Tokyo – Page 5 – RITs International Game Industry Course for 2023

6/1 – Return to Diver City and teaming up for Team Labs!

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!

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!

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!

Dawn of the Final Week

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!!

Invading the (Probably) Emperor’s Home

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.

The garden was beautiful and had an arrangement of plants, structures, pathways, and sights, including a small waterfall and a pond.

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.

Broke ?

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.

Kyoto -> Akihabara

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 🙂

a day in gardens

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

Invading the Emporors Abode (He was not there)

Bridge going to front gate of imperial castle

Today we went to the imperial castle, but we weren’t able to actually go in because it was too busy. We got to wander the premesis and look at all the pretty architecture and gardens, which was lowkey better. This place was absolutely insane. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. There were gardens and fields and old buildings and new buildings and shrines and so much more, all sitting in a giant moat. The highlight for me was the koi pond/flower field. It was soooo pretty and looked especially cool with the giant buildings in the background. My favorite part of the scenery was seeing the dicotomy of the natural, old stuff with the industrial, new stuff in the background. It made it feel like some gateway to another world.

Picture I thought was cool, showing what I mean by the dichotomy

After the imperial castle we trained over to Harajuku to see a Shinto temple. Before that it was lunchtime and we had about an hour to find somewhere to eat and do whatever. We walked around this cool side street with a bunch of little hole-in-the-wall places but ended up eating in a food court because it was easier and had options (*cough* *cough* esther *cough*). I got a yummy corn dog and then a strawberry & banana smoothie at a different place when we were walking back, it was sooo good. We met up with the gang and then walked across the street to the Shinto temple and massive wooden Torii gate.

Big torii gate

The Meiji shrine was really cool but it was getting hot so we called the day and all split up to do our own thing. Since we were like 2 stops from Shibuya it was time for round 2. Me and Vincent went back to this record store that had a bunch of ghibli stuff. I got 2 cds as gifts and he got 3 ghibli vinyls. Then we tried to go to this big music store but it was like impossible to get in even though it said it wasn’t closed, so we assumed the workers were just doing inventory or something. We found a different music store but it was really small. Then we went into a different record store that had a lot more western music and modern music than the first, but nothing I was dying for. After shopping we met up with Maddy and Esther to get dinner, which took far longer than it should have cuz we were being stupid and undecisive. After dinner we trained back to Akihabara and crashed.

5/31 – Landmark Locations

Today was one of those long-walking days, but it was sort of by choice!

In the morning, I got up early at around 7am and headed out at 8am to catch an early morning train to Shinagawa and Hamamatsucho station. The train was extrememly crowded though, as I had boarded during Japan’s rush hour, so we were all packed into the train car like sardines. Why would I do all this, you ask? Well, to see the Tokyo Tower of course!

And climb all 600 flights of stairs.

Ever since I’d heard from a friend on the trip that you could get a certificate of some kind if you climbed to the top of Tokyo Tower via its stairs, a flame of determination had been lit within me. I had resolved to climb the tower before I left, and obtain that certificate of completion. Plus, it’s just stairs, how hard could it be?

The view of the tower as I approached from ground level.

Turns out, not too bad, but not easy either! I started climbing at around 9:15am, and didn’t arrive at the top until about 9:25ish. At flight 350, I began to sweat a bit, and by the time I reached the top at 600 flights, I was pretty sweaty and it was pretty humid. But I did it!

There was even little stand built into the stairway railing for your phone for pictures! (Used here)

The view from the observatory floor I was on was incredible, and below each of the cardinal directions there was a “Then and Now” photo comparison of the city skyline, which was cool to see! There was also a video playing that described the history of the Tokyo area and how it came to be as it is now. It was interesting hearing about the philosophy and values of Tokyo, and how it strives to keep tradition while also updating it, and making a “relaxed cool” atmosphere. I also hadn’t known before that Tokyo had suffered two major destructions, and rebuilt itself twice.

Again, the view from the tower did not disappoint!

Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel to meet with the group and head out for the day’s activities. The itinerary ended up getting swapped that day, which put a reservation I had made in advance in slight jeopardy, but I was able to switch it around no problem, so all was well!

We first visited the Imperial Palace grounds/garden, and walked through the outer walls. They were so large, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how large and tall the buildings that used to sit atop them were. The garden was also extremely scenic and tranquil, there was so much green and water!

The grounds were filled with stone architecture and lush greenery.

The garden even had a small waterfall/stream!

After the garden, we took a train to Shibuya to go see the Meiji Shrine, but first things first: food. I hadn’t eaten since this morning before Tokyo Tower (which was only a peanut butter bread roll and green tea), so I was famished. I followed the group like a zombie for a little while, as we went into a nearby mall to find a food court. The group was thinking of going to a diner place on the top floor, but I really wanted to try some more Japanese or Asian style food, as I was in Japan after all. I found a nearby Gyoza/dumpling place on my phone with Google Maps, and so me and Belle decided to break off and head there instead.

The gyozas, I have to say, were absolutely delicious. The place was a sort of local hole-in-the-wall shop, where we sat down at a bar surrounding the steamers and place where they cooked the dumplings, so we could see them make it in real time. And the price was unbeatable! I was hungry, so I ordered 12 dumplings and a side of rice/chicken miso, and my friend ordered her own set of 6 dumplings, and it all only came out to about 1260 yen!

Once we were caloried up, we met up with the group again and went to see the Meiji shrine. It was probably one of the biggest and most regal shrines we’d seen on our visit so far; The walk up to it was filled with trees and a wide open gravel pathway, with huge Tori gates and large walls that separate the grounds of the shrine into sections. It was really stunning, and after cleansing with the water ritual and praying, I got a stamp for my stamp book as well! Once we all had a chance to experience the shrine, we split up into smaller groups and were off on our own the rest of the day. I went with a few other friends to the Pokemon and Nintendo stores in Shibuya, and then afterwards we all went to Shibuya crossing and took the train back to Akihabara.

Once back, it was time for Monster Hunter Café! This was the reservation I had made in advance for Thursday, but swapped for tonight. Today was also my 21st birthday, so our reservation was for a sort of a celebration as well as for the experience! The props and decor of the bar was really good, and it was cool to see these items I’d only ever seen in-game realized somewhat in real life. They even had 4 switch docks/PS4’s that you could play Monster Hunter on! The PS4’s had Monster Hunter World installed, but since only one machine was in English and the others in Japanese, we couldn’t really figure out how to play together unfortunately. The ordering system for food and drinks was similar to the Pokémon café, as both went through an online order sytem where they bring out the food as you que it up. The food was mostly just ok, and the drinks were pretty good, but we couldn’t really expect much more from a themed café. I had a “Well-Done Steak” which was pretty tasty though!

All in all, quite a jam-packed day!

The Shibuya Incident

For our free day in Tokyo, Brody and I went to Shibuya and planned to do a lot of shopping. We knew we wanted to hit the three-floored UNIQLO there, but we found so much more.

We did some research and found ourselves initially in Shibuya109, which we then realized was a female clothing store, but still thought was interesting enough to walk through because the designs and fashion were really cool. However, I didn’t come out empty handed as there was a place where I could get a very good matcha latte.

After leaving Shibuya109, we went to MAGNET, which was the male equivelent of Shibuya109 under the same company, however much smaller. Brody and I found some very expensive places, but eventually hit one of the many places I would become a costumer at: RECOfan, a record shop. Here, I bought two Studio Ghibli records as Joe Hisaishi is one of my favorite composers of all time, and they were much cheaper than if I bought them in the United States.

After that, we went towards the Parco mall which holds the famous Nintendo Store and Pokémon Center, as well as a Jump store (which covers most shonen anime). Of course, I spent some more money at these places, acquiring many stickers and even a painted manga panel, as well as some plushy gifts for my friends back at home.

Next, Brody and I went to UNIQLO, where we bought even more clothes (this being our third time to a UNIQLO in Japan). Lastly, we hit the Converse store, where we got some Japan-only kicks.

After the massacre of our wallets and the encumbrance of our spoils, we went back to Akhihabara to meet with Maddy and Esther for a hot pot dinner. It was delicious and, surprisingly, empty. It was also connected right next to our hotel, which made it convenient. We ended the night with an attempt to go to karaoke, but after Maddy’s unfortunately late birthday ruining our plan to get drinks, we abandoned the plan and called it a night.

Return to Tokyo

After an exhausting week, we were able to get up reasonably late and rest. The plan for the day was to get to Tokyo and to our hotel in Akhihabara. After a pretty quick two-and-half hour bullet train ride, we made it to Akhihabara and found our stay at the REMM Hotel, which was literally right next to the station, as well as the rest of Akhihabara. We settled in, got some food, and went to Madarake and Super Potato.

Madarake was a cool, warehouse, almost thrift-like store that had anime, games, art, manga, figurines, and just overall a lot of Japanese content, and even some Western things as well. It was really interesting, but also so much to look through in the hour we had.

Afterwards, we split up to be on our own, and some of us went to Super Potato, a retro game store. It was really cool, but also quite cramped so it was difficult to thoroughly explore their collection. Afterwards, some of us separated further and went to ANIMATE, one of the top anime stores in Akhihabara, and it had a lot of content, but not much of what I was looking for, such as stickers or apparel.

After that, we went to a few more stores, but the rain really hindered our mood to explore, so we turned in for the night. However, we had an immediate free day in Tokyo to look forward to in the morning.