Day 8: High School Class and activities

High school day at Hakuyo High School in Yokohama!

9-10 Biology (experiment)

10-11 School tour

11-12 Chemistry

12-1 Lunch 

1-2 English (communication)

2-3  Physics 

Lilah: Lunch was really fun, we were able to talk to people we have met or even some new people and got to eat bento boxes with them! It was interesting seeing everyone and what they're parents brought them for lunch and the differences in America and Japan.

Eric: The physics class was fun but also super confusing. My table was a lot of fun so it wasn't as bad as it would've been. I'm glad I didn't take physics in high school.

Jianna: In chemistry we got to help the students with fulfilling an experiment that was assigned to them. It was super interesting to see the crossovers between Japanese chemistry and American chemistry along. We had to use lots of team work with a mix between English and Japanese to get it all figured out. Tons of fun.

Karson: English class was so much fun! Me and my team got along really well and we're cracking so many hilarious jokes, I could hardly breathe from how much I was laughing the whole hour!

Mason: Biology was interesting; I’m not a fan of biology, but I guess it was kinda fun. Meeting a bunch of new people was really awesome and most of them were very nice.

Ben: It was so fun sharing my drawings during lunch! My food that my host family gave me was delicious as well. It was really interesting how lunch works in Japan compared to America.

Emma: The school tour was amazing! The students knew so much about their school, and made sure to tell me. I was so surprised they had an outdoor pool! Also there was so much greenery everywhere.

Kael: I had lunch with 3 people today. I showed my picture book and explained it to them. I had I really yummy bento for lunch.

Bodhi: Biology was really fun. We did a lab about enzymes and how different solutes react with pig liver and hydrogen peroxide. After testing all of the solutions, the liver with just water was the most reactive one.

Saphira: During the school tour I got to see the garden outside and they showed me the trees that the school is based off of. I also got to see the art room, music room, and also the gymnasium! :)

Isabella: Today we got to go to school with our host families. The school is beautiful! Unlike the middle school, the coursework was familiar yet challenging. Chemistry was especially familiar and it felt like doing a lab back at Memorial. Even if it was a little challenging to interpret, it was still really fun to be immersed.

Txuj Ci: I really enjoyed talking with the students who were learning English, and I was surprised by how eager and smart they are. We did a lot of exercises to help communicate, like "2 truths and 1 lie", and that was super fun trying to figure out what the lie was!

Chai: Physics class was interesting to see in Japanese since they have different names for everything. But sometimes it was a bit difficult to follow. Besides that, it was fun doing the simulations and figuring out how to calculate for a point for x like 67m. Everybody was respectful and kind in my group.

Day 7 Part 2: High school welcome party

Hakuyo High School Welcome party

Day 7 Part 1: Meiji Shrine / Shibuya / Harajuku

                                  Popular place in Tokyo

9-10- Meiji Shrine

10-11 Harajyuku Takeshita street

11-1pm Shibuya

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Mason:The Meiji shrine is really beautiful, and got a good luck charm, and did an えま. We explored around Shibuya, and I explored this mall that was interesting.

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.

Bodhi: The Meiji shrine was incredible, it was in the trees and everything was incredibly pretty. Shibuya and Takeshita Street had so many people it was crazy, I bought so much hachiware stuff it's embarrassing.

Chai: The Meiji Shrine was beautiful to see with the great nature surroundings and ceremonies happening! I bought a good luck opening omamori and saw a wedding happen. Harajuku was nice and filled with gacha stuff but I waited until Shibuya where I spent about 300 dollars on shopping for figurines and merch I like. It was really packed with trains and bought almost too much.

Emma: The meiji shrine was absolutely amazing. It was especially cool because we got to see two weddings happening while we were there! Shibuya Crossing was crazy, but definitely a good experience. The amount of stores they had was crazy and I loved it.

Lilah: The shrine was so huge and beautiful, the nature around it was amazing and it felt so calming. Harajuku was also so cool, I got a delicious crepe and got a couple of gachas! I also got to go to the Pokemon Center and Shibuya and bought a few plushies, some cards, and mystery boxes. I had so much fun and am so happy I went!!!

Saphira: I really enjoyed visiting the Meiji shrine! It was such a great experience because we got to witness parts of a wedding ceremony! Then afterwards at Takeshita street I spent a lot of money on more blind boxes for me and my sisters :) and Shibuya was an experience for me, especially since I got lost for a little while, but I found my friends and we made it back to the meeting point on time :3

Txuj Ci: The Meiji shrine was so beautiful and it was my first time washing my hands and praying at a temple. At Takeshita Street in Shibuya, there were a lot of cool items and a huge gacha store that had so many options it made it hard to decide what I wanted.

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 :