Day 7 Part 1: Meiji Shrine / Shibuya / Harajuku

[Students are with Yokohama host family time, so not many stories today.] 

In front of Sake Barrels at Meiji Shrine

Eric: The Meiji shrine was really beautiful. There were two weddings happening there which was cool to see and we got to see a ceremony happening while we prayed. Then Harajuku was super awesome. I didn't buy anything but I was super tempted by all the Gyaru and y2k themes stores. Shibuya was absolutely insane. The crossing was smaller than I'd imagined but Emma and I literally got lost in just one building full of stores. I also bought a good amount of stuff there.

Karson: The views at the shrine were so beautiful! I struggled to choose which omamori since they offered so many different types! After that we went to got a long stretch of stores (Takeshita street in Harajuku) similar to Shibuya!

Isabella: Visiting Meiji shrine felt like a very personal and unique place where so many kinds of people have visited. Going to Shibuya right after Takeshita street felt like we were on a constant high of awe and excitement, too. Shibuya had so much to see and do, like things I could never imagine in America, and I would really like to come back someday.

Ben: The Meiji Shrine was so cool so visit and walk around in, it was like walking through history! Also, Shibuya was super busy, and I loved visiting all the various stores that it offered.

Day 6: Tokyo, Imperial palace, Odaiba

                                      Go to downtown Tokyo area

11-12:30 Eat lunch at Kagura street

1pm Visit Yasukuni shrine

1:30-2:30pm Visit Imperial Palace

4-8pm Take Yurikamome driver-less train to Odaiba 

9pm Stay at Tokyo Youth Hostel

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Imperial palace at Hirakawa Gate

Mason: The Italian restaurant (Saizeria) was so good and cheap! I had squid ink pasta which was amazing! The Imperial Palace garden was gorgeous, so much nature and beautiful architecture!Walking around the mall was super awesome, and there were many cool stores. The Gundam thingy was super cool as well.

Ben: Walking around the city was so fun! There was amazing food and the claw machines were addictive. Seeing the giant unicorn Gundam was awesome!!! Shopping was also very fun, I didn’t get much, but there were so many unique spots to go to.

 Claw Machines at Kagurazaka street

Emma: I loved walking downtown Iidabashi and seeing all the shops! The Imperial palace/garden was amazing, and so beautiful. It was so peaceful everywhere you went! I love going to Odaiba and seeing the Tokyo skyline! The shopping center was so fun and i bought so many goodies

Lilah: Walking downtown was so cool! I got to take a few pictures in front of a small shrine! The palace was beautiful and you could feel the history in everything, it was an amazing experience.I loved being able to shop around the huge mall, I got to pick so many pins from a Ghibli shop, it was so cute! I really enjoyed seeing Japan at night it was really pretty, especially the Tokyo sky tree which was lit up in a very warm glow!

Txuj Ci: Walking around the Imperial palace was very exhausting, but it was beautiful. I really liked the koi pond and the waterfall.Odaiba was really fun and there were a lot of cool things to get for gifts. The Gundam light show was super cool and my favorite part of going there!

Bodhi: The imperial palace was much bigger area than I thought it would have been but it was so incredibly pretty. My favorite part was the waterfalls and the koi pond. Shopping was very fun, I finally got to get a bunch of the goodies I wanted freely! And the mall was huge. Additionally, the Gundam show afterwards was really cool.

Chai: It was fun eating at the pizza place! The Italian place was nice and cheap. The Imperial palace was nice and pretty! The history was nice.The view from the train around Odaiba was really nice to see and take pictures of. Free time with friends and shopping was the one of the best parts of this trip so far!

Eric: I enjoyed getting to walk around and look at all the shops. Also the Imperial Palace was super pretty and I thought the history behind it was cool as well. I think my favorite parts of it were the iris garden and the koi pond though. I loved the shopping!! I bought a lot of stuff and I'm happy about all of it plus the tax-free discount was super nice. The night skyline was also super pretty.

Kael: We went to Imperial palace and walked around. We saw lots of beautiful koi at the pond. We went to see this huge Gundam statue and it was really fun to see the light show. Then we went to the mall and looked at many different shops; they had so many.

Karson: The imperial palace was so much fun! I took so many pictures of the beautiful flowers and the amazing views they had! The koi were so beautiful, and we had some amazing ice-cream! We also got to go to a arcade place where I lost lots of money trying to get prizes, but it was definitely worth the fun! Today was so amazing! I bought some really cool Dark Souls art books, some Zoro merch, and Luffy's hat! I also ate some really good tempura and watched the Gundam show. The city was so beautiful at night!

Jianna: I deeply enjoyed being able to play claw machines with my friends but on top of that the historical architecture of the castles was also super cool to see. The koi ponds were also very beautiful and the amount of effort it must take to keep the place tidy must be enormous. I ended up going to a second hand anime merch shop on the fifth floor an explored a bit of the district mall, which was super awesome a lot of it was a steal. Along with that I also tried baskin robins with a friend which was super tasty as well. Tons of fun!

Isabella: The shrines and Imperial Palace had such pretty views. We learned about their history too!enough time! There was so much to see and do, so I’d like to come back someday. For dinner, I ate Wagyu!!!

Saphira: The Imperial palace so such an amazing experience! I also had fun going to the tea shop down the street from the hostel and ended up spending quite the amount of money.I had so much fun in Odaiba Today!! I bought a bunch of gifts for people back at home and Tokyo skyline was so beautiful at night and the Gundam show was cool to see in person! :)

Day 5: Craft day! Samurai Keychain, Rice bowl painting and grilling rice crackers

Craft day!

9-11am Visit  the Samurai armor factory and  made samurai chest plate keychains

11:30-1pm Eat at “kura sushi” (conveyor belt sushi). 

1:30-2pm Make osenbei

3:30-4:30pm Painting our own Japanese rice bowl.

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Lilah: It was super interesting taking so many different trains and walking around Japan, there's a lot of cool differences like how many people ride bikes! The Kura sushi was also delicious, I ate so much!!

Painting the rice bowls was very fun and I had a good time! We walked a lot and although it was tiring I really felt like I was able to immerse myself in the cities!

Isabella: Making the samurai keychains was a little difficult but still found it really interesting. I LOVED Kura sushi. I had so much food for less money than at home. The quality was really good and I tried a lot of new dishes raw squid nirigiri.

Kura sushi was SOOOO good, I was so happy. The quality of the fish here is something I’ll miss so bad when we come back home. Making osenbei and painting rice bowls was also such a unique experience, and I’m glad they were close together so that we didn’t have to walk too much!

Ben: Making the samurai keychains was awesome! Also, the tempura was super good at the sushi restaurant. Although, I may gave eaten way too much.

Chai: The Samurai-making place was very cool to see! Everything was high quality and well made, but very expensive too. The Kura Sushi place was really fun and we ate way too much. We won some nice prizes and ordered some great food. I hope to do something like this again soon!

Bodhi: Making the keychains was fun but a little hard, but the end result was really worth it! Afterwards, we walked around Japan for a while and it was long but fun as well. Kura sushi was a lot of fun and super filling for really cheap.

Designing the rice bowls was super fun even though it was kind of difficult.  At the kuru kuru sushi I got an embarrassing amount of food and desserts but it was all delicious and totally worth it. At home we had chicken and miso soup which was really yummy.

Kael: We went to a samurai [decoration] factory and made a cool a key chain. We had to use the train system to get there. Then we went to a sushi restaurant and ate a lot.

Jianna: The work and craftsmanship behind the samurai keychains and armor was incredible, after trying to make them myself I could really appreciate how hard it is. The sushi was also delicious and especially the tempura and salmon roe was delectable! 

Emma: I loved taking the train and walking places together! The samurai keychains were hard but so fun to make and see finished in the end. The kura sushi was so fun and yummy!!

Making Osenbei was so fun and quick! I also loved making the rice bowls and I’m so excited to see how it turned out!! When I got home my host family took me to get ハンバーグ (hamburger) which was sooo good!

Txuj Ci: Making the keychains was very interesting and it looked really good even though mine is a little lopsided. Afterward we went to Kura Sushi which was cool and there were so many options! I personally really liked the Shrimp Tempura and Crab Croquette.

I liked painting the rice bowls a lot even if I didn't add much for a design. For dinner, we received udon noodles from Kael's host mother, so we made udon, and it was super tasty. Afterward, I played a fun game called Shiritori with my host mom and the third child, Tsumugi.

Mason: Today has been super fun! I really enjoyed seeing all of the Samurai armor, and getting to see more Japanese culture. Making the keychains was a lot of fun and mine turned out pretty good with some help. Kura Sushi is the greatest thing that has happened to restaurants ever; so much good food for such a good price.

Everything we did was awesome! Making the Samurai keychain was a ton of fun, and it was very meticulous. Kura Sushi was probably my favorite part of the day; it was so delicious, and I tried a lot of new things. Making Osenbei was a very quick, but fun process, and I got some more to bring home!

Karson: It was so much fun! I was looking forward to making the samurai Keychain for so long and it lived up to my expectations! I also was able to buy a card holder which I'm looking forward to using. The sushi place was very nice. I had lots of cake and tempura because I don't like sushi, but it they had lots of other stuff which was a relief!

Eric: The samurai keychains were kind of hard but they look really pretty! Kura Sushi was super tasty too and we won the gacha at our table too! I also got a Kirby gacha capsule which was cool too!

Saphira: Making the samurai keychains was so fun! Afterwards I enjoyed  walking to the Kura sushi restaurant and it was so tasty! It wasn’t too expensive either. Making osenbei was so fun!! I would definitely go do it again :) 

Painting the rice bowls was so fun! I kinda ran short on time, but I’m exited to see how they turned out! And when I got back home my host mom made curry rice for dinner and it was super yummy! I also played with/built Legos with my host little brother :

Day 4: Middle School Visit

  Today we went to Katsushika Junior High School. 

8:30-8:50 Homeroom: we went to our assigned homeroom class

8:50 Help the 6th grade English class

9:50 Visit other classes (English, Math, Science,Tech ed etc)

10:50 Try Japanese calligraphy

11: 50 Learn how to play koto instrument

12:40-13:40  We had our Japanese school lunch!

13:45 Perform our group presentation

14:30 Clean the classroom

14:50-15:00 Homeroom

Karson: It was so much fun, I got to help the kids learn English! The teacher threw a ball and student who caught the ball was asked questions and we had to answer them in English or Japanese, which was kind of hard. After that I got to watch the students learn linguistics. It seemed very hard but I was surprised I was able to understand a little of it. It seems like they were breaking sentences down into parts and labeling them! Then we got to do calligraphy and I wrote my name in Kanji.

Kael: We sang some songs with the principal of the school and then we try the Japanese guitar (koto), it was fun. We ate lunch with the students, it was crazy. Then we presented to a classroom about our hometown. After that we helped clean the school with the kids.

Lilah: I had a lot of fun coming to the school!  The students were all very sweet and eager to talk and interact. They were so organized it was very weird coming from the US to this, the lunch was very good and I was surprised at the amount of differences there were!

Eric: I enjoyed getting to sitting in on the classes and getting to eat with the students. I got to play catch with some of them outside and it thought eating lunch was really fun. Overall the whole day was super fun!!

Isabella: We spent the day going through the motions of a middle schooler in Japan, and it was super unique! From seeing the behavioral differences to academic, everything was really interesting. We also got to play the Koto and do Japanese calligraphy.

Emma: Today we went to a middle school where we got to go to various classes! I got to hangout with lots of students and had so much fun! The lunch was very interesting and delicious, and the classes were super fun!!

Chai: Meeting the middle schoolers were interesting for today! They were lively and asked interesting questions! Doing the classes like Calligraphy was nice to be able to take something nice home.

Bodhi: I had so much fun at the school today. The people in my homeroom loved talking to me and during lunchtime I really bonded with them. Playing the koto and singing with everyone was so fun. The food was delicious, especially after winning Rock Paper Scissors for a second serving of fish.

Ben: Coming to the middle school was so cool! Everyone was super nice, and were so excited when I drew for them. They also had a ton of questions about me and where I was from.

Txuj Ci: It was very awkward trying to initiate conversation at first, but all the people were very friendly! The most memorable parts were learning how to play the koto and calligraphy. It was super fun, and I even got to take a picture with everyone.

Saphira: I really liked my homeroom! There was another student who recently moved to Japan from Africa and she knew English well. Even though the other students didn’t know much English yet, they would still try to communicate with me!