Before the long train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto, Brody, Vincent, Maddy and I went to the Shinigawa Aqua Park. We saw many amazing aquatic animals I had only seen in movies and video games (mainly Animal Crossing). Afterward, we hopped on the train, where I spent the whole time gawking at the scenery. We ended the day with a 10-course meal at our welcome dinner in Kyoto.
Pictures from the day
To start out the day, I had a matcha cake roll that I got from 7-11 the previous night. It was super yummy and only a little sweet. It was effortless to eat before Maddy and I headed out to meet up with Vincent and Brody for an actual meal
Matcha cake roll
In terms of real food, I ended up getting pork fried rice. The green onion, egg, and pork combination was incredibly satisfying to eat. The addition of the rice make the dish filling, making it perfect to have before the long train ride that awaited.
Pork fried rice
The last meal of the day was the 10-course meal that we had as a part of our welcome dinner to Kyoto. We started out with a few small dishes including squid, pickled vegetables, bok choy, and pork. As the soup was cooking, we were given a small assortment of sushi. The soup was a type of fish soup, but I, regrettably, do not recall what it is called. After that, we had more pork that we dipped into hot oil to cook ourselves. That was followed by a salad that I did not end up eating due to my allergy to raw vegetables. After that, we had shrimp tempura with fried lotus and pepper. That was followed by more sushi, which we got to see prepared by a professional chef. After that was a tofu dish with a gelatin soup base on top. After that was another soup that was followed by ice cream. Everything that I was able to eat was delicious. I wish I was able to eat more of the delicious dinner, but sadly, I am allergic to life.
alright people today we are blogging tired this is gonna be a weak one. a real iceberg salad of an assignment. no way around it unfortunately, i’m an early sleeper and this schedule is trying my patience.
so. today i woke up at five even to the sun streaming through the floor-length window in my room. i like it that way. it’s the most gradual and natural way to wake up, and evades the angry feeling an alarm instigates.
[the window as i left it. sorry i have no morning pics, i was busy being awake or something.]
i wanted to take a morning walk like i have been doing but i was worried it might not be pleasant due to a sharp pain that i noticed in my ankle yesterday, probably due to dragging luggage through the city and standing on the train to tokyo. the walk didn’t last long because my ankle was in fact, doing the thing again. it was more like a short limp to the nearest konbini to scavenge and hurry back to the room before anything got worse.
today’s breakfast mission was to discover the difference between melonpans. every time i go to the bread section of a konbini i always see a lot of stuff labeled “melonpan” but the appearance seems to be seriously lacking in melon. (i think now that maybe this name refers more to the shape/cut of the bread than the ingredients?) i got a green one with cream and a round one with a checkered pattern. indeed, only the green one had anything to do with melon, and the checked one was straight bread with a sweet coating on top i couldn’t quite place the origin of. both were good for their own reasons, but they both had a moist, squishy texture i’ve noticed in a lot of japanese breads. that’s my favorite kind of bread. beats the straight rocks that the french eat every time.
after sitting in the room for a bit and diffusing a breakdown over the leg i met up with everyone in the lobby. as much as i didn’t want to do more walking i did really want to see the aquarium so i joined the group that was heading there. fish are just free serotonin, i got no other way to put it.
this aquarium was pretty weird. the first thing we saw after buying tickets was a pirate boat amusement park ride and a small fish tank with a projection of sunny leaves overlapping it and the surrounding wall and floor area. it appears t0 have an association with maxell, a variety technology company, that likely had something to do with the exhibits’ liberal use of projectors. let’s just say i hope fish can’t see color or get headaches.
there’s a lot of stuff i could go into here but i think i will talk about the jelly room. my favorite thing about aquariums in my old age is always a good jelly room. no matter what aquarium you’re in you know when you’re walking in jelly because the whole vibe shifts from bright blue and green to a calm, meditative, black with tiny windows of color and a lofi playlist to sleep or study to (with rain noise). if they made an aquarium for jellys only i would go every week. anyway.
this jelly room was small in comparison to some other ones i’ve seen but it was really artfully done. there were mirrors on all sides, even the ceiling, with color-changing blown glass spheres dangling from the top that bounced light all around. the jellies were in their own color changing tubes and man i could watch these things go until the sun blows up. tickles the part of my ape brain that wants the dvd logo to hit the corner of the tv. the soundtrack was calm but melodic, and the sound played in my mind well after leaving. at the center of the room was a big circle tank that you could look through. i wish i got a closer look but it was a really good setup for a photo, i can’t blame people for going up to it but it did mean there wasn’t really a good time to get close.
[the aforementioned jelly room and my best jelly pic. i don’t really think green was this room’s color but hopefully you get the idea.]
the last Day Highlight is the really nice dinner that the KCG people treated us to. the restaurant was absolutely beautiful and the moment i walked in i knew this was gonna be a good time. if there’s anything you gotta know about me in the context of this trip it’s that i am a tempura fiend and after a stressful, painful day getting to sit down for an extended period of time and eat one of my favorite foods was really uplifting for me.
[i’m not much of a food picture guy but i figured this would come up. shout out to the people who gave me extra shrimp, really made my day.]
anyway. this hotel we’re staying in now is really nice and i’ll probably write about that tomorrow. it is 12 am though and i would like to sleep in it. onto the next blog. haha. i need to wake up by 5 tomorrow. hope the post was worth it folks maybe i can get to the next one earlier byeeee :2
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.
