May 26, 2023 – RITs International Game Industry Course for 2023

Gyoza, Zazen, Ten-Pin (5/24)

The day was another early one, starting at 7AM.

Breakfast was a nice highlight, maining avocado toast, something I would never expect to see in Japan! Was definitely a treat.

Our first activity was a trip to a nearby temple for a Zazen practice. For those not in the know, Zazen is a meditative discipline that’s central to Zen Buddhism. Despite being a tad congested, I found myself sitting in the lotus position, trying my hardest to focus on just breathing and keeping the pose right. Some people opted for the shoulder-stick whack to stay focused, but I decided my struggles were plenty enough.

Our next destination was Rengeo-in, or as it’s commonly known, Sanjusangendo. Seeing the 1001 buddhist statues in a row was quite the experience, something I just can’t put into words! It’s just so many statues that you can’t even process how much effort it took back in the day.

I particularly enjoyed the statues in the front row of a bunch of religious figures, but sadly, no photography was allowed. Instead, here’s some official photos of the inside!

We then headed back to the charming lanes of Ninenzaka where we visited Yasaka Koshindo Temple, filled with colorful ball-shaped charms. There, you write one of your hopes and attach it to a little string. In a way, it’s like people’s hopes and dreams painting a giant colorful mosaic on the shrine!

After that, we got ourselves lost among the back alleys, and stumbled upon another temple, and a delightful Pokémon manhole cover! The contrast of traditional temples and modern pop-culture references was just… Japan in a nutshell. Loved it!

Following that, we took part in a traditional sadou tea ceremony. We learned about 和敬清寂 (wakeiseijaku), the spirit of peace and harmony, respect, purity and tranquility as the principles of the ceremony. There, we were treated to kohaku (a type of sweet jelly dessert, with some yuzu peel in the center) and matcha tea. Everything was so calming and the people there were nothing short of hospitable. On top of that the sweets were so unexpectedly good, and the matcha was intensely high quality.

Nishiki market was up next, an extravagant shopping street lined with hundreds of food shops under a ceiling patterned with red, green and yellow. It was quite crowded, but an experience I definitely enjoyed! In the middle was an amazing snoopy-themed restaurant, so I went and got a snoopy-yaki (a snoopy-shaped taiyaki). Walking back, I also found some gyoza — absolutely mouth-watering!

Afterwards, a group of us aimed to try the Kyoto Pokemon center, only to be met with a cue a ticket system just to enter. I wasn’t in the mood to wait a whole hour just to get in, so I opted to head back to the hotel to get some laundry and blog post writing in.

In the evening, we joined up with some folks from KCG for a fun bowling session at Round One, a massive entertainment complex. The kid of one of the American teachers joined us, and they were a riot! Very much a kid ranting about his special interests. After a while, we ended up more wanting to have fun with it, as you can most likely see from the score sheet. I ordered some fried and chicken, which wasn’t the best quality but sure was addictive. The drink bar was also great!

The bowling alley was nothing short of futuristic and navigating the screens was an… experience in itself (somewhat hellish for even me who can speak the language). I’m used to bowling with much less tech, so it was quite novel to me. Nevertheless, there was even a floor dedicated to karaoke, and three more floors of arcade games!

After bowling, we found ourselves wandering towards the arcade games. I fruitlessly spent a bit too much on claw machines and watched some friends become rhythm game novices right next to pros shredding the SSS level difficulty tracks. Nothing brings you back to earth like that, haha.

Walking back to the hotel, we got a kick out of the amusingly mistranslated English on some signs. Can’t help but not laugh at it all.

Finally, after yet another day packed end-to-end, I got back to the hotel and crashed out.

Tomorrow? Hiroshima!

7th Impact

Toei Studio Park Kyoto

Today was our free day in Kyoto, followed by the game jam kickoff at 5pm. For the free day Vincent, Maddy, Esther, Sten, and I went to the Toei Studio Park in Kyoto to see the giant Eva 01 statue. We went with the understanding that we would only be able to look at the statue and take pictures in front of it. However, we were able to do the full boarding and linking experience. We got a bunch of pictures of ourselves in front of the Eva and then went inside it, where we took a quiz to see which of the characters in the show we were, based on some random quiz questions. After that there were cardboard cutouts of the characters in the show that we got to take pictures in front of. Then we ascended the mech and got to do a compatability test by sitting in the plug in its neck. It simulated what it feels like being shot from the underground city to the surface, like they do in the show. We all got really low compatability percents :).

Sten in front of his favorite character, Asuka

After going through the Eva we got a printed photo of all of us standing in its hand, then explored the rest of the park. There wasn’t all that much there unless you wanted to do some of the attractions, but they costed extra and seemed to be meant more for kids. We shopped at the stores in the park and I got a little Gojo keychain and a coin purse. There was a cool Evangelion shop that had a bunch of cool stuff, and there was a lot of samurai and ninja merchandise which I thought was super strange. The park was overall kind of underwhelming, since there wasn’t really anything for the shows that Toei has, it was all just ninja themed areas. We ate at this resturant that served Evangelion themed dishes which was alright, not the best food I’ve ever had but not the worst. After eating we did one last run through of the building and then headed back to our hotel.

Before we got the hotel Vincent, Esther, and I went shopping at Uniqlo in Aeon Mall, and I bought 4 Attack on Titan shirts for only 30 USD :D. After shopping we walked back to the hotel just in time for the bus to KCG. After we got to KCG we did a tour of their new building for masters students, which was really cool. Made RIT look cheap with their fancy event floor and rooftop garden. Their classrooms and library were also super nice, and they had a sound mixing room that looked really cool. After the tour we headed over to the building next door to kickoff the game jam! It was super cool to meet all the japanese students, and they were all really nice. We ate pizza and snacks while getting to know each other. Then we all installed Unreal in preperation for the next day, said goodbye, and then took off. Today was super fun and I am excited about what the game jam has to offer.

Sick Day

May 26th:

Unfortunately I have little to share today because I am 90% sure I have strep throat. It is very on and off pain wise. Sometimes I feel fine other times I can’t speak or swallow. Now is one of the latter times. Perfect for typing.

I woke up late and played Zelda for a bit before Jasmine convinced me to go to Mister Donut with her. I still haven’t tried mine but they look amazing.

I also got to hangout with Professor Jacobs while he helped me navigate getting to an ER (they don’t have urgent care) and taking covid tests and such. No help as of today however it was honestly a really interesting culture experience.

We got some tasty food afterwards and I learned a lot about the abroad program and our class and other fun stories from Jacobs.

With some extra time left part of the group played jackbox games! I left pretty quickly though as my throat began to hurt again. So annoying but I’m still very happy to be in Japan and having fun.

Hiroshima

May 25th:

Today was a bit challenging. I am staring to get sick and we are going to be out all day. Not to mention the weight of going to the Hiroshima museum was more than I expected There were many school groups with young young kids going into the museum that had very graphic and tragic content. The children also preformed speeches and bowed to a memorial statue as well. It was a lot different from any school field trip in the states.

Because of the intensity and out of respect I avoided taking photos in the museum I did get a few others of the dome building that is still standing.

On a lighter note Skyler and Emma accidentally ordered alcoholic drinks for lunch at 11 am and Skyler actually drank a decent amount of them. I also got a chance to try some banana and caramel mochi balls at Starbucks.

After the museum and talking to some Japanese children that were very curious about Sten we headed to an old castle were we mostly watched fish and took a short sitting break.

And finally we had a HUGE dinner. I am the only one who didn’t finish their food I don’t know how everyone did it I was in pain. It was so yummy though. I was attempting to understand Yuko and the chef speak in Japanese but I probably looked like a children just staring at them while critically thinking.

bonus image: sten’s head

Day 3

We woke up super early today and meditated with a monk at his shrine. Something that surprised me was that if you get distracted or your back begins to hurt, you bring your hands together, bow to the monk, and he hit you with a rod. My back did begin to hurt – I also thought, “When’s the next time I can get hit by a monk?”, so I gave this method a try – it shockingly helped. While it was hard to focus occasionally, it was a cool experience.

Afterwards we visited one of my favorite shrines, the one with all of the statues in it. I couldn’t take pictures due to it being a sacred site, but nevertheless I loved the visual and the story behind it; where the emperor wanted to show his strength and security so he created this temple.

We also got to walk around a small marketplace with incredible views – at the base of the shrine where the people jumped off and survived – and got to have make tea at a tea ceremony. I piqued my interest how strong the tea was. Apparently it’s made with either less water or more tea and is very caffeinated.

Afterwards, Megan and I went to the Pokémon center where they had Pikachu wearing a kimono greeting the customers and where I spent a surprisingly small amount of money. Later that night we met up at Round1 for bowling and I got two strikes.

Day 2

The entire group spent the day sightseeing numerous temples – both Shinto and Buddhist. While I don’t remember the exact names of all of them, I remember them all clearly. We first went to the Golden shrine right on the lake, that had part of the cremated remains of the Buddha on the third floor.

After getting on the bus and traveling to our next destination, we found ourselves in a bamboo forest and a marketplace for lunch. Before moving on to a temple on top of a mountain – where a group of people apparently jumped off of and survived. It was here where I started collecting stamps from the various temples and shrines so I could make a collage when I got back home.

We finally visited my personal favortie – a temple with thousands of gates – known as the Fox Shrine; where Sten had to photobomb me as payback from something earlier in the day. We spent the night at KCG, watching ‘Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train’. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, which was surprising because I’m not the biggest fan on anime. I really liked the creepy villain, the story, and the conflict for the main character that fights demons, where his sister is a demon.

Zen Mode

May 24th:

As today approach I constantly wished to sit for a while since my feet hurt. I wished incorrectly. We had meditation early in the morning and I had to use every ounce of my strength to keep good posture and attempt to weave my legs into a braid. It was really interesting process wise, however I am weak willed and not very good at sitting still. One part that was really surprising was being hit by the long stick to help you focus or wakeup or if your back hurts. It really did do what the monk said I felt very energized directly after.

After that was visiting the national treasure of the Sanjusangendo Shrine. This was sort of a speed run and photography wasn’t allowed but there were 1000 golden (colored not material) buddha statues which was a little spooky. The building was massive and every time I thought we saw all the statues there were more.

Next was a look into the Japanese tea ceremony. Our guide told us that an actual ceremony takes FOUR HOURS. However we had a summary version and even got to try the tea ourselves. The most interesting part was that when holding the tea cup you have the most beautiful facing side of the cup towards you, but when you drink you face it away as you don’t touch your lips to the most beautiful part.

Finally we got a look around the area and some smaller temples!

I even got Japanese Wendy’s and the BEST burger I’ve ever had. Teriyaki Avocado!

New Friends in Old Places

Today was about as busy as I expected it to be, but boy I did not think it would physically affect my body as much as it did.

Today was finally our free day!! Which meant that me, Megan, and Chloe were up early in the morning to head to Kiyomizu-dera and rent kimonos for the morning! The store was certainly not prepared for a very tall American woman to walk in, so the kimono itself was a little tight and the shoes were a bit too small, but it was still fun to walk around and take lots of photos!! My feet were dying after three hours of waddling through thick crowds and cute stores trying to find some good spots to take pictures. But we did get a lot of really good shots!

After we finally peeled our kimonos off, we made the walk to the Kyoto Pokemon Center to see if it would be as busy as it was on Wednesday. To our surprise, there was no line or crowd at all! I was able to buy a couple small things, like another Made in Japan charm with Eevee on it and an adorable sleeping Eevee plush (Can you tell I like Eevee?). I really wanted a coin purse, but they were out of the medium size which was the only one that I wanted so my search for the perfect coin purse continues (and at this rate will likely continue until a day or two before we leave, with my luck).

Our other plan for today before we head back to the hotel to meet with KCG was to visit the Loutre Otter Cafe, which was one of the big wishlist items that we wanted to do, but unfortunately they were too busy. Hopefully we can go back on Friday and play with the otters!

Hanging out with KCG at getting to meet our teammates for the first time was super fun! They ordered lots of pizza and other sides (though there was only 1 pizza without a bunch of toppings that I don’t like that was swiftly devoured) and brought a lot of snacks and candy for us to try. There was also a small group of boys that were repeatedly eating wasabi, for reasons that will always elude me. Everyone from my team was super nice and I am looking forward to working with them for the game jam!

To end the night, a majority of our group hung out in Brody and Vincent’s room and played Jackbox party games and Mariokart 8 Deluxe while “drinking” (aka we bought some random stuff from the stores, sipped a little, and then forgot that we were drinking because we were very into the game). It was really nice to get to hang out with everyone because we’d been trying to do it for a while but had always come back to the hotel too exhausted to do anything. I’m a bit nervous for the game jam tomorrow, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting to sit down for a majority of the day!

The Great Hiroshima Sprint

We woke up super early to prepare for our train to Hiroshima. To prepare for our 2-3 hour ride, I downloaded some episodes of the Queens Gambit, one of my favorite shows.

Going in the bullet train is one of my favorite modes of transportation just because of how fast it feels, and with a window seat this time, I could really experience the relentless speed first hand.

We got to Hiroshima and grabbed a quick lunch at a food court. Then we went around the Dome, which was a beautifully tragic sight to see. The fact that it remained so intact is still so fascinating to me. Afterwards, we went to the Peace Museum. It is incredibly tragic, yet optimistic in its goal to end nuclear warfare, and reading all of the stories and history was an invaluable experience.

After the Peace Museum, we went to visit a nearby castle, adding onto the many steps we’ve taken since entering Japan. We saw a lot of carp and koi fish, and another temple. For dinner, went to a unique place that had recently burst in popularity, but KCG was able to get us an impossible reservation, and it was a fulfilling and delicious meal.

After dinner, some of the group members and I split to go see the Hiroshima Pokemon Center, and as long as we were back at the station by 7:30 PM, we would be okay. After failing to hail a cab for 10 minutes, we finally got one and arrived at the Pokemon Center at 6:40 PM. After buying some stickers, it was time to go back. However, our group reached a point of indecision on how to get back: cab or station. With how difficult it was to get a cab, and our cluelessness with the subway, we wasted another 10 minutes. So, instead of wasting even more time, we decided to do what any sane tech students would do: speed walk.

It was a race against the clock and we were keen on winning. With our feet already straining from all of the walking throughout the past couple of days, our journey was made even more treacherous. The only thing motivating us was the fear of missing our train. It was a war between the ground and our feet; an unstoppable march towards the rendezvous point. Small disputes and skirmishes about directions caused tension, making it a mental battle instead of a physical one. After a long path of sweat and tears, we made it to the station at 7:31 PM, finding the rest of the group. This was an event for the history books.

Anyway, we got onto the train and it was a comfortable ride back to Kyoto, though Sten’s snoring might have broken some of the rules of the quieter, Japanese culture. After a long time doing laundry and a nice bath, I hit the bed and fell asleep faster than ever before

Hiroshima

We started another early day with a quick breakfast and boarding the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. After the 3 hour train ride, we arrived and had lunch at a local food court where I tried tsukamen for the first time.

After lunch, we visited the peace memorial dome. All of us were pretty solemn, but at the same time this was an important visit.

During this time, we also visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This was another site that was definitely important to go see.

Afterwards, we took a short visit to a small castle and temple before heading to an okonomiyaki restaurant. It was very delicious and filling. Mine had various types of seafood, green onion, egg, along with other foods.

Lastly, a group made a extremely quick trip to the Pokemon center. This was the only one that had a shiny Gyardos.

We all ran back to rendezvous with the rest of the group to take the Shinkansen back to Kyoto. Overall, a very heavy day physically and emotionally but well worth the trip!

To be continued…