Otaku Paradise and Ramen with a Twist

Yesterday, Chelsea and I were originally going to head to Odaiba for the day. However, the weather was not in our favor and the heavens decided to open up and drown us for the day (and I was told the rainy season was over). So instead, we opted for something more indoor. I had heard of this shopping arcade in Nakano called “Nakano Broadway” (who would’ve thought), whose second through fourth floors were filled with otaku merchandise stores. Seeing as neither of us was in the mood for museum hopping, and combating the desire to stay in and watch J-Drama all day, we trudged through the rain towards the subway station, hopped on the train that had just arrived, and headed towards our destination. After two train transfers, we arrived at Nakano. Following the scanty directions I’d found online, we easily found the shopping arcade in front of Nakano Broadway and mosied on through, taking stock of what these shops had to offer.

However, just as we were nearing the entrance of Nakano Broadway, I saw a huge store called “Mode Off” to our right. Mode Off is a chain thrift store in Japan. Austen and I had stumbled on one when we went to Osaka, and through the thousands of different articles of clothing, I had found something I liked for a rather cheap price. So I pushed Chelsea inside and after about an hour I emerged with a 240 yen mini dress. Win. Second hand stores are awesome. Second hand stores with sales are fabulous. Second Hand stores with sales that let you try on an unlimited amount of stuff are rare specimens of amazing.

Nakano surpassed its reputation of being a hub for Otaku (anime/manga aficionado) merchandise. In fact, I’m pretty sure it would be considered an Otaku heaven (save for the existence of Akihabara). There were manga stores, cosplay stores, tons of music stores, video game stores, DVD stores, stores of just random anime stuff, figurine stores…oh the list goes on and on. Mostly, we just set about walking around and looking at what each store had to offer. It’s fascinating to see Otaku consumer culture here in Japan; it’s so vastly different from the States. Anyway, we ended up stumbling upon a music store and perusing the various video game soundtracks. Because this was also a second hand store, a lot of the stuff was on the cheaper end, and for those of you that are unaware, game soundtracks tend to be pretty pricey as they have so many tracks on them. Chelsea and I both ended up spending pretty sums of money there; I ended up with two final fantasy soundtracks, one anime soundtrack, and one CD by one of my favorite composers that is basically out of print now. I’d say successful venture once again.

By the time we left the store, we realized how incredibly hungry and tired we were. That didn’t stop us from stopping at another store that had anime posters. The moment I saw a few of the Sailor Moon posters, I knew I was hooked…and so proceeded to make myself run away from the area as not to spend more large sums of money. The entire shopping trip was definitely a fun and overwhelming experience simultaneously. The only thing that made me sad was that the amount of Sailor Moon merchandise I saw was nil. Most stores only carry anime stuffs that are popular right now. Old anime is deemed as not worthwile in terms of consumer products. Sad much.

While it was that time between lunch and dinner, Chelsea and I decided to do early dinner in Shibuya. Instead of going home from Nakano, we transferred trains in Shinjuku and hung out at a McDonald’s, doing some reading and writing, until around five, when we went to go get…RAMEN (I know…big surprise). Anyway, we went to this ramen restaurant we saw the other day when we went to Book Off. The restaurant seemed normal enough for a ramen restaurant. But when we got our food, I was surprised to find that it was definitely Chinese-style ramen instead of Japanese-style. Ramen is originally a Chinese dish. However, they types of vegetables, meat, and broth they use are different. I felt like I was eating wonton soup with ramen rather than Japanese ramen. Still delicious, but not nearly as delicious as Japanese ramen. An interesting experience nonetheless.

After dinner, we rode the subways back home, stopped off at the grocery store to get rice for dinner next week, and happily sat down and watched Hana Kimi, a Japanese drama that was syndicated a few years ago. Absolutely fabulous. Good way to spend the day off.

Into the Heart of Tokyo: The Imperial Palace

Before I go into my adventure at the Imperial Palace, I'll briefly describe my weekend activities, as I was very social. On Friday evening, after work, I took the trains down to Shinagawa and met up with Yan and his coworkers at an izakaya. After about an hour and a half, they decided that karaoke was the best plan of action following the izakaya. Naturally, I tagged along as I didn't have to make my last train until 11:40. So after a fun filled evening of loud social interaction topped off by listening to the attempts to rap in Japanese, Korean, and English, I boarded my train and headed home. Saturday I spent the day at the Imperial palace and in the evening, Chelsea (who just arrived in Tokyo) and I met up with Yan and his coworkers again to see the movie Inception in Shibuya. Inception was fabulous in a word. The plot was engaging, the script kept the dialogue interesting, Leonardo Di Caprio was intense, and the special effects were mind blowing. Not to mention that the ending tripped me out. Sunday, Chelsea and I ventured to Harajuku to do a little shopping (she needed some work shirts and I wanted to go to daiso to get some cheap foodstuffs for the week). Matt ended up meeting us there and together we wandered and ended up eating dinner at a tempura/udon/rice restaurant. After, Matt headed home and Chelsea and I wandered around Shibuya, stopping at Book Off for a good hour before tearing ourselves away and making our way back home. All in all, a pretty delightful weekend.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon. I awoke late in the morning, part of me not desiring to go out and rather just stay in until Chelsea arrived. However, I knew that this would be a mistake, as it was a beautiful day outside, and I would regret not going out and exploring later (despite how inviting staying in bed and watching Battlestar Galactica sounded). In the next hour, I was out the door, headed for the subway station, on my way to the center of the city (after consulting my Tokyo To Do list); I had decided to spend the afternoon wandering the vast East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, which is located in the heart of Tokyo. It's odd that I've been here for four weeks now and still hadn't gone. Well, I sought to remedy that this afternoon, despite the heat.

The imperial palace gardens are beautiful. I was utterly amazed by everything I saw. The palace itself is surrounded by a moat (yes a moat, just like in medieval times). There are four (?) bridges and gates to access the palace, though only three are open to the public. I went through the front gate, the Otemachi Station gate. Upon entering, I learned that admission was free, I just needed to leave by 5:00pm (not a surprise as most places close by five in Japan -- very frustrating in some cases). Anyway, with a map of the area in hand, I made moved away from the groups of gaijin tourists, towards the gardens.

One of the most distinctive parts of the Imperial Palace Gardens was the Ninomaru Garden. I wasn't entirely sure of where I was going (having put the map away and opting to explore mostly with my own eyes). Within this garden, there is a waterfall, and a specific grove of trees,

totaling in 260, each one representing a district or prefecture in the Tokyo Metropolis.

Anyway, I'm fairly sure that this is the most beautiful part of the garden, and considering the lack of an admission fee, I may return to it just to see it again. I think I spent a good thirty to forty minutes just wandering this section of the garden. There are a few wonderful hill top views that over look the entire grove and pond area. I was genuinely surprised though by the expanse and variety of the sights within the gardens. Everything is beautifully maintained and there doesn't seem to be a blade of grass out of place. Too bad it was dreadfully hot at the time I went to visit. And it was minorly busy (in terms of tourists).

This is one of my favorite buildings in the Imperial Palace Grounds. It is the music hall dedicated to Empress Kojun on her sixtieth birthday. Architecturally, I think it's stunning, with the half circles on the roof and its curved in walls (in addition to the fact that it is an octahedron). It looks like of like a flower, now that I think about it. And the mosaic walls are amazing feats of workmanship. Unfortunately, it is closed to the public so I have no idea what it looks like on the inside.

It was rather frustrating as the lighting kept changing throughout the day. For the first hour I was in the gardens, it was super bright and super hot (not entirely recommended as there aren't a great many of shady areas). Then the second hour it morphed into a little bit overcast, which was definitely more pleasant than having the hot, blaring sun beating mercilessly down upon you as you trekked across the vast concrete into the various areas of the grounds. Pictured at the right is the Fujimi-yagura. In the past, security patrols would watch from this tower for advancing enemies. Apparently, on a clear day, one is able to see Mt. Fuji from there. Of course now, with the Tokyo metropolis being populated with skyscrapers and filled with pollution like any other large urban hub, I doubt that this is no longer possible. Too bad it was fenced off though; I would've liked to see the view anyhow.

I wish I had more words to describe the gardens and what I saw, but I fear that I will just end up being redundant. The East Gardens are definitely not a sight to be missed if you ever visit Tokyo. I know that I will go back there, as the grounds are only 10-15 minutes away from where I work! Anyway, I'll leave you with a few more pictures, just to convince you of its beauty and grandeur.

(Okay...This is Actually the Embassy of India, not on the Imperial Palace Grounds, but nearby. A pretty looking modern building)

(This is the embassy of the UK. Also a very pretty building)

Mt. Takao - The Climb

Yesterday, I decided to venture outside the main area of the Tokyo Metropolis to the city of Hachioji. Well, actually, I went to Mt. Takao, which is in the city limits for Hachioji. My day began when I finally managed to get out of my apartment at around ten in the morning. I rushed to the Marunochi Station close to my apartment and boarded the subway till I reached Shinjuku (approximately 40 minutes later -- I opted for the longer route considering it was cheaper and I wasn't in any rush...at least I didn't think so). After arriving at the Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in Tokyo, I navigated my way away from the subway lines and the JR lines, and towards the Keio Line. I've never taken anything but the metro and the JR lines, so I was praying I had remembered correctly from the internet that this was the line I was supposed to take. After about fifteen minutes of deciphering kanji to figure out how much my fare was, I bought my ticket (also hoping I had read the sign right), and navigated my way through the sea of people to platform three, which, if I had read the sign correctly, was heading for Mt. Takao. Finally, the train came and as I was one of the first to board, I luckily got a seat, as the destination was about an hour away, the last stop on the Keio-Shinjuku Line. Relieved that I was on the right train as I heard the voiceover sound throughout the train compartment, I settled back into my seat and opened my book.

After about an hour, right around 11:50, the train rolled into Takaosanguchi. Good, I arrived just around noon. I still had plenty of time ahead of me to enjoy the day. Of course, as per usual to my traveling techniques, I didn't really know where I was going, but I figured I could check the tourist map probably located right outside the station and see where the Mountain was. Stepping out onto the platform though, I was totally in awe of the scenery of Takaosanguchi. It's surrounded by green hills on all sides. I'm always stunned by the tropical-ness of the Japanese countryside. I know that the island is obviously located in the tropical region (hence the humid climate and rainy season), but nevertheless, I always manage to be awed by the beauty of the wilderness. But I knew that I would have plenty of time to marvel at nature on my hike of the mountain, so I left the station and searched for a map of the area, which was easy to be found. Now, the mountain has a variety of hiking trails to the summit, as well as a cable car that will take you partway up the mountain and then you climb the rest of the way. There is also a hike from the summit of Mt. Takao to another "nearby" mountain, Mt. Jimba (if you call an extra 2.5 hour hike from the summit of Mt. Takao nearby). Anyway, considering my fondness for walking and exploring, I wanted to choose the route that was the longest up to the summit. This involved not taking the cable car, which I was okay with because I wanted to be intense and awesome like that. Pause. I nearly died on that initial climb up. I wasn't aware of how steep the first leg was; now I fully understand why there is a cable car. The hike is AWFUL. I literally wanted to die ten minutes into it, and the leg takes about 40 minutes to do (maybe an hour maximum). Multiple times I felt like my legs were just going to give out on me. But somehow, I ended up making it to the cable car stop and buying overpriced water from one of the vending machines there. From there I continued up the trail, coming into contact with more hikers than I had seen before (considering most of them had made the smart decision in taking the cable car instead of hiking the first leg of the journey).

The interesting thing that I noticed while hiking was that, here, whenever you passed someone, you would say "konnichiwa" or some greeting of the sort. I've only encountered this type of behavior while on other such hikes and sightseeing travels (both inside and outside of Japan). I guess it feels like there is a communal effort being made to climb mountains and see other facets of nature etc. Even as I was hiking, an older man leading a group of other elderly people, clapped me on the shoulder and said "ganbatte!" (translates to: do your best! in vernacular English it's like "good luck"). It was encouraging to say the least. And I still think I surprised a few people with my Japanese as I got into the flow of greeting them first. One lady stopped to talk to me actually and asked me where I was from and the whole bit. This part of the climb, the interaction with fellow hikers, made my spirits a little lighter throughout the entire day. I still think on it now; the atmosphere it cultivates is definitely a happier one. Moving away from the digression of the social niceties on Mt. Takao, I continued my hike, which took me to the Yakuoin Temple.

Yakouin Temple is a Shingon Temple based on the mountain. The temple complex is very large, spanning three tiers of the mountain. Within the complex are fabulous statues of myoo, a few Shinto shrines (one of them is dedicated to Inari), and your usual stalls that sell Temple goodies (like ema, and fuyu). When I came down the mountain, the priests were actually doing the esoteric fire ritual in the main hall, chanting mantras simultaneously. It was pretty to cool to watch and listen to them, as it brought the temple alive (going on a Thursday really helped me to avoid crowds, though this appears to be mostly a Japanese tourist destination versus a foreign tourist one; I saw only two other gaijin there the entire time). However, I was a little bit confused by some of the statues I saw. Now, the interaction and intertwining of Buddhism and Shinto has been around since Buddhism's origins in Japan. That didn't seem out of place to me. What seemed strange was that some of the statues were representative of Shugendo, an ascetic mountain religion that combines Shinto, Taoist and Buddhist practices together.

However, I haven't really been able to find anything (now that I'm curious) on the internet that suggests this is a Shugendo site. I'm probably going to shoot my religion sensei an email in a bit asking her about it (yes, I'm that curious). Aside from the mixture of the religions, what makes this temple stand out the most is its statues. But, after browsing through the buildings, I continued on my way to the summit, taking the "off the beaten" path versus the more traditional path. This way, I met almost no one on my climb to the summit, thus allowing me to just contemplate the natural surroundings a bit (between my heaving and huffing). Mt. Takao is very beautiful; the canopy kept most of the direct sunlight, and thus heat, away (for which I was grateful; I didn't want to get sunburned a second time). However, it was still a pleasant hike and everything seems so lush and wonderful. I ended up even seeing a snake slither across the pathway I was walking on. A nearby female hiker screeched a little bit. You never know what you're going to see, I've learned.

Oddly this has been one of the few times that I have felt like I haven't been pressured, or pressured myself, for time. Even when I'm on my own sometimes I tend to keep myself on some sort of schedule, making sure I see everything on my list for the day. Granted, I did have a list for the day after the mountain, but I never made it to that afterward. By the time I'd come down form the mountain and finished the hike, I was wiped out and ready to sit on a train for an hour, transfer, and sit on a train for another hour before making it home. Besides, I feel like climbing a mountain is a good enough adventure for the day. Though I just wonder at the mentality of constantly having to be somewhere, or dong something productive. But I've come to a realization: whenever I feel like I should be seeing or doing something specific (like visiting an extra site or something), I ask myself, "Would you regret not seeing it?" And in this case, I was just happy that I got to climb the Mountain.

Anyway, I finally reached the summit, filled with hikers chowing down on picnic lunches and children screaming and running around playing tag. The views were magnificent, and there were many to see. I would've like to just sit and admire the viewpoints, but it was getting later in the day, and I can only stand screaming children for so long before they start to grate on my nerves. So I headed back down the mountain, opting to take a different hiking trail than the one I took upward. This one took me by a waterfall...well, it was more like a trickle of water than an actual waterfall (very sad). And as I hiked down the mountain, as it was later in the afternoon, the lighting was starting to shift to a more orange-y sunlight. It was definitely more serene walking the hiking paths. It kind of gave the landscape a twilight-y feel (I am NOT referencing the vampire book. I mean twilight, the time between day and night, around sunset).

But all in all it was a beautiful way to spend my day off. Exhausted by the time I finally arrived home, I kicked off my shoes, organized my room (as I had stuff sprawled every where), made dinner, showered and did laundry. When all was said and done, I proceeded to cuddle up with milanos and milk and watch some Japanese TV, after briefly running across the street to 7 Eleven to pick up milk (in my Stanford sweat pants and multicolored hoodie -- hott mess to the max). Oh convenience stores, you really are super convenient and make my life absolutely amazing.

And Mt. Takao. You thought you conquered me at the beginning, but I still won in the end.

There and Back Again: District Hopping On My 3-Day Weekend

Wow, I am wiped out from this weekend's exploration adventures. Seriously, I am exhausted to the point where I feel it every fiber of my feet and legs. I may have outdone myself finally (wouldn't that be a surprise). Anyway, let me stop complaining and elaborating on my current condition and instead discuss how I ended up collapsed on my bed alternating between watching Battlestar Galactica on my mac and the Japanese version of Disney's Aladdin on my T.V.

Saturday, I woke up and decided I wanted to spend the day park hopping as well as exploring the district where all the government building are located. Thus, my first stop was to be Koshikawa Korakuen Garden, located near the Korakuen stop on the subway. Korakuen is where the city hall is for my district, so it's a hub of activity and fun.

It is also where the Tokyo Dome City is located. The Tokyo Dome is like the Staples Center; lots of concerts and events are held there. And the surrounding mall is fun to browse. There are tons of restaurants and shops to choose from. Before heading to the gardens, I spent a fair amount of time just walking around the mall area, getting acquainted with the layout and the types of shops and restaurants it has to offer. Since it's not far from my apartment, I plan to come back more, especially since Wednesday night is "Ladies Night", meaning restaurants have special discounts for women and even some shops have different prices on Wednesday nights on their goods. There's also an outdoor portion to the mall area, which is nice considering the weather is nice enough sometimes where you just want to sit outside rather than be inside. Anyway, it will definitely be a place I will return to in the future.

After walking around the Tokyo Dome City Area, I headed down the major street towards the garden.

I had heard a lot about Koshikawa Korakuen Garden, so I expected that the admission fee of 300 yen would be worth my while. I'm happy to report that it was. This garden is absolutely beautiful and very large. I spent a good hour just wandering the grounds. It's amazing how these Gardens sit in the middle of such urban areas. I swear, you go in and it's like you've been transported to another world. Save for the occasional skyscraper you'll view on the skyline over the trees, it really feels like you're out in the country-side. That is something I've definitely noticed over and over again with Japanese gardens and parks; the care and maintenance that is put into them is illustrative of the desire to escape the mundane, urban existence and briefly transport their minds somewhere else. Anyway, the garden was fabulous and I would recommend it for a visit by all, travelers and natives alike.

During my stroll through the garden, my camera indicated it was only at 25% power. I had forgotten to charge it after my adventure in Kamakura. As a result, I didn't want to go anywhere too scenic for fear my camera would give out at the beginning and then I would not be able to visually record my journey. So, with my camera dying combined with the intense heat, I decided I would actually head home for a bit, charge my camera, and then come back out in the later afternoon. I decided though not to walk home the same way I had arrived (I had walked to the Korakuen area from my apartment). Instead, I consulted one of the large tourist map directories in the area and discovered that the stop I head to for work was just down the road. Therefore, I could follow the subway stops from there and head home in that direction. And I would learn how to walk home from my job. And I didn't think it would be that far considering it was only two stops down the subway line from my apartment.

Well...I was wrong. I ended up getting lost. Lost tragically. Essentially, I had been walking parallel to the major highway and somehow, after reading one of the tourist maps, I convinced myself I needed to walk in the back alleys and residential parts of the district I was currently passing through. This was actually all due to my fear that I had originally read the map wrong and was walking away from my destination. Of course, that was incorrect. I was correct originally, the distance was just longer than I had imagined. So I came back from the random residential area alleys, walked back onto the main road, and ended up running into the one stop away from mine. After a bit more walking, I eventually made it back to my apartment, tired, sweaty, and happy that I would have a little bit of a break.

At about 2:30 (an hour and a half later), I headed back out, deciding to walk from my apartment to Ueno Park (two districts over). In the heat of the afternoon, I set of down the main street my apartment is located on, as it is a straight shot to the Park. On the way though, I stumbled on Rikugi-en Garden.

I enjoyed walking around this garden as well. It was a nice distraction from being in the hot blazing sun for a while. It was also a pretty setting for an afternoon stroll. Another place I would definitely recommend to visit, as it has its own lakes and canopied areas. I didn't stay to long though, knowing I had a far ways to go on my journey to Ueno Park. How far I walked, I do not know. I just kept on a straight path down Shinobazi-dori, figuring I would get there eventually. And I did. I rolled in to Ueno Park, a side entrance (I tend to do that when I'm exploring, always coming from the side, never the front) at around 5:00, just when all the museums were closing. Now, Ueno Park isn't exactly a park per say. It's more like an area with lots of greenery but with museums and other types of attractions scattered throughout the area. My main purpose today was just to get a feel for the layout rather than to go Museum Hopping. I also didn't know what museums were there, so I wanted to scope out and see if there were any museums I did want to visit.

I did go to visit one of the temples in the Ueno Park grounds, but was sorely disappointed when I arrived. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that the picture of the Temple is actually a backdrop behind the gate. Apparently, it is under renovation. However, there's no sign anywhere saying that (at least no sign I could see, even in Japanese, but maybe I just missed it). There is also a five story Pagoda on the grounds, but I couldn't find a way to get close to it at all; I ended up taking a mediocre picture of it as there were many trees blocking the fenced off structure. To exhausted from the walk to Ueno, I decided to take the train back to Ikebukuro and then walk home from there. I was so relieved by the time I got home, as it meant the end of journeying for the day. All in all though, I believe it was a rather productive day.

Sunday was rather low key. I ended up staying in most of the day and working on my translation (as I had put that off for a bit). I felt like I could make massive strides considering the fortunate timing of the three day weekend. And to some extent I did. But around 5pm, I was slated to meet with the Director of the SCTI program to discuss the translation a little bit and just to see how I was doing. I enjoyed the conversation but by the time I got home, I was exhausted again, still recovering from the day before.

Today was an intense day of exploring as well. I wasn't entirely sure of where to go when I woke this morning as there were tons of things to see, but not to many concentrated in one place only. Before I set out, I charted a path for me to follow, and made a list of things that I wanted to see in each district. I felt that having some direction would be beneficial, but not to much so that I could be flexible and allow for time to just wander or see things that just caught my eye. So, I got on the subway around 10:15 and headed for the Ginza district.

The Ginza district is known for the amount of high end, department stores that line its streets. You'll see Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Chanel, Armani, and Wado to name a few. There will also be names that are more common like Forever 21 and H&M. There's even an Abercrombie & Fitch (it was funny, as I was walking up one of the main streets, my nose was suddenly accosted by a wave of cologne -- I assume it was Axe -- and only moments later I walked by the store and its two male models standing at the doorways, ushering in potential customers and flirting with cute girls that walked by, in English I might add). However, while most of the goods here are too expensive for the stipend of a college student interning in a country whose economy is still in recession (which begs the question...how are all of these high end stores surviving? WHO is buying expensive watches from Rolex and designer bags from Louis Vuitton?), the area is actually gorgeous. I strolled the district with Matcha Frappucdino in hand (I stopped at Starbucks since I hadn't had breakfast), unable to take my eyes off of the glistening window displays and the sleek architecture. I did stop at the Sony building, which was premiering an aquarium exhibit only on display for the next few months. I also stopped at the movie theater to see what was playing, avoiding the lines to see Inception and the new Pokemon film (number 10? I've lost count...it's kind of like the number of sequels in the Land Before Time series).

Anyway, after an hour and half of strolling, I decided to head to my next destination, which was Roppongi, via Hibiya and whatever other districts lay between me and my destination. Along the way I encountered Hibiya Park, the Old Ministry of Justice Building, and Central Government Building 3 (architecturally terribly uninteresting...).

After about an hour or hour and a half (give or take, I wasn't really keeping an eye on the time just yet), I arrived in the Roppongi area. There wasn't exactly much more to see from Roppongi Hills. There was a small garden nearby, the TV Asahi building (which I went into and couldn't figure out if it was actually a broadcasting station or a gift shop), and Ark Hills (another ritzy cafe area with apartments, shops, and the Intercontinental Hotel in Tokyo). Ark Hills was fun to wander, as they had some rooftop gardens with great views.

After Roppongi, I had decided I wanted to head to Ebisu to see the Yebisu Garden Place, and...well let's not lie, to mainly check out the Yebisu Beer Museum. That stretch of walking was rather long, and a tad tedious as it took me through a quieter, residential area, that soon exploded into a more urban, lively patch of city when I reached the JR Ebisu station. After a bit of navigation and map reading, I pinpointed where the Museum was. The Museum is located within the Yebisu Garden Place, which is like inside/outside mall next to the Tokyo Dome. Beautifully constructed; the majority of the complex is made out of red brick, which gives it a Western feeling. However, I won't go into specifics about the design of the Garden Place. There are quite a few restaurants, shops (designer and non), a movie theater, the Museum of Photography, and most importantly (!) the Yebisu Beer Museum. That was my main objective in traveling to Ebisu today (BTW Ebisu and Yebisu are interchangable; but the JR station is Ebisu if you ever need to look it up on a map). So I arrived at the Museum, ready to go through the exhibit, when my ears were confounded by...jazz? Today apparently, the Museum was hosting a New Orleans Jazz Festival type event. So the gallery/museum part was closed off, but the tasting was still open (to my relief). Maneuvering through the crowds of older folks, I made my way to the counter and ordered the lighter of the two beers, sat, and enjoyed the jazz with my drink. It was a nice diversion for 30 minutes, but then I was on my way again, this time heading towards Shinjuku. However, I forgot to go to the Museum gift shop...so inevitably I must go again to pick up souvenirs!

The path to Shinjuku was far and long, as it took me through the backside of Shibuya and Harajuku. Both were super crowded today on the holiday, so I opted to just pass through instead of do my inclined wandering (it's not as though I'm leaving tomorrow--plenty of other chances). So after about an hour or so I reached Shinjuku. Here, my main purpose was to go to the sketchy part, the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku. It is the "red light district". Now, I would never venture down to this part of the city during the evening hours, as I just don't think that's safe, so I figured the only time I would be able to see the famed region that possibly crosses illegality, would be during the day time. I have to say, it must be more exciting in the nighttime as it ended up being rather boring and repetitive. There are only so many bars, and hostess clubs, girls bars, love hotels, and whatever these other establishments were (I don't try to guess at them) before your attention wanders. I'm sure in the evening with sparkling lights, everything looks so much more appealing. But it couldn't hold my attention for too long, so I headed back to the major streets and headed towards home, which ended up being an hour and a half away. By the time I made it back to my apartment, I did collapse. But it was a sight filled day and I got to see so many parts of the city!

It just makes me wish I could spend every day exploring instead of working... ;)

Temple Hopping in Kamakura!

For my day off today, I decided to head to Kamakura, capital of Japan during the Kamakura Period, today a small city in Kanagawa Prefecture known for its beaches and temples, specifically for its daibutsu (Great Buddha). As the city is about an hour away from Tokyo via train, I had to make myself get up earlier than normal (though luckily not as early as I had to for Toy Story 3) and head out. While I ended up being a little later than I wanted to be in departing (I ended up checking up on google maps where I wanted to start from as I knew I would be doing a lot of walking and I wanted to be efficient with my time), I took the subway, and eventually arrived at Tokyo Station, where I proceeded to figure out where the train line I needed to take was located. With my ticket in hand (780 yen, possibly the most expensive train ticket i've paid for yet on this trip, though after today it was well worth it), I descended two stairwells and found my deserted platform. Eventually the train came, and I lucked out by choosing a compartment where I could sit down instead of stand. As always, I bring the book i'm currently reading everywhere with me, so I pulled it out and passed the train ride in an enjoyable manner (at least for the most part -- there were several times I freaked out because I believed I had gotten onto the wrong train though I had checked five times before getting on the train that I was at the right platform on the right line).

About an hour later, the train pulled into Kita-Kamakura Eki (North Kamakura Station). I almost missed it as I was so absorbed in my book. I ran off just as the doors were closing and looked around. The station appeared to be deserted, save for those just getting off the train. I felt like I had landed in the boondocks, with all this greenery and vegetation around. Part of me began to freak out tiny bit, but as I exited the station and ambled down the road, I came up on a tourist map of the Kamakura Prefecture, which showed where I currently was and where all the temples and sightseeing places in the city were.

This was perfect considering I only had a minor idea of where everything was situated. The reason I had chosen to get off at Kita-Kamakura Eki instead of the main Kamakura Station was because I felt I could visit the few sights up near this station, the walk down towards the main station, see those sights, and then walk towards the others on one of Kamakura's local lines. According to the tourist map, all of this appeared to be dooable, which made me happy considerng it appeared that my plan would work out. Won't lie, it was also cheaper to ride to Kita-Kamakura instead of the main station by 110 yen (that could buy me a sweet bun from a konbini right there...). Anyway, I also thought that if I started at the other temples instead of the temple with the Great Buddha, I would avoid the tourist crowds, as they would start at that temple and work their way to the others (or so I reasoned with myself).

As a result, my first stop was Engaku-ji, second of the five Great Zen Temples of Kamakura.

It was conveniently right next to the station, only a five minute walk. The Temple grounds were beautiful; I felt like I was in a tropical paradise with all of the greenery surrounding the temple structures. To me, there were two parts of this temple that made it rather unique. One, in the Temple's Shari-den, the tooth of the Buddha is supposedly enshrined. While it is not open to the public, it has been classified as a national treasure. Even if the tooth were there, I'm pretty sure it would have decayed by now...but anyway, that's not the point. I guess it's neat that the claim to fame for this temple is that it houses two national treasures. The other national treasure is the Ohgane, the Temple Bell.

After a long hike up the hill, climbing who knows how many stairs, I made it to the top to see a magnificent view. The bell is housed on top of this hill. Very unfortunate as the hike is not exactly fun but the bell and the view are totally worth it. This bell is HUGE and the view is equally amazing. Definitely worth the stair climbing to see this national treasure. However, I'm a little perplexed why it's a national treasure as it is a "symbolic temple bell" of the Kamakura Period. I don't know if it is even from that time period (it looks pretty old so I assume it is old -- just how old is a question in itself.

Anyway, after I left Engaku-ji, I backtracked to the map of the area near the station to see where the next temple I wanted to see was located. What was closest and the name I most easily recognized was Kencho-ji, the first of the five great Zen temples. I wasn't entirely sure how to get there, so I crossed the train tracks to the other side of the street, and decided to follow to French tourists and see where they ended up. They were heading in the general direction that Kencho-ji was in, but I wasn't sure that was their final destination. Either way, they were obviously gaijin, and therefore obviously tourists, so I would end up seeing something cool in the end even if I just followed them (at least I hoped so). I mean...what's the worst that could happen? I knew where the station was, so if I needed to backtrack, it wasn't really a problem.

Luckily, the pair ended up leading me to Tokeiji-Temple, which I had wanted to see, but wasn't listed on the map in English (and I had no idea what its name looked like in Kanji so I thought it was a lost cause). Tokeiji Temple was originally a Buddhist nunnery and later became nicknamed as the "Divorce Temple" as women who were in abusie relationships could escape to this temple, use it as a shelter, and if they stayed for three years, were permitted to divorce their husbands. Anyway, I wanted to see it and was happy to have stumbled upon it. I thought the grounds were absolutely beautiful. I'm not entirely sure why, but I liked this temple immensely moreso than the one I had just come from, even though it was smaller and didn't have as many structures nor any national treasures to boast of. It did have a whole back section of cemetaries though. I know that sounds a little morbid, but Buddhist cemetaries are really cool to walk around in(at least in my perspective). And the hike up the stairs here was worth the view as well. On the way down I crossed paths actually with the French tourists, and we exchanged mutual smiles (prior to this I had only been following them; hopefully not looking to sketchy or obvious). On my way out, I even stopped into the small gift shop there and bought some post cards.

I decided that my next stop would be Kencho-ji, as I wanted to make sure I could reach the Great Buddha temple before it closed at 5:00pm and I had quite a bit of a ways to go before reaching it. However, Kencho-ji ended up not being my next stop as I passed Jochi-ji on my way. Jochi-ji is the fourth of the five Great Zen Temples of Kamakura.

What I was most impressed with in this temple was its main altar (pictured left). These three wooden statues apparently represent the past, present and future from left to right. The statues are of the Buddhas Amida, Shakyamuni (Siddhartha), and Miroku (at least, according to the english pamphlet I received). In person, they are pretty magnificent. I wish I could've gotten a better picture of them, or even individual pictures of each statue, but the building was only for viewing. Visitors weren't even allowed to go in and walk around. Another interesting thing the temple had was a statue of the God of Happiness. I've never seen a statue like that before and I guess I was surprised to find one at a Zen Temple.

After my interlude at Jochi-ji, I continued down the main road towards Kencho-ji. I was a little skeptical about going to Kencho-ji after having gone to both Engaku-ji and Jochi-ji already. Two other Zen Temples...was I going to see anything new at this one, even if it was ranked number one of the five great Zen Temples of Kamakura? I am so glad I didn't bypass Kencho-ji. It may have been my favorite visit of the entire day.

Now the guide they give you at the entrance of the temple makes Kencho-ji seem like it has a fair amount of ground covered. This is deceptive. Kencho-ji stretches out into the mountains behind it. I DID NOT KNOW THIS. The pamphlet itself is also deceptive. Anyway, the central gate is enormous, the walkway leading up to the Butsuden is lined with Juniper trees. The Butsuden itself is magnificent. Inside is a large image of the Bodhisattava Jizo. Directly behind the Butsuden is the Hojo, in which an image of the historical Buddha is presented for public viewing. However, what's breathtaking about the Hojo is its ceiling. it's a painted dragon...like whoa. Seeing this ceiling is worth the 300 yen admission price itself. Now, after you amble around the grounds, you wander up the way towards what you think is the garden in the back of the temple. FALSE.

You keep walking up the stone pathway until you reach the foot of the hill. You see a painful amount of stairs and you climb. Eventually, you reach the summit of Hanso-bo, which is the shrine protecting the temple. And if you are still up for it, you can keep going up the mountain, climbing more, steeper stairs, until you reach the ultimate summit and see an AMAZING view. This is why Kencho-ji could possibly be my favorite temple out of all the ones I visited today. While the climbs were killer (trust me, they were), the views were spectacular. I felt like I totally got my money's worth out of this temple solely because of the views. On my way down though, I definitely filled my water bottle up at the water fountain as the heat was only getting stronger as the day progressed. I was just surprised there WAS a water fountain (first one I've seen in all my time in Japan...).

After my adventure at Kencho-ji, I decided to head towards Tskurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. Located in the heart of Kamakura, this shrine is a popular tourist attraction as well as a well loved temple by the locals. Granted, I figured I was about thirty minutes away from the Shrine from my current position at Kencho-ji. Actually, it ended up only being 15. I came in from a side entrance though, so when I actually reached the grounds, I saw they were flooded with tourists.

Not that I was surprised. I figured at any time of day this Shrine would have its fair share of visitors. The buildings were large and grand. Tourists flocked to buy their own charms. Locals were at the worship halls praying to the resident kami. The Shrine itself commanded grandeur and magnificence, but I kind of felt myself unenchanted. Maybe it was the vast amount of people that turned me off, but I just was not all that drawn to the Shrine. So I ended up leaving rather quickly after I checked out the main buildings and taken my pictures necessary for my memory.

Now came the tough part. I had to navigate my way to the Great Buddha Temple, Kotokuin. I had decided not to take the train from Kamakura Station to Hase Station and then walk from there. Instead, after examining the large tourist map next to the station once more (these are actually quite helpful, though definitely not to scale -- distances that I have thought were much longer ended up being shorter!), I set off with a direction in mind. I knew I would make it well before closing time, so I wasn't worried about timing...as long as I didn't get lost.

Which I didn't! I took a lot of back alleyways and residential streets and eventually made my way to the big street, which was obviously crowded with tourists. Then, following the massive amounts of gaijin, I made my way to the Daibutsu.

Okay, so I've seen the Daibutsu at Nara and it's pretty magnificent. But the Daibutsu of Kamakura can hold its own as well. While Nara's is the largest and Kamakura is the second largest, to me it is equally impressive. While the one in Nara is inside, the one in Kamakura is outside, exposed to the elements. I am so in awe of the engineering it takes to create a figure such as this. Upon reaching the Buddha, I walked around the entire statue, just taking in its dimensions, and rather just digesting what my eyes were seeing. I wish I had a greater vocabulary to describe just how cool and neat it was to be standing in the shadow of this magnificent statue.

Eventually, I was able to pull myself away from Kotokuin and head to my last Temple stop, Hase-dera. Hase-dera is a temple dedicated to the Bodhisattvas Kannon and Jizo, two of my favorites (I really can't say why they are my favorites, but they are).

It's also pretty busy, but I enjoyed it all the same. There were TONS of Jizo statues scattered around the Temple grounds. Up the hill, after more stairs (forget the stair master -- just hit up your Buddhist Temples, that's where you'll get your workout), the view there is equally breathtaking as you can see both the town of Kamakura as well as the beach. If I didn't mention it before, Kamakura is right on the beach. Anyway, next to the viewing area are a bunch of picnic tables for people to sit at and rest etc. So one of the gaijin is sitting there, unpacking his "lunch" or whatever, and this hawk swoops down and grabs the sandwich. No joke. A HAWK dive bombs and flys away with his food. Only later did I see the Japanese sign warning about hawks in the area. Sure enough, there were two others flying over the area, waiting for their own chances at stealing sustenance. After that incident, I ascended the mountain another time to get an even better view of the city and ocean area and then headed to the main worship hall. The large Kannon statue contained with the hall was magnificent as well. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any pictures, but it was definitely worth seeing.

After Hase-dera, I have to say I temple over dosed. I was ready to just walk along the beach, hop on a train and head home, exhausted as I was (walking all day in the hot sun ends up taking its toll). So I made my way back to the station, deciding to walk along the waterfront. It's been a while since I have been to a beach, so I wanted to see what the famous Yugihama Beach had in store for me. While it seemed like any other beach, it was massively crowded with surfers and para sailors curiously. Had I been in more of an enthusiastic mood, I may have even waded into the water for a bit. But I was more anxious to get home. On my way back to the station, I was unsure if I was still on the right path, so I asked a woman for directions, which she gave me and then we proceeded to talk about my Japanese, that I was a study abroad student from America, that she had visited California, and so on and so forth. She was super sweet, and walked with me for a bit before heading in her own direction, reminding me of the Mister Donut I would see where I needed to turn for the station before departing. :) So sweet.

I arrived at the station, purchased a ticket, waited for the train, found a seat, and felt relief flood through my legs. Finally sitting after having been on my feet for the past six and a half hours was amazing. I returned to my book, and waited for the train to take me back home. An hour and a half later, I was back at my apartment. I collapsed for a bit, then made ramen and watched some Japanese TV for a bit before showering and cozying up with Anastasia in Japanese. To my dismay, as I was getting into the shower, I saw that I had gotten sunburned during the day. Hopefully it won't sting too much...

All in all, I had an AMAZING day at Kamakura.

Thoughts on Study Abroad

Today, the one day I decide to come to work dressed like a puritan, the weather decides to be extremely hot and painfully sunny. So much for trying to prepare for the rain. Tropical weather is very erratic. One moment you think you are in the middle of a paradise, ready for a relaxing day on the beach or something with no annoying interferences, the next you feel as though you’ve entered monsoon season. The bipolarity is a little much to deal with. The upside is that it is always temperate, always on the warm side. I like warm weather more than I like cold, so even if it’s raining, it’s warm, and that suits me just fine. At least I got dried mangos at work today (I love free food and I especially love dried mangos YUMMY OMG -- must not find out where I can buy them for fear of getting diabetes due to overdosage on sugary mangos...).

But I digress from my topic today. Granted, I don’t think that I will have much of a coherent theme for this post, but I do have a few thoughts I would like to write about which all rather originate from the past two evenings. On Monday night, I had dinner with the Stanford Kyoto SCTI internship coordinator and last night I had dinner with her and the other Stanford students that work in the city of Tokyo. I will say that both evenings were very enjoyable, mostly since I didn’t have to cook for myself!

Monday night was just the internship coordinator and me. She is a very sweet lady, and her main purpose in inviting me to dinner was to ascertain whether I was having any difficulties at my internship or not. Since the circumstances of me getting my internship were a bit strange, and since coming into the organization I did not know very much, she was right to want to keep tabs on me. But I only expressed to her happiness in my work environment. Sure, there are times when I don’t understand what’s going on and what’s being said around me, but that is a) expected, and b) not bothersome. I have a set task and I’m aiming to complete it. My coworkers are all pretty neat and my boss is pretty chill. I have a semi-lax work schedule. I’d say that it’s all in all going well. But that’s not really what I want to write about, so I’ll leave it at that. After I told her all these things, we ended up talking about many different subjects, among which were what I was doing after graduation, what I was interested doing in the future, what I thought about the Kyoto study abroad program to name a few. Now, I'm not really going to discuss the first two in that list as a) i'm still working out the details, and b) those are more reflective topics and have less to do with my relationship and adventures in Japanland. But I think it is worth it to definitely comment on the last point of discussion.

Studying abroad I think is one of the best experiences a college student can have. Study abroad is both a way to immerse yourself in another culture and a way to see how well you function in the real world. The amount I've learned about myself while being in Japan these past four months has been exponential. Or perhaps that's an incorrect way of putting it; and I wouldn't say that i've "changed" either. I guess I would say that maybe I've just grown into myself moreso, that I've become more resolute and understanding of myself. Maybe it's too early for an entry like this as I still have eight weeks left in Tokyo. And maybe it's incorrect to say that study abroad does that for you. It's true that we were all grouped together and we lived in homestays and used both english and Japanese regularly, but I believe it would be incorrect of me to say that I did most of my "growing" by myself in these past two weeks in Tokyo. Now, don't get me wrong, the internship experience has been vastly different from the study abroad experience, and it's not as though my growing stops now (I still have till September!), but the longer one stays in a foreign environment, the more times one steps out of his or her comfort zone really reveals the type of person one is. And I think I've come to like the person that is forced into awkward and uncomfortable situations here. Hopefully, something in this made sense.

I remember at the end of the quarter, we were given surveys to fill out on our experience with Kyoto SCTI; basically it was feedback for the program. One of the first questions was something like "why did you decide to go abroad?" I'm not really thinking about how I answered this question, rather what other people had told me over the course of the quarter. Many of the students wanted to improve their Japanese, that language fluency was their primary reason. The other popular reason was that Japanese culture was attractive and cool, therefore, Japan was the obvious choice. A few said that this was the only program where they could fill some requirements for their major and still go abroad. And a few, like me, combined all of these and cited the need for a mental health quarter away from the stresses of campus life. The fact that there were so many reasons for why students wanted to come to this program is indicative of the diversity of students that came to the Kyoto SCTI program. The strange thing is, had I not come to Japan, I may have never met any of these people. I have made such great friends while being abroad, friends I may never have met on campus. I realized this last night when all the immediate Tokyo kids came together for dinner. Granted, I may not see all of them all the time when we go back to school in the fall, but that's not the point. The point is that I've learned so much from my peers just in 10 weeks that it's hard to believe I may never have met them otherwise. Essentially, studying abroad has given me a new community to connect with back on campus.

But these aren't the only people I have met. The amount of Japanese people I have met and befriended is a testament to that. The close relationship I developed with my host mother and host brother is also illustrative of that. Understanding another culture, especially a very different culture with respect to American culture like the Japanese culture, is so much more accessible when you are a) immersed, and b) partially guided by friends/natives. I have learned so much about Japanese culture and the Japanese mindset from my Japanese friends that I don't think book learning could've ever given me.

So, I guess what I'm concluding with is that I'm so thankful I was given the opportunity to come to Japan. I can't believe there was a time when I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision by coming. Obviously, I miss campus and all my friends, but when is the next time I'm going to be able to spend six months of my life in a foreign country with friends, working and exploring, and not having to worry about much? Yeah...I can't think of another time unless I win the lottery or something (though that's Forrest's plan A for life).

Anyway, I will bring this sentimental note to a close. I need to shower and head to bed as I'm spending my day tomorrow exploring! And Happy Belated Birthday to my Aunt Gail (which was on Sunday I believe)!