The wednesday after Dad left I visited Harajuku, which is a really cool area to hang out. I went with a girl named Barbara who is also in my study abroad program. We went by train after class to explore Harajuku. We shopped around because it has really cool stores with lots of funny merchandise. I got a really funny hat and almost bought some shirts. It was a lot of fun. We saw this weird dude who had a stroller with like 8 sleeping cats in it. He was just hanging out on the sidewalk and it was really intriguing. We also got crepes which are a surprisingly popular food in Japan. I had a crepe with ice cream, brownie, banana, and almonds. It was super delicious and really healthy I am sure.
Cat Stroller Guy (Everything I aspire to be)
Healthy Crepe Lunch for 1
I live in a dorm, but Barbara lives in a homestay which means she lives in the house of a Japanese family. She invited me to come eat dinner with the Japanese family on Friday night. Her host mother then invited me to go ahead and stay the night because they live so far away from my dorm. I accepted the invitation and was excited for Friday night.
On Friday, I went home after class and packed my backpack. Then I met Barbara on her train route home about 45 minutes from my dorm. We took the train the rest of the way to her home town which is in a different prefecture than mine and that took about 45 minutes. She lives about a mile from the station but we elected to walk instead of taking the bus so she could show me the town. We stopped to get a cake for her host family because it is traditional to bring a gift like that if you came to dinner. We also stopped and picked up some movies at the video store.
I was nervous because my Japanese is just ok and I knew I would be communicating almost exclusively in Japanese while I was there. It turns out that Barbara's host mother taught English so she could speak it fluently, but we still only spoke in Japanese. When I got to the house, we removed our shoes and made introductions. I said a traditional phrase that translates roughly to "I'm going to be in your way" which is what you say when you enter someone's house as a guest. We sat down and had some green tea and I talked with Barbara's host mom, Reiko-San. She was extremely nice and she slowed her speech a little so I could understand better. When I didn't completely understand something, she would use gestures and stuff to help me. It turned out Reiko-San's daughter and two grandkids were visiting too and they came home about an hour after Barbara and me. The mother was named Fumiko-San and her kids were Mirei and Kaito who were 9 and 3 years old I think. They currently live in Spain but were visiting Japan to see Reiko-San and her husband Toshi-San. Barbara and I hung out with the kids while Reiko-San started to put dinner together. After a little while, we ate dinner and it was SO GOOD. We had temaki sushi which is hand-rolled sushi. There was a huge platter with tons of different raw fish and egg and seaweed and rice. You make your own sushi rolls using different combinations of the ingredients. It was really fun and seriously delicious.
Temaki Dinner!
After dinner, the kids went to play and Fumiko-San, Reiko-San, Barbara and me had the cake that I brought and some tea. We talked and had a great time. (Remember all of this was in Japanese which was a really cool experience for me). The kids came back and we watched some of a Disney movie in Japanese before the kids went off for baths. Barbara and I went upstairs to hang out and watch movies and then it was my turn to shower. Typically Japanese baths are a super important thing. Proper procedure is you shower first and then you get in the bath when you are all clean. I wasn't going to use the bath though so I just took a quick shower. The kids went to bed so we Barbara and I just watched movies before bed. My room was a traditional Japanese-style room. It had tatami mat floors and the bed is a futon that is on the floor. The futon was surprisingly comfortable though.
The next morning Barbara and I got up bright and early to make breakfast together. After we ate, we went to the park and played soccer with Kaito and Mirei while Fumiko-San got a well-deserved break. Barbara and I split up and walked around the park for a little while and got some really good shaved ice and hung out. Afterwards we all took the train back home. Barbara and I watched some tv while the kids took baths. Then we took our turns in the shower and watched a movie before I headed home. I said goodbye to the host family and thanked them for everything. Reiko-San invited me to a party in a couple weeks at their house which I am excited to go to. Barbara told me later that the family really liked me and respected that I spoke Japanese! I also didn't make any major goofs so all in all it was awesome. It made me feel really good to know that I can get by on just Japanese for a long period of time if needed.
On Sunday I just chilled and did homework. Tuesday I had a Japanese oral exam that I crushed. Wednesday I had a Japanese test and then Barbara and I went to Tokyo Disney Sea Theme Park. It is basically Japan's Disneyland, but designed more for adults. We left school at 12:30 and took a train way out to the park. We got in to the park around 2:00 and immediately we were shocked at how cool everything was. We walked around and explored the park a bit before we headed to the rides.
Disney Sea
They had a mountain that spewed smoke!
Disney Sea
Off to rides!
The first ride we headed to was the Toy Story ride, but its line was super long so we decided to go to the Tower of Terror ride. We waited 45 minutes and then rode it and it was so fun! It is way different than the one in the U.S.
Toy Story Mania
Toy Story Carnival Corral
Tower of Terror
Tower of Terror
Inside the Tower
Moving Glass Window
Our picture after the ride. I'm the guy in the top left corner!
After the Tower of Terror we headed over to a different area of the park. On the way we saw some really cool stuff. Then we went on an underwater ride called 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea which was crazy.
Huge Boat Restaurant
Pirate Ship
View before 20,000 Leagues Ride
View before 20,000 Leagues Ride
Next we headed to the Journey To The Center Of The Earth Ride. After that we went to the Indiana Jones ride followed by a roller coaster called Raging Spirits.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Raging Spirits Ride
Raging Spirits
Raging Spirits Coaster
Then we headed to the Aladdin section of the park. We walked around then rode a cool Magic Carpet Ride.
Magic Carpets Anyone?
Sly looking Camel
We walked around the Mermaid Lagoon section after leaving the Aladdin section. Then we got dinner at a New York style Deli which was fairly out of place in the Japanese theme park. We finished up the day with some ice cream!
Little Mermaid
Mermaid Lagoon
Fun Day!
We got lost on the way home but had fun trying to figure out the right way. I finally got back to the dorm fairly late and did my homework. It was a really fun day and Tokyo Disney Sea is a must-visit in Japan!
On Thursday, I took a field trip to the Cup Noodles Museum with my Japanese Management class. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. We also got to try noodles from around the world!
Cup Noodles Museum
History of all the different types
Modern Art?
Perspective room where I look like a giant
Founder
Cool View of the area
Can you spot me??
HAHAHA
Shenanigans
So many noodles, so little time
Malaysian Ramen
Chinese Ramen
That night I packed for my upcoming two day trip to Nikko. At 1:00 AM, a group of my friends gathered together to watch the USA vs. Germany World Cup match in the dorm living room. We were super rowdy and we watched the whole game before crashing.
After class on Friday, I went with a group of friends to Nikko, Japan. The group was Sharon, Zach, Barbara, and me. We got messed up with the trains so it took awhile to finally get to Nikko. When we got there it was raining super hard. We trekked in the rain to our hostel and dropped off our bags. We then went to a Japanese pub for dinner and hung out there a while. We went back to the hostel (after getting lost for awhile) and met the other guests for the night. They were two English people, one guy and one girl, and one Japanese guy. They were all friends there together. We ended up hanging out with them for most of the night just talking and having a great time. We joked about cultural differences and learned about each others' countries. It was really fun. We went to bed a little early because we had a big day ahead of us Saturday.
Nikko (Idk who that dude is)
Our Hostel Room
Fried Octopus at the Pub
Nikko
On Saturday we got up early and had breakfast before checking out of the hostel. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed to the train station to meet some friends that were joining us for the day, Tyler and Jessie. When we were all together, we got bus passes for the day and piled in to the bus to head to the Toshogu Shinto Shrine. It is the final resting place of Japan's most famous Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The shrine was really cool and very extensive. We saw a lot and even witnessed a traditional ceremony of some kind.
Sharon and Barbara in the rain
Toshogu Shrine
Rainbow and Fog
Little Statue Dude
Entrance to Shrine
Some official Ceremony where I don't think I was supposed to take pics (oops)
5 Story Pagoda
We headed in to town to get out of the pouring rain and snag some lunch. I had Katsudon and Yuba Soba which is fried chicken and egg with rice plus a bowl of soba noodles with tofu skin which is a Nikko specialty.
Lunch
After we were nice and full, we took a bus up a super steep, windy mountain to get to a waterfall. It's the Keigon Waterfall and it was beautiful despite the heavy rain. We walked around the area for a little bit and then also checked out Lake Chuzenji.
Keigon Waterfall
Keigon Waterfall
Akatori Gate
Lake Chuzenji
Lake Chuzenji
By this time, we were freezing and soaking wet from the rain. We went for a break in a cafe and got some really good hot chocolate. We then got on the bus and headed back down the mountain to the train station. At the station we had some Honey flavored ice cream that is popular in Nikko before getting on the train back home. The train ride was over two hours back to Tokyo so we grabbed some much needed shut-eye. Nikko was awesome even though the weather was terrible. We had a really good time exploring and seeing the sights. Plus, it was nice to get out of the city and have some peace and quiet in nature.
As you can see, it was a pretty busy couple of weeks. I did a lot and experienced quite a bit of Japanese culture! This weekend I am climbing to the summit of Mount Fuji with a group of friends! It should be a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I will of course blog about it! I'm a little nervous but I'm sure it will be a fun time. Look forward to that post and as always let me know if you have any other questions!
Miss everyone but I'm only here for about one more month! Lots of love to everyone and go USA in the World Cup! Also go Braves of course!
Sayoonara for now!
-A.J.
No comments:
Post a Comment