Summer in Japan!!!

Okay, this is blog, take two. As very few of you know, I had a previous blog, lovingly entitled Dr. Jennie, which died a slow (actually rather fast) death. Now that I will hopefully have things to blog about, due to, that's right - summer in Japan!!! - I have started a new blog, with such a clever title! I'm planning to use this to keep y'all updated on what I'm up to, and also to encourage myself to take pictures and write about my time in Yokohama. I'm pretty sure that blogs aren't cool any more, but since I am not very good at email, I'm hoping that this will be a way to keep in touch with people over the summer. I am starting now in order to build some pre-summer momentum (and also because everyone wants to know how I will prepare for summer in Japan!!!) As you can tell, I am super excited.

So I am headed to Yokohama for the summer, a city outside Tokyo.
Here you can see what Yokohama has to offer, which includes the world's largest ferris wheel (which I believe is also a giant clock) and Japan's biggest Chinatown. I'll be in Yokohama from June 20 - August 4. Thus far my planning for summer in Japan!!! has involved the following:

1. Saying Summer in Japan!!!! multiple times with some weird, swishy arm motions
2. Buying a Japan guidebook. Originally, I was thinking lonely planet, but rough guide won out, due to having 7 pages about Yokohama as compared to lonely planet's 5. Clearly Yokohama (which is the second biggest city and the site of Matthew Perry's landing - the Commodore, not the Friend) is not a big tourist destination.
3. Emailing Mr. Daisuke Fukuda of Weekly Mansion Tokyo about getting a room. Summer in Japan!!! is going to be a wee bit expensive. Especially since this room will basically have room for me to turn around and that's about it. I do have a TV, so that is exciting - I'm hoping for lots of wacky game shows. I am also crossing my fingers for a hotplate! Anyway, here is Weekly Mansion Tokyo, Sakuragi-cho Part 1 in Yokohama. Also, pictures of my room. Small.
4. Doing lots of flight searching. As most of you know, I love to plan trips. Love it! I especially love searching for flights. So I've been spending quality time at Orbitz, Sidestep, and occasionally Expedia (though expedia really is the red headed stepchild of this operation). Tickets to Japan are expensive and Israel has already taken all my money. Boo.

That is all the preparations thus far. I have to admit, I am a little scared of Japan. Japanese is a scary scary language. And though in theory, I do speak it, that has done nothing to relieve my anxiety. I keep thinking about how to say the most basic things like "how much is this" and "one coffee please." However, when I emailed Mr. Daisuke Fukuda of Weekly Mansion Tokyo, I wrote in English (which was allowed) but added thank you very much (dōmo arigatō gozaimasu) in Japanese. The email back included a compliment on my mad Japanese skillz. The Japanese love me already!!