I don’t see anything unusual about the senior LRA members in this video. I do see one thing, however:

A clear lack of an education.

The group Invisible Children should refocus its newfound power not on making Kony “famous,” but by providing education and resources to impoverished areas.

Think about it. After Kony is caught, it could start all over again. What if there will be another Kony?

And another?

Education solves problems.

Amazing and mesmerizing video.

The person who made this video, is great.

Subway

After temporarily (and hoping to return abroad soon) returning to the United States, you decide to check out the city. Searching for the subway for a little while, across the street you notice the elegant green-ish (sometimes black) railing leading underground. You see the train lines: Q, A and what not. Not bad, you think. As you proceed down the steps, you picture somewhere in your mind, that you could get an unpleasant surprise just around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

Uh oh.

It doesn’t happen and you continue walking towards the metro. In the more popular stations, you hear somebody playing some nice music and put money into his or her pouch as you walk on by.

Finally, you reach the ticketing machine and take out your Metro card. If you’re lucky, it will work on your first swipe. If not, you have a few more good swipes to go until you can enter. Again, somewhere, some small section of your brain is thinking, “why not just jump over this thing?” but that thought goes away for most people.

You’re in. The train that you want to catch arrives, loud and screechy. As the door opens you try to find a seat. As you look to your left there’s a few open seats next to a spilled bottle of Coca Cola, but to the right there’s an open seat between two scary looking guys. A dilemma.

The entertainment in New York City subways is pretty cool. Sometimes there can be comedians, rappers and what not. Other times there can be a nice show, some breakdancers and even crazy people.

When you arrive at your stop you realize, it’s not so bad. The subway does what it’s supposed to do. The city’s unique multi-cultural setting makes up for it.

Tokyo:

Yamanote Line

As you walk to your nearest train station out of around 882 (Wikipedia) in the Metropolis, you take the time to notice how visually dense everything is, and super clean. You begin to approach the station and suddenly the amount of shops and buildings has magically increased 5 times over. You look to your left and see the ticket purchasing machines, but you don’t need to recharge your Suica card today. You turn right and approach the entrance. Holding your Suica card over the scanner, you hear a beep and the scanner glows blue as it recognizes your card. A few centimeters up a little tortoise screen shows your balance on the card.

You think to yourself (again), “Wow, everytime, EVERYTIME this thing recognizes my card. Even when I have it inside my wallet it still works.” You also remember the time when you used your Japanese phone instead of a card, but decided to go back to just using your Suica.

You follow the signs to the Yamanote line that circles the city and head towards Shinjuku. As you get off the escalator you notice the view from the top of the platform over your part of the city. It’s beautiful. Music plays. The train comes. It looks nice. It feels nice.

As the people start to exit the train new passengers are pushing to get in. Suddenly there’s a rush to get a seat. You turn to your left and a middle-aged women stole the seat you were eyeing. To your right a businessman took it. You just decide to stand and check out the ads playing on the tv.

You hear the chirping of fake birds through the loudspeakers outside. It’s (usually) relaxing. The music plays and some nice sounding voices tell the doors to close. The train continues to its next stop, rarely making screeching sounds. As the train is moving, you appreciate the view of the city outside. You look to the second tv screen to check in how many minutes the train will arrive at your stop.

The monorails are amazing.

It looks like the train will arrive at your stop in exactly 7 minutes. Almost always on time.

In your pocket:

• Wallet with travelers checks, credit card or another form of money
• Some cash in your country’s currency and the host country’s currency is a good idea too
• Password with visa
• Copy of birth certificate
• Something with all of the contact information including your host family, areas rep, exchange program and airline
• Airplane tickets

Carry-on:

• Prescriptions for glasses/contacts and/or medications
• Health insurance card or claim forms
• Change of clothing (incase luggage is lost)
• Entertainment for the flight
• Any other important documents

Luggage:

• At least 2 weeks of basic clothes (socks, undershirts, underwear, bras, etc)
• Host family gifts
• Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, etc)
• A few clothes that you can mix and match such as jeans, pants and shirts
• Sneakers or everyday shoes
• Dress shoes
• Sweater or similar
• Something that you can wear to formal events
• Accessories

This should cover about everything!

Kyoto – An amazing historic city; formally the capital of Japan for many years:
View Larger Map

Osaka- Japan’s (debated) second largest city with over 20 million people:
View Larger Map

Fukuoka – This wonderful city is said to be the “oldest in Japan” because of it’s gateway with China and Korea. It is known for its green spaces along with a great metropolitan setting:
View Larger Map

5. Japanese Toilets

Many toilets have a heated and bacteria resistant seat, a water jet spray (with soap), massage options, air conditioning, lighting in the dark, proximity sensor, automatic lid opening/closing, music to help you relax and some even have systems that will analyze your urine and send the information directly to your doctor via wireless Internet.

Yeah.

The buttons seem a little difficult to navigate though.

So if you ever do try one of these, don’t mess around with the buttons or you might just end up having the toilet do things that toilets should not do.

4. Vending Machines

This is an obvious one; Japan is widely known for vending machines and auto-integration. What you probably didn’t know is that vending machines in Japan carry EVERYTHING. From pants, to eggs to cars (not joking.)

Japan has about 1 vending machine for every 23 people in the country.

Beer and hot food!

3. Crazy Bugs

You think everything in here is going to be nice and cute?

Boo

A number of people die every year from Japanese hornets. Even though they are supposed to be less aggressive than the average hornet, Japanese hornets are much more deadly. Insects in Japan have a reputation for being eerily bigger than in the US or Europe. On the more common side these include cockroaches and spiders.

2. Japanese Cell Phones

Japan has the most competitive cell phone market in the world. One of the most notable features the phones posses is the ability to use them as a debit/credit card or a train pass. Want to buy a drink from a vending machine? Scan your phone. Instead of using an outdated paper metro card like in New York City; in Japan, you just scan your phone and go. Simple as that.

Best selling phones in Japan

HD!

1Ghz Processor.

A cool video:

1. Japanese Trains and Public Transportation

Most people get around by either using a bike, trains or walking. I find this very efficient being born in the US where most people rely on a car every single day. Of course, each option has it’s positives and negatives.

The Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) is one of the best systems in the world.

Shinkansen Network Lines