Today was another big day for us. I started the day by getting breakfast with the gang and then shopping at this used figures store called Radio Kaiken, which was insane. They had so much cool stuff there and I really wish I had millions of dollars to buy all the figures :(. I got some stuff for me and some gifts for friends before we needed to go back to the hotel and head for Daiba City. We took a train over to Daiba to see a giant Gundam statue and do some shopping at the Daiba mall. The Gundam was so cool and we stayed for when it “transformed” into a different gundam (its head thing moved). I got some japanese manga books in a store in the mall of volumes I’ve already read, which were cool collectibles.
Big Earth
After the Gundam figure we went to Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. It was really cool and had lots of interesting exhibits, and robots. There was this giant earth ball that you could walk around on a spiral staircase which was sick. They also had a this game thing that let you create an earth to try and get to survive 50 years by giving it a path to take and hoping it wouldn’t be destroyed by bad events. I got my earth through all the bad stuff :). There were some cool AI exhibits that learned from the people that interacted with them, but they were so scary to look at. Uncanny valley was doing its work for those robots.
Then we went to teamLABs, which was another highligh of the trip. This place was so cool I was surprised. They had LED light shows in giant mirror rooms, water exhibits with interactive fish holograms, procedural flower projector domes, floating flower gardens, and a room full of giant balls. Each exhibit was unique and interesting, which made for some really cool photos.
Today’s itinerary was pretty similar to yesterday’s, but we swapped our historical landmarks for more technological ones! We were also joined by an RIT alum who would be teaching at KCG soon, which was awesome! He had been living in Japan for some time already, so it was cool to meet someone who was from the states, but also very much used to and comfortable in Japan’s culture.
The day began with our group heading down the subway to Odaiba, and back to Diver City. This time, the whole class was able to see the Unicorn Gundam, and we all had some time to shop around the Diver City mall. I went back to Gundam Base to finally take pictures of all the displays and statues, and really take in the vibe and displays this time. I also was able to find a few more souvenirs, and try the famous Mister Donut donuts (they were pretty good, I have to say!)
The Gunpla displays were absolutely epic. Some more of the pics from Gundam Base Tokyo!
Afterwards, we walked a bit farther down to the Musuem of Science, where we walked through a few really interesting exhibits! They were all themed around the future and about how technology and the future are interconnected, and many of them featured interactive portions!
This one was a game where you traced a path, and then watched as an icon of your preferred future followed the path you drew, with the goal of avoiding all obstacles and making it to the end. This one featured an android robot that would learn from movements it saw through its camera, and figure out ways to respond or mimic them. There was even a model of a room within the ISS.
The museum was pretty cool, I just wish I had had more time to explore it. Afterwards though, we went to what was probably the coolest artwork experience I’ve ever had: teamLabs. And oh man, it was incredible!
There were two exhbiits, the garden exhibit and the water exhibit. The garden exhibit was good, had a room filled with flowers and some glowing stones, but the water exhibit, that one was cool. It started with rushing water down a slope that we walked through, then transitioned into a room where the floor was made of bean bag chair type objects. Once we waded through that, we entered the LED crystal maze of mirrors, which was jaw droppingly stunning. Everything was reflective, and it seemed to almost go on forever. The lights, when dimmed, gave the room an appearance of a galaxy or night sky, and when illuminated was simply ethereal. It made for some amazing pictures!
Just breathtaking!
After that room, we continued on into a room filled with rubber balls that were as big as a person, if not a little bigger, and the room changed color. An interesting experience for sure, but the room after was even more unique. It was filled to the mid-shin with water, but colorful lights and fish sihlouettes of various colors were projected onto it. And after that, the final room was a dome shaped one that had a 3D rendering of procedurally generated flowers floating through the air projected onto it. It really simulated a 3D space and depth once you let yourself become immersed in it! Oh, and the whole time, we had to have our shoes and socks off, and beautiful ethereal music played in the background. It was truly a one of a kind experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone who comes to Tokyo!
Would recommend!
Once teamLabs was over (only took about 1.5 hours surprisngly), our group headed back to the hotel, where we finished the night off with some karaoke! I was pretty terrible, but luckily a few of us who went could sing, and it was a lot of fun! It was great to just try our best to sing in Japanese, fail somewhat spectularly, and just laugh it all off. The 2 hours we signed up for went by really quick, and I was honestly just getting into it and preparing to try and sing a Pokémon opening, but our time was up. Oh well, I guess that just means I have to come back!
Yesterday was a little bit of everything, which I wasn’t sure if we were going to get again! We did some shrines, some shopping, and another very cool themed cafe.
To start the day, me and Megan had to do our laundry for the last time. The hotel that we’re staying in charges an outrageous price for laundry service, so we had to lug our stuff to a local coin laundry building and immerse ourselves in the culture. It was really cool! I was dumb enough to forget to take a picture, but they had these machines that did both the washing and the drying so you didn’t have to move your clothes between machines, which ended up working really well (despite us having to run the drying mode for an extra cycle).
Then, we headed to the Imperial Palace to walk the grounds. We weren’t able to get a ticket into the actual palace, but even just the gardens surrounding it were absolutely gorgeous. It’s really weird to see giant skyscrapers behind the small, ancient buildings nestled into the middle of the city. There’s a specific garden called Ninomaru with lots of colorful flowers and a super cool (small) waterfall that you can walk to the top of.
After the Imperial Palace we headed to Harajuku, right outside of the Meiji Shrine grounds, for lunch. We originally tried following Megan to the mall with the Sailor Moon store, assuming that there’d be some kind of food there, but we managed to lose her and ducked into a different mall instead with an entrance that I’d swear is actually just a portal to another dimension. It looks SO COOL!
The only restaurant in the mall seemed very expensive and didn’t look like they’d have anything that I would like, so at the last second me and Fabian decided to leave and head to a small gyoza place instead. I can definitely say that it was worth it – the dumplings were absolutely delicious and super cheap for how much food we got!
After lunch we travelled into Meiji Shrine, with a long shaded path leading to it and other sub shrines in the area. The shaded path was very comfortable and a welcome change from the sun beating down on us. It was pretty standard compared to all of the other shrines that we’ve visited, but I picked up a peace of mind to keep on my backpack.
After the shrine we were sent off on our own, so a group of us rushed to Shibuya PARCO to visit the Pokemon Center (my 6th) and the other Nintendo Store in Japan. I got a pack of card sleeves from the Pokemon store (no pressed coin because they didn’t have any there 🙁 ) and a Korok coin purse and a handful of gummies from the Nintendo store. I really wanted to do the shirt design lab at this Pokemon Center, but unfortunately the wait was a bit too long for me. Once we had our fill, we rushed back to Akihabara for our dinner reservation!
For dinner, we ate at the Monster Hunter Bar for Fabian’s birthday. It was a super cool Monster Hunter themed cafe with drinks and food! I personally got a couple of different drinks and a steak meal, as well as a very cute set of dango. It was the first time I’ve ever tried dango, and it was definitely a lot chewier than I expected but it was still really good! Pavel also ordered this giant beer that Fabian took a picture with for his 21st birthday that seemed as big as him and it was hilarious.
We went back to Liam and Skyler’s room to watch another movie, this time the new Dungeons and Dragons movie, but we were all so exhausted that we barely made it halfway through before we had to call it quits.
Behind again on my blog posts! It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with them but I’m trying my best. We only have two planned days left after this, which is very very sad :C but I’m happy that I’m staying a couple days after to experience a little bit more!!
We met at noon, but beforehand, Brody, Esther, Maddy, and I got McDonalds, which was conveniently close by. Then, we met with the rest of the group in the lobby and debriefed for the day before starting our journey towards the Imperial Palace, where I was told the Emperor lived, or at least previously lived.
We took the subway to Tokyo Station and walked to the Imperial Palace from there. The name refers to a whole plot of land instead of a singular building, and it was a large plot of land.
We first walked through the given paths, which taught us a lot about the masonry and upkeep of the Palace over time. Towards the end of the palace, however, was when the beautiful garden began to reveal itself.
One of the Imperial Palace garden paths
The garden was beautiful and had an arrangement of plants, structures, pathways, and sights, including a small waterfall and a pond.
The pond at the Imperial Palace
After our quick tour of the Imperial Palace, we made our way towards the Meji Shrine, a shrine near Shibuya and Harujuku. We got some quick lunch in Harujuku before making our way towards the shrine. After a small, civil dispute within the group, we entered the park towards the shrine, passing through the large Torii Gate.
The Torii Gate Entrance to the park nearby Meji Shrine
I learned that we had to walk on the sides of the pathway because the middle was meant for the gods to pass through, which I thought was a fascinating design based on spiritual beliefs and cultural tradition.
Eventually, we made it to the shrine and I prayed the longest prayer so far, and received a fortune that included a vague poem that I have yet to fully decipher. and realize its meaning. After the shrine, we were let go to do what we liked, so Brody, Esther, Maddy, and I went to Shibuya, where I picked up the My Neighbor Totoro vinyl from one of my new favorite shops: RECOfan. We explored some other record shops and music shops as well, eventually ending out mini-trip to Shibuya with a steak dinner where we had to cook it ourselves.
Tired and exhausted, we made it back to Akhihabara and prepared ourselves for our MAGIC meeting at 11pm (before you think anything: yeah, I know). After the meeting, it was not long before I had fallen asleep.
Today, Esther and I spent our free day in Akihabara shopping! As a huge anime and game nerd, I was clearly very excited to get my hands on as much merch as I could from my favorite franchises.
We woke up relatively early to go to Tokyo Station and hit up Tokyo Character Street! Character street is filled with shops for Japanese franchises and characters like Sanrio and Hello Kitty, Studio Ghibli, Sumikko Gurashi, and more. My personal favorite was the Ghibli store, and my wallet hurt a bit after getting lots of gifts for friends there.
After spending some time at Character Street, we took the subway back to Akihabara where we spent the day going in the larger stores such as Mandarake, Animate, and Super Potato, as well as going to any and all smaller hole in the wall shops we could find. My personal favorite was a building we stumbled across called Radio Kaiken that turned out to be floors and floors of some of the coolest figure collections I’ve seen.
Some highlights from the shopping include:
Berserk figure
Majoras Mask Soundtrack
Original Ocarina of Time guidebook for the n64
Elden Ring Art Book
Pokémon White
lotsssss of Hunter x Hunter merch
We ended the day with some yummy hotpot and empty wallets, but it was very much worth the financial hit.
Today we travel from Kyoto to Tokyo for the second half of our time in Japan. Morning gets off to a slow start as we pack up and head to Kyoto Station to board the Shinkansen bullet train. Train ride goes smoothly as I doze off listening to music.
As much as I love Kyoto, Tokyo is definitely my favorite place I’ve visited, and I am very excited to be able to spend more time here. I’m extra excited as I’ve yet to visit Akihabara district. Once at Akihabara, we make our way to the hotel which is conveniently right next to Akihabara station. While it’s not as unique as the design of the Kyoto Anteroom Hotel, the shower has a window that looks over the city for an amazing view.
Once settled in a bit, we took a group trip to Mandarake, a massive 7 floor store with retro anime, games, television and movie merch.
Afterwards, me Brody, Esther, and Vincent got some delicious sushi! This restaurant was recommended to us and it was right next to the hotel. I tried eel for the first time and actually really liked it!
We then went out for a little more shopping where I got a bilingual copy of The Ghost in the Shell manga, and saw some cool zelda posters 🙂
Today we had Akihabara to explore. We started by grabbing breakfast on a side street close to us. We got crepes and a meat skewers (they were next to eachother).
Next we headed to character street in Tokyo station. Belle and Megan managed to get Kirby Cafe Petit tickets and took me as a plus 1 so I bought a ton of stuff naturally.
After that we headed to a 7 floor sex store. Not going into detail on that just don’t want to forget.
After that we headed to MUJI. I love Muji pens but I’ve never been to a store before so I was very excited. They were playing like fantasy guild indie game music. It honestly enhanced the aesthetic experience. Below is my haul.
I used the materials to make a Japan scrap book
I have had really good juice experiences in Japan so far. The juice here is superior so when I saw Muji apple juice in a cool round juice “box” I bought it.
It sucked so bad honestly
After that Jasmine and I stopped at a sushi restaurant where I ordered Salmon sushi and the chefs laughed at me because apparently that is a very foreigner thing to do. But they were all really funny and the sushi was amazing.
Then Jasmine and I watched Demon Slayer and I SLEPT.
My idea of Japan before doing any research on it as a kid was that it was a world of anime and pokémon. Now I know that is probably an awful stereotype but as soon as we arrived at Akihabara I thought “this is it”.
Child me would have peed herself on the spot, there was not a single billboard that didn’t have an anime character on it.
Before exploring we settled into the hotel (which was a little suspicious). The shower curtain opened up into the room. As in you could be laying on the bed watching someone on the shower. Aside from that it was a GREAT location. The station was 10 steps from the hotel.
The first store we went to was also suspicious. I bought porn for my friend as a joke. He’s gonna hate it I can’t wait. I’m sorry I am not going to put a picture. This is a school assignment.
This is the only picture I took until later but basically this is the best game ever.
Later Jasmine convinced me to go to a MAID CAFE. It was super socially draining and awkward but it was a really new cool experience and I’m glad I went.
The food was better than I thought. Don’t get me wrong it was all very overpriced but I was expecting it to also be poor quality. The spaghetti was adorable with the little seaweed cat egg face.
Because of the Cat combo (cat themed cafe if you didn’t get that from the photos) I got a “free” polaroid. I was worried about the price of everything at first but it came out so amazing and now I can remember it forever.
yesterday was a real ball. we saw some stuff and i took pictures. ain’t that neat.
first place we went was the imperial palace gardens, which were a bit manicured for my taste but they were far-reaching and there was an attention to detail that was worth appreciating. i think my favorite part was a waterfall i found at the end of a crude stone path, just tucked away enough to feel private in a crowded space. in the middle of a shallow pond was a solid black cube that overflowed with water at the top, framed by a trickling stream that came from a small rocky hill. it was strange to find a modern looking structure in the middle of this more classical garden, it looked like a save point in a video game.
[took a lot of pictures for a change here. although i don’t think fountain is done justice. oh well. it is just a block.]
second place was the meiji shrine, which i swore i had been to before, because i had! the shrine was quite large, the gates were as tall as the trees and the complex was vast and spacious. it was sunny, but a the shade from the trees provided a cool temperature. when i went with my parents 11 years ago it was a light rain, midday, and there was a wedding taking place on the complex. as i was walking i remembered how at peace i felt the first time and how i wished something so ancient existed near my home. i thought about the destruction of north american old growth forests, and how the world was robbed of bigger trees. i thought about how i am old enough to have 11 year old memories, and what had changed between that time and now.
every time i talk about the destruction of america’s old growth forest i feel like i’m making it up due to the extent of the damage and the lack of public knowledge on the matter. like, we just cut 90% of the oldest trees on a continent and no one gets taught about it in schools! most people have no idea how big a tree can get because we chopped down all of the biggest ones and they used to be EVERYWHERE. that sounds SO MADE UP because if it was real EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW AND BE AS MAD AS I AM ABOUT IT. anyway. being surrounded by Big Tree is such a valuable and rare experience in this world and i hope that some day i might be lucky enough to see them more regularly. probably not though. due to the fact that they’re all gone. haha.
[i could hear crows calling deep into the forest and when they came close enough to see they were huge. as big as my arm.]
i’m not sure what happened after this honestly. i know we went home and i must have eaten somewhere, it probably wasn’t that interesting anyway. while i had fun today and i loved the places we went, my head wasn’t in the best place. it’s probably best for the both of us to move on i think :2
Being down the KCG programmer, me being sick for the first day and a half, and working with three language worked in our favor. It was such an amazing experience to watch a pile of ideas and fear of not finishing turn into an AWESOME game.
I’m not sure how to post the game right now so maybe I’ll do it later? But the music, art, UI, mechanics and everything came together so much better than we all could’ve hoped for. Everyone seemed really pleased with the results. Kat (who switched groups to help us) and Maddy were programming until the last possible second.
I’m sure everyone in Game Jams feels this way but it was too short of a time and I am a bit sad we didn’t get more time to work with the KCG students.
On a more positive note Yume said he would join my minecraft server.
Sorry Yume this just cracks me up
I hope we can all meet again
After the Game Jam we all decided to go to Osaka!!!
Lots of shopping. Most of my time was spent at the Mugiwara Store (I almost cried, not a hyperbole)
