial which is the reason why it's mostly over looked by tourists (yay! no gaijin!). Despite the city being the economic powerhouse that it is, the city does have a wealth of cool museums, an aquarium, department stores, and parks. lots of parks.
I will not be living in Nagoya, but my language school is within walking distance from train station which I will more than likely be taking every morning and afternoon. I will be attending I.C. Nagoya, a language school that accepts students from all around the world. My school days will last from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday to Friday.
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| I.C. Nagoya |
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| The walk from the station to my school |
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| I.C. Nagoya Building |
I will be living with my host family in Toukai, a small city that borders Nagoya just to the south. The city is fairly new being founded in 1969 and having a population of only 109,253 as of 2011 (Wikipedia). My family consists of a Mom, Dad, little brother (8), and little sister (11). Other than that, I don't know too much about Toukai. On the upside, my host family emailed me back and said that they would be sure to fix me takoyaki when I arrive in Japan. Only three more weeks! Awesome!
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| Toukai in relation to the rest of Aichi. Toukai (hot pink) Nagoya (purple) |
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| A picture of what my neighborhood might look like. |
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| Takoyaki- Fried balls of dough stuffed with octopus and covered in all sorts of yummy toppings. Looks amazing. I know. |
