Alex sent me some picture from Japan!  He's been busy - he went to a museum one day with his host family, and then to a temple, and the ocean.  He's also had activities with the study-abroad group. School starts next week, and his host family seems to be showing him around quite a bit.  The mom and daughters participated in a festival yesterday doing traditional dancing, and Alex went along.  

He seems to be doing well - the language barrier is exhausting him though.  The host mom only speaks a little bit of English, so almost everything is in Japanese, and he said by the end of the day, he's tired!