I know I've said I would be gone for two weeks, but I've found myself a computer here in Japan, and so far, it has been too amazing to keep secret. First of all, I would have to say that the family I am staying with is very nice, and the house I am staying in is very Japanese (and very big too). The weather is nice, although it's a bit humid, however compared to Los Angeles, the air is very (very) clean and refreshing. Coming in from the plain granted me a gorgeous view of green crops beautifully organized. Once I arrived, I got a chance to go to a Japanese summer festival, or まつり, which was truly amazing. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, but I will try my best to describe it. There were these miniature shrines on wheels covered in lanterns with a bunch of people inside singing very classical Japanese songs, and in front of the shrines were a bunch of people dancing a very traditional dance. Once they finished, the people outside the shrine would grab these huge ropes and start pulling the shrine to a different location along the street. Additionally, there were plenty of young men behind pushing it with so much energy yelling something like "Heave Ho!" In any case, it was truly amazing, and definitely worth seeing!