賀茂川

Today’s adventure included a trip to the city office, an informal tour of Kyoto University, and crossing the Kamo River. The Japanese government requires all aliens who will be in Japan for more than 90 days to register with the local city or ward office. Hiroki, a student from Kyoto University, took Stephanie Cheng and me – we both live in Kita-ku (北区) – to the local ward office. After helping us fill out our alien registration forms, he showed us the Kamo River (賀茂川) and gave us a tour of Kyoto University. (Hiroki informed us that Kyoto University is commonly referred to as Kyodai, a contraction of “Kyoto University” in Japanese, “Kyoto Daigaku”. Similarly, Tokyo University is Todai, from “Tokyo Daigaku”.) Here, Hiroki and Stephanie cross the Kamo River using the path made of large stones, some of which are shaped like giant turtles.