Hahaha, I bet my instructors that are looking at this page are saying, "What's this 'Kattywampus' nonsense?"
Hahaha!

So..here's what you've all been waiting for!  Photos from my trip to Japan with an International Studies class from The University of Wisconsin OshKosh.
 I'll try and get a prettier looking index page for this index page, but for now, here's the pics!!

Group shot of our class enroute to Japan.

The long line at Customs.

Here's Eqo.Z standing in front of the foreigner's sign at the immigration line after we landed.

Here he is again, posing in front of a string of taxis and neon signs right outside the Fukuoka Airport.  ...Man, those taxi drivers drove to kill!  ^^;;

FINALLY!  I made it to my hotel room at Sun Life Hotel in Fukuoka.

Scenery

DRAGON SIGHTING #1!  This one's on a vertical parking garage in Nagasaki.

DRAGON SIGHTING #2!  This one was at a train station leading into a huge mall-like area.  Lotsa shopping!

DRAGON SIGHTING #3!  At the same mall!  Going up the escalator, I look up, and bam!  Awesome, unfamiliar ceiling.

ENGRISH #1!  Wonderful title for a coffee shop, don't ya think?  =^_^=

I found this awesome cat head in the mall!  Nyaaaa!  =^_^=

It's the REAL Nekobus from My Neighbor Totoro!  This was at a store that sold all Miyazaki merchandise.

View from my hotel room at Hamilton Hotel in Nagasaki.

OBSCURE CHARACTER SIGHTING #1!  The roof over the outdoor shopping mall in Nagasaki. There's a poster with the ugliest penguin I've ever seen in my life.  It's from a great puzzle game called Pikinya.  Man, that thing's just so ugly!

OBSCURE CHARACTER SIGHTING #2!  Me and an oni from some HudsonSoft game that's not gonna come out in the USA.

OBSCURE CHARACTER SIGHTING #3!  "Rascal" (from the anime Araiguma Rascal) is the mascot of 18 Bank, as seen on the side of the bank building.

Nya! Me and a lucky cat outside of a Fujifilm store in Fukuoka.

The kids from my host family.  Satoshi-kun, Mariko-chan, and Chris, the Golden Retriever.

Noguchi-sama, my entire host family.  They took me to a famous unagi restaraunt in Nagasaki, 'cause unagi is Satoshi's and my favorite food!

I couldn't pass up the chance to pose in front of this billboard.  Aya-chan, Mariko's friend was nice enough to hold an umbrella over me.

Food!

My lunch at Seaboldt University I had fish, fish, tuna with cucumbers, potato thing, fish, seaweed, rice, miso soup, and tea.  YUM!

Ramen, RAMEN, DAISUKE!!  The REAL ramen noodles.  A million times better than our college staple.

MEAT BUFFET!!!  Who wouldn't LOVE a meat buffet?!  This one, you payed by the hour, and cooked it at your own table.

Beer machine.  Next to the cig machine.  Next to the soft drink machine.  Yep.  You can get anything from a vending machine in Japan.

Tours

I'm standing outside of the Sony Computer Entertainment building!  WOOHOO!!  No cameras allowed except for 2 places inside. . .

I'm about to lose my mind-- up in here, up in here!  This pic of the Sony semiconductor factory was taken from their cafeteria.  Big ol' building!

Here we are at the UN office in Fukuoka.

Walking through the streets of Nagasaki.

Such wonderful scenery to be found around Nagasaki.  I took this near my host family's house when Mariko and I were trying to catch the train.

Good luck horse at the shinto shrine.  That's my fortune tied to the back leg.  According to the fortune, this is supposed to be my luckiest year.

The onsen resort!  Okay, so I lied.  There is just ONE pic of the onsen.. but NOn3kk1d p4un.

Classrooms

Lunch with Sieboldt students.  This is the first time we got to really put our Japanese skills to the test.

Mock-up of a traditional Japanese home at Sieboldt University.  Complete with outdoor garden!

A computer lab at the all-girls' highschool we visited in Nagasaki.

Home-ec class at the girls' high school.  That "scrambled rice" sure sounds good about now. . .

Another interactive classroom.  Eqo.Z was a hit with the schoolgirls. =^_~=  They really seem to like tall American guys over there.

Another classroom we crashed at the girls' high school.

Me and Eqo.Z at a computer lab at Seaboldt University in Nagasaki.  (Appropriate pic when ya know our story!)

Entertainment
 

Outside of the karaoke box with some of the Sieboldt students.

I just LOVE karaoke!  I started off the evening singing Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai.

Singing at the karaoke box in Nagasaki!

More singing.

Selecting a song from the Big Book O' Music.

A score from karaoke with host mom and host sister.  Mariko and I sang Mesaze Pokettomonsutaa and scored 5th place overall!  =^_^= V,,

The Temple of SEGA!  ..and just think--we found THIS in an alley.  The HUGE arcades were a lot bigger!

WEIRDarcade game!  We spotted this at a tiny SEGA arcade in Nagasaki.  It's the same as the claw game we all know, where you guide the claw to pick up a prize... only this one had LIVE PRAWNS.  It's made by SEGA, and it's called "Undersea Catcher" or something like that.  Please excuse my crappy viewfinder.

Shakka de Tambourine.  A tambourine game.  Controllers modelled by Mariko-chan (from my host family) and Aya-chan, her friend.

More arcade machines next to the Shakka de Tambourine machine, including DrumMania and Guitar Freaks 4th Mix.

Dance Maniax, 2nd Mix.  I was all excited about this picture, but then I saw the exact same machine 2 weeks ago in California, so now I don't feel so special.

Then I find this Dog-walking game.  Seems simple enough, but not when you can't read the directions.  My dog lost all his self esteem, and refused to get off the ground, so I lost.
 

I'll be adding new pics all the time!
I do not have pics from the hot springs, so DON'T ASK!
Kattywampus  ryo_oh_ki@planetjurai.com