Japan - Day 211

The countdown to Tokyo begins! Only 17 days until my move to the big city. And how big it is. The Greater Tokyo Area houses more people than *all* of Canada! I'm pretty sure I'll be experiencing some culture shock a second time around. It's going to be a busy end of the month. 17 days till Tokyo means only 14 days until Seoul. (I'll have three days in Seoul followed by two in Tokyo before I actually start working again. Just enough time to get the "lay of the land” or at least the general vicinity between my apartment and my office). I really can't wait until Seoul because I don't have another day off before then :(

I'll be working in the Sangenjaya branch in Tokyo which is only one train stop away from Shibuya Station. (The station gets about 2.5 million passengers a day). Not exactly looking forward to the crowded trains but on the bright side, according to Google Maps, there's a Denny's near my new apartment :) I'll actually be living in Yokohama which is like what Mississauga is to Toronto. It's only about a 20 minute train ride into the city centre and about 15 to my work. Seems like an ideal location. (Hopefully).

Seeing how today was my last day off for a while, we decided to go to the African Safari. It's back in Ajimu, which is actually where we went last Wednesday to visit a waterfall and winery. It took us about 45 minutes by bus to get there from Beppu. It's very similar to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge except that when you take the bus tour through the park you can actually feed the animals! They give you a "bento box" containing raw meat for the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), some tangerines for the giraffes, and some pellets for the elephants, deer, and other random animals in between. Then you get these tong-like things to stick out through the wire caging around the bus. Definitely a way to see the animals up close and personal!

After the tour we visited a kangaroo area where you can go through and actually pet them. That was kinda cool. I was a bit nervous of being kicked though haha. I also go to pet a baby tiger cub. Her name was Akuya ("Aqua") and she was 2 months old - so adorable! And feisty! Apparently they can be pet and handled by visitors until they're 4 months but then they start to get too aggressive. It was so cute watching her run around with the trainer. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "trainer" seeing as how she told us that she didn't need any special schooling or training for her job - so maybe she's more like a tiger-babysitter...? Either way, very cute :)

There's not much else going on here... Aside from the fact that it's finally cooled down enough to move out of the living room and return to my bedroom. I can survive through the night now with just a fan... I never thought this day would come! (After spending something like 8 or 10 weeks camped out in that living room...) Now it's a frigid 34 degrees out. Feels nice!