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.
While today started as a chill hangout with our entire group together for the first full day, it ended with a LOT of “waku waku” (the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of your heart beating intensely).
Megan, Jessica, Jasmine, Skylar, Liam and I started the day by heading to a local cafe and bakery for breakfast called City Bakery Shinagawa. I ordered the french toast which was a TOTAL score (the bacon on top was the real king of the meal), and also got a small table roll because I enjoy eating bread by itself.
After breakfast, we had a couple hours to kill before we boarded the train to Kyoto, so we decided to visit the aquarium that was connected to our hotel. Quick aside: I cannot stress enough how insane our hotel was. Connected to it was two pools (one of which was heated), an aquarium, an 80-lane bowling alley, four practice golf range simulations, 11 movie theaters (one of which was an IMAX theater), and more, not including the food court or other restaurants just around its perimeter. I wish that we had been able to stay longer to capitalize on it, because it was kind of incredible how much could be fit into one hotel complex.
I digress, back to the aquarium! I am definitely spoiled by the Georgia Aquarium, but this aquarium had a lot of really cool (albeit much too small) exhibits and some animals that I don’t think I would have seen anywhere else! Namely was the capybaras, which were SUPER cute but gave us some mean glares as we took pictures of them. We also got to watch an otter performance that was very cute!! My favorite part was when he grabbed the mic and yelled into it, because I too would do the same thing if given that power. Thankfully Jessica got a video of it as my phone was on the verge of overheating.
Otter yelling, my favorite kind of yelling.
There was also an assistant robot who could do the Ievan Polkka dance (there were a lot of popular English/TikTok songs too, but who cares about those?) and a tube where the fish could swim over you that housed a massive manta ray. A large portion of our group also went on this giant swinging ship that was right at the entrance to the aquarium, which was fun to watch!
After the aquarium, we hurried back to the hotel to get our luggage and make it to the train station in time for our train to Kyoto. Getting on and off the train in a timely manner was the most stressful part, but I played Tears of the Kingdom for the entire ride and thoroughly enjoyed it (while also stopping periodically to take videos of the scenery passing by). Once we got to Kyoto, though, the real intensity began.
After a short walk to a VERY nice restaurant, we come to realize that we’ve just walked into a very nice, very expensive ten course dinner. For anyone who’s not familiar with me (first of all hi :D), I have always been a super picky eater and the food in Japan was my biggest concern when planning for this trip due to my limited palate. All of that was completely chucked out of the window tonight as I was sitting almost directly next to the director of our entire program who planned this dinner. I think that I tried more completely new food tonight than I have in the last year.
In its entirety, we ate: some weird little beef ball, a piece of red snapper, some mixed vegetables, a whole miniature squid covered in mustard, miso soup which contained a piece of fish and some vegetables that I could have mistaken for bricks of tasteless jelly, some sashimi that consisted of tuna, salmon, and tai (AKA Red sea bream? I think?), some professionally made sushi consisting of tuna, salmon, and rice, wasabi, the weirdest egg/jelly/bean drink that was expectedly disgusting, some bacon slices that we steeped in cooking broth in a process called “shabu shabu”, a set of fried shrimp tempura and fried lotus root, another soup of indistinguishable origins, and two small ice cream scoops that were vanilla and soy milk flavored respectively. Do you see where the “waku waku” was happening? I also treated myself to a peach fruit juice that was a nice palate cleanser from all of the horrors I put my body through during dinner.
Despite my obvious reservations with the menu we were served, I am proud to say that I at least tried every single thing that we were served. While some of them were hard to swallow (literally), I am surprised at how far I was willing to push myself out of my comfort zone; I think it’s the first of a few big milestones that I will reach while being here.
Tomorrow will be another incredibly packed day, as we’ll be on a bus tour of Kyoto for almost the entire morning and afternoon. While I am looking forward to seeing the sights that the city has to offer, I could really use an extra hour of sleep.
A picture of the manta ray from the aquarium. SO CUTE!!
After a nice and refreshing morning (finally getting up some time past 4AM), a few exchange friends and I went to The City Bakery in Shinagawa Station. Absolutely wonderful in terms of food! I ended up getting temped by a few too many things, and had two trays full, but TOTALLY worth.
The Aquarium
Attached to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel stood the Maxell Aqua Park, a small yet very impressive aquarium! With amazing light displays, projections, technology and the like, we were eased into a really creative and immersive experience.
Moving forward, we were met with a big tank with an overhead section, but what managed to catch my eye was the unexpectedly articulate robot right to the side! (Yes, that’s Hatsune Miku singing Ievan Polkka)
We saw some awesome specimens, and some of our group favorites such as seals and capybaras.
Luckily, we had time to catch the otter show. Lining up on the astroturf and pulling out the water bottles, we gathered around to watch a live otter show featuring a charming otter named Taiyou! He did some tricks, talked to the audience, and even managed to sort some trash for the crowd. Made me feel like a kid again 🙂
Unfortunately, at this point we were out of time. But as every aquarium does, there was a gift shop! Heading out, I managed to nab the softest seal plush you’d ever seen!
The Shinkansen
And off we are, to Kyoto via the Shinkansen to meet our colleagues at KGC and experience traditional sights and culture!
It was unreal how smooth and fast the ride was. For a lot of it, it felt like we weren’t even moving at all. Seeing all of Japan whiz by at 200 mph was unreal, and is something I’m absolutely pumped I get to do again.
(If the above footage looks slow, that’s mainly because we had just departed ;P)
Arriving in Kyoto
As the Shinkansen slowed and we got off the train, we found ourselves in the lovely city of Kyoto! Rich with history yet brimming with modern charm. Everything from a rustic Japanese-looking Starbucks to sleek stone streets present at the station grounds, doing wonders to set the stage.
Following some kind folks from KCG, we made our way to Ganko, a popular restaurant with a heavy theme of traditional Japan!
There, we were met with an absolutely MASSIVE 10-course meal, spread out over a few hours. Most of the food was quite new to me, but luckily I was up to the challenge and made sure I tried everything given. Some of it was definitely of an acquired taste, but I found out that I absolutely LOVE tuna on my sushi.
Plus, it was absolutely great having some conversation with the other classmates. Socializing while watching a sushi chef make some top-tier nigiri was absolutely amazing! (Even if I couldn’t finish one of the dishes, haha)
All in all, I was so happy that the people at KCG were so willing to provide this sort of experience for us. It’s up to us to make sure that the Game Jam is worth it for them!
A short bus ride later, and we’re in the hotel where we’ll be for the next week. Rustic, but stylish!
As soon as I got used to walking around Asakusa it was time to move to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. To get there we had to navigate the subways and thank god I wasn’t alone because I had no clue what was going on. Finally we excited the subway right in front of our new hotel for the night.
It is the largest hotel I’ve ever seen it’s the size of an entire college campus and more. We rushed to get food. I got pizza although it’s one of the least Japanese foods I could’ve gotten.
City Bakery Cafe
In the morning we stopped at a small cafe in the train station. I ate a lot of Family Mart snacks the night before so I stuck with an amazing カフェオレ. Not too expensive and super delicious. Now it’s time for the aquarium!!!
The aquarium was a bit pricey and not too big but it was part of the hotel. There were a lot of cool attractions and layouts however it seemed like they treated a lot of the fish more like art than animals which was sad.
I left at 8 with a driver and arrived at the airport at around 11. Getting through security was super super easy and then I just listened to an audio book while I waited for the flight.
I’m all the way in the back of the plane. There is only one more seat behind me. The first half of the ride I fell asleep pretty quick so that burned a couple hours. I got woken up when they were giving out drinks. I couldn’t fall back asleep so I watched a super cute anime movie called the Gold Country and the Water Country. I almost started crying but I’m surrounded by people so I held it in as much as I could. I was definitely visibly tearing up.
The following 10 hours were filled with Fire Emblem and more movies and snacks. It honestly wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be until the last three hours I was getting pretty antsy.
FINALLY I landed and took a taxi (too afraid to take the train alone after pulling an all nighter) and settled into the Vessel Inn Hotel. It was pretty nice but a little cramped. I fell asleep very quickly that night.
Mascot outside out shaved ice resturant
The next morning I met with Belle and Megan and explored the Sky Tree. There are an endless supply of shops to explore. We ended up spending two whole days at the Sky Tree as there was too much to do.
As the 14 hour flight came to a close, with the first Matrix movie, the first two Lord of the Rings movies, and a pittance of melatonin-induced sleep, I took my first step into the country who’s language I’ve spent 6 years learning! (Well, second, but this is the first time I’m truly on my own ;P)
Navigating my way past the 56-desk long immigration checkpoint, picking up my baggage, exchanging currencies, and picking up my pocket Wi-Fi, I encountered my first vending machine. A fresh-squeezed orange juice vending machine!
After enjoying a nice fresh cup, I headed off to the Keikyu line headed into Shinagawa, where I picked up my first ever IC card, a Pasmo!
Now, you may question my following few decisions:
I wanted to spend the first two nights in a capsule hotel.
I wanted to spend the third night in a manga/internet cafe.
The answer? Don’t really have one! I just thought it would be neat to try something off the beaten path for once and come through with some interesting stories to tell on the other side.
Also it was super cheap and I wanted to read some more of Jojo Part 8
The capsule hotel was charming, but a bit much to get used to. Little privacy there, and making a peep was frowned upon. Luckily, I don’t rely on alarms to wake up!
5/19 – Solamachi
I found myself feeling a little cramped from the capsule hotel, so I thought it would be a good idea to meet up with some of my classmates who also came early, over at the Skytree Town, Solamachi! A lovely collection of stores and cafes sitting right beneath the Tokyo Skytree. I definitely ate way too many sweets, but it was all so worth it.
Oh, did I mention the GHIBLI STORE AND THE POKECENTER IS THERE TOO?
YET NO GENGAR PLUSHIE ;w;
5/20 – The Calm Before the Storm
Since I was tired of hauling around my own luggage everywhere (the capsule hotel has you checking out everything at 10AM), I bit the bullet and booked the 24 hour stay in the manga cafe.
Funnily enough, if you run the numbers, a 24 hour stay going for 4400 yen, equivalent to 32 dollars a day, renting a space which provides free showers, free books, free cleaning, free drinks, and all-you-can-eat soft serve would run cheaper than summertime dorm rent at RIT.
Just food for thought!
Speaking of food, I had a veritable feast at the nearby Bamiyaan (Dan dan noodles, shumai, gyoza, and sesame balls), and ended up served by a cat-modeled server robot. The future is now!
Jet lag was hitting hard, and I ended up reading a good 5 volumes of JJBA before hitting the hay.
5/21 – Reunion & Reunion
Today was the day where two things came to pass: me meeting my host family once again, and the beginning of this two weeks of study abroad.
To begin, I checked out of the manga cafe, put 2/3 of my bags in a coin locker, and waited by Oimachi station to meet the family kind enough to take me in for a whole month four years prior.
The Inoue family!
And off we went to Asakusa to take part in the 2023 Sanja Matsuri: one of Tokyo’s largest festivals! With people packed practically shoulder to shoulder almost the entire day, the energy around was simply electric! Faces of all countries came to experience places like Nakamise Shopping Street, Kaminari-mon, and Sensō-ji. The tons of food stands were a big plus! I got some wagyu, shaved ice, yakisoba, and candied fruit!
We also went to Hanayashiki, one of the oldest amusement parks in Japan, started in 1853. Although its age range is definitely for the younger crowd, we still had a good time walking around and enjoying some of the more intense rides.
Heading back to the station, we encountered a bunch of people hauling a mikoshi on their shoulders, and a Shishimai traditional dance where performers mimic a lion’s movements to mimic good fortune.
After a very long and exciting day, we went back to pick up my belongings at the coin locker at Oimachi station, got a Taxi to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, and bade farewell once again. May we meet again very soon!
Now, meeting up with the Study Abroad gang, we all gathered in the lobby at 6, and went to go get our tickets for the next day’s Shinkansen. (Was begging to get off my feet at this point, haha. Curse you Japan, for your lack of benches!)
Heading back to the food court, I grabbed some Katsu Omurice, chatted it up with a few others, and called it a day. Can’t wait to see what’s in store the next two weeks.
My journey started in San Francisco where my flight to Haneda airport started at 12 pm. The flight was overall pretty smooth with the exception of having the middle seat… At least I bought the wifi which was definitely worth the $18 for the whole flight. The flight was filled with me starting Honkai: Star Rail and competitive games of Hearthstone.
Upon arriving, I successfully navigated the train system to get to the hotel I booked (since I got to Tokyo early). However, I took the wrong exit out of the station and ended up in the backstreets of Roppongi where I wandered through a park. It would have been a much more welcome experience had it not been raining…
The next day, I went to Asakusa where apparently the Sanja Matsuri (festival) was happening. Supposedly, this is one of the largest festivals in Tokyo! I met with Belle and Megan who happened to be visiting on the same day. Jessica joined us later. I also got a drew a fortune in which I got a regular one. The festival was busy at first, however, by 2 pm the crowd became unbearable and we decided to split up.
Later that day I met with my dad who was on a layover and we went to the Rainbow Bridge (which there were no rainbows to be found. What a scam!). However, walking across the bay to Daiba was really pretty at night. However, the bridge was very windy and there was a lot of walking involved so by the time I got back we were exhausted. Next time I would like to take one of those ferries on the water.
From here, you can see both Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Skytree if you look closely.
The next morning my dad and I went to the Tsukiji fish market and had sushi for breakfast. However, the restaurant was really crowded and busy in the morning so I didn’t get any good pictures. For a Sunday, where the fish market was supposed to be closed, there were still many shops open and people moving about. I did also find a sushi vending machine… Not sure how good it would be though…
My dad and I said our goodbyes and I went to drop off my bags at the hotel. Later that day we went to a hololive event in Akihabara.
Lastly, the day ends with us exchanging our train ticket vouchers and having a meal at the food court at the hotel where I got one of my favorite foods, Kitsune Udon (udon with sweet fried tofu). I can’t wait for what’s to come!
Day 1: We were gonna go to Ueno but Belle and I ended up waking up at 4am.. the time difference really hit. We were up for a while seeing if there was anything to do but nothing was open until like 930-10am. We met up with Jessica and walked around a bit. We ended up going to a Starbucks connected to the Sky Tree and getting some coffee.
Photo creds to Jessica
After an hour, the SkyTree opened up! We ventured in and spent our WHOLE DAY there. There were so many stores and shops, as well as desserts and foods. Literally any thing you wanted to buy or eat was there.
For example there was the Kirby Cafe, Pokemon Center, Snoopy Store, Marvel Store, Hello Kitty Store, Kirby Cafe store, book stores, clothing stores from Uniqlo to lolita to Diesel, food that ranged from ramen to a cheesecake drink. It was a fun but overwhelming experience. It was like a dream but also a nightmare as I stumbled through my coin purse trying to count.
Me being wayyy too excited about Kirby
After shopping around for hours we were exhausted but we still wanted to see the view from the sky tree itself. We planned our adventure to the sky for 630pm so that we all had time to go home and take a little nap.
After we had awoken, it was time to go up! It was really cool and the elevators up to the viewing deck had different themes of the seasons. The views were really cool but sadly it was cloudy. We did see the transition from day to night time though! After this excursion, we all went home and passed out again. Also fun fact, we ended up going around the Sky Tree’s 11 anniversary! Also the top deck was Disney themed.
Ritchie really enjoying the Sky Tree and it’s views!
That was all day 1! Already so much but we continue.
day 2: We wake up once again at 4am, it’s rough but we play Zelda and try to sleep. This day we actually had a plan for breakfast! We all ( being Belle, Cam, Jessica, Liam, and myself) planned to go to Hoshino Coffee in the sky tree. We met up ( after some difficulties) and went for breakfast. We really wanted the big soufflé pancakes but those were only on holidays so we mostly just got some French toast. It was ok, I felt bad for the staff because there definitely weren’t enough seats for us.
After breakfast, we walked around the Sky Tree again! This time finding more stores and showing Cam and Liam the crazy food market and dessert options. I ended up buying some dango! It was really good and seems ritchie liked it too. It had the consistency of mochi but was sweet in flavor almost like brown sugar.
As one could guess, we did some more shopping. This time I got some baby books to practice Japanese! It was Pokémon themed how could I not?! It was funny because we also found Minecraft books and diary of a wimpy kid in Japanese. It was cool to see! After that we got some food and headed back home for our siestas for the day.
After a nap, Belle, Jess, and I went to Asakusa for ramen! It was a cute shop with mostly foreigners but it was yummy! We looked around the area and stumbled upon the Senso-ji Shrine. It was night time so the lights were all on and it was pretty empty but it was super pretty.
We saw some signs that a festival was happening and decided to check it out the next day. It was an accident that we stumbled on to one of Tokyo’s largest festivals that happens every year on this weekend.
Before we get there however, I NEED to talk about the Asakusa Don Quixote. It was CRAZY. Literally anything you could need or want was in the 4 story building. From bicycles, to chargers, to clothes, to beauty products, to food, to alcohol it was all there. It was also very cramped but cool to go through.
The lit up Don Quixote store
After Don Quixote we dispersed and went to bed.
Day 3: If you think it’s crazy now, just wait. Belle and I woke up at a normal time today!!! Seems our bodies are finally adjusting. After being in bed for a bit we headed out back to Asakusa for the festival. At this point we thought it was gonna be a little crowded but manageable but oh boy we’re we wrong. It was around 10am when we arrived at the temple and it was already packed. We also saw a lot of girls in Kimonos and a lot of traditional clothing. We met up with Skylar and explored the area.
Walking into the temple at around 10amRitchie having a fun time seeing and participating in the festival!
Apparently we ran into the one of the biggest festivals in Tokyo ( as I said before) but I was not expecting what I saw. There were tons of people and apparently the event draws around 1.8 millions viewers. There were little shops everywhere with food and fortunes to get. We all got our fortunes and all got normal fortunes. At least it’s not a bad one!
After that we saw and heard drums and chanting. The festival is about 3 temples and their shrines. Therefore, there were mini shrines that went around with chanting and clapping to celebrate. Accompanied with that were these carts with taiko drums from different families.
One for the many many shrines moving about the dayA taiko cart!
The crowds would shuffle around to see all the different mini shrines and drums. It was amazing and I felt so lucky to have seen it. Jessica ended up join with us at about noon for the rest of the day.
After getting a bit tired from the crowds we walked around the festival area to see all the stores. There were a lot of different stores with food, souvenirs, kimono rentals, and more. As a snack I got this 500 yen pancake with mozzarella cheese in it. It was very yummy.
We walked around a lot, bought some gifts, and once again needed a little break from the action. It had been a long day at that point of walking around and seeing so many cool things. We all went to our hotels and rested for a little while.
After a little break, Belle, Jess, and I went to this cute little American themed diner. The staff seemed so happy to see foreigners and even tried to speak English to us! It was funny to see how American culture is perceived and our food. I got Mac n cheese and it was ok. Definitely not my good ol’ box of Kraft! After dinner we did some walking to local shrines in our area and a walk down by the Sumida river. It was a nice temperature outside for a walk. We saw one temple that still have ladles and water out so we practiced cleaning our hands properly. We walked around, planned for tomorrow ( Pokemon Cafe!) and went to bed.
Wow. That was only 3 days and so much has happened. I would love to go into every detail but then this would be more like a dissertation than a blog. I’ll leave you with some more photos I took as we went around. See ya next time!
Last night, our little group had originally planned to visit Ueno together to karaoke, but upon waking up I had realized half the group had left to grab breakfast and so I dragged Cam along with me to Ueno to explore instead! It was our first time actually traversing the transit system and we were quite nervous/scared/anxious/confused, but we got the hang of it by the end of the day.
We are closest to Oshiage station and made our way to Ueno, where we walked through a lovely little district of very affordable products! (not the picture below, I forgot to photograph it)
I grabbed a cute little matcha latte boba (not pictured bc i forgot) as we walked around. We were stopped by a kind old lady who was conducting user research for a foreigner-friendly touch screen nearby and I was compensated with a guidebook and a panda eraser after the interview was completed.
We stopped in a building with the aim of popping in Daiso on 7F and I momentarily got distracted by a cute windbreaker that was on sale for only 1,000 jpy!!! I’m still thinking about it now as I write this, hopefully it’ll still be there by the time I go back.
Within the Daiso, we came across a Sweets Paradise collab cafe with Sixfonia. While I’m not a fan, it was really neat to see a collab cafe in person after seeing them everywhere on social media!
After our quick Ueno trip, we headed to Tokyo eki in order to finally pick up a suica card. They are only available for purchase in specific areas so it was our mission of the day to secure a card.
We must have emerged on the wrong side of the large station, because we were very clearly out of place with all the salarymen bustling around the area. We wandered the area for a short while before grabbing some food from 7-11 and a スーパー and then headed back in the station to Oshiage station.
On our way home, we happened to walk past a Detective Conan cafe! I had originally planned to go to the Ikebukuro location and didn’t realize there was one so close to my accommodation! Unfortunately, the wait for a seat was very long, and we were both tired after a day of running around so we headed home.
After a day and a half in Japan, we have still yet to eat a ‘proper’ meal. The gyudon (picture above) from 7-11 was still delicious though! Here’s hoping that I’ll be able to eat more than one meal a day tomorrow.
Arrived at my hometown’s airport at around 6:20am after having slept a maximum of 2.5 hours to meet up with Cam. After a short 2 hour flight to Chicago, we met up with Belle to board our flight to Japan via ANA together!
On our flight, I ended up swapping my aisle seat with the man behind me, who had just wanted to sit with his family (which was the seat I was in). This actually turned out amazingly for me because the seats behind me only sat 2 people, so I just had one other person to let out to use the restroom.
We were fed well on the flights, and I was so thankful for the mild yet yummy airline food since I am notoriously awful at keeping myself fed on travel days.
First meal came 2 hours into the 12 hour flight. Consisted of edamame, small salad, chicken & rice, soba(?) and we even had a small Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream as dessert.
Second meal came a few hours before our arrival, meant to be breakfast (make sure to eat the in-flight meals, as they are meant to help you adjust to the new timezone!) and consisted of ravioli, ham & corn(?) salad, and a blueberry muffin.
Arrival: 2:56pm JST
Once we arrived & got past the final security gates, the three of us met up with Megan & Esther and we set off to get our IC cards & train tickets to make our way into Tokyo. I couldn’t find where to purchase a suica card in the airport so I opted to save it for later (big mistake on my part) and instead purchased a ticket for the Narita Sky Express (Access Express) to take us to Oshiage Station, where our hostel was a 5 minute walk away.
We took a wrong turn on our way to our accommodation and ended up walking right through Skytree (which I had originally planned to properly visit a few days from now).
Once we settled into our rooms, Belle, Megan, Cam and I went out to the nearby Family Mart to grab some quick food for our first night. There, I had my first taste of extremely affordable merch in Japan as well as my first taste of giving kujis all my money.
I pulled a C tier Kanae acrylic panel (he was the only one I wanted out of everyone that was available, so my gambling had thankfully come to an end immediately) to my surprise! Out of slight embarrassment at being so excited to pull my first kuji, I made small talk with the cashier by asking “にじさんじが 人気 です か,” since they are nowhere near as known in the states.
Honorable mention to seeing そらるさん on the first magazine I laid eyes on in Japan! As someone who’s been listening to him since 2012 as an indie musician, this was so surreal and exciting to see.
I had my first Bigプッチンプリン and it was delicious! Much softer than other purin brands I’m used to, and the flavor was wonderfully light and refreshing. They forgot to give me a spoon and I spent a few minutes contemplating my existence and gathering the courage to go back in the store and ask if I could have a spoon, but I got one in the end. After this, we all went back to our rooms and slept early!
