For the free day in Tokyo, I traveled solo to Shibuya to see the Hachiko memorial statue and the famous Shibuya scramble crossing. I remember reading the heartwarming book Hachiko when I was around 10 in school. At the end I found out that there was a statue of the loyal dog in Japan at the station he would wait at for his owner after he left for work. His owner ended up passing while at work and never came back; so the dog never left. After reading about it, I always wanted to get to see it in real life.
Another place on my Japan bucket list was Shibuya crossing. I’ve gotten to see it in so many different movies and television shows. Fortunately for me, it was right next to the Hachiko memorial statue. Right at the crossing’s peak, it has up to 3,000 people crossing at once. I got to cross it and got to see a birds eye view of the crossing.
Afterwards I walked thirty minutes to get to the Gotokuji temple, known for holding hundreds of lucky cat figures. I knew heading into the country, I wanted to buy one of these figures as well as one for my friend. It was almost overwhelming seeing all of the figures and I enjoyed finding hidden figures that other people left.
After waking up early to pack all of my things, Maddy and I went downstairs to have breakfast before the long train ride back to Tokyo. On the train ride, I wrote as much on my blogs as my stomach could handle before taking a nap while listening to music. After getting to Tokyo and dropping off our bags in our hotel in Akihabara, we speed ran as many floors of Mandarake as possible, went to Super Potato to look at their retro games, and looked around Animate before having dinner and going to sleep.
For my last breakfast at the hotel, I was given toast with prosciutto, spinach, tomato, and parmesan. Although I was not a big fan of how hard the crust was, the rest of the toast was delectable. I also grabbed more fried fish because I’ve enjoyed all of the fried fish I’ve had here along with some egg, another croissant, some mushrooms, and yogurt with soybeans and brown sugar. I also got another glass of apple juice because I cannot resist its call.
After our long train ride, Maddy, Brody, Vincent and I went to a food court near the hotel and got some ramen. I got ramen with shrimp tempura in it because I love ramen and I love shrimp tempura, and I have already had the two together, so why not get it again?
For dinner, we decided to go to a sushi restaurant that Toshi recommended to us. I got this rice combination bowl with various different things in it so I could try a little bit of everything. It was absolutely delicious, and I would definitely recommend going there if you like sushi.
Tomorrow is our last free day on the trip, so let’s make the most of it!
We finished the game jam! Despite our very incomplete results, I am very proud of the amount of work we were able to complete in our limited time along with the language barrier. After a short recess, we went around and looked at everyone’s games, took a picture together, then headed back to the hotel. Vincent, Maddy, Brody, and I went back to UNIQLO to get a couple of more things before we went to the hotel again to rest up after a long couple of days.
For breakfast, I was given the special sandwich of the day once again. Honestly, I don’t remember what was in it, and I also don’t remember if I even ate it. What I do remember is that I was running late yet again, so I didn’t get to eat much before we had to go, so there is a pretty high chance I didn’t get to have a bite. However, I did get to enjoy yet another croissant, a fried egg, and some strips of chicken. The egg was a little too cold in my opinion, but everything else was great. I also had apple juice yet again. For some reason, apple juice is just better in Japan, so why not have it as many times as I can?
For lunch. we were given a choice between omurice and different types of lunchboxes. Because Toshi was unable to get the ingredients of the omurice to make sure I don’t die in Japan, I picked up the fish packed bento. It included rice, backed fish, some fresh veggies, some cooked veggies, pickled veggies, some kind of savory pancake, pasta salad, and a sui mai. Everything that I could eat was delicious, but the bones in the fish took me a bit off guard. Luckily, I didn’t ingest any, or else I could’ve died in a way Toshi was not accounting for.
For dinner, our small group that went to UNIQLO stopped at a restaurant in the same mall the UNIQLO was in, Aeon Mall, and had some ramen. The ramen there was delicious. I was a big fan of the combination of toppings on top of the ramen. The soft-boiled eggs, bamboo shoots, chives, and pork all went well with the salty but savory broth.
After dinner, it was time to say goodbye to Kyoto and return to Tokyo and visit Akihabara!
Today was the official first day of the game jam! I was put in charge of designing and creating the art for the UI. For the concept behind our game, we decided to go with Belle’s idea, which was to create a game based off of moving to a foreign country and opening a bakery. The point is to get better and better at determining the orders of the customers, who are giving you their orders in their native language. This is pretty much the only thing we did today.
For food, I started out the day with the provided sandwich of the day, which was a fried chicken sandwich. Although I am unsure of all of the ingredients in the sandwich, it was good! I also picked out another croissant because I enjoyed all the other ones I’ve had so much, some penne pasta with ham and zucchini, and fried salmon. All of the food was super good, but I had to rush a bit because I went to breakfast late. I did have a cup of apple juice which was refreshing paired with all the fried foods I was eating and a cappuccino to help me power through the rest of the game jam.
For lunch, we were given a variety of rice balls and other snacks. I honestly forgot which rice balls I had chosen to eat, but I do remember that one of them had a very strong fishy taste, so I was unable to finish it. I do remember picking out an egg folded into an omelet, and it was sweeter than any egg I had ever had before. While the sweetness bothers my fellow RIT teammates, I quite liked the subtly sweet egg.
For dinner, we were given these bento boxes filled with an assortment of food. Included was rice, shrimp tempura, pickled veggies, salad, cooked veggies, fried chicken, a piece of waffle, and a hamburg steak. I enjoyed almost every aspect of this meal that I was able to eat. However, I did not like the hamburg steak. To me, it tasted like an unseasoned meatball with gravy on top. Everything else (except for the salad and pickled vegetables because I could not eat them) were delicious and a good source of fuel to help me power through the last hour or two that we had of the game jam for that day.
The next day marked our last day of the game jam and our last full day in Kyoto. Although I was excited to see how completed our project would be, it was a little bittersweet as I was not quite ready to say goodbye to the beautiful scenery in Kyoto.
Today was our free day! A small group of us decided to go to TOEI Kyoto Studio Park to see the life-sized Eva-01 attraction. After that, Brody, Vincent, and I went to UNIQLO and did some shopping before we headed out to KCG to meet the students we would be having the game jam with. I was on team 3 with Bella and Liam from RIT and Naoki, Tamura, and Ryuki from KCG.
In terms of the important stuff, for breakfast, we had finally graduated from the boxed lunches and were free to pick out our own food! They gave us our sandwich of the day, which seemed to be prosciutto with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and mustard. Sadly, I was not a fan of the sandwich, but that is because I am not a fan of mustard. I also had bok choy, a croissant, sausage, carrots, and fried fish. All of the things I had hand-picked for myself were delicious. I also had a latte to give me a jump start to the day.
For lunch at TOEI Studio Park, I ordered a meal off of the special Evangelion menu. The meal was based off of the character Mari Illustrious Makinami, and all of the other meals on that special menu were based off of different characters. It was some kind of soup along with a variety of pickled and steamed vegetables. Sadly, I had a rough time eating some of the vegetables due to my allergies, but the soup was nice and relaxing to have as a break from a day of walking.
For dinner, I had pizza and snack provided by KCG at the welcome event. I picked out seafood pizza, cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, potato sticks, and a bowl of a variety of snacky items. The seafood pizza was better than I was expecting. I have had seafood pizza in the U.S, and I remember it being too salty to enjoy. This pizza, however, was not too salty. It was actually quite good. The cheese pizza was cheese pizza: always a good and safe choice. The chicken nuggets were chicken nuggets: always a good and safe choice. By the time I got around to the potato sticks, they were cold, so I did not particularly enjoy them that much. This may be because they were sitting out for a bit before I ate them, but they were reminiscent of slightly soggy hashbrowns. However, the snacks were in fact snacking, so overall, it was a good way to end the day.
It was nice getting to know my teammates better before the game jam started! tomorrow would be the start of the game jam, so I headed to bed early(-ish) to be prepared for all the brain power I’d be using the next day.
By the next morning, a melancholic mood had spread throughout the group as people slowly left for the airport. Sten and I spent the early afternoon doing some last-minute shopping at Mandarake. was staying in Japan for a few extra days. I waved farewell to everyone who left with Sten and Steve and then took my bags to my hotel nearby in Akihabara. Because I had to wait to check in, I went to a nearby 9-story tall bookstore and was impressed at their selection of 3D books. I bought some books there and the best clear file.
After returning and checking in, I went to see the Gridman Universe movie in the Japanese cinema. This was an interesting experience because each seat was in its own cubicle and the trailers before the movie were mixed in Japanese and English. The movie was also completely in Japanese and I was able to understand the gist of most of it.
I walked around Akihabara at night and went to the Kanda Myojin shrine. This was a really beautiful night. Also, I was surprised to still see the maids on the street at 12 to 1 in the morning.
The next day I went with my dad to Mt. Takao where there were many shrines along the way. There was also a monkey park along the way where we watched a feeding.
The view from the top of Mt. Takao. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji
Later that night, I went for a walk around Roppongi and found a Harry Potter themed hallway. Apparently, there was a Harry Potter cafe in the area.
The next day, I went with my dad to the airport. My dad, who is a pilot, and I went with the crew bus to the airport and I was able to look up front and see my Dad do the preflight checks with the other pilots. This was a fun experience as I’ve only flown with my dad on his trips once before this was my first time getting a detailed tour of the cockpit.
The American Airlines crew busCaptain Dittmar and Co-Pilot Dittmar
What a trip! This was an incredible experience and I look forward to more travels in the future!
Game Jam Day 2. Today was a blur. We worked hard on our respective parts for the game before having to present to everyone.
Omurice for lunch!
We met two very cool developers who critiqued our work and got to see what everyone else worked on during the jam. It was very interesting to see the concepts that everyone went for. Some were very cute, and some were very shonen-esque.
Here’s our very cute group photo once we were ready to head out!
This was also the day where I noticed my ankle had gotten bit at least 5 times by some sort of bug (not mosquitos…?) and was the start of a few miserable days following this day. It was just a bit itchy in the morning, and my entire right ankle had swollen up by the time we were leaving the university. Luckily, we weren’t walking around much and we took a cab home so my leg could rest in the meantime.
Our day started at 10 am to go to Unreal Festival, conveniently located in Akihabara. I expected it to be much larger than it was, however, because it was small, I was able to see most of the exhibits which were interesting. Overall, Unreal Fest was a great experience, even though my Japanese was not at the level to understand the presentations, seeing what people have done was really interesting. Some of the exhibits that I interacted with that I quite enjoyed were digital manga in which the reader interacted with Unreal scenes in order to change the story. There was also a company promoting their player-to-player server connections.
Afterward, a group of us left Unreal to go have lunch at a stand-up Wagyu beef restaurant. The restaurant was surprisingly cheap for A5 beef and was also really good.
Later, Megan and I went and played some crane games for a short time, however, no winnings were taken home. At least I was able to see the Hololive displays at the Gigo. I also bought a Taiyaki of Houshou Marine and I got her coaster as well.
Next, we met and took the train to CyberConnect 2. There, we watched a presentation and were given a tour by the head of PR. Seeing the studios behind the scenes was really fun and interesting to see. Other than the exclusive art made for CyberConnect, I enjoyed seeing the different artists’ desk setups as they used various different methods in order to eliminate glare. We also were able to see the meeting rooms and ask questions relating to the company. Overall, the company seemed like a company that I would be okay working with for a while, however, I could not envision myself working there long term.
When we arrived at the hotel from CyberConnect, a group of us went to conveyor belt sushi. This was the first time at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant and the system was quite novel. The food was also quite good considering that I had never seen so many chefs working so hard in the kitchen at once. Afterward, we got ice cream and it was really good and tasted similar to gelato. I got Hokkaido Milk flavor and strawberry mixed with another fruit that I did not know the name ice cream.
Later that night, some of us had a short farewell get together and some of us said our goodbyes.
On day 5 we took a trip to Hiroshima it was an eye-opening and sad experience. I personally didn’t film a lot here due to that it’s a place you have to experience personally. But we ended on a high note with a group dinner of Okonomiyaki. We had a free day the next day so I went shopping and got cheesecake and had Japanese Macdonalds it was Macdonalds but the french fries did taste different. I liked them better than the ones in the States.
The Game Jam commenced punctually at 9:30 AM on the first day, prompting me to rise at 6 AM to allow for ample preparation time. Despite experiencing fatigue, I revitalized myself through a refreshing shower and a nourishing breakfast, prior to boarding the bus destined for KCG. Upon our arrival, we promptly convened with our respective groups. Personally, I became a member of Group 5, where we confronted critical decisions regarding fundamental elements of our game, such as gameplay mechanics and artistic style. Fortunately, we swiftly resolved these matters and proceeded with our endeavors.
As the hours elapsed, we encountered various challenges while navigating Unreal Engine 5, particularly in the realm of local multiplayer functionality. Consequently, we opted to temporarily divert my attention to other tasks, such as the implementation of collision and hitboxes, competently handled by Vincent.
To streamline collaboration and enhance organization, our team initiated a shared Google Drive, serving as a central repository. Initially, I harbored reservations regarding the employment of Google Drive as our chosen version control system. Nonetheless, considering the familiarity of this workflow among the KCG students within my team, I embraced the decision to immerse myself in its utilization.
When I was personally done with my part of the work I went around interviewing the other teams about their progress. All seemed to have gone as well as ours.
Joining the tour group, we eagerly boarded the tour bus, filled with anticipation to delve into the captivating history and culture of Kyoto.
Our first destination was Kinkakuji, also known as the Golden Pavilion, an awe-inspiring Zen temple with its top two floors lavishly adorned in gold leaf.
It was a remarkable sight! While it may not have gleamed with the luster of chrome, the natural surroundings were even more breathtaking, presenting a harmonious and visually stunning masterpiece.
Afterward, we strolled through the neighboring city to find a spot for lunch. We discovered an authentic sit-down restaurant where I had the pleasure of savoring delicious wagyu croquettes and indulging in Arashiyama Tenryuu ramen.
Following our satisfying lunch, we proceeded to Kiyomizudera, one of Japan’s most renowned temples. Its standout feature was the wooden terrace extending from the main hall, offering a panoramic view of the city and lush mountains. The sight was truly mesmerizing and left a lasting impression on all of us.
Our next stop was Fushimi-Inari, a shrine famous for its countless vermilion torii gates. As we walked along the winding path, we found ourselves enveloped by a striking tunnel of vibrant red gates, each one inscribed with the name of its generous donor. Despite the considerable number of visitors, the atmosphere remained remarkably serene, adding to the spiritual experience.
As the day drew to a close, we visited Kyoto Computer Gakuin, where the staff warmly welcomed us. After some casual conversation, we settled in for an anime screening of the Demon Slayer movie Mugen Train which I have personally seen. It served as a fantastic way to unwind and relax after a full day of exploring the rich cultural heritage of Kyoto.
The following day, we embarked on an early morning expedition to engage in a traditional zazen meditation session. The awe-inspiring architecture of the venerable Japanese temples never fails to captivate, and the abundant verdant surroundings, accompanied by the soothing melodies of nature, immediately instilled a sense of tranquility within me. The serene ambiance made me feel at ease in this peaceful sanctuary.
Following the meditation, we proceeded to revisit one of the previous locations to partake in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, an experience that provided us with a profound insight into the intricacies of tea etiquette. The gracious hostess exemplified kindness and empathy as she enlightened us about some of the subtle nuances involved in the art of the tea ceremony.
For instance, when sipping from the bowl, it is customary to orient the most embellished portion of the vessel towards oneself, acknowledging the person who will be holding the bowl. Additionally, before imbibing, one delicately rotates the bowl twice in a clockwise manner, ensuring that their lips do not make direct contact with the bowl’s exquisite craftsmanship.
Afterward, we ventured to the bustling Nishiki Market to indulge in a delectable assortment of culinary delights. Following a brief respite at our hotel, where I took the opportunity to rejuvenate for an hour, we convened once more at 6 pm for an evening of bowling at Round 1.
We Boweld, I lost but had an enjoyable time non the less. Then we just stayed a bit longer in the arcade and just had a swing at the games they had.
Then we walked back through Nishiki Market at night and the stark difference it has when there are no people is kind of scary but in any other country I would probably feel uneasy but here it felt calming.”
