Welcome to my blog.
This blog is mainly for my family & friends to keep track of me while I’m in Japan, but I guess it can also serve as a source of info for those thinking of going on a university exchange. I’m going to be an exchange student in the Waseda SILS 09-10 program.
If you have any more questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll answer! If any fellow Waseda exchangers have a blog and want to swap links, let me know!
Whoops…fell a little behind in the blogging. You can blame exam/assignment time on that one.
So last Saturday my friend and I decided to take more advantage of our Grutto Passes before we run out of time, so we headed to Ueno. We haven’t really been in the area since we went to the Tokyo National Museum so we wanted to check out the area again.
First we headed to the Shitamachi Museum. It’s a small museum with some old school displays and items from Ueno pre-war. The best part had to be the second floor where there were old school toys and stuff to play with. I’m pretty sure we could’ve spent a couple hours there playing.
I failed so hard at this
Less fail here! But it was pretty easy…
I AM WINNAH! HA HA HA!
Afterwards we decided to take a small walk around Ueno (I say small because the park is huge and we only covered a fraction of it)…but not before we endulged in some kaiten sushi and takiyaki.
Saigo statue
Face of Ueno’s Daibutsu – the rest was destroyed during the war
Toshugu Shrine…shortly after I took this photo, we were stopped by a random Japanese man with amazing English who spoke to us for half an hour. He had a lot of interesting things to say. The humanities major in me was writing an essay outline in my head while he was talking to us. The only problem was that it was slowly getting colder and colder as he talked…
After our conversation with the random man, we headed to Ueno Zoo (Hanadan date spot FTW!).
I thought it looked dead, but he’s just sleeping peacefully. Must have had a hard night with them turtle ladies
After the zoo closed up we headed to Setagaya for the last day of some flea/antique market thing. Apparently it’s been around for over 430 years. Hardcore. Lots of cool stuff to buy, but I limited my purchases to food. Yummy yummy food.
Exams & final assignments are quickly approaching. Especially quickly for me since my fiancé will be visiting during exam time and I need to finish everything before then.
Last Tuesday my floor had a kimchi 鍋 (hotpotish) party. Very delish. Also very nice to not be anti-social with everyone on my floor for the first time in a while.
The Waseda International Community Center often does an outreach program where an international student is paired up with a Japanese student, and they teach at a local elementary school. Today I taught grade 4s about Canada at 早稲田実業学校 (Waseda Jitsugyou). I always find the difference between Japanese and Canadian schools fascinating. Like lunch time. Food is provided by the school (although they pay tuition while Canadians don’t), but the students are responsible for putting the dishes together, serving them to each other, and cleaning up afterwards (which includes cleaning the classroom before lunch recess). My partner and I were worried that the kids would be very quiet and shy, but they were so lively and enthusiastic. It was nice. It was especially nice when we took a small break and all the kids rushed at me eager to ask questions about Canada.
Lunch time was really cute. I had a 90 minute break between teaching and lunch time, and when I came back to the class for lunch time I had students run to grab my hand and bring me to a desk they set up for me in their group. So cute. Lunch was pretty delish too. If only Canadian cafeterias would serve food that healthy and not so deep fried.
Sadly, I forgot my camera on my desk in my mad rush to leave my dorm this morning, so I didn’t get any photos at the school (which, by the way, is the nicest elementary school I’ve seen in my life). But I took a photo of the origami presents the students made for me. Hardcore.
Sadly, after teaching I had to go to my dreaded Friday afternoon 3 hour class *gag*. As much as I love Japanese literature, I do not enjoy 3 hours of it on a Friday until 6:00pm. But the view of the sunset from my class was really pretty so I took a pic (along with 5 or so other people in my class).
My friend informed me of a cool Alice in Wonderland exhibit going on at Shiodome / NTV building area. We waited for about 3 hours to get in this thing that took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to go through, but at least it was free!
While we were waiting in line, there was a lucky draw. Sadly, I didn’t win anything. The funniest/most annoying part of it, however, was the two people running the lucky draw. Every time someone drew a slip from the box (which was every person in line), they were like “Wonderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….CHANCE!!!!!” One guy was into it and was like punching the air every time. Japanese people can be so hardcore when it comes to working. It’s pretty funny.
The exhibit itself was pretty nifty, although small. They let people in through the “rabbit hole”. You have to line up in front of this big wooden door, and the doors open into the rabbit hole which takes you into the hall of doors. There were some props from the movie, including costumes, wigs and the table from the Mad Hatter’s tea party. We were so starving by the time we got into the exhibition, we probably would’ve eaten the prop cakes if we could have. I got a nifty idea for a wedding cake though.
Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take photos, but here’s a photo of the free poster I got. Unfortunately, it’s too wide to fit on most parts of my wall unless I move some posters around.
Oh, and there was this funky thing outside the NTV building. I thought it was a part of the Alice exhibit, but I was wrong. No clue what it is, but it looked cool.
After that we headed to Shinjuku MyLord where we found a Korean restaurant called Red Pit. My 4 month long bibimbap craving has finally been fulfilled! I totally planned on taking a photo of my food like I always do, but I was so hungry that I forgot. Totally delicious, and not in the least bit spicy…which is good for a spice wimp like me, but a little disappointing when you’re expecting spice. The spice will just have to wait until Korea!
Happy 2010 everyone!
For New Year’s Eve, some friends and I decided to go to 増上寺 (Zoujouji temple), which is right in front of Tokyo Tower, so it offers a good view. We arrived just before 11pm so it was crazy crowded. We planted ourselves in front of the bell where we could still see the temple itself and Tokyo Tower. Of course, right before midnight, I had the tallest white man in the entire temple grounds stand RIGHT IN FRONT of me. And of course, everytime I moved to the side to see past him, he would move in my way 2 seconds later. But I digress…
I apologize for the fail photos in advance. My camera was dying on me so I had to take photos quickly and then turn my camera off right away. No time to take careful pics.
増上寺 + Tokyo Tower
Bell – This was rung 108 times after midnight. If you got there early enough, you could get a ticket to ring the bell once.
About 5 minutes before midnight, Tokyo Tower turned off all its lights and started sparkling.
And then at midnight it lit up again with 2010!
And then everyone who bought a hope balloon (you attach your wish for the New Year) released them
Sadly, a lot of balloons got stuck in the trees. Well I suppose it was the thought that counted.
After we made our way out of the temple grounds and back to the station, we made our way to 明治神宮 (Meiji Shrine) for hatsumode. It was crowded, but not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. Maybe it’s because we got there well after midnight. I threw my 5 yen coin, made my wishes and got out of there about an hour after we entered. The worst part was trying to get out of the crowd after throwing my coin. I’ve never pushed my way out of a crowd so hard before. Mosh pits had nothing against the faithful at Meiji haha. Unfortunatley, I couldn’t get any decent pictures on account of my camera giving up on me and crapping out. But now I have a new one, so hopefully my new camera can keep up with my Japan adventures!
明けましておめでとう！今年もよろしくお願いします！
Day 6 began with breakfast at McDonald’s (we were tired of our daily Famima breakfast). I opted to try the hot dog. Decent…but nothing special.
The extra meat was from my vegetarian friend’s McMuffin…gotta love eating with a not-too-picky vegetarian!
We finally got to see Shikinaen Garden. It was raining (again), but it was still pretty. And we managed to kill a lot of time because the rain made it really slippery, so we had to take our time walking.
This view was especially special…because you can’t see the ocean from any angle of it hahaha
This tree was a little creepy…part of the root looks like a person crouching down.
Afterwards, we ended up back on Kokusai Doori to do some omiyage shopping and general time killing. I bought some beniimo kit kat. Pretty tasty. Too bad there was no mango or shikwasa kit kat.
We got back on the plane and into Tokyo in a pretty uneventful way…except we seemed to have a really rough landing. Crappy weather, maybe?
When we got back onto the JR Yamanote line to finally get home (and buy food!), we had to stop right before Ebisu station for like 15 minutes. Seems like someone tried to jump or something, but the emergency brake was applied fast enough to stop the train (and make all of us fall forward, yay!). Seriously people, jumping in front of a train is not the way to go.
And now I need to new camera because mine is breaking on me. Lasted me less than a year…but at least it was free when I got it.
My history buff was excited for this day because we went to the Peace War Memorial and the Himeyuri Monument. We still had the rental car, so it was cheaper than bussing it again. Sure, it was a little depressing, but the area was beautiful and it was really interesting. Jess enjoying education, what??
War Memorial Museum…not nearly as nationalistic as Yasukuni (obviously…?)
The way home!
Memorial plaques of people who died during WWII. The flame on the memorial fountain thing wasn’t on, which I found strange. I thought that sort of stuff was supposed to be eternal.
We found yet another beach that was better than Naminoue. No accidental soaking in the waves this time though.
Naha can be a little boring if you’re not at the beach or drinking along Kokusai Doori, not to mention all the tourist traps close around 5pm leaving little else to do. So since my friend’s friend was also staying Okinawa while we were there, we decided to rent a car for a couple of days and get out of Naha. We were already planning on getting out to check out the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, we saved a considerable amount of money renting a car instead of taking the bus…which would have been 3000yen one way, plus food, plus entrance into the park (1800yen).
So we started off at the aquarium, which is the biggest (or second biggest) aquarium in Japan. It was prettttttttty.
Nemo!
They glowwwww
There was a HUGE ASS tank with sting rays and whales.
After the aquarium, we checked out the sea turtle pool, the manatee pool (where found saw some very “excited” manatees) and the dolphin/whale show.
There was also a beach that was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the one in Naha. It was just crazy windy.
We wanted to touch the water with our hands…except we chose to try when a large wave came in…
After the ocean expo park (and eating some “tropical” curry that didn’t seem so tropical), we headed to Pineapple World. It was pretty sweet because there was a special price for their anniversary. 350yen instead of 500yen. There was a car ride that taught you about pineapples (although in Japanese…so we didn’t really understand a lot of it), some shell museum, and then a tasting section! Different pineapple booze, cakes, pies, chocolates, candies, etc…then actual pineapple at the end. I’m pretty sure we ate much more than 350yen worth of samples and pineapples. SOOOOOOOOOO good.
In the pineapple car. The car followed a track without being actually attached to it. It was nifty.
We wanted to check out Fruits Paradise next door, but it was closing and it cost 800yen to get in. Another time I guess.
It was still pretty early, so we decided to check the GPS for interesting-but-open places to go. So we found another beach. Again, much better than Naha…although I’m pretty sure any of the beaches in Okinawa are better than the one in Naha.
Of course, we made our way back to Kokusai Doori for dinner…although I have no idea what I ate…
On day 3 we opted to check out Okinawa World, which houses one of Japan’s biggest caves. I love caves. Caves are awesome. These caves also served as shelter from the shitty-ass pouring rain outside (with exception of the natural drips of a cave).
Thar be bones in them rocks
After the cave we ended up following the path into a fruit garden. It was too tempting to just grab some fruit and run.
I had no idea pineapple grew like this. It’s kind of awesome.
Okinawa is famous for having this liquor that is complete with a habu snake in the jar (not bottle…jar). The stuff ranges in price from $300-$1000+ per jar. There was a brewery at Okinawa World, but it wasn’t in operation that day, so we just took pics of what we could see.
Mostly because of the rain, we ended up just walking through most of the Ryukyu village in the place and didn’t really stop at any of the buildings. We did end up watching a show with some traditional Ryukyu song and dance. It was REALLY awesome. Makes me wish Noh was that exciting.
As with every day…after Okinawa World we ended up back at Kokusai Doori to eat. We had a hankering for tacos/taco rice, so we went to this somewhat famous place called Charlie’s Tacos. They had tuna tacos too, so it was safe for my vegetarian friend to eat there too. I had the “Ladies’ Set”. It was good stuff…and if I can find taco seasoning, I can make the stuff here in Tokyo.
French fries, taco rice, chicken taco (could choose from beef, chicken and tuna), melon soda and beniimo ice cream
After some more wandering around Naha (we were smart this time and got a Yui rail pass, so we made use of it by checking out other monorail stops), we ended up back on Kokusai Doori for some Starbucks and karaoke at Big Echo (first time in Japan…which is really odd considering how much I go in Toronto). Sadly, the gingerbread latte was sold out here too. Next year I guess!
So on day 2, we decided to check out some of the historical sites around Naha starting with Shurijo. Sadly, it was under construction (like most of the places we tend to visit), but it was still really pretty, although it’s pretty much all recreations since the place was destroyed during WWII. Expensive to enter though.
Part of the original castle’s foundation
View of Okinawa from the castle’s observatory deck
After the castle, we went to look for a mausoleum that’s another world heritage site. Definitely NOT worth the 200yen to get in (although if we were smart and got the Yui free pass at the beginning of the day, we would have saved 100yen). It would have been more worth seeing if people were allowed in more than just the courtyard. The mausoleum itself was huge…but we weren’t allowed to see any of it.
Afterwards, we went to look for some famous stone alley. Oddly enough, to get to it you have to walk through…a stone alley.
In the same area was a forest with 6 toog(?) trees. We weren’t sure which trees were the ones we were looking for, but we were getting eaten by mosquitos so we got out of there fast.
We had originally planned on going to Shikinaen Garden, but when we got there it was closed. Waste of 440yen on the bus ToT. Its closing days were Wednesdays, and it was clearly Thursday…but then I just realized the day before was a national holiday…which explained why it was closed. Boourns.
Instead we opted to go to the former Imperial navy underground headquarters. We were planning on heading there after the garden…assuming we had time. I knew we weren’t going to have time, but my friend wanted to try anyway. I guess the garden closure was a bit of a blessing in that sense. The navy headquarters (which we found after getting lost and taking the long way…again) were interesting, but really creepy. You end up going through a room where people committed suicide. There were holes all over the walls from the hand grenades and everything. I took a picture from the top of the stairs entering the tunnel, but I thought it would be too freaky to take pics inside.
When we exited the place, we stopped for a rest and a drink break. There was a security guard there, and he came to me and said something that I couldn’t understand…because it was in Ryukyu-go (old Okinawan language/dialect). I had to tell him I wasn’t Japanese and he was surprised. It was kinda funny. In Tokyo I’m so obviously foreign…but in Okinawa I looked like a local. People there have darker skin, presumably from the tropical weather, so I fit right in. The look of Okinawa in general, and even some of the food, is comparable to the Philippines. It’s pretty cool…but also a little depressing because you can still see how poor Okinawa is and how it is still recovering from the war/occupation. Sorry…my inner history buff came out there.
Onto the next!
I’m pretty sure I screwed up my day count somewhere far back, so I’m just going to stop with the day counting altogether. Ah well. Onto more important things…
Okinawa Trip Day 1!
The weather when we arrived in Naha was BEAUTIFUL. It was 23 degrees and I was sweating everywhere. It was awesome. We started off by trying to find our hostel…but we didn’t know which direction to walk in from the station, so we went to a nearby tourist info centre to find out where to go. The ladies there were really nice, but they had never heard of our hostel. Because they had never heard of it, they were telling us it was probably sketchy and were trying to convince us to book another one. One of the ladies even called the other hostel asking if there was room…despite us not asking her to do so. In the end, they gave us directions, but since we fail at directions it ended up taking us like an hour to find the hostel which was only 7 minutes away from the station. Go figure. At least it was a nice day out.
After checking into our hostel (which did seem pretty ghetto (but clean!)…but we only paid 1000yen for it so we got what we paid for) we went looking for food since we were starving. We made our way to Kokusai Doori and found a nice restaurant with pretty affordable lunch sets. I got a set with a little bit of everything Okinawan:
Taco rice, Okinawa soba, sata andagi (Okinawan donut) and shikwasa juice
We topped off dessert with mango soft cream (mango mango everywhere! but still expensive as hell ToT) and decided to go wandering.
We wanted to find the beach, so we tried following the map that we got from the tourist info centre. On the way to the beach we found a free Chinese garden place, so we stopped to have a look. It was really pretty.
As we approached the beach, the area seemed to become more and more rundown and sketchy looking. We also found another hostel that we were planning on staying at. We’re glad we didn’t stay there because the area was SO sketch.
Random restaurant on the way to the beach
Thanks to our fail-map, we ended up passing OVER the beach without realizing it. We backtracked to try and find the beach, but it was nowhere to be found, so we took a break to rehydrate and rest our feet. Then we noticed a ball being thrown into the air. We were resting about 50 feet away from the beach. Fail, Jess, fail!
To be quite honest…the beach itself was pretty fail looking. It was tiny and the swimming area was covered by a bridge, and the view was covered by some form of construction. I was surprised that there was virtually no one there. You’d think people would flock to Okinawa for the warm weather. Apparently not.
Naminoue beach
We ended up back on Kokusai Doori for dinner (Mos Burger FTW!) and did some more window browsing.
Goya bench!
Palette…fancy(ish) department store at the south end of Kokusai Doori
And then we called it a night.
