Tokyo, my Second Favorite City in the World

Alright, as I'm sure you've already noticed this post is going to be all about Tokyo. First of all let me tell you my initial reaction: I loved it. It is undoubtedly my number two city in the world, the first being Boston due to natural biases haha. Truthfully though, I had an amazing time with my friend and family, and I would do anything and everything in my power to relive last week again :-). Now that that's out of the way we can get on to what I did in Tokyo. Oh, and from here on in, I'll show a picture of the part of the city I'll be writing about in the paragraph below, enjoy!

I took the night bus (from 10 pm, to 630 am) to Tokyo on the 14th which may have been the most detestable travel experience I have ever had to deal with. Running on little sleep, my friend Greg and I explored all of Akihabara, which is best known as Tokyo's electric town. Filled with electronic goods, arcades, and action figures from wall to wall, we had a blast getting our geek on. Although I do not play games as often as I used to when I was younger, seeing arcades really thriving was a lot of fun. It made me nostalgic for playing the X-men game in the old arcades, you all remember that right?

Next was Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. These places are all well known for their fashion, so my friend and I had a good time checking things out. We both intended to pick up some cool Japanese clothes, but the clothing tends to be a little on the weird side. The shirts have way too much english on them, most of which doesnt make sense. Moreover, since we're in Japan, which is known for its skinny population, our American bodies were having trouble fitting into the pants haha, even though we've both dropped some pounds since we've been here. However, there was also some historical sightseeing to be done I went to the Meiji Shrine, which is one of the most famous shrines in Japan. It was huge and was really serene, I had another one of those moments where I forgot I was even in a city for a brief time. I went there twice, once with my friend and once with my family, check out the pictures above of Shibuya and my parents and I (a particularly good looking family if I do say so myself) right inside the shrine. On the second time in Harajuku we were lucky enough to see some infamous Harajuku girls who dress up in crazy costumes and hang out. I got an awesome picture with my Dad, but it's on his camera, so that will have to wait until next time!


Next up was Ginza to meet up with my family. Boy, you do not realize how much you miss someone until you see them for the first time in a while. Granted it had only been two months, but this is the farthest I've been from my little house in Walpole and it can be semi-intimidating. Plus, I think I mentioned this last time, but is there anything better than a welcoming hug from Mom and Dad? I think not. Oh yeah, it was nice to see Jeffrey too who gave up his spring break to come chill in Japan :-P. As for Ginza, it was more of a Western fashion disctrict, with a ton of really high class stuff. I had heard Tokyo was wicked expensive, but seeing some prices were some jaw dropping moments. Above check out one of Ginza's busiest streets, and then a photo of Jeff and I having a good time at one of the local restaraunts we went to. Good looking pair of bros if I've ever seen one. Unfortunately, this post has already gone on way too long, so I'm going to have to finish my Tokyo travels another time. I still have to report on the Tokyo Tower (the first picture above), the Tsukiji fish market, the Kabuki theater, and the food, so stay tuned.

One last thing, no picture of the week this time, but today I went to the Sumo tournament going on in Osaka, and it was wicked cool. Seeing big fellas running straight into each other really is a sight to see, and I wish I had more time to go see them in action. However, I'm in midterms now, so enjoy the video of Sumo below that I took today, let me know your thoughts, and I'll be back to finish my Tokyo travels soon!

More Thoughts

Sorry to report, but not a whole heck of a lot happened this weekend. My Kobe trip got canceled due to rain so I ended up just enjoying a weekend around Hirakata. Nothing major happened, did some karaoke action, went to a birthday party for a friend, picked up a kimono, all that fun stuff. It was actually really nice to relax for a weekend. That being said, I can't wait for Tokyo this weekend! I'm heading up with a friend for the first few days, and the meeting my family on Tuesday. I'm really excited to see them all, especially since it's been kind of difficult to keep in touch with the time difference. Moreover, this is probably the longest I've gone without seeing them all, so it will be great to finally see them. Plus, who doesn't love a hug from their parents? I also get to act as translator while they are here, and I love doing that, it's a great way to practice my Japanese.

So anyway I just wanted to comment quickly on comparing abroad experiences. A lot of my friends are in Europe and tell me about their experience often. Basically, it's the polar opposite of Japan: No rules, lots of traditional architecture, etc. Something I also noticed was in looking at photos, all my friends in Europe look really old, or more adult-like. Now I don't mean to be insulting in any way, shape or form, but I really feel like that would bog down my experience. Although there are moments in Japan where it feels like I'm living through High School 2.0, there is something so wonderfully innocent about Japan. For everyone who knows me, I'm basically a 12 year old trapped in a 21 year old's body, so I really enjoy this playful culture I live in. Granted, it is also very serious with school and work for the Japanese people, but there is definitely an overarching theme of innocence or at least a facade of some sort. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I wouldn't trade my time here for anything else in the world :-). I implore you to consider coming to Japan, there is just too much to love here.

Ok so with the trip to Tokyo coming up, it looks like I will not be back to post for a little while, unless I get a hold of a computer sometime in Tokyo. Hopefully I'll have some great stories for you all. To bide your time, go buy the new CD "Love vs. Money" by The-Dream. If you like R&B music, you'll love it. Ja matta

Daily Life in Japan

Well, I figure since I update constantly about the places I've gone to or what I've been doing for fun, I figured I'd take a second to reflect on what a typical weekday is like here in Japan. Basically, I wake up every day around 9 a.m. to get ready for the day. I then go on a 20 minute walk to school for Spoken Japanese class. I love this class. Not only is it a good clash to refresh my memory on older grammar patterns, but I'm learning brand new things in it too. Moreover, there has been a myriad of vocab I've already learned, most of which are great for everyday situations. I also love my classmates, but I feel like in most Japanese classes I've taken, I've had a lot of fun with my classmates. Next is Japanese Reading and Writing. While I find this a bit less entertaining than Spoken Japanese, the readings have been very useful as well. For example, last week we read a sample email a foreigner would send to a Japanese company requesting a meeting or interview. Then I usually get lunch at the cafeteria or a nearby restaurant with friends, and then prepare for my afternoon lecture. My film class has been pretty decent so far. The movies have been great, but the discussions are a bit lacking in comparison to Tufts. The same goes for my Popular Culture class. That being said, my culture Professor is pretty intelligent, so I enjoy his lectures. Then I head home or to the gym, grab some dinner, hang out with friends, and do some homework. All in all, a pretty simplistic schedule, but I'm really enjoying meeting and getting to know all the people here.

As for the Japanese people, there are moments where I've noticed some interesting things. There is obviously sometimes a little bit of indifference or distaste toward the foreigners from the older generation (represented by the word gaijin/foreigner), but I really haven't encountered too many issues with it. Once I begin conversing in Japanese, all sense of being a clueless foreigner is forgotten, and I feel like the Japanese accept me a little more for learning their language. The Japanese students are amazing too. Most of them are fairly quiet at first, but as long as you are willing to put yourself out there and say hello, they love it. They love meeting the study abroad student and hearing where they come from, and I love hearing more about their culture, especially what large differences there are between Japan and America.

So what does this all mean to me exactly? Well here it is: basically, I could see myself living in Japan in the future. There are so many amazing and interesting things in this country that I'm still yet to see or even comprehend. I feel like even though I've only been here for a month, I could really become a part of this culture. Whatever aspirations I may have had about working abroad sometime in the future have been solidified by my experience here to this point. I almost feel bad in a way that I'm enjoying this experience so much that I feel like I will need to be back her sometime in the future (and no, there's no girl involved, so don't get any ideas). You can do research, take classes, read books, watch documentaries, but until you have fully thrown yourself into a culture that isn't your own, you'll never fully understand it. I love the fact that I get to be a student both inside and outside of the classroom, my only regret is that I haven't been here before now.

That's it for my life chat, I hope you all enjoyed per usual \^o^/. As always, I love hearing from you all, so feel free to give me some news. As for future plans, I may be going to Kobe on Sunday, so that should be interesting. Next week is the week before spring break, so it should be a little hectic, but nothing too serious since classes have been so sweet up to this point. Then I'm heading to Tokyo for spring break, which will be insane. Plenty to look forward to if you're enjoying my blog! BTW, the picture right above is called Purikura, basically it's like hopping in a photobooth, but you add all the extra stuff in the background and such after taking the pictures. Sounds weird or boring right, but it's actually a lot of fun. Until next time!

P.S. T-sull, what's going on kid? Of course I heard about Vrabel and Cassel, I check the sports section all the time online. I like the trade, Cassel needed to go and although I love Vrabel, he is getting older. Now they have a bunch of picks, hopefully it'll pan out. What'd you think of the B's deal?

Nara

Hey all,

Hope all is well back home. This past week was pretty fun, as usual in Japan. Classes went extremely well, had my first tests and no issues with any of them. Spring break is only a week away, which makes it all the more crazy to think how fast my time here is going. This past weekend I traveled to the ancient capital of Nara. In it was the Todaiji temple (which you see above), heralded as the largest wooden building in the world. It also housed the daibutsu, a giant statue of the Buddha. It was a pretty breathtaking experience, check out all of the photos below!
The best part about the trip is that it wasn't purely sightseeing. While we were in the park that housed the temples and pagodas, we were accompanied by a ton of deer. The deer were not only friendly, but they actually would go up to you if you offered them food. Sometimes they bit, but they do not have sharp enough teeth to really hurt you. It was really cool to hang out with deer, considered I've never had the chance to play around with them in America. Check out some of these really cool photos below!


Hope you all enjoyed the photos, I think I'm going to make this a shorter one. I spent the weekend nights hanging out with friends in the city of Osaka. Otherwise, all you need to know is that Japan is treating me really well. The food is excellent (although I'd give up my left arm for a slice of gross, American pizza), the people are nice once you get to know them, and I don't think I've ever had an experience as interesting as this one. I am really enjoying using Japanese in day-to-day conversation. I think my Japanese is improving rapidly, although I'm using this semester to brush up on my skills grammar wise, I feel as if my Kanji recognition and speaking speed has increased significantly. Now most of my Japanese friends prefer to speak to me in Japanese instead of English. I just love using a different language to communicate, it really solidifies all the work I've done. Anyway, I'll leave you all for now, I hope the snow isn't too crazy back home, and for goodness sake, can someone tell me why the Bruins can't beat the Capitals? I may be the only hockey fan in all of Japan, but I'm still keeping tabs on all my teams back east. Ja Matta Minnasan!