Okinawa

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.

Asakusa :)

So the Bunkyo Gakuin students gave us a tour to Meiji Jingu Shrine and Asakusa Shrine. Asakusa had a lot of tourists. It was packed! Yet overall it was a very fun trip. What's so cool was that I got to see a 3 weddings take place! The coordinators said we were really lucky. I also got to see a live performance by one little cute monkey at Asakusa! > <  Check out below for pictures and vid!

My lovely tour guide Reiko! <3

Wedding pictures!

It was a  "Seven-Five-Three traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys, held annually on November 15 to celebrate the growth and well-being of young children. As it is not a national holiday, it is generally observed on the nearest weekend." -That's derectly quoted from Wiki. ^ ^ It explained well. So we saw a lot of cute little girls and boys. Except the boys is just for 5 year olds.

This little girl was just too cute. > <

This was how crowded it was. 0.0

My Bento! It was cold though.... :( However, the udon was good .

Haha, this is the Big Lantern at Asakusa! Which is where Backstreet Boys were shooting
for their Bigger mv. ;) Pretty neat eh? Check out their mv. I've also been to the cafe! It was kind of weird though... >. >

Underneath the big Lantern.

A huge sandal at the very end of the entrance where the big lantern was. This is near the Shrine.

This is the Monkey I saw! He's soooo talented.

Tokyo Tower! On Monday Nov 5, 2012

Tokyo is just too awesome! Got the opportunity to go Tokyo Tower for FREE! Yep - Free ;). Thanks to the  Bunkyo Festival in Saitama, I won (sadly only one) free ticket to Tokyo Tower. Yao also got tickets, 2 of them, from random drawing on the same day from Bunkyo's festival but in Tokyo, where we attend class. So the rest of the crew who went to Tokyo tower with us had to pay. :(
Other than that, check the photos below! ^ ^ We were up sooo high! >.<

Tohoku, Minami Sanriku (Shinagawa + Utatsu)

So this past weekend (Oct 27-29th, 2012), I had a great opportunity to go up to Minamisanriku in Tohoku where the Tsunami and Earthquake hit since March 11th of 2011. It was a 7 hours drive up north from Tokyo! However, it was such an amazing experience because the international students from my Japanese School and I got the chance to do some volunteer work as well as talk to victims. One of the victims, she is Filipino and married to a Japanese. Her name is Amelia. It was nice to talk to her and see that she is in such great spirit. It really breaks my heart to know what people have lost, yet they have managed to stay so strong. She told us about the restaurant her husband spent years building and establishing. It's so sad to know such long hard work was washed away in seconds. Their home/restaurant was located right in between two rivers and the sea. And so it had water gushing in all three directions. However, now her husband is trying again to rebuild his restaurant and already has a little business started. Amelia, as a coordinator from the disaster, also said that there were elderly people who just gave up at trying to rebuild their lives. This is a very sad case. Japan is still slowly recovering and we all as well must help encourage them. We also got the opportunity to talk to Junior leaders. These Junior leaders are young people. There was 5 of them and most of them were in their 1st year of high school. It was very assuring to learn that these young folks still want to stay and rebuild their town in the future instead of moving away from such disasters like the tsunami. One of them wants to start a restaurant for his community in the future and hopes to draw in many people. Because of high hopes like this from many youngsters in the Minamisariku area, I really want to visit Japan again to see how much Tohoku Minamisanriku will grow. The last thing we did on our trip was visiting a Buddhist temple. That was an evacuation center for many people when the tsunami hit. Also, the monks help a lot with many anxiety that people go through. Check the photos of the trip down below. ;)

The Junior leaders showing their brainstorming ideas.

Group photo

The Buddhist Temple

Photo with the two monks. (The one in thick glasses is a monk too)

Only the foundations of what's left of the houses in Minamisanriku.
Our job was to dig to the bottom of the side of the foundation so bulldozers can  scoop the dirt more easily

Group photo of the girls after our volunteer work

Ghibli Museum!

I've been sooooo behind in updating my BLOG! There's just so much to do and no time to sit and  blog...what can I say. Well really quick, I got the opportunity to go and visit the Ghibli Museum! AWESOMENESS!!!! I got to touch Hayao Miyazaki's work! And see a model of his work station and such. If you don't know about Miyazaki, he is the creator of Spirited Away, (Google it). You should watch some of his animations. I recommend Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, & Castle in the Sky. There's so much more, but give those a try if you don't know about Miyazaki.
For those who do know about Ghibli, did you guys know, Studio Ghibli was very close to perishing in the past because many people were not drawn into Miyazaki's earlier work? Not until Princess Mononoke came out, which was like, suppose to be his last creation, did it actually received a lot of sales in order for Studio Ghibli to sustain. And then Spirited Away made the big shot and Studio Ghibli survived! Thank goodness because Miyazaki is so creative and unique!
I went to the Ghibli Museum on Monday the 22nd and boy, there were so many people there! (Although my Cool Japan class professor did say there shouldn't be a lot of people because it's a weekday. Imagine if it was a weekend. Whew!) Sadly they don't allow people to take pictures in the Museum so I can't share the wonderful experience I had through photos. Only some :(
 Overall, it was fun. I bought some souvenirs for my sister and nieces and I just know my sister will like it, hopefully. It's the thought that counts! But do check out some photos I was able to capture below!

From Spirited Away!

From Laputa. I got a little boy in my photo. >.<

Laputa

Homestay with the Horie Family

So I'm a little late with updating my stay here in Japan, but I think it's suppose to be good because I've been too distracted with Japan. Well, I had the best Home stay ever! My Host family spoiled me so bad! They bought everything for me, I didn't know what to do. They even went out as to driving me 3hrs just to see the ocean. And, it was my first time at the ocean! I got to touch the ocean water which made me so happy. Unfortunately it wasn't a bright sunny day so we were not able to see the beautiful horizon but I still had a blast. Also, I got to eat the Kurazushi! Watch the video below for details! It's so exciting. Each sushi plate cost 100 yen which is about $1.28. That's actually very cheap for Japan. And it's very good. Plus, for this conveyor belt sushi restaurant, we get prizes! Watch below and for pictures!

Host Family, the brother wasn't around because he's a grad student. Saw him once.

Went to go rent movies for the first night! Such a big place. This was top floor.

My futon! 

Lunch the day after. Mmmm... Curry spaghetti. Host mother's favorite ;) 

My attempt to bake cookies for them with different measurements!

It was a SUCCESS! Whew! Next day they wanted to substitute nuts instead of
chocolate chips, so we did. (These were a little over baked, but still not burnt!)

The living room space. We ate sweets and drank lattes every night. Was so homey :)

Naho Brought her guitar out for me so I could play. I miss playing guitar!

Ku-chan! First night she really liked me. But this second night she didn't and wouldn't
take pictures with me... :(

Dinner! So spoiled. I was fed so well. They made tempura for me!

They drove 3hrs for me! At the ocean. It was so beautiful. I'm glad my
first time at the Ocean was in Japan. This is in Choshi Chiba.

Very good. The squid was actually made from squid ink! Surprising huh?!
I was shocked, it tasted like nothing. I thought it was going to be bitter. Haha!

Jumping pose! Got it Right on the second try!

Naho so cute! I think this might've been her first jumping photo?!

Morning before I leave. Going out for Brunch :). Osewaninarimashita!

NAHO and I.

 Such an awesome family! Had such a great time. It's funny because when I got back, every one was like they had the BEST home stay. Pshhh! I did. Haha. I really did. Felt really at home. I was able to imagine living in Japan and having a life style here. It was tanoshikatta! (FUN)