Today was the first day of the game jam. I spent over half of the day trying to download Unreal Engine on Professor Jacob’s laptop since my 2015 Mac would have never been able to handle that as it can barely handle Unity. While I was waiting for it to download, I began helping another group in the game jam.
During this time, Unreal Engine finished downloading on the laptop. However, it required another software to download. At that point, I felt that it would cause more harm than good if I went back to my previous group; since they would have to explain the entire code base to catch me up. So I remained with the new one since their programmer was sick with covid.
My time at KCG was where I tried a lot of new foods and snacks. I don’t know the names, but they were very good. One was in the shape of a mushroom and had a chocolate top. Another had a koala print on it and was filled with chocolate. I also got to try white rice wrapped in seaweed and Japanese pizza – which I didn’t realize was more uncommon there.
My friend asked for an interesting thing from Japan, so I found a bag that is in the shape of a fish for her. The group I shopped with got lunch before heading back to the hotel. After meeting the entire group in the lobby, we all left for KCG, where we got a tour of the newest building for their college. We then got to meet the other students we would work with for the game jam.
We started the day early to catch the bullet train headed for Hiroshima. After getting off the bullet train, we stopped at the dome – the last remaining building from the bombing. I’ve seen so many pictures of this building and appreciated the opportunity to see it in person. It was fascinating how this building still stands when it was just over 500 feet from where the bomb fell.
We also saw the origami monument, which I had never heard of until this day. A young girl died of cancer 10 years after the bombing of Hiroshima, and she folded paper cranes everyday believing they would help her recover before she eventually passed away. This started a movement to pray for world peace and up to 10 million cranes are offered every year before this monument.
We got to walk through the museum which was a very emotional experience. Although the topic was incredibly serious, I was happy I got to go. Not just for myself. One of the things on my dad’s bucket list was to go to Hiroshima, something he never got to do, and I’m glad I was able to go.
We woke up super early today and meditated with a monk at his shrine. Something that surprised me was that if you get distracted or your back begins to hurt, you bring your hands together, bow to the monk, and he hit you with a rod. My back did begin to hurt – I also thought, “When’s the next time I can get hit by a monk?”, so I gave this method a try – it shockingly helped. While it was hard to focus occasionally, it was a cool experience.
Afterwards we visited one of my favorite shrines, the one with all of the statues in it. I couldn’t take pictures due to it being a sacred site, but nevertheless I loved the visual and the story behind it; where the emperor wanted to show his strength and security so he created this temple.
We also got to walk around a small marketplace with incredible views – at the base of the shrine where the people jumped off and survived – and got to have make tea at a tea ceremony. I piqued my interest how strong the tea was. Apparently it’s made with either less water or more tea and is very caffeinated.
The entire group spent the day sightseeing numerous temples – both Shinto and Buddhist. While I don’t remember the exact names of all of them, I remember them all clearly. We first went to the Golden shrine right on the lake, that had part of the cremated remains of the Buddha on the third floor.
After getting on the bus and traveling to our next destination, we found ourselves in a bamboo forest and a marketplace for lunch. Before moving on to a temple on top of a mountain – where a group of people apparently jumped off of and survived. It was here where I started collecting stamps from the various temples and shrines so I could make a collage when I got back home.
We finally visited my personal favortie – a temple with thousands of gates – known as the Fox Shrine; where Sten had to photobomb me as payback from something earlier in the day. We spent the night at KCG, watching ‘Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train’. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, which was surprising because I’m not the biggest fan on anime. I really liked the creepy villain, the story, and the conflict for the main character that fights demons, where his sister is a demon.
We woke up super early to prepare for our train to Hiroshima. To prepare for our 2-3 hour ride, I downloaded some episodes of the Queens Gambit, one of my favorite shows.
Going in the bullet train is one of my favorite modes of transportation just because of how fast it feels, and with a window seat this time, I could really experience the relentless speed first hand.
We got to Hiroshima and grabbed a quick lunch at a food court. Then we went around the Dome, which was a beautifully tragic sight to see. The fact that it remained so intact is still so fascinating to me. Afterwards, we went to the Peace Museum. It is incredibly tragic, yet optimistic in its goal to end nuclear warfare, and reading all of the stories and history was an invaluable experience.
The Dome in Hiroshima
After the Peace Museum, we went to visit a nearby castle, adding onto the many steps weāve taken since entering Japan. We saw a lot of carp and koi fish, and another temple. For dinner, went to a unique place that had recently burst in popularity, but KCG was able to get us an impossible reservation, and it was a fulfilling and delicious meal.
After dinner, some of the group members and I split to go see the Hiroshima Pokemon Center, and as long as we were back at the station by 7:30 PM, we would be okay. After failing to hail a cab for 10 minutes, we finally got one and arrived at the Pokemon Center at 6:40 PM. After buying some stickers, it was time to go back. However, our group reached a point of indecision on how to get back: cab or station. With how difficult it was to get a cab, and our cluelessness with the subway, we wasted another 10 minutes. So, instead of wasting even more time, we decided to do what any sane tech students would do: speed walk.
It was a race against the clock and we were keen on winning. With our feet already straining from all of the walking throughout the past couple of days, our journey was made even more treacherous. The only thing motivating us was the fear of missing our train. It was a war between the ground and our feet; an unstoppable march towards the rendezvous point. Small disputes and skirmishes about directions caused tension, making it a mental battle instead of a physical one. After a long path of sweat and tears, we made it to the station at 7:31 PM, finding the rest of the group. This was an event for the history books.
Anyway, we got onto the train and it was a comfortable ride back to Kyoto, though Stenās snoring might have broken some of the rules of the quieter, Japanese culture. After a long time doing laundry and a nice bath, I hit the bed and fell asleep faster than ever before
I know on all of my other blogs, I tend to focus on food, but it does not feel right to do this on this day due to the experience we had. But to at least somewhat keep up with the bit, here are pictures of what I ate that day:
On this day, we paid a visit to Hiroshima and saw the Peace Memorial Dome as well as the Peace Memorial Museum. It was what I would consider a haunting experience. Seeing the dome, which seemed to be a beautiful piece of architecture in its prime, reduced to a skeleton of what it used to be surrounded by rubble is a scary image.
At the museum, the pain everyone suffered was immortalized with pictures and words, and it was nauseating to experience. How could someone morally do this to not just another innocent human being, but thousands of them? The thought itself is incredibly upsetting, but seeing it all before your very eyes brings it to a new level. Seeing all of the possessions the deceased had held dearly even during the bombing and the stories of people desperately trying to keep their loved ones alive was heart-wrenching. What may have been even more upsetting to me was the stories of those who submitted to their fates after fighting off disease caused by nuclear pollution for years.
The whole experience felt absolutely terrible, but I believe it was a necessary experience. We need to know history and why our ancestors were wrong to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and lose our humanity as they did.
Next, we went to a Shinto shrine with hundreds of yellow lanterns.
We started our day with a morning zazen meditation, which was led by a Buddhist monk. Secondly, we went to Sanjusangendo, a Buddhist temple known for having 1001 Buddhas. After that, we went back to the same area Kiyomizu-dera Temple was in and split into two groups. The first group, which I was in, went around the town on a tour to look at Kyoto’s architecture and went to another two shrines. After that, we participated in a tea ceremony where we were shown what a traditional tea ceremony looks like and then got to make our own tea. The second group did the same things as us but in the opposite order. Afterward, we went to the (whatever the market was called), which is known for its street foods and goods. Although the food looked delicious, the crowded area was overwhelming, so I ended up grabbing food somewhere else. After that, we went bowling with the staff helping with the game jam. I competed with Maddy and Toshi. I got completely owned by the two of them.
As for the super duper truly important parts of the day, I had another boxed breakfast given to us by the hotel. It consisted of toast with ham and lettuce, a chocolate croissant, a mini loaf of bread, two pieces of sausage, fried fish, a fried egg, and pickled shredded carrots.
During the tea ceremony, we had a sweet that was hard on the outside, but once bitten, its true soft and chewy nature became apparent. The yellow stripe in the middle is yuzu, a tangy citrus similar to grapefruit. For the tea, we had matcha that we made from hot water and powder. The sweets only made the matcha taste more bitter, but the bitterness was never overwhelming. These two contrasting tastes paired well together.
For dinner at the market. I have a steak with corn, rice, and fries. The steak was amazing and very cheap in comparison to the steak I’ve had in the United States. It was very juicy and flavorful, which was yummy to have with the mellow side items.
For dinner after bowling, I hit up 7-11 again and got a rice ball with chicken and vegetable filling. Although it was not the most delicious thing I had eaten on this trip, I could see how this item would be popular with office workers who are too tired to cook and happen to have a convenient 7-11 located on their way back home from work. It was cheap, good tasting, and on the healthier side.
Tomorrow is our free day, and we will finally get to meet the KCG students we’ll be working with!!
Before heading to Kyoto, we had some time to kill and went to the aquarium. I expected it to be a lot smaller than it was, and I really enjoyed getting to see manta rays, seals, and otters!
After the aquarium, we boarded the bullet train! The train ride was about 2-3 hours long and I listened to music and watched the beautiful countryside and mountains as we traveled.
Once in Kyoto, we met up with some professors from KCG and had a wonderful welcome dinner. Dinner consisted of 10 courses where we were able to sample traditional Japanese foods. Iām not a huge seafood fan, but I did give the raw squid and sashimi a try.
That night I was tired after a long day of traveling, and definitely was happy to relax at the hotel. The hotel aesthetic was a nice fusion of modern minimalist with some traditional Japanese style and bathroom. I especially enjoyed the complimentary night robes we were given, they were so comfy!
Today is the day we travelled from Shinagawa to Kyoto via bullet train. Our original plan was to get on a train at 11am after checking out of the hotel around 10am. However, the trains were all full at 11 so we had to switch to a 2pm train. This game us roughly 3 hours between checking out of the hotel and heading to the train station. So after eating some ramen at the food court within the hotel, me and my group went to the aquarium!
Lunch before Kyoto!
The aquarium was so cool to see! There were all kinds of animals there, not even just fish. It was a tad bit pricier than typical aquariums in the U.S., but the quality of the exhibits and, from what I can tell, the treatment of the animals is far better. There were capybaras, stingray, sharks of all kinds, jellyfish, coral reef fish, otters, frogs, piranhas, and even more. We didn’t get a chance to see the bigger fish, like the dolphins, because the exhibits were later, but I’m ok with that. We did get to see an otter show, which was so cute!
Otter show! The otter was catching a ball thrown at him š
The aquarium was split into many different sections, including a jungle section which included most of the land animals. We also saw another group of students in the aquarium at the same time as us! My favorite animal exhibit was either the seals or the otters because they were sooo cute. After seeing all the exhibits we went through the gift shop to look around, but things were a bit pricey (as to be expected). After leaving the aquarium we went to 7/11 to get ice cream, which was super tasty, then we headed back to the hotel lobby to wait until we went to the train station. The train ride went pretty smoothly with the group and was a nice, comfortable ride (I played Tears of the Kingdom the whole time).
One of the seals doing laps upside down!
After arriving in Kyoto we met up with our friends from KCG and loaded our bags into the bus we would take to the hotel later. Before going to the hotel we had dinner in this really fancy restaurant that must have costed a lot of money, so I am very thankful for the opportunity! The dinner was 10 courses and each were so, so good. The first course was an assortment of seafood and vegetables. I got to eat 7 baby squids because no one liked them :). The second course was an assortment of fish served with wasabi and shiso, which was very scrumptious. Dish three was vegetables boiled in a really yummy broth that was set on a flame on our table! Dish number four was a pork belly and lettuce plate that very special instructions. The server came and lit the fire under neath a bowl of oil, then we put all of our lettuce in the bowl and waited 3-5 minutes. After the time was up we were able to put the pork belly into the oil one slice at a time to cook it, then dip it in the sauce to eat. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night! The fifth course was a salad with avocados, lettuce, and tomatoes. Course six was tempura shrimp and vegetables, which was absolutely amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the circular vegetable but everything else was yummy. Course number seven was a tofu gelatin dish that I did not enjoy very much, as much as I hate to say it. Dish 8 was sushi made right in front of us by the head chef of the restaurant! Some students even made the sushi themselves! The sushi was great and the staff were wonderful. Course 9 was an egg broth that was very good. The final course was desert, which was vanilla and soy ice cream! Really liked this one, haha :).
The many courses of the night! (Reverse order, starts with 10)
After dinner we got on the bus from earlier and headed to our hotel! I took a bath, had a meeting, then clonked out! Day 2 done š
