Alex

February 15th, 2017

February 14th, 2017

Somehow, someway, today managed to take the cake for most exhausting thus far. We started out the day by eating our usual breakfast at the hostel, and ventured out at ~8am to Tokyo's Ueno Park. Ueno Park is one of Tokyo's largest, housing a myriad of museums, a zoo, memorials, beautiful parks, and street performers (we saw a marimba duo! It was fantastic!), among other things. I did the site report on our first site, Tokyo National Museum, so read up on it here if you haven't already!

We only entered the first of the museum's 5 buildings, the main one, which focuses on Japan's history. We only got to spend about an hour and a half, which was not nearly enough time to full appreciate each artifact (some of which were only 1,000 years old) nor every artifact in that one building. The building itself was built around ~1880 after the Tokyo National Museum was moved to the then-new Ueno Park, and even in winter it was beautiful - with features like stain-glass, a huge, eastern-styled roof, and a fountain - overlooking one of Ueno's pretty public squares.

I toured (what I believe to be) the southern half of the museum, and saw beautiful and well-preserved calligraphy, incense holders, jars/vases, swords, samurai armor, and traditional Japanese-style drawings. Until this visit, I didn't realize what a profound impact the Indian peninsula had on Japan's culture. I knew Japanese monks had brought back and popularized Buddhism to fuse with Japan's own Shintoism to make Shingon-Buddhism, but you could see very clearly the massive impact it had had on the art. It was also interesting seeing their depictions of Indian gods, for example, with Indian names, clothes, cultural references, et cetera, but also made to look Japanese. I guess it's because the artists had assumed everyone looked the way they did. Very interesting. Before leaving, I got a few things from the museum. It was a little bit of a tourist-trap, but I couldn't help myself. Good gifts, if nothing else.

After talking with my aunt for a while outside of the museum, I gave my site report to the group, having forgotten to give it prior to touring. Abby gave her site report on Ueno Park as a whole as we made our way to quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen - Ueno Toshogu Peony Garden. A winding path featured many different beautiful, colorful blooming flowers, all beneath amigasa, or straw hats, as well as quaint, mossy stones, and traditional Japanese-style music, all with the beautiful Old Kanonaga Tower in the background (it kind of reminded me of the Porcelain Tower!). After finishing the garden walkthrough, I got a couple of small and delicious cakes filled with sweet bean paste, I bought a goshuin, which is a book that is signed in beautiful calligraphy by various ryokans and other places of worship. The actual book itself is beautiful, depicting a temple in shiny stitching, as was the calligraphy art the woman at Poeny’s shop signed. After buying the book and getting it signed, we entered the other part of Poeny, which was a Chinese-style Buddhist temple, painted mostly in red and gold, featuring dragons, patterns, and other beautiful art, all surrounded by orange trees. I cannot believe entry only costs $5. Absolutely worth it.

From Poeny Park, the group trekked back across Ueno Park back to Ueno Station, where we split into groups to get lunch. I went off with Paul and Noah, and we ended up getting soba at a small shop that was as busy with smells as it was commercially - immediately upon walking in, I was presented with the smells of simmering vegetables (especially green onions), butters, meat, soy, and fish, as well as many other unfamiliar smells.

While we ate, I unwisely left my camera, passport, and all of my money on the very edge of our table. Near the end of the meal, I realized my mistake, but also the fact that in Japan, the likelihood of something being stolen is much, much less significant than of that in America, for instance. Indeed, later on in the day, I would see bikes all around not being locked or chained, but instead being left out in the open, only propped up against the walls they leaned on. Although this is something very foreign and strange to me (and has thus taken some getting-used to), I think this is incredibly cool and ideal. I continue to question how this is even possible that a society can be that trusting of one another.

From there, we walked around Ueno’s thin and bustling market street, filled with chatter, flashing lights, and, of course, more foreign aromas. I went up and down it a couple of times, getting more street food, going into an American clothes shop (pretty inaccurate representation, by the way), and seeing other funny items, like world-leader masks (the Trump one was sold out).

As the havoc of Tokyo’s commercial began to feel like to much, we sought to re-explore Ueno Park and its other parts we missed. In looking for the marimba players we had passed earlier in Central Ueno, we spotted a street performer breaking glow-sticks off of his neck and doing other funny tricks. We stuck around a while before finally sitting down on a bench surrounded by cherry-blossoms and eating snacks before heading back to Ueno Station to depart.

From Ueno, we traveled to Tokyo’s Senso-ji Buddhist Temple complex. Paul gave his site report, and we were let loose to explore the festival. I got an (unlucky) fortune, wafted incense over my head and on my heart for good luck, entered a massive, red, and beautiful Buddhist temple, got another goshuin signing, fed koi fish, and got into a couple of (Japanese) conversations at various street shops. I continued to explore the streets of Tokyo with Victor, Alfredo, Max, Jeff, and Noah, criss-crossing in and out of various department, convenience, and tourist-trap stores.

After burning through several hours in what had seemed like no time at all, we headed for our final stop for the day, but also in Tokyo - Tokyo Skytree. Tokyo Skytree is currently the tallest structure in Tokyo, and is a kind of needle, not dissimilar to Seattle’s. We went all the way up in their huge elevator (which played some fun music coordinated along with colorful lights) to make it up to the 360° skydeck. Although the photos I took were noisy and could never do the view justice (street lights at night never seem to work out), I was once again shown the vastness of the Greater Tokyo Area. Tokyo Bay, in clear view, boasted Japan’s economic might as cargo ships poured goods into Japan’s busiest port, the Tokyo Tower shined beautifully (both of the elevator operators I asked said it was their next-favorite building after the Skytree), and the man-made concrete jungle machine hummed along to the ticking of the clock. Somehow, the street-traffic was incredibly minimal. I suppose this is a testament to Tokyo’s world-class transportation system.

Upon arriving back at the Hostel, I forewent everything besides eating a quick dinner, removing my contacts, and brushing my teeth. I fell asleep in my clothes.

(Today's photos coming soon...)

February 13th, 2017

Today, like yesterday, completely drained me of all of my physical and mental energy. I have no more energy now than I did last night, if anything, less. We started our day by having breakfast at our hostel, consisting of miso soup, ramen, scrambled eggs, croquette, and cabbage, which was delicious. We were then told of a slight change of plans - we would go to Tokyo's Ueno Park tomorrow (b/c Tokyo National Museum was closed), and would instead make our way to Harajyuku, one of Tokyo's main commercial centers, known for its fashion scene.

We wasted no time starting our day, immediately making our way around Tokyo via train after breakfast. At the exit of our first site's train stop was a quaint little market, selling everything from cutlery to tea pots, and I bought some pretty chopsticks after joking a little with the saleswoman. We passed by a grocery store about a block away from the train station that was selling roasted and toasted and steamed and cleaned sweet potatoes, and Sensei bought us some. They were delicious and ended up lasting us over an hour.

We talked about two more blocks and found a huge, beautiful park with cherry blossoms and huge trees. I cannot believe a park as well-kept as that was only two blocks away from what is essentially Tokyo's "El." Their lowest-tier city trains have heated seats, are incredibly quiet (the trains themselves, but also nobody really talks on the train), and clean. I walked around the park for about an hour, saw a traditional Japanese-style building, saw highschool students doing some exercises outside, walked through a grove of cherry blossoms, and went to a dog park (where dogs followed Japanese orders I could not understand), among other things. I said good morning to most people I passed, and they'd usually either say it back, thank me, or laugh/smirk at me. I got to pet some cute dogs, too.

From the park, we went to Tokyo's Harajuku, which is one of Tokyo's main shopping centers, primarily for clothes. I roamed around 3 hours with Devenere, Victor, and Paul. We went to several stores, and I got a French/Japanese-style Crab sandwich, which was delicious. We also hung out on a rooftop terrace atop a shopping center, where we ate our lunch. We then went up and down a really thin, pedestrian-only street packed with shops and shoppers.

After rendezvousing with everyone, we went as a group to another really thin, pedestrian-only street that was absolutely packed. There, we saw Van Krey Sensei wearing a light-blue wig, ate street food, and went into a multi-story hyakuen-shya, or dollar store (technically an ~87/88¢ store considering today's current exchange rate). I spent the last 20 minutes at this sight squatting at the side of this street's incredibly busy street to relieve the aching from my back and legs.

After that we made our way to the Tokyo Dome area. We got off of a busy train station about a block away, and walked over to a kind of theme park that was an extension of the Tokyo Dome. From there, we climbed up a tall staircase to get to the base of The Big O, one of Tokyo's ferris wheels. I took a funny photo with Devenere and Victor before we got on, and then boarded the car. There was an iPad that played music and short movies, so we listened as we marveled at Tokyo. When we got out, I bit the bullet and bought the photo, despite it being ~$8. Sorry Dad.

No photo of Tokyo's skyline can do it justice. When you look at Wikipedia's photo of Tokyo, for example, it only shows one area of tall buildings. Unlike Chicago or New York (or any other city I've seen, for that matter), Tokyo has multiple districts/centers that house clusters of skyscrapers. It is this dispersion that allows Tokyo to be the home to ~37 million people and produce a GDP of $1.7 trillion annually (more than any other city and a higher GDP than all but 9 countries including Japan itself). Tokyo is an incredibly well-organized and impressive city. Afterwards, most of my peers boarded a roller-coaster, but being scared of them, I sat that one out. It was fun watching them go, though.

Finally, after going back to eat dinner at Tokyo Youth Hostel, all of us but Drew (who was sick) went to a lights show where they coordinated LEDs on metal, tree-like skeletons and on grass with music to provide for an interesting show. I got to wear my aviators from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, too.

We finally went back, and immediately upon arrival I collapsed on my bed. I was able to submit a Japanese assignment via Google Classroom and start this entry before going to bed, but that was about it.

Here are only a few of today's photos (linked here)!! Take a look!

February 11th/12th, 2017

Today (although technically two days) was just as physically exhausting as it was mentally. The flight lasted ~14 hours, and it was very difficult to get any kind of sleep on the plane - I could only manage about 50 minutes near the end. Immediately after passing through customs, I could feel the discomfort of being in a completely foreign country on the other side of the earth and feeling completely helpless. After I got my fingerprints scanned and profile photo taken by Japanese Customs, we had our dinner at a Japanese 7/11, which is nothing like America's 7/11 chains. I got an Orangina and some onigiri. After a lot of paperwork from customs, currency-exchanging, and getting our shinkansen passes, we took 3 trains from Narita Airport to our accommodations for the next 3 nights, Tokyo Central Youth Hostel. I feel completely exhausted and can barely manage to keep my eyes open. I will write more on both today and tomorrow on tomorrow's blog when I have more energy!

The photos I took today can be viewed here.

Also, although it was completed before today, read my Site Report on the Tokyo National Museum (linked here)!

February 1st, 2017

With our trip fast approaching, I'm finding myself increasingly anxious to depart. The reality that I'm actually going to Japan no longer feels like something so far off. Years of Japanese study are about to be put to the test.

While this trip will present me with innumerable novelties and challenges (both linguistically and socially) while also providing me with kind of intermission from my usual life as of late (ie college applications/essays, financial aid applications, studies), it will also demand everything I've got, all day, everyday.

I think I am probably most nervous to meet my host-family, although navigating a different language halfway across the world will probably prove just as nerve-racking. The fact that I'll be able to acclimate myself to everything ~10 days before meeting my host-family is something I find comforting, though.

I feel so thankful to be a delegate from ETHS to Japan. I look forward to struggling, further developing my Japanese skills, and experiencing Japan throughout this whole experience!