It's 10 days before the trip, and I'm frantically learning new vocab to help me out when we get there. This trip is the ultimate test of the Japanese I've learned so far, and I'm so excited to get to talk to so many different people in this language. I'm still worried, though, about my ability to communicate on a lot of different topics and make a real connection.
We just found out that we are going to Kyoto(due to a scheduling problem) and I'm happy about that. It's too bad that we don't get to go to Nagano, but Kyoto is a beautiful, historical city that will make for an awesome visit. I can't wait!
2/11-12/17: I’m writing this morning from a Tokyo youth hostel. As far as I remember, yesterday was the literally the longest day of my life, because we got to the airport at 9:00 AM, and bedtime was almost 24 hours later, at 10:30 pm Tokyo time. Much of that day was spent on a peaceful 12-hour flight, but when we got to Narita it was exhausted excitement getting food at 711 and navigating the Tokyo train system.
The view from our room at the youth hostel is amazing. Tokyo sprawls for miles, and in the distance is a towering mountain range. As the sun rises over over all of it, I feel that familiar calm that comes among big cities. I’m ready for a great trip.
Emoji of the day: 🌽
Word of the day: 内 (うち): inside.
2/13/17: Today was was normal length, but it felt easily as long as yesterday because of all of the things we did. We woke up at around 6 to have breakfast at our hostel. They’re great cooks, but the most interesting food was a prepackaged fermented bean dish called natto. It was stringy and strange, in the end I liked it. After breakfast we took the subway to a beautiful park in Tokyo called Umega Park, where the plum trees were fragrant and blooming. There was a television crew there filming a show for Nippon TV, and a few people from the trip got on it, speaking japanese in real time! Not me, unfortunately, because I had already shyed away to go walk around other parts of the park. It still made an incredible story.
After the park we went to Harajuku, Tokyo’s biggest fashion and shopping district. There was lots to see there, and afterwards we headed to a ferris wheel called “The Big O”. There was a huge roller coaster nearby, and we pushed Mr. VanKrey into letting us ride. It was phenomenal, as good as any American coaster I’ve ever been on.
After going back to the hostel for dinner, we finished the day with a trip to a light show. It was a serene end to an exciting day.
Emoji of the day: 🚆
Word of the day: 会社(かいしゃ): Company
2/14/17: Another day in Tokyo. First we went to Tokyo National Museum at Ueno Park. At the Museum there were many masterpieces of Japanese art, including one piece that caught my eye, an amazing bowl by potter Makuzu Kozan. It is a traditional bowl with two unsettling crabs attached, part of an exhibition showing western influenced Japanese art.
After the museum, we walked to nearby Toshugo Shrine, visiting the shrine itself and the Peony garden attached to it. The were both beautiful and serene. At the temple, I bought a notebook to collect goshuin, which are special calligraphy designs unique to each temple or shrine.
We had lunch by ourselves in Ueno, and then headed to the Senso-ji temple, which I did my site report on. After that we headed back to the hostel for dinner and a break, and went to the Tokyo Skytree, a giant tower that is the tallest structure in Japan. That viewpoint let me see for the first time just how big Tokyo is, stretching out for miles at any angle of uninterrupted urban sprawl.
2/18/17: Sorry I haven’t blogged for a few days. Today was a day trip out from Kyoto, and we went to two historic villages, Shirakawa-go, and Gokayama. Both are famous for their thatched roof houses that take hundreds of people to build. They are great. We took a long, intense bus ride to get there. That was cool too.
Emoji of the day:🏠
Word of the day: 観光(かんこう): sightseeing
2/19/17: We spent the day visiting various sites in Mr. Van Krey's favorite place in the world, the wonderful Kyoto. We went to: first, To-ji temple; second, Kitano Tenmangu Shrine; third, Nijo Jinya+ Nijo Castle; and last, Fushimi Inari Taisha. It was a packed day, full of great sights and great history. By the end of it, I was pretty close to having a new favorite place of my own.
emoji of the day:⛩️
word of the day: 鳥居(とりい): Shinto shrine gate