Day: May 22, 2023

Travelling to Kyoto!

Everyone travelling to Kyoto!

Today is the day we travelled from Shinagawa to Kyoto via bullet train. Our original plan was to get on a train at 11am after checking out of the hotel around 10am. However, the trains were all full at 11 so we had to switch to a 2pm train. This game us roughly 3 hours between checking out of the hotel and heading to the train station. So after eating some ramen at the food court within the hotel, me and my group went to the aquarium!

Lunch before Kyoto!

The aquarium was so cool to see! There were all kinds of animals there, not even just fish. It was a tad bit pricier than typical aquariums in the U.S., but the quality of the exhibits and, from what I can tell, the treatment of the animals is far better. There were capybaras, stingray, sharks of all kinds, jellyfish, coral reef fish, otters, frogs, piranhas, and even more. We didn’t get a chance to see the bigger fish, like the dolphins, because the exhibits were later, but I’m ok with that. We did get to see an otter show, which was so cute!

Otter show! The otter was catching a ball thrown at him 🙂

The aquarium was split into many different sections, including a jungle section which included most of the land animals. We also saw another group of students in the aquarium at the same time as us! My favorite animal exhibit was either the seals or the otters because they were sooo cute. After seeing all the exhibits we went through the gift shop to look around, but things were a bit pricey (as to be expected). After leaving the aquarium we went to 7/11 to get ice cream, which was super tasty, then we headed back to the hotel lobby to wait until we went to the train station. The train ride went pretty smoothly with the group and was a nice, comfortable ride (I played Tears of the Kingdom the whole time).

One of the seals doing laps upside down!

After arriving in Kyoto we met up with our friends from KCG and loaded our bags into the bus we would take to the hotel later. Before going to the hotel we had dinner in this really fancy restaurant that must have costed a lot of money, so I am very thankful for the opportunity! The dinner was 10 courses and each were so, so good. The first course was an assortment of seafood and vegetables. I got to eat 7 baby squids because no one liked them :). The second course was an assortment of fish served with wasabi and shiso, which was very scrumptious. Dish three was vegetables boiled in a really yummy broth that was set on a flame on our table! Dish number four was a pork belly and lettuce plate that very special instructions. The server came and lit the fire under neath a bowl of oil, then we put all of our lettuce in the bowl and waited 3-5 minutes. After the time was up we were able to put the pork belly into the oil one slice at a time to cook it, then dip it in the sauce to eat. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night! The fifth course was a salad with avocados, lettuce, and tomatoes. Course six was tempura shrimp and vegetables, which was absolutely amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the circular vegetable but everything else was yummy. Course number seven was a tofu gelatin dish that I did not enjoy very much, as much as I hate to say it. Dish 8 was sushi made right in front of us by the head chef of the restaurant! Some students even made the sushi themselves! The sushi was great and the staff were wonderful. Course 9 was an egg broth that was very good. The final course was desert, which was vanilla and soy ice cream! Really liked this one, haha :).

The many courses of the night! (Reverse order, starts with 10)

After dinner we got on the bus from earlier and headed to our hotel! I took a bath, had a meeting, then clonked out! Day 2 done 🙂

Exploring Tokyo

5/18 – Shibuya

Our first full day in Tokyo, Esther and I explored Shibuya since that’s where our hotel was. We crossed the Shibuya Scramble, saw Hachiko, and wandered the streets. My wallet hurt a bit after going to the Once Piece store, Nintendo Tokyo, Shibuya Parco, and many other stores.

5/19 – Harajuku

The day after, we went to Harajuku! This was my personal favorite place I have visited so far, and has been a lifelong bucket list item of mine. The most fascinating thing about Harajuku (and all of Tokyo so far) was the street fashion. It does not even compare to clothing in America, with almost everyone you see being well dressed, classy, and with an amazing fashion sense. I could people watch and admire outfits here for hours. We did some shopping and visited the iconic Takeshita street. It was a gorgeous district and I would love to visit again.

5/20 – Shimokitazawa

Then, we visited Shimokitazawa! Before heading there, we made a quick stop at FromSoftware’s head office in Tokyo. As a huge soulsborne fan it was so cool to see where some of my favorite games were conceived, even if the studio itself was closed to the public. Next, we took a quick train ride to Shimokitazawa, the vintage shopping district. The fashion here was also insane, and I purchased a really cool semi-designer piece for a good price! That night, we also visited Shinjuku and got to experience the nightlife scene in Tokyo.

Overall, these early days were filled with exploration and wandering, and I had a great time doing my own thing and experience the city for myself.

To Kyoto, and Beyond

After our adventures to the Aqua Park, I met up with everyone else as we prepared our trip to Kyoto. We went to Shinagawa Station and used our newly-acquired JRPasses to hop onto my first-ever bullet train!

The ride was about two-and-a-half to three hours, but it went by fast. As we approached Kyoto, the scenery changed from metropolitan to gorgeous countryside. It was absolutely stunning, not to mention noticing how fast we were really going on the train.

We got to Kyoto and met with our sponsors at KCG, who were super hospitable and kind. They took us to an amazing restaurant where we had a 10-course, authentic, Japanese cuisine experience. It was truly some of the best food I’ve ever had. After the dinner, we made our way to the Anteroom Hotel, which has the quaintest and cutest rooms I’ve ever seen and it’s own, dedicated shower room.

A picture of Brody during our morning stroll to 7/11 in Kyoto

From Sumida To Kyoto!!

On the last day of our Hostel stay, Belle and I had a biiigggg day planned. That plan being the Pokémon Cafe!!

Belle and I moved out of our hostel and dropped our luggage at the luggage holding area. From there we headed for the train station in Asakusa. We once again ran into the festival from my last post but we tried to avoid the traffic as much as possible. We went to like really small shop on Orange St that had all these old DS games for like ¥300! It was so cool. However the weather was hot, so we headed for the station to go to Nihombashi. We boarded the train without issue and got off at our stop. We arrived a bit early so we walked around Nihombashi.

Nihombashi seems to be a very business centered town so we really just saw buildings. Once 10am came around, we went to the the Pokémon Center! I spent a lot of money but it was so worth it. I got some goodies like pins, a nice shoulder bag, and a sticker! We also met up with Fabian and Pavel!

After waiting for a while in the line to check out, we went to the Pokémon Cafe! And let me tell you it was quite the experience. We ordered order food from the iPad and got it pretty fast. I ordered a soufflé pancake and a chocolate milk au lait for my first order and hot chocolate and the chocolate parfait for dessert.

We also got a dance from Pikachu!!! At the end we got some merch and headed back for Asakusa to pick up our luggage. After getting our luggage back in Sumida, we met up with Jess, Fabian, and Pavel to travel to Shinagawa for our first class meetup! Everything went pretty smoothly other than the train being busy. We arrived in Shinagawa and checked into our rooms.

After putting my stuff away it was already time to meet for class. Jas and I headed downstairs to meet everyone. As a class, we headed to the station to exchange our JR rail passes. It took a while and everyone was starving so at around 7pm we went to dinner at the hotel’s food court.

I have a side tangent though. This hotel was so extra. There were 11 IMAX theaters, 2 FLOORS of bowling, an aquarium, 7/11, multiple restaurants, many parlors, and golf simulations. It was insane. Side tangent over.

For dinner I got just a slab of pork and that was good for me. After dinner I went to 7/11 and got some ice cream and dango once more. I also saw that they had avocado Doritos and melon KitKats. I didn’t know those existed but they sure did!

After 7/11 , I went back up to my room, took a shower, and went the bed.

Next morning I got up at around 5am and decided to do laundry. The laundry was fine but the dryer was not the best. I had to use a hairdryer today my jean shorts.

After 11am checkout, Belle, Cam, Jess, Skylar, Liam, Chloe, and I went to the aquarium! It was really cool and they had capybaras! I love capybaras! They also had really cute otters that out on a little show for us. We were there for a little while then headed back to the hotel for class to meet.

We went to the rail station and went on the Sinkansen line. We waited then got on the train to Kyoto. Goodbye Tokyo! see you in a week!

The train ride was fine, it was cool to see other little towns outside of Tokyo. The ride was long but we had Zelda! After getting off the train we were greeted by KCG staff directing us to our bus for our luggage. We all packed our luggage into the bus and headed to dinner!

Dinner was at this fancy traditional Japanese restaurant where we had a 10 COURSE MEAL. It was so cool and such an experience. Pictures will be added below. I’m a very picky eater but I tried as much as I can to have a bite of everything. My favorite dish It was an amazing experience but I was so exhausted after the long day of travel and Aquarium and now so much food in my tummy so we headed to our new home for a week.

The new hotel is nice. The room is like a studio but with 2 beds. Jas and I watched some tv then went to sleep.

Okay! See you tomorrow blog!

Here are photos of Pokémon Cafe, Aquarium, Our hotel is Shinagawa, breakfast before the Shinkansen, our ride to Kyoto, the big dinner, and our new hotel.

5/22 – Faster than a speeding Bullet Train!

Oh, what a day this has been! 

The day starts off at 5am (as per usual apparently), where I realized I apparently had forgotten my satchel in the food court we had eaten at last night. Frantically asking staff in the hotel lobby in both English, English translations, and even rough Japanese, I tried to see if anyone had found it or had seen it, but to no avail. I even opened my Find My Devices app to see if my Airpods (which had been in my stachel) were nearby and could be located, and by proxy my bag, but still no luck as they were “Unable to be located.” Saddened that I may have lost some valuables, I returned to my room defeated, and along with Pavel stepped out to find some breakfast.

Just as we did, however, Pavel’s maps app was sort of freaking out, so I opened my phone to get directions to our destiantion, which opened to Find My Devices, and which now displayed my Airpods as being 0.1 miles away. Startled, I followed the app to the East Tower front desk of the hotel, and after explaining my situation to the concierge, he made some calls and was able to find my bag! He reutned it to me, and I couldn’t have been happier! 

We found the missing bag!

After that whole fiasco, Pavel and I were starving, and so we went to a nearby café to have breakfast, and I was able to speak with the cashier in Japanese and order our food, which was a great feeling! 

Breakfast at Café Shinagawa. I was even able to speak to the cashier in Japanese!

After enjoying a filling meal, we wandered around Shinagawa city for a little while, finding a shopping center inside a large building, and a small park with a shrine inside. Then, it was time to meet back up with the group and go to board the Shinkansen for Kyoto!

A small shrine we found while exploring near Shinagawa

The Shinkansen was a great experience, and I saw lots of smaller local towns as we zipped past them. It was really interesting seeing the different home architecture and land layouts!

The Shinkansen really is fast!

Once we arrived in Kyoto, we met with KCG staff who were so welcoming and kind, and made us feel right at home as guests! They took us to a restaurant that was full of traditional Japanese cuisine, and my mouth was in its happy place the entire time! We were served ten courses, and each was a new food I hadn’t really tried before. There was small squid, soups, vegetables, and even sashimi prepared by the head sushi chef, who let us try rolling our own, which was an amazing experience. After dinner I was extremely full, but so glad I had the chance to experience so much wonderful food!


And so our first official day came to a close. I can’t wait to see what the next day has in store for us!

12 am dot blog

i’m joining the league of cheaters who started early although i come to you today bearing little fruit. a few days ago i hatched a little man named patch and i have neglected him ever since. to be upfront, i’m not a fan of virtual pet games to begin with and i’ve been having a lot of real world to explore recently so this really fell by the wayside.

i think the premise of peridot is pretty dependent on taking the game outside but due to this app’s drain on my phone’s battery (that i need for gps and translation), patch is 6 days old and has yet to see the sun for the first time. not to mention when i’m walking around i’m focusing on getting to a train on time, or carrying the world’s heaviest luggage, or looking forward to the thing i’m going to see. pretty much the last thing i want to do is pull out my phone and complete a to-do list.

it could also be because my phone is a bit of an older model, but whether i’m on wifi or data i can’t play this game without a serious amount of lag. i’ll throw him a ball, the game will freeze, and then he’s brought it back already. this happens for virtually every interaction for me, it’s a nice surprise when it doesn’t. i suppose i’m having a hard time feeling organically engaged with this game but that might change if everyone on the trip suddenly starts going all in on peridot. i will say i genuinely feel bad for how little attention i’m giving patch, the guilt feeling is why i avoid these kinds of games to begin with, because the natural conclusion of all of them is that you move on and never come back. genuinely, i wish i had better news.

[patch in the dark void of a hotel room, the only home he’s ever known.]

it is well past my bedtime

alright people today we are blogging tired this is gonna be a weak one. a real iceberg salad of an assignment. no way around it unfortunately, i’m an early sleeper and this schedule is trying my patience.

so. today i woke up at five even to the sun streaming through the floor-length window in my room. i like it that way. it’s the most gradual and natural way to wake up, and evades the angry feeling an alarm instigates.

[the window as i left it. sorry i have no morning pics, i was busy being awake or something.]

i wanted to take a morning walk like i have been doing but i was worried it might not be pleasant due to a sharp pain that i noticed in my ankle yesterday, probably due to dragging luggage through the city and standing on the train to tokyo. the walk didn’t last long because my ankle was in fact, doing the thing again. it was more like a short limp to the nearest konbini to scavenge and hurry back to the room before anything got worse.

today’s breakfast mission was to discover the difference between melonpans. every time i go to the bread section of a konbini i always see a lot of stuff labeled “melonpan” but the appearance seems to be seriously lacking in melon. (i think now that maybe this name refers more to the shape/cut of the bread than the ingredients?) i got a green one with cream and a round one with a checkered pattern. indeed, only the green one had anything to do with melon, and the checked one was straight bread with a sweet coating on top i couldn’t quite place the origin of. both were good for their own reasons, but they both had a moist, squishy texture i’ve noticed in a lot of japanese breads. that’s my favorite kind of bread. beats the straight rocks that the french eat every time.

after sitting in the room for a bit and diffusing a breakdown over the leg i met up with everyone in the lobby. as much as i didn’t want to do more walking i did really want to see the aquarium so i joined the group that was heading there. fish are just free serotonin, i got no other way to put it.

this aquarium was pretty weird. the first thing we saw after buying tickets was a pirate boat amusement park ride and a small fish tank with a projection of sunny leaves overlapping it and the surrounding wall and floor area. it appears t0 have an association with maxell, a variety technology company, that likely had something to do with the exhibits’ liberal use of projectors. let’s just say i hope fish can’t see color or get headaches.

there’s a lot of stuff i could go into here but i think i will talk about the jelly room. my favorite thing about aquariums in my old age is always a good jelly room. no matter what aquarium you’re in you know when you’re walking in jelly because the whole vibe shifts from bright blue and green to a calm, meditative, black with tiny windows of color and a lofi playlist to sleep or study to (with rain noise). if they made an aquarium for jellys only i would go every week. anyway.

this jelly room was small in comparison to some other ones i’ve seen but it was really artfully done. there were mirrors on all sides, even the ceiling, with color-changing blown glass spheres dangling from the top that bounced light all around. the jellies were in their own color changing tubes and man i could watch these things go until the sun blows up. tickles the part of my ape brain that wants the dvd logo to hit the corner of the tv. the soundtrack was calm but melodic, and the sound played in my mind well after leaving. at the center of the room was a big circle tank that you could look through. i wish i got a closer look but it was a really good setup for a photo, i can’t blame people for going up to it but it did mean there wasn’t really a good time to get close.

[the aforementioned jelly room and my best jelly pic. i don’t really think green was this room’s color but hopefully you get the idea.]

the last Day Highlight is the really nice dinner that the KCG people treated us to. the restaurant was absolutely beautiful and the moment i walked in i knew this was gonna be a good time. if there’s anything you gotta know about me in the context of this trip it’s that i am a tempura fiend and after a stressful, painful day getting to sit down for an extended period of time and eat one of my favorite foods was really uplifting for me.

[i’m not much of a food picture guy but i figured this would come up. shout out to the people who gave me extra shrimp, really made my day.]

anyway. this hotel we’re staying in now is really nice and i’ll probably write about that tomorrow. it is 12 am though and i would like to sleep in it. onto the next blog. haha. i need to wake up by 5 tomorrow. hope the post was worth it folks maybe i can get to the next one earlier byeeee :2

Penguin Day!!! (+ travel to Kyoto)

For the first time, I was able to sleep in until 8! Previously, I had been waking up at 5 or earlier. We made our way to a bakery where I ate french toast and other bake goods. I also had a delicious smoothie and tried yuzu juice.

After, we checked out of our hotel and split up into groups. I was a part of a large group that went to the aquarium that was attached to the mall connected to our hotel. We were immediately welcomed by a swing boat type ride which we of course had to try.

While many of the earlier exhibits were more sparse and appeared to create a flashy vibe opposed to showcasing the animals, there were some interesting animals there.

This fish looks like he is eating sand.

Some of the later exhibits featured larger animals.

However, the most impressive exhibit by far was the penguin one (no biases here). I’ve never seen a penguin exhibit featuring different species of penguins in one exhibit space. They had King, Gentoo, African, and the rare Northern Rockhopper penguin native to only a few remote islands in the middle of the Atlantic. Truly a treat to see!

There was also an otter show where the otter did various tricks such as sorting garbage, speaking, and eating a shrimp larger than its head. However, we had to leave before seeing the penguin show in order to get to Kyoto…

I had to buy a bag from my favorite anime of all time, Pingu. A true masterpiece.

After riding the Shinkansen and playing more Hearthstone, we were greeted by KCG staff in Kyoto. They kindly guided us to a restaurant where we were treated to a traditional 10 course meal (+desert). This was a very new experience for many and not all of the food was everyone’s favorites, however, this was an amazing experience to experience the foods of a different culture. Personally, this compared to the Chinese banquet dinners that my extended family puts together for Chinese New Years so I was willing to try most foods. Familiar foods of Tempura, Sashimi and Sushi were also served following ice cream for desert. We also had the opportunity of making sushi under the direction of the head chef where I went first and had a great amount of difficulty putting on my glove (and ripped it). All things considered, I think I did a decent job.

We made our way to our hotel afterwards and am about to retire for the night as of the writing of this. Stay tuned, the Kyoto action has only just begun!

To be continued…

(Official) Day 0/1

Before meeting with the rest of the group, I went to the aquarium with Professor Jacobs and the sign language interpreters. Afterwards, I went to the building where Kojima productions is located. This was one of my top destinations, since their game Death Stranding is one of two games that makes me want to go into the game industry. Obviously I couldn’t go in but I was able to take a photo with the statue out front.

The next day I tried karaoke for the first time ever, which was on my bucket list since I love singing. It was so cool getting a private room and having drinks brought to us. I’ve always loved the idea of karaoke, but was nervous about trying it in public, usually around drunk people that I don’t know; so having a private room with someone I’m more familiar with was ideal.

Then we all took the bullet train to Kyoto where we met with employees from KCG for dinner. Unfortunately for me, I knew eating was going to be an issue because the Japanese diet consists of a lot of fish – something I am physically unable to eat; but I still had a good time getting to talk to my classmates, being in the environment, and trying new things. In the end, I just told everyone I was vegetarian.

Peridot – Day 1 (ish)

As part of our trip, we have been tasked with hatching “Dots” (small creatures from Niantic’s new app Peridot) and letting them travel with us while we are in Japan. We were supposed to hatch our first Dots today, BUT I may have cheated and spawned mine early. So I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce the two Dots that I already have since they’ll be traveling with me for this leg of the trip.

My first Dot was named North, a spacey little guy whose personality went from a total teenage rebel to a court jester (fitting, given his horns). He’s also wearing a party hat because it was given out by the app for free for new users (which is also part of the reason I got the app early, as I was worried the promotion would end before we got to hatch our first Dot by the school’s schedule. He will always hold a sentimental place in my heart, and I’m really happy that I was able to hatch him right when I got to Tokyo and let him grow up beside me as I learned more about the new culture I found myself in.

My second Dot, creatively named North Jr., was the first offspring of North and my personal favorite of the two (shhhh, our little secret). I’m a sucker for black and blue combos, and I’m really happy that he kept the jester horns although his personality is that he’s a crooner. I didn’t know what that was until two minutes ago, but it seems like he’s a sentimental little fella who likes to sing.

I may shell out $3 so that I can hatch a new Dot tomorrow to continue to care for, but I am so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open and I don’t think tomorrow will be much better. While it was against the wishes of our professors, I am happy that I was able to start early and get a feel for the game before being thrown into the deep end. I think the concept is really cute and it has a lot of potential.