Big....buckin....exchange student.

[Taunto]

As some of you know I spent a year in Japan as a foreign exchange student in High School. Some of you may not, but hey now you do. I was posting these on another forum and figured I'd show you guys as well since I haven't really shown anyone these pictures since I got back 3 years ago.

It flooded the day I was going to leave for my Osaka/Kyoto trip . My shoes were muddy as fuck by the time I got on the bullet train. Fukuoka to Osaka is one of the more enjoyable shinkansen trips you can take, in my opinion.



Yes, those are fish in the gutter. Oh, rainy season, what won't you do?



Me in Kyoto's newest train station. It was fucking huge and pretty much brand new when I went there. It had everything





Osaka downtown. I fucking love this city.




The Christmas tree at Tokyo Disneyland



Generic exchange student's desk_001



Mount Aso volcano tour!



Chinese New Year celebration in Nagasaki.



Kyushu Kendo Tournament. My school's team placed high enough to go to nationals, unfortunately I didn't get the chance to go with them.



My kendo club friends were probably the best friends I made while I was there. Here they are after a nice brisk 3 1/2 hour practice with no water breaks:





Them in class:



Lastly, the most depressing picture I've ever taken or ever will. I have been tempted to delete this many a time because it depresses the hell out of me whenever I look at it. My flight was delayed overnight in Osaka while I was going home on the day my visa expired. I got an extra night in Japan and overstayed my visa by a day which was a godsent so I went out and took a walk around town and had a few drinks. I took this picture on the way back to my hotel and it's pretty much the last thing I really took in from Japan since I was sort of a hollow shell during the flight home.



So there you have it. The best year of my life in a nutshell.

[Aangellica]

Nice pictures. I've always wanted to visit overseas!

[Memzin]

Thanks for sharing the pictures Taunto they're pretty awesome..

And looking at Osaka you can see how interesting and exciting it looks .. while in the US we have to be so careful not to do anything daring for fear of a lawsuit if anyone might get injured because something is different .. We look stodgy by comparison .. except maybe for Las Vegas .. flashy and sassy ..

Caz/Mem

[Walkingeagle]

Great pics, Looked like great friends and a Great time. I know what you mean and how you feel when you want to burn that last pic.. Been thier many times with many pics of places I love and will never see or be the same again. But most important thing is to keep all the good time pics in your head and forget the bad.