Japan Update #2!

Mood:Tired again
Listening to: CHE.R.RY by YUI

First off, I failed to mention that yesterday, I got to hang out with Isabelle a lot. I saw her in the lobby like an hour after I arrived at Co-Op Inn, and we went out to eat and explore! Also when we came back she was super nice and helped me with my giganto luggages. I shouldnt've brought so many bags. But how else am I gonna be able to buy tons and tons and tons of cute Japanese souvenirs to bring back??

In any case, we ate delicious ramen for lunch yesterday. :D

It was really fun and we walked around so many stores in Kyoto...I think the whole area was a tourist trap of shops. Which is why I ended up spending so much monies :(. But I haz gifts so that's ok XD.


We found so many bunny things (hehe for Matthew <3)

Then went and ate at this small cafe Isabelle found. It was really delicious! I had udon and she had a tofu hamburger kinda salad thing.

I guess they don't use meat or eggs or milk or sugar! How healthy :D

This was my udon. Sooo delicious. The soup was kinda sticky and definitely not the normal soup you get with udon, but it was still really good and tasted wonderful. I guess this is what happens when you don't use meat and stuff.

We also looked at kimono shops--some kimonos are on sale, but we didn't really know what kind of accessories to buy for those (obi and stuff...)

I woke up again this morning before 6AM. I don't know why this keeps happening. I was SUPER TIRED last night and kept falling asleep in the shower and at the desk, and so I went to sleep at like 11:15 but then didn't get a full 8 hours. And then it was hard for me to fall asleep. Weird...I wonder if I'm still jetlagged after all. We have orientation starting today! Going to Doshisha in like less than 2 hours or something :D. I'm excited--I heard the cafeteria in the basement has delicious トンカツ　(tonkatsu--fried pork cutlets! one of my favorites). I don't know if we get to eat there today but we get to see our little Stanford center at Doshisha campus :D yayyyy

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I forgot to take a picture of the tonkatsu. I'll have more chances though. It was delicious. And I have to say that I'm totally pooped again today. I had better be losing weight; I've been walking for so many hours these past few days. I mean, today, we went out at 9AM and then walked to the station and stood riding the subway, walked to Doshisha and toured the Stanford Center in Japan a little bit. I mean, we sat for presentations and for lunch, but I think I'm so tired from all this walking that I can barely stay awake. blahhhh

Doshisha looks totally like an east coast school. They also had cherry blossoms! This is only the 今出川 campus though, so it's pretty small.

I thought it was a nice campus, and very walkable, unlike Stanford campus. I heard that for clubs and other activities, we have to go to the bigger campus on the other side of town, and that one is gigantic like Stanford campus.

We went to the Stanford Center that's located in one of their buildings and saw the classrooms that we will be using. We also went to the basement to eat in the cafeteria--it has such delicious food! For a really good price, too. My friends all got things for about 350 yen; I went all out and got lots of stuff for about 535 yen instead :P. In the future though, I think I'll stick with smaller portions, haha.


Trying to get my computer connected to the Doshisha network was a total pain in the butt. We finally got it working at the end though, so that's good. Apparently they've had a lot of problems with viruses in the past, so they make it really hard to access the system. Also, the wireless at Doshisha is really weird--some people had great signal and others had really crappy signal and we were all in the same room. I heard it's also hard to get consistent internet at the campus :(. I guess we're all spoiled by Stanford's amazing internet capabilities....

Afterward, we were sent on a kind of scavenger hunt of Kyoto (but not exactly). We got split up into groups and I was with Isabelle, Jason, Anya, Allister, and Benz. Our assignment was to find lots of shrines and temples in Kyoto--in particular 八阪人じゃ　(Yasaka jinja--Yasaka Shinto Shrine) and 清水寺 (Kiyomizudera--a temple). We found Yasaka!

We saw tons of food stands near the temple, as well as tons of cherry blossoms. It was like a photographer's heaven! Here's Allister and Isabelle taking pictures/videos:

See how there's tons of booths lining the street?

The food at the booths are delicious! I got a bag of fortune cookie-tasting little cake buns at first. Then we walked around and saw sooo many pretty sights including this pond.

Don't ask about my expression. I'm not sure what I was doing, x_x

There was also a gigantic "weeping willow" cherry blossom tree.

More cherry blossoms.

This particular picture was taken after we got lost, which I'll get to in a moment.

We walked forward assuming we'd eventually hit Kiyomizudera, but instead we walked for 20-30 minutes up a mountain and then ran into houses. And then we thought that this probably wasn't right, asked a Japanese person directions, and she laughed before stopping herself, and said that we were 30 minutes away from Kiyomizudera--if we walked quickly. I'm guessing that means if we were going at the pace we were at, we'dve made it in 40-50 minutes =__=. Hahaha...so yeah, we totally failed at finding Kiyomizudera. I want to go and find it later, though, since it's apparently one of the must-sees in Kyoto.

We gave up since we were tired and we started walking back from where we came from. I decided to eat a crepe as a reward for traipsing for so long in the rain :P.
And then I also ate 焼き肉　(yakiniku--fried meat). It was reallyyyyy good. I had only one at first but found it so delicious I went back for two more.

The guy first takes the meat he cooked halfway and puts it back on the grill.

Then he dips it in this sauce

and then grills it some more on the other grill.

Soooo good.

Anyway, afterward, we walked for a super, super super long time to try to get back to our hotel, because we were only given passes that we could use on buses and on subways (not normal trains). We eventually ended up just walking back to our hotel, because when we were heading toward the subway station, we found ourselves on the same street where Isabelle and I had just eaten the night before. We decided to eat at the same restaurant and then I got udon again :D

All in all a long but also exciting day :).

Japan Update #1!

Mood: Exhausted: I don't wanna move
Listening to: Hoshi wo Mezashite by NEWS

I didn’t think I’d start writing a blog again, ever, but I guess now that I’m taking an epic trip to Japan, I might as well :).

I got into Tokyo day before yesterday (3/29) and I’ve had a great time. :D I took a ~13 hour flight from Dallas to Narita and watched Avatar, The Proposal, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Sherlock Holmes on the plane (and played Pokemon :P yay for DS!). I did sleep some, but I found it hard to stay sleeping for long periods of time, so I had to find other ways to amuse myself. I did read some of the book that SCTI gave me (The Roads to Sata; it’s about a guy who traveled from the northernmost tip of Japan to the southernmost point. I think I’m supposed to have read it by today, since orientation starts tomorrow, but there were so many other interesting things going on…)

I successfully navigated the train lines, though I have to say I think Japanese train lines, even if you don’t know the language, are way easier to navigate than, say, the NY metro. Sorry America, you lose on this point. All the signs in Japan are really clear and also have roumaji (romanization) so it’s easy to figure out where you need to go to get ot what line. Also, when you’re on the train, they make it really clear which stop you’re going to next and which side the doors will open on.

I stayed at my friend Kai’s house near 池ノ上 (Ikenoue) station (~4 minutes away by train to 渋谷 [Shibuya] station).

Kai and his entire family have been extremely hospitable; they let me stay in a guest room and his mother came to pick me up at 池ノ上 (Ikenoue) station and gave me an entire plate of Godiva goodies to eat right when I got into my room. prettyyyyyyyyyyy

See? Foodz!

She also made sashimi for dinner my first night here. Doesn’t that look delicious?

I also found I really like Japanese お風呂　(ofuros—baths). They tend to be shorter in length that American tubs but taller, and you can sit and soak. It’s soooo comfortable…especially after an entire day of traveling and walking. I also like how Japanese toilet seats are warm. Why doesn’t America have stuff like this? It’s really cold in Japan right now (it was around 40 degrees when I got here, and it almost reached ~2 degrees F one time in the evening) and I went to the bathroom expecting the toilet seat to freeze my butt. And then I sat down and it was blissfully warm :P hahaha. Update: This particular photo isn't of the tub at Kai's house--it's from my hotel in Kyoto--but you get the idea.

Japanese people I think take American inventions and improve many details that Americans didn’t pay attention to or think about. I really want warm toilet seats in my future home!

The next day, 3/30, I slept in in the morning (surprisingly, I don’t think I was super jet-lagged). Kai’s mom made a really delicious breakfast with grilled salmon, oden (I think?), miso soup, daikon (radish), and egg thingies that tasted really good. And I drank tons of お茶 (green tea). I love green tea. Going to keep drinking tons of tea while I’m here. :D

I went out around 12:30 to meet some friends from 早稲田大学　(Waseda University). I took Professor Dasher’s Japanese Business Culture class just this past quarter and we did a presentation exchange with them. It was really neat, and I got to meet Jun Kono, Hiroshi Sato, and Tomoka Takada again in Tokyo! :D They met me at Shibuya right in front of the gate to the Keio Inokashira line, and then immediately took me to eat a delicious lunch of shoyu ramen in Shibuya. We ate at a restaurant called Hayashi.

Japanese people like specialty stores because they feel that if you only focus on a few things, then you can make it really good (in cases of restaurants, really delicious :) ). There were only 3 options available at this restaurant—ramen, egg ramen, and then pork ramen.

You go in, and it’s a really tiny place, but very cozy. In the corner there’s a ticket machine and you put in money, choose an order, and a ticket pops out that you place on the counter in front of your seat. I forgot to take a picture of this :( but it was pretty efficient, and I LOVE how you get good service and food and don't’ have to pay tip. Tehe. I only paid 700 yen for the bowl of ramen and it was DELICIOUS. Sadly, the food was so good I forgot to take a picture of it. But here’s pictures of Tomoka, Hiroshi, and Jun eating.

We then started walking through Shibuya toward Harajuku. On the way we saw some interesting sights.

First, the スクランバル交差点 (sukuranbaru kousaten—scrambled intersection). This is the view from above:

It’s kind of the Times Square of Shibuya. See all the ads?

And then we passed by a happy condom shop. I think you can only find a store like this in Japan…

We went through some back alleys and we found a bling bling store. Like, it puts these decorative stones on…anything. Including crabs.

Then we went to Omotesando Hills. Only お金持ち(okane mochi—rich people) can buy stuff here—it’s all expensive name brands.

Then we went to I think what’s the main street of Harajuku. Jun hates this place because it’s always crowded (still crowded today even though it’s Tuesday, cuz it’s spring break in Japan). It’s like a 人間川　(ningengawa—a river of people!). I’m happy that he was nice enough to take me there though, since I’ve never been and it was really interesting to see all the different kinds of things on the street.

Afterward Hiroshi took us to Akihabara! It was awesome ^__^. It’s famous now for anime and maid cafes, but it used to be famous for being an electronics district—you can still find a lot of electronic things there, like parts for building computers and stuff. I did see a lot of maids handing out ads for maid cafes on the street, which was really interesting.

We went to Animate, a store dedicated entirely to anime and manga. As one friend described it, it’s a store of お宅グッズ (otaku guzzu—otaku goods :P). I unfortunately couldn’t take pictures since it wasn't allowed in the store but it was really cool to go through 7 floors of nothing but anime and manga things XD

Hiroshi was also really nice and also bought me a special local food of Akihabara—instant oden! It comes in a can and you can buy it from the vending machine, and it comes out really warm. Apparently Akihabara didn’t have many restaurants in the past, and so people who came here would just eat the instant oden when they got hungry. Now there’s lots of restaurants so they don’t really need to eat instant oden anymore, but it’s still around in the vending machines.

Hiroshi also bought a really delicious chocolate croissant for me to eat :D. I think it's called チョコクロ (Choko Kuro). After Akihabara we took a quick trip to Ginza and we went to a music store there. I saw a ton of brand name stores—Ginza is for rich old people (and yuppies and celebs).

We found a jewelry store with a gigantic Pooh!

I'm not really sure why it's here but we found a cupid peaking around a corner.

I rushed back to Kai’s house afterward to drop of stuff I bought, and then rushed out again for dinner with Professor Dasher. The JBC class alums typically get together and I was fortunate to be right in Tokyo at the time of the most recent dinner gathering. We at a place called やるき茶屋　(Yaruki chaya). I was a few minutes late because it was really, REALLY hard to find, but surprisingly I was the first student who got there (Professor Dasher had arrived early). I really enjoyed the food (and paid for its deliciousness too—it was a 5000 yen dinner! more than $50) but really hated how smoky the place was. Most places I’d been through so far in Japan didn’t have smoke-filled rooms but I guess in the restaurant, which was pretty small, you could smoke anywhere in it. And so when I came out my clothes smelled like smoke. Gross. My scarf and jackets still smell like tobacco :(. In any case, here’s a picture of the DELICIOUS sashimi that we had. (so, it was my second night in Japan, and I’ve already had sashimi two times. Hehe yummmmmy)

I unfortunately had to leave early, but it was for a good reason—to meet up with ALC people! :D I got to see Nobu, Haruka, and Kai, and we met outside Shibuya station at the Hachiko (dog statue).

Then we all went to an 居酒屋　(izakaya). It was my first time at one, and apparently high schoolers and businessmen really like to go to izakaya to hang out, eat, and drink. It’s kind of like a pub, but nicer on the inside and the particular one we went to was pretty neat. It had an electronic computer next to the table and you placed orders through that.

(see Nobu holding the electronic tablet thingy? You place orders through that)

We had MORE sashimi (SO DELICIOUS) and then I even had raw horse meat. It was kind of scary. It didn’t taste bad at all tho :D. Now I can say I’ve tried horse! (it’s the red nigiri pieces) Update: So this means I've had sashimi 3 times in 2 days. Do I win or what? :D

Got back to Kai’s house at 11, and showered, packed, and slept around 1AM.

I woke up this morning at 5:15 and was wide awake. I guess I'm kinda jetlagged after all. Oh well, as long as I can stay awake for the whole day today I’ll be fine.

Kai’s mom woke up early and already prepared breakfast by the time I walked into the kitchen. I don’t know how she does it—she slept at like midnight or 1AM and then must’ve gotten up around 5 to start cooking. In any case, she’s amazing and a really good cook. I had a fish called “muri” this morning, but I’m not sure what that is in English. Maybe cod? The meat was white. She also let me try natto (fermented beans) but as expected of a 外人　(gaijin—foreigner) I’m super not used to the taste. It kind of reminds me of stinky tofu, and I don’t like stinky tofu even though I’m Chinese. The natto was really smelly, but then it tasted kind of good. And then I tried it again and then tasted not kind of good. I gave up on eating it, but I appreciated Kai’s mom letting me try it. During breakfast there was also a tiny earthquake. Kai and his mom said that small ones happen a lot.

You know, I’ve been in Tokyo for 1.5 days now and been to so many different places, but not once did I go to Tokyo station. Isn’t that weird? I’m glad I didn’t have to try to navigate it though—I heard that even despite the signs and stuff it’s a complete maze.

I’m sitting in the Shinkansen waiting area now. I got here really early to try to avoid the morning rush crowds on the　井の頭 （Inokashira） line from Ikenoue and on the 山手線　（Yamanote sen） from Shibuya to Shinagawa stations. Kai’s mom says that the morning rush is so crowded that if you let go of your bag it wouldn’t fall. I felt that I didn’t want to be a sardine when I’ve got a backpack, rolling luggage, and purse on me, so I went to Shinagawa way earlier than I needed to—I arrived around 7:15 and my Nozomi Shinkansen train doesn't leave until 8:37. I’m excited to be going to Kyoto soon! I can’t wait to see the cherry blossoms. I do hope the train gets here soon though because sitting in the cold for an hour is NOT cool. My hands are numb and it’s hard to type.

This is my Shinkansen and the car I’m sitting in :).

Nozomi 17

OMG ITS SO WARM ON THE SHINKANSEN!!!!

Warm Sophie = happy Sophie

The Shinkansen is pretty smooth. I got on from 品川 (Shinagawa) station at 8:37 and should get to 京都　(Kyoto) at 10:57 or something.

It’s going really fast right now. I just woke up from a small nap and it’s all country now and big houses, kind of like what you might see in 蜂蜜とクローバ(Hachimitsu to Kuro-ba—Honey and Clover). I also tried to go to the bathroom on the Shinkansen and it’s wayyy too fancy for it’s own good. Don’t get me wrong—I really liked how it’s super clean and very hygienic, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get the damn door closed. A gentlemen had to point at these buttons on the wall out to me that closed and opened the door =___=. Hahaha

It’s 10:13ish and the train is arriving at Nagoya (definitely looks like city here now, not country). The lady next to me named Kondo just gave me two Lindt truffles and tsumamishu, which I think is like…small snacks. It has a lot of crunchy yummy stuff in it! So delicious. I’m really grateful for her kindness—it’s small things like this that make me miss home less.

Kyoto stop is coming up soon! Two eps of Ouran Host Club and I’ll be there XD.

Found Co-op Inn, where SCTI students are staying for a bit until school starts, fairly easily with help of map from the hotel's website and also thanks to Kat's advice. This is my room--it's for one person only but is really cozy and nice. AND they provide a LAN cable for free internetz! So much win.

I fail today because I spent more than $300 just in one day. A lot of it was on souvenirs. @_____@ I need to stop buying souvenirs for like, the rest of the time I'm here or something...or maybe I need to have less friends :P hahahaha