Day J14 & J15

Since the China students came to Japan for the last week we went with them to an out of the way part of Tokyo where the old architecture still stands. There, we visited a Buddhist temple and got to see the inside of a traditional Japanese-style house.



Afterwards we went to the Sunshine city building in Ikebukuro for dinner and desert. They had the single oddest ice cream shop that I have ever heard of. Its decorations and the such were somewhat ordinary, but the flavors were not. Images start normally, then.....











That's right. Viper. They had ice cream made out of viper.

Anyways, Next day, we had class and discussed things about Japanese culture in light of the last day's visits and such. Afterwards, we, in our small groups, took the China students on a short trip to various locations around Tokyo (each group did one location). My group brought our China students to Ginza and gave them a little history lesson and discussed cultural observations while viewing various venues such as t Itoya and Mitsukoshi stores. This post now concludes.

Day J13

Not much to report today, I went to Akihabara once more to do fieldwork and language notes. I also did all the rest of the shopping for my trip. Comic Toranoana, right tower, floors 1-4 are now officially my favorite place in Akihabara.
Overall, I had a very relaxing Saturday.

Day J12

Blegh.
I woke up this morning with something of an upset stomach. I ate some breakfast, but that really only made it feel worse. I laid down until I felt better, then I went to class. After class, I was once again not feeling great, so I went back to the dorm, on the way, buying some plain white bread. I think the bread and a nap really helped my upset stomach. Nothing else really notable happened.

Day J11

Caught up! (minus pictures)
Today, for class, we looked at various bookstores.
We started out with the Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku Sanchoume. It was extensive and large, but as the layout and clientele went it was pretty run of the mill. Except for the front display. It included a large TV screen perpetually playing Michael Jackson's music videos. On the way to the next location, every last one of us had Thriller stuck in our heads.
We next were lead by Lennon-sensei (her mother, taking care of Leila, the eight month old daughter of Lennon-sensei, was also there for this portion) to an area which had a name that I do not remember, but it had older bookstores. That is, they sold older books. We split into small groups to explore. In the first shop we entered, there was a large collection of old Japanese books. I couldn't tell what all of them were, but it seemed as if a lot of them were about China, judging by the frequent use of 中 in the titles (中国 is china). Next, we found a place that sold foreign books from the early and mid 1900's. For you comic minded people, they had the first issue of Marvel's The Defenders. The next store specialized in old books about theater and art, specifically Noh. Next, a shop with an extensive collection of pop-culture stuff from the sixties and seventies, with Nirvana playing in the background.
Next was, once again, Akihabara. First was a standard bookstore. Then there was the Toranora stores. I was practically in heaven. I could tell I would love it from the second I saw the buildings. The right tower was draped in posters for series which I had seen and liked. There were three entire floors devoted to Touhou Project merchandise. I bought Touhou 12 and 12.3, for those of you who know what that is.
I then returned to the dorm to catch up on my blog.

Day J10

Even though I woke up late today, I ended up being at class less than ten minutes late, and the girls were also late (they live in a different dorm), so we hadn't started class yet. We had a discussion about the movie we watched on Monday. And discussed the cultural and language noted we have been taking since we arrived.
THEN WE WENT TO THE GHIBLI MUSEUM!!!
It was really a very cool place, they had very interesting exhibits some technical aspects of anime and moving pictures in general. Pictures will be up when I get them from other people.

Day J9

Hokay, so now I'm going to be catching up on my posts. Since it's easier to write these referring to the events as if they happened today, that's how I'll write them. Anyways...
Tuesday
We got up early to experience the rush hour experience on the subways, but we might have missed the proper time because it wasn't honestly that bad. We went to Tsukiji station and went to see the Tokyo Fish Market. I have never seen more seafood in one place. It was kinda like a Frank and Sons or Anime Expo, but for fish.
There. Was. A. Lot.
I have forgotten my camera in my room, so I'll try to negogiate with other people to get their pictures.
We continued from there to check out the standard issue Japanese supermarket. It seemed like a bit more stuff was crammed on shorter shelves. Also there was more pre-cut meat than whole meat, and for better prices.
Lunch happened around here somewhere.
Next, we looked at Ginza, the classier shopping district, and looked at two stores mainly. First were the sweets floor and the grocery floor of a famous department store, the name of which escapes me. The sweets floor was basically what was expected, but the grocery floor was somewhat more interesting. It was set up more like a make-up department, with each section having its own attendant and cash register. Things were generally well priced, but I saw one mysterious piece of meat (looked like fish) selling for about 9000円, which is a little under $100. Since I saw it as we were walking out, I didn't have a chance to analyze what it could be.
Next was the Itoya stationary store, which is rather impressive. I have never seen a $500 pen before.
Next, (after class) a group of us went to the Japanese Sword Museum. It was rather close to closing time, so there were no visitors there besides us. The actual exhibit is only one room, but they have pretty cool items. There were two of Japan's national treasures on display as well as a sword by Masamune and another my another big name old swordsmith, but I can't remember it now. The security guard served as sort of a tour guide and we went to him for questions. Of course, he didn't speak any English, but that made it more fun and educational.

Day J7-J8

Alrighty, I'm gonna be backposting about the last two days here. Tomorrow deserves its own page tho, because unlike on day 8, I actually did something.
Anyways...
We got up early (for a Sunday) and went to Tokyo station to meet our T.A. from last year and a St. Olaf student who is studying abroad (Ueno-sensei and Sara Padula respectively).



We all went to Harajuku to do minor shopping and hang out. I got some souvenirs for people for a good price. We proceeded to have lunch at The Pause.



after lunch we had Crepes from a stand and dawdles a while before entering the subway and going to some sort of building that had a rather comprehensive arcade floor, which had every modern arcade game which I looked for (Melty Blod Actress Again, Fate/Unlimited Codes, as well as tha most recent installations of ALL the major series). The people in the Taiko club played a taiko game at the arcade, I don't think they fared as well as they had expected to. Folloeing that, we went our separate ways for Dinner and returned to the Dorms Uneventfully.

By the way, welcome to Harajuku.



Day J8, we had class and watched the movie おくりびと, it was published as Departures in the US. It was very enjoyable. Afterwards I went back to the dorm to heal my tiredness.