I am currently in Bunkyo Tokyo Japan right now at Bunkyo Gakuin University. This study abroad program will be about 4 months long. This is my first blog ever so we'll see how it goes. I will try to at least do an update once a week for my time here in Japan. I promise no long blogs so bare with me! >.< Oh and there probably might be short videos here and there!
So the third day was given to us to do whatever we wanted. So, some of us made our way to Kyoto Studio Park where old time movies and Samurai were. And the cool part was, that they actually have shootings! Which was awesome to see it live! And then we also wanted to go to Osaka which was near Kyoto, about an hour away by train. Osaka is famous for its kanai food. I'm so glad I went because I got the chance to learn that they speak a little different from the average Tokyo resident.
A set they were shooting. They wouldn't let us take pictures, but, I got one anyway. ^ ^
And we weren't allow to talk.
A woman who let us take picture with her.
His make up is sooo cool! And he has an awesome voice. He could laugh. The evil villain.
There was a small anime place there too. Haha
My drawing on the left. This was a stencil.
Who remembers these? DoReMi? Always watched it on Saturday morning show.
OSAKA!
They have lots of Host clubs -.^. Very dangerous though because they are bad boys according to Miki.
On the second day, we were scheduled to visit 3 temples. First temple was Kiyomizu temple. Second one was Ginkakuju (silver) temple and then third Kinkakuju temple. The last place we went to was Nizaemon no yu, a bath house.
I forgot to take a picture of our room the day before. This is
where we slept. Yao and Pisenny were my roomies.
Kiyomizu Temple:
Ticket
Our tour guide was awesome! He was so cool. He even
brought and MADE small models of the pagodas and explained them to us.
I learned quite a lot about Japan that I did not know of after this trip.
That big tower is where our hotel is at!
Ginkakuji Temple:
Kinkakuji Temple
This is a bonzai pine tree!
Nizaemon no yu (a bath house)
Of course, no pictures. But I would have to say, it was an interesting experience for me because it was my first time. As an American, it was a big shocker for me and I thought I would not be able to enter the hot springs because it does require you to take ALL your clothes off. But because I am in Japan for the experience, why not right? Most, and I mean it, hot springs/bath houses are separated base on gender. So no worries! One major thing I did learn from this is that it is a beautiful part of the Japanese culture. In every day life, the Japanese seem to be very modest, shy and reserve about things they do. That's why I'm glad they have something like onsen (hot spring) where they don't need to worry about how their body looks. And there you'll find very young to elderly people if you ever go. It may feel weird at first, but once you're in there, stripped down, it is a very normal thing and it will feel so natural (well, at least for me).
The typical rules for taking a bath/entering hot spring in Japan. (Info taken from www.atamiseaside.com/en/pages/hotspring.html)
Taking the bath in Japanese style is simple! Bring with you the small towel and bath towel that will be provided in the guest room. Undress in the dressing room and place your clothes in the basket/shelf provided. Then enter the bathing area with the small towel.
You are only to go inside the bath tub after you washed your body first (using the small towel) in the washing/shower area next to the bathing tubs. Since people rinse their bodies in hot spring tubs, washing beforehand using shower and soap helps keep the water in the bath tub clean. The rinsing and washing of your body with hot water also acclimatizes you to the actual temperature of the bath tubs. Also, do not jump into the water like diving into a swimming pool.
Please do not put the small towel into the bath tub water. The towel is mainly for washing your body. Most people place the towel on their head. And remember not to use any soap or shampoo or other skin cleansers in the bath tubs.
So right after our graduation, there was a final trip at the end of the Study Abroad. Thanks to Kate, she set all this up and were even able to save money. So we got money back from the program! Well we left on the 15th of Saturday morning. This trip was bound for Kyoto and Hiroshima, a 4 nights 5 days trip. Between, we got the chance to visit other near by places like Osaka and Nara. Overall it was a wonderful experience although none of the BGU students were there.
DAY 1: 12/15/12
Kyoto -
Going to Kyoto is suppose to take 8 hours by bus. My group took the shinkasen instead which was about 2 hours. For those who don't know, the shinkasen is a bullet train. It's as fast as an airplane. I think an airplane is faster though. We rode on the Nozomi Shinkasen. Below is a clip of it. Phong got in trouble for crossing the yellow line. LOL.
Our hotel (above) was called Kyoto Tower Hotel. I think its the tallest building structure in Kyoto. They weren't really allowed to build extremely tall buildings.
When we got to out hotel, we had a whole free day to do whatever we wanted to. So, Kia, Pisenny, Song, Yao, Maya and I went to NARA! It was about an hour away from Kyoto by train. Nara has a lot of temples as well as deers. Wile ones too! It was such an interesting experience because I was so afraid it might attack. As you watch the video below, you can tell those deers are friendly and it must be a normal thing for them because they are literally, standing in the middle of the sidewalk. They're waiting for someone to feed them. Explains right?
On the train ride to Nara, Maya fell asleep on me. >.<
Kia, Pisenny, Song in the Yellow way over there, Maya
They had a community gathering for an even I don't even know. But we for to try this delicious soup.
Me and Yao
NHK was shooting this event too. Heehe, I suggested that we should throw our trash away and walk behind the girl who was being filmed. We did and so we're on TV!
Haha, I zoomed in to show you guys proof!
So for the rest of Nara, we just visited more temples and fed deers. They were so cute!
I have only a couple of more days left in Japan. It has been such a great journey. I received my Bunkyo Gakuin University Multi-Lateral Exchange Program Diploma just yesterday. It's so sad because part of me does not want to leave Japan, yet I know there's so much more for me to learn outside of Japan. Realizing that if I never come back to Japan, I will not be able to see any of the BGU friends I have made here ever again! That made me cry and I didn't think I would. Someone who has given you so much care, to leave them with a possibility of never being able to see them again is a very sad thing! They have been so kind and really gave my Study Abroad group and I the utmost care and sincerity. I believe all of us will always remember them for their awesomeness.
President Nobuo Kawabe. Such a funny guy.
Special thanks to this guy! Tatsuya Ogiue. He has been there for every one of us in this Student Exchange Program. None of us can disagree with that. (He will be my representative for the BGU guys here >.<)
Special thanks to Kana Shimada too! Love this girl. She has also been one of the biggest helper to all of us. Specifically for me, Kana helped me with going to her dentist and taking care of my wisdom teeth since I got the bottom two taken out. I know, I never mentioned it on my blog. (Kana will be the representative of the gals because they've all have been so great. >.<)
I also want to thank Jeff and Kate (Jeff's wife). Both of them has done a great job planning and taking care of us -.^. I think because of their flexibility with us, we were able to have just as much fun as we did. We even saved money from the trip, lots! They're the core of this trip. ;)
I'm going to have to apologize for this late update. So I went to Okinawa on the 11th of Nov until the 13th. It was a 3 days 2 nights travel. It was sooo beautiful. And I don't mean the just scenery. I meant the culture.
So there were some complications with this trip. We initially wanted to visit Okinawa on the 16th-19th. But because our President from SJU wanted to visit us, the four (Kia, Song, Pisenny and I) from the 12 of us kindly changed our flight to the week before because we were scheduled to visit NHK of that weekend anyways. Thus our tickets came to a total of $400 round trip including changing flight fee. It originally was $140... :(
So I booked a room for the four of us on Expedia which came to a total of $160 for two nights between the four of us. It was a guest house. We chose to stay in a traditional Tatami style room. At first when we arrived, we were a bit intimidated because of the shadiness to the place. However, it was awesome once we got to meet the housekeeper. His name is Matsuyama. He was originally from Sapporo, Hokkaido. Fun guy. We stayed right on Kokusai dori. It is known for self owned business tours attraction spot. Very convenient. So check out the pictures below as I describe this lovely relaxing journey.
Because our flight was scheduled to depart from Narita Airport at 6am, we needed to be at the airport before then. It takes more than an hour to get to Narita from Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. And trains only run at 5am at the earliest. We were in deep sh**. So we decided to just camp at the airport and this is where the security put us! A-ZONE! It is amazing how helpful the officers here in Japan are. They were so nice too. But I figured they were probably bored from their over night shift. >.<
Our gate to the plane. Air Asia!
I always love looking out the window. Song had the window seat though. -.-
When we got to Okinawa, Yuri, a CSB graduate, came to pick us up at the airport! Throughout this trip, we are so thankful for her. But right away, I wanted to eat, so Yuri took us to eat soba! One of the sensei from the 2nd level Japanese class told Song, Kia, Pisenny that they must try Orion beer because it is only sold in Okinawa. Soooo, we got a bottle and Song and I tried it. It was so good!
My bowl of SOKI SOBA. A MUST TRY food in Okinawa. You will not be able to find
this is Tokyo. At least not this kind of meat. Usually Tokyo only have bacon. But this is something else.
<---The Americanized part of Okinawa...
After eating we went to Ryukyu Mura. This is a tour attraction. The name Ryukyu Mura was what Okinawa was called before the WWII. Here we got to see lots of traditional arts performed and even got to dance with the performers! So fun and interesting. I even got a snake wrapped around my neck! As well as ate snake powder and drank Snake sake! So much exploring in one day. Loved it though.
<--The map of Ryukyu Mura
Picture with a performer. She's so pretty!
The performances. Listen to the unique music. Loved it. I think this is what makes Okinawa unique.
The performing crew.
The Snake show!
Got a snake wrapped around my neck! The man said that since next year will be snake year, I will have lots of luck. :) Tasted the snake sake and powder. (The powder tastes a bit like fried pork skin ;) )
We also went to the Peace Memorial Museum. The cliff here is where many Okinawans committed suicide when the US won WWII. Called Battle of Okinawa, it was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II.
A little background from wiki:
Mass suicides
With the impending victory of American troops, civilians often committed mass suicide, urged on by the Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.[36] Some of the civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to believe that U.S. soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture. Some of them threw themselves and their family members from the cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides.
Our lovely tour guides as well as former Bennies! Yuri and Shizuka!
The Cliff where many committed suicide.
Right before we were about to leave, this man called us over and started
showing us magic tricks! It was so cool and adorable. We found out that he is a
veteran who owns and been running a clinic for 30 years now. I believe we was a doctor
in the war. He showed us his card. At first I thought he was trying to scam us... lol. He also played the flute for us.
It was a very warming opportunity to be able to meet him.
Oh and can you guess what his hobby was? ;)
We ate lunch at the beach. Sea grapes! Must try.
At Shurijo Castle!
Stopped for tea! Was only 300 Yen. ^ ^
The view from Shurijo Castle. We meant to watch the sunset but
missed it because we got carried away with trying to stamp our pamphlets. :(
At Monzomon Cliff! Tours attraction spot. It was so beautiful. The color of the sea a deep rich blue even on a cloudy day like this. This is located way up north of Okinawa. Thanks to Yuri we could visit this place as well as Churaumi aquarium and Kourijima (an island connected by bridge) further down.
The bridge to Kourijima
We found a dead blow fish (I think)
From Kourijima island view
BISE Tree ROAD! Full of beautiful trees!
Riding bike along side the sea as well.
Cafe we chose to dine in by the ocean side. This is their back door. We couldn't find
the entrance so we just crossed over the chain gate. ^ ^
Also ate lunch beside the ocean again! If you go to OKINAWA,
try their soba! SO GOOD!
Cafe name.
Here we can see Shizika's HOMETOWN!
TICKET FOR CHARAUMI AQUARIUM!
Charaumi! Behind us is the WhaleShark! Endangered specie!
When we came back, it took about 2hours getting back to Naha airport from North Okinawa. By the time we got there, we had to do late check in so it costed us 1000yen each for late check-in fee :(
But as long as we got on the flight right? Anyhow, when we left, I realized I left my high school soccer sweater on the Airasia terminal BUS! I freaked out and even cried a little. LUCKILY, Yuri was going to come to Tokyo anyway 2 weeks after our trip. So she picked up my sweater in the lost and found and I am once again reunited with my sweater. Thank goodness it has my name on the back of it. So much memories with that sweater because it's much more than just a normal sweater. Anyone who plays a team sport knows ;)
Overall, this trip has been the most awesome trip because it didn't run on a planned organized tight schedule. Loved how we were able to stop for tea at Shurijo Castle and just admire the castle and garden. I saw many people who were with a tour group and they looked so sad having to pass up the tea shop. Many of the trips planned for my Study Abroad group feels like that. That we couldn't get anytime to look around because our trips were always so packed with activities. We couldn't have time to appreciate the existence of the attraction. So when we left, I was very sad. I want to bring my parents here for a vacation. I think they'll love it. Thought of them the every time I was at the ocean shore.
