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Kiri Baga and Angela Wang aren't all that jazzed about their "hut" situation in Japan. (Lindsey Weber)

By Kiri Baga & Angela Wang, special to icenetwork.com

(09/26/2010) - Junior Grand Prix Japan ladies competitors Kiri Baga and Angela Wang blog from Karuizawa.

Sept. 26
Hey everyone! It's day four of our trip and we have so much to tell you about. Yesterday was the free skate, and we all skated well. Max [Aaron] ended up second, Jason [Brown] was sixth, Angela [Wang] was fourth, and I was second. We're on the way to the rink to watch the free dance right now.

Yesterday, after the competition was over, we went back to the hotel and ate dinner, and then we drove back to our cottage. Max asked the people driving the shuttle/golf cart if he could drive, but they politely declined. Thank goodness!

Careful not to wake the focused dancers, we played with the toilet for like 10 minutes (we wanted to see the "spray" feature in action). After that we played Uno again, and we tepeed ("toilet papered") our team leader's door with crepe paper. It was red, white and blue. She woke up in the morning she loved it! Lindsey is AWESOME.

Anyway, today we woke up early. We went to breakfast and planned on biking into the city immediately. We then went into the city and bought stuff for our friends on two-person bikes! It was so cool. Jason almost killed us both when he was trying to take pictures while we were riding through pedestrian traffic.

Later we'll have a banquet and pack up. Jason's coach Kori is having a dance class for us tonight, too! We're really sad to be leaving Japan; this was an awesome trip. Props to Colin McManus for winning the best roommate award. He's like a ninja, he never wakes anyone up.

Thanks for reading our blog! We hope you liked it.

Kiri and Angela

Sept. 24
Hey everyone!

It's day three of our trip. Sorry we skipped day two; we'll fill you in.

The dancers competed first. Joylyn and Jean-Luc competed well, especially for their first international event. They ended up ninth. Anastasia and Colin also did well, taking fourth.

In the men's, Jason Brown and Max Aaron rocked it out in their shorts, and took first and fourth, respectively. We ran into Max at the hotel after his event, and he told us, "I beat my personal best by two points!"

Anyway, Angela and I also finished off the night with two good shorts. We each had a small issue on our double Axels, but we're very satisfied with second (me) and third (Angela).

We all agree the jet lag is kicking in; the first practice was hard. We couldn't feel our legs.

The team dinner two nights ago was really fun. It was tough to find an affordable place to fit the whole team, so Lindsey ended up bringing food to our cottage. Max owned us at Uno, and the rest of us gave up and quit due to frustration.

The food here is interesting. We're trying things that we've never had before. (Like sushi with raw fish eggs!) We won't point any fingers, but some people don't go for this; they stick to pancakes for breakfast and pasta for dinner.

Jean-Luc is said to look like Justin Bieber. I love Justin Bieber, so this is amazing. However, Angela doesn't share these feelings with me...Max nicknamed him Beaver. He's our team mascot.

To the dismay of their roommates, the ice dancers woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning for their practice. They were up until 10:30 p.m., so they were exhausted.

The cars here have steering wheels on the right side, and they drive on the left side of the road. How weird is that?!

OK! It's time for a team breakfast and the men's and ladies long tonight!

See ya!
Kiri and Angela

Sept. 23
Hi from Karuizawa!

Kiri and Angela here! We are here to inform you of our team's adventures here in Japan. We're going to do our best, but we're not too experienced with this diary stuff!

Everyone had a good draw. Angela drew fourth, and I drew 18. Max Aaron drew third, Jason Brown, 10. Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus go 12, and Joylyn Yang and Jean-Luc Baker drew 11.

The trip here was exhausting! We got in late Wednesday night only to find out we would be sitting on a bus for four more hours, and then sleeping in what the team leader called "huts." Golf carts take you from the hotel to your "hut," which is more like a cottage. It's been pouring rain and we had to hike for ten minutes on a confusing and extremely soggy trail to get breakfast.

The people here are so nice! We've never been so respected in our lives. When we heard that the rink was an Olympic venue, and that it was sold out, Angela and I freaked out, only to find out the rink holds about two people. (We're totally exaggerating but you get the point).

The toilets here are so cool! Yet strange... There's an armrest with a crazy set of buttons. Angela has been the only one brave enough to experiment with these. The heated seat is the only feature the rest of us dare to use.

We caught up with Jason and heard that there's a huge shopping mall right next to our hotel. It's got over 200 stores!

We'll keep you posted on our adventures in Japan. We'll keep soaking up the experience!

Bye for now,
Kiri and Angela