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!