Fall Break

Hello there,

Wow, I am very long overdue for a blog entry! Tomorrow is a day off from school though, so I should have time to throw something together (I hope…)

For now, I’m just going to post some of the pictures that I took over break along with a brief summary of what I did, and hopefully I’ll be able to fill in more later.

Friday, Oct 21: After my midterm (eeh!) I killed time at school by finishing up all the homework that I was supposed to have over break (yes, I’m a nerd). Then, at 6:00 PM, I went to see演劇集団Q’s latest production—a play called 瞼の女 (The Eyelid’s Woman?). The title is a good indication of what kind of play it was. Basically, it was completely insane and I loved it. After the play ended, I headed over to Trisha’s apartment and then the two of us went to Kyoto Eki to take the night bus to Tokyo.

Saturday, Oct 22: (Or, Friday, cont.) Since I didn’t sleep very well on the bus, I arrived rather drowsy at Tokyo Eki at 7:30 AM on Saturday. Trisha and I quickly discovered that there isn’t much to do at Tokyo Station at 7:30 AM, so we headed off to Shibuya to get breakfast and go exploring. We met up with Trisha’s friend Sayaka, and shortly after, with my host sister from the last time I was in Japan, Nana. It was great to see her again and we ended up spending the entire day together. We spent most of the day wandering Harajuku (I got a churro!) and then in the evening walked from Tokyo Eki to Tokyo Tower (not recommended—it’s a long walk) and got dinner inside the Tower. Trisha and I then stayed in a capsule hotel for the night.

My capsule bed.

 

Sunday, Oct 23: The remainder of our travel group arrived in waved on Sunday, beginning with Hillary and Calvin stumbling into Tokyo Eki at 6:30 AM after their night bus adventure. Trisha spent the day at Disneyland with Sayaka so I went to the station to meet Hillary and Calvin and we got Krispy Cream Donuts in Shibuya. We then spent most of the day shopping in Harajuku again. That evening, I dyed my hair purple. <-- truth

Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

Monday, Oct 24: We got up early to get to the Ghibli Museum for our 10 AM tickets. We met up with lots of other KCJS people there, and then I spent the afternoon shopping for shoes in Ikebukuro. That evening, we wanted to get a “nice” dinner but somehow ended up at Denny’s. Oh well.

Tuesday, Oct 25: Yokohama! Trisha and I left early and explored the Chinatown of Yokohama and a few of the old Western-style buildings before we met Meg and Calvin for a walk through a rose garden, a trip to the Yokohama Doll Museum, and a ride on the CosmoWorld ferris wheel. We also had a fantastic MEXICAN FOOD dinner. I’d been craving Mexican food like crazy so I was really, really excited. 

Wednesday, Oct 26: OMG DISNEY SEA!!!! Arrived at the park 40 minutes before it opened and stayed until 40 minutes after it closed. Disney Sea may very well be my new favorite Disney park. This is a big deal. 16 rides in 13 hours. I’d say more, but words don’t do it justice. Also I will rant on my video blog whenever that happens.

Thursday, Oct 27: We were supposed to go to Nikko but Hillary and I were too tired after our Disney adventure so we stayed in Tokyo instead. We went to Ueno Park and saw a cool Western/Japanese style building whose name I forget. We also frolicked in the lawn. That afternoon we went to a maid café in Akihabara. I am scarred. In the evening, we did Karaoke and ended up staying out until 5:00 AM. Fun times in Tokyo.

Frolicking.

Friday, Oct 28: Kamakura! It was a nice change of pace from Tokyo, but there are so many nice temples in Kyoto that I was less impressed by the city than I had been hoping to be. There was one lovely bamboo garden temple though which made the day worth it. We also got to walk around inside a Daibutsu and visit the beach at sunset. And we ate delicious curry. That night, we stayed in a fantastic hostel called the “Kamakura Guesthouse” which was a really nice traditional experience. We slept on futons in a tatami room and spent the evening chatting with the friendly family who owns and operates the house. It had a wonderfully home-y feeling to it.

Fish eye effect on bamboo.

Saturday, Oct 29: Trisha got sick and had to go home early (:() so we spent the morning trying to figure out the best way to make that happen. I ended up negotiating with the Shinkansen ticket seller, and it went smoother than I ever could have hoped. It was empowering to know that I could hold the conversation with no misunderstandings or grammar slip-ups. From Kamakura we went to Odawara and then Hakone, where we stayed at the same hotel that I stayed at last time I went to Hakone, the Hotel Kowaki-en. It has a beautiful garden and a gorgeous indoor and outdoor onsen, which I visited three separate times in under 24 hours. We had a HUGE hotel room for the four of us, from which you could hear the stream running outside our window. It was the perfect place to unwind before heading back home to Kyoto. Dinner was gyoza at a delicious tiny restaurant on the roadside.

Central room of the Kamakura Guesthouse.

Sunday, Oct 30: Last of break. We took a 2:00 Shinkansen from Odawara to Kyoto, so we had the morning to frolick (this vacation involved a lot of frolicking) in the hotel garden, doing a “photo shoot” with Hillary’s fancy camera.

Monday, Halloween: Didn’t do much by way of Halloween, other than eat the various free candies that I kept getting handed by people at school. I did, however, attend my last (YES!) Noh play, which involves costumes and masks, so I guess that’s close…?

Tuesday, Nov 1: Talked to my host family for three hours after dinner. They are so great.

Wednesday, Nov 2: After listening to me try to explain the concept of s’mores yesterday, my host dad went to the store and bought chocolate-coated cookies and marshmallows which we roasted on the stove. This place is amazing.

Nihon s'mores.