Japan: Day 2

Today was focused on seeing some key locations by bus (tomorrow is our public transport day, so it seems today is easing us into the rhythm of the city and culture before we mix with the locals and do things like Tokyo residents).

NOTE: Some student first impressions are featured at the end of this post!

We had a relaxed start time of 8:45am after a unique breakfast (for instance, one of the items was corn soup which tasted like corn chowder puree), and then headed to our first stop: Takeshita Street. 

This street features an array of wacky and cutesy food items (e.g. grilled cheese but the cheese is... a rainbow; see Mr. Newton showcasing an example for us below) along with a few different types of animal cafes and some strange souvenir shops. 

It was lightly misting the whole time and this is when we saw the assortment of umbrellas in use. Tokyo is no Portland; people aren't too cool for umbrellas, in fact, there's quite an umbrella culture (it seems locals would rather have an umbrella than a raincoat), and we noticed that many of the umbrellas were transparent. Some students discovered that many of these transparent umbrellas come from the convenience stores that people buy in a pinch when the rain hits suddenly (they figured this out because that's exactly what some of the students did who weren't QUITE ready for this rain; whoops!). 

After getting quite damp, and fogging up the bus with the humidity we brought with us, we headed to Meiji Shrine. We learned today that shrines are religious sites for Shintoism (an ancient religion of Japan), whereas temples (like Asakusa Kannon Temple which we visited after the Meiji Shrine) are Buddhist sites. Japan has two major religious influences in Shintoism and Buudhism, and when Michiyo (our Tour Director) tried to describe how they intersect, she basically just said, "Japanese people are confused about the distinctions between them, too."

When we arrived at the shrine it was, again, misty and damp, but it made the grounds of the shrine absolutely beautiful. On our way to the shrine, we walked along massive paths under old trees that towered above us, covering the walkways in a glorious canopy--it was so lovely!

Here's a quick CLIP that features everyone walking to the shrine.

Before we could enter the shrine, our tour guide informed us that we first had to rinse our hands and mouth. Here's a quick CLIP of that process!

At one point a super cool sounding drum thrummed ominously in the background; you might just catch the tail end of its beat in THIS video as well as some travellers being shy (except for Daive (that's our chaperone nickname for Vidosic)).

Prodan and Vidosic being their goofy selves...

En route to our next stop, we passed through Shibuya Crossing, famous for its massive crowds crossing the street from all directions. Here's a CLIP.

On to our second religious site of the day: Asakusa Temple. Here were some of the traditional buddhist experiences with ritualistic chanting and a very strong smell of incense. We also saw a decent number of people (mostly couples) dressed up in Kimonos while visiting the temple. This is something I saw in Korea at the Palaces in Seoul, too, where many people wore the traditional hanbok, and I think it's a really lovely way for people to showcase, and participate in, their heritage (it kind of makes me sad you'd never catch Americans visiting the Lincoln Memorial, say, in an 19th century Victorian ball gown or Williamsburg in a waistcoat and breeches; sadly, we're too cool for it). 

I thought these older ladies were so cute! We were up on the tourist observation deck to observe the view of the temple when I spied them. Good for them! 

Our final stop of the day was one highly anticipated by our anime lovers: Akihabara Electric Town. I'll admit this part of town was a bit beyond me as I know very little about anime, Japanese video games, manga, Pachinko and Maid Cafes, but the students seemed very excited about the first four items listed, in particular. 

While the kiddos explored, some of us adults visited a department store that was completely overstimulating in its overabundance of colors, ads and signs. 

For dinner, we had sumo-style hot pot. Our tables were crammed full of soup, udon noodles, fried chicken, bowls of rice, tofu, fishy pickled cucumbers, and slices of "Japanese twinkie" (the name was coined by Vidosic) for dessert. We ate family style and continued working out our chopsticks kinks. "Oisheedesu!" ("It was delicious!") 

First Impressions of Japan (featuring some of your students):

RONIA: The lights from her hotel room at night were stunning. That's when it hit home: "I'm actually in Japan!"

BEAR: Driving from the airport to the hotel was his first opportunity to take in where he actually was: "It felt wild and it was amazing!" It took him a little bit of time to get used to the idea of being in Tokyo. First time travelling abroad!

MADDY: School uniforms! They're actually real. Students don't just wear them in anime!

NOAH H.: Japan is extremely green. Everything is lush!

LOGAN:  The way the Japanese utilize their space is impressive.

That's it for today. More to come tomorrow!

~Ms. Carr