Day 16 Fish market and Tokyo free time!

Mallory:
Last night at the capsule hotel was a tad sketchy, but the rooms were way bigger than sensei made them out to be. The mattress was hard but I slept very well. 

Some people went to the Tsukiji Fish Market at 7:00 and ate raw-fish bowl!

Fallyn and I woke up around 8:30, got ready and headed for Mister Donut for some breakfast. I bought 6 donuts so I could have some for later. 

Sensei showed us this taiko drum shop and then we were allowed some free time around Akihabara. Fallyn, Matteen, Zach, and I all navigated our way about an hour from Akihabara all the way back to Odaiba to do some shopping at the mall and then made our way all the way back to Akihabara without getting lost!

We're currently on our way back to Showa to stay with our original host families again, we leave for home on Monday and I honestly couldn't be more excited! Japan is great!

Day 15 Ghibli Museum, Tokyo Sky Tree

Sam
Okonomiyaki last night was delicious. We had it Osaka style with cheese. It was huge so some of us couldn't finish. After we were done, we went back to the hostel and packed. Bed was earlier than normal so we could wake up at 5 the next morning to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo. The ride was more than 5 hours so we did our best to catch up on sleep then.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we put our big bags in coin lockers and split into two groups: one that went to Tokyo Sky Tree,

and one that went to the Studio Ghibli Museum. My group was the latter. The Ghibli museum was an incredible place. We saw all sorts of cute Totoros and other famous figures. We watched an adorable short too. It's amazing how Ghibli can make adults feel like kids again! Ghibli also had a section that showed some of the older methods of video making such as stereo graphs. We got to see a recreation of Miyazaki's work area too. There were reference books everywhere so that he could make his adorable characters more lifelike. They also had a huge number of his drawings on display which really showcased the detail he put into his work. 

After the museum, we went to Akihabara - a city filled with interesting items and duty free stores. We met up with the other group there and quickly headed for the capsule hotel to check out our rooms. The hotel stank terribly but there wasn't much we could do.

We had a very special dinner at a Japanese restaurant where we were joined by three gusts: Asuka (a foreign exchange student to North High School who just returned), Matt (a junior at UW Madison who has a summer internship in Japan), Evan and Morgan (both are currently participating in study abroad programs). Matt, Evan and Morgan are all former students of Nagai sensei, so it was cool hearing about what to expect in collage. Dinner was on Darryl and Nagai sensei so we all ate our fill.

After dinner, we all went to karaoke together and had a blast!

Day 14, Hiroshima peace park, Miyajima, Daishoin

Matteen's report
This morning we went to the Hiroshima peace park. Here you can see the remains of an old community building that was struck by the atomic bomb. We were also able to ring the bell of eternal peace and see the statue of Sadako, which is a memorial to the kids who were killed by the bomb. After the park we went to a Hiroshima memorial museum which was really depressing; yet well done. There were some interesting artifacts and some very frightening replicas. 

Once we finished at the museum we walked to a Japanese restaurant for a group lunch. The crew had various different dishes and desserts, all of which were delicious. We are now heading to the place to get onto the ferry and go out to the island of Miyajima.

At Miyajima we visited a small shrine called Itsutsushima-injya which was right on the water front. After this we walked up hill to Daisho-in temple. Here there were many different things to do, we went into a pitch black basement room and had to find our way out, we went on the roof of one of the prayer buildings and we also walked through a room full of statues and rolled hundreds of huge beads for luck. 

Once we had finished up at the temple we were given a little bit of free time. Alex and Sam took a large set of stairs and Alex made it up to a viewing platform to see the view from there. The rest of us took our shoes and waded through the huge shrine gate that was in the middle of the ocean which was really quite cool. 

Now we're heading into Hiroshima to get some dinner at an Okonomiyaki restaurant, and then we'll hopefully have a little more free time before heading back to our hostel.

Day 13 Kyoto Free Day

Kandis 
When we went to the clear water temple yesterday at 5:30, the love temple was already closed, so today during the free day Sam and I went there for a second time and went to the love temple. It was pretty, but there were lots of people, regardless of all the rain! 

Kiyumizu-dera, but Love Temple was closed!

We also looked around at many of the shops on the large hill leading to the temple, it was really nice to be able to take our time and not be rushed through the sites.

We had Gyu-don for lunch at Suki-ya, and then went to various shopping centers around Kyoto. It was a very relaxed day. 

Then we took the bullet train to Hiroshima.

Day 12 Meditation, Fushimi, Golden Temple

Kandis

Yesterday my host family took me to 'Nanba,' a big flashy shopping center in Osaka. We went to a Korean restaurant there, it was delicious! 

Today we went to Mampu-kuji temple and did meditation. The temple has a lot of influence from China, and was really pretty. It also was much more spacious than I had expected it to be, considering how close together houses and businesses are in Japan.

During meditation I did not get hit by the monk, but the sound of others being hit made me flinch. I am relieved that I did not get chosen, it would have been pretty painful, especially wearing a tank top!  

We also went to a new temple that sensei has never gone to before, it was called fushimi Imari.  It is a big tourist attraction. The temple is orange, and throughout the site, there were walkways of hundreds of Torii. We did not go through the whole thing because it would have taken about 2 hours to go through, but it is definitely on the list of must-see places.

After the meal, we went to Kinkaku-temle. 

Day 11 Osaka castle, Nara Big Buddha

Alex

This morning I woke up with at my Osaka family's house and was treated to pizza bread for breakfast. It was basically a pizza on a slice of Texas Toast. Then they dropped me off at the train station with written directions on how to get to Osaka Castle Station. I had to take two trains to get there but I managed fine by matching the kanji with the correct station. We all got to the station on time so we were able to start with our activities. 

From the station we walked to Osaka castle. It was a beautiful castle surrounded by a moat and a lot of fortifications. We finally went into the castle; which was converted to a museum. It was 8 floors tall, and I had a lot of fun reading about the history of the castle. 

Next we took a train to Nara. We then got off the train and took a bus up a small hill towards Todaiji Temple. As we were riding the bus, we could see small deer relaxing on the side of the road. People were able to just walked up to these deer and pet them. I was really surprised that the deer didn't seem too scared of humans. After about 10 minutes we got off the bus and walked to the Daibutsu-Big Buddha. This is the largest statue of Buddha in all of Japan, so it was an awesome experience being able to see it. The temple was pretty crowded, but we got through it okay. In the back of the temple there's a small hole in a pillar that represents the width of the Buddha's nostril! It was small enough to the ground that people could crawl through. Mostly everyone made it through though some of us could not. 

When we exited the temple, we began to feed the deer that inhabited the temple grounds. We all quickly learned that deer will chase you and bite you if you have any sort of food with you. It was a lot of fun being able to pet and feed the deer because they seemed so cute and gentle. 

Following our experience with the deer at Todaiji Temple, we got to choose where we wanted to go for lunch. I went to an Italian restaurant that cost about $6 for my meal and it was still delicious. 

Next we went to Osaka Industrial high school. We went into a small classroom with some of their students and they taught us a little bit about what they were studying in English. Then we got to teach them how to do the Chicken Dance. Eventually we got to do it together and we all had a good time. We also got to use our photo album to explain to the high school students about your lives. All the students seemed really interested in what we had to share.

Day 8-10 Hakuyo High School visit in Yokohama

We spent time at Hakuyo High School all day! 

Take a look at what we did at school
<https://plus.google.com/photos/105463634903475138815/albums/5889412024937363377>

Due to the varitey of the opportunites students had for their weekend with Yokohama hostfamily, it is impossible to give an accurate summary of the crew's home stay experience. All students had unique and life change expereicnes with their " buddies"!

Day 7 Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya

By Mallory

Today, we woke up from our night at the youth hostel, which was interesting because there were a lot of multi-cultural people. We packed up our bags and cleaned our rooms and jumped onto a train and went to Meiji shrine.

At Meiji shrine, we read people's wooden prayer tablet and then prayed ourselves. The entire area was heavily forested and very peaceful.

After Meiji shrine, we walked down the hill and headed into Harajuku. Harajuku was liked with clothing and other various accessories, it was a bit sketchy. We hopped back onto a train afterward and headed to Shibuya. We all paid to have made a personalized Hanko, which is a personal seal with our names on them.

Shibuya was another shopping area so I spent the day roaming around and looking through various stores. I also stumbled upon an Alice in Wonderland fantasy cafe which was very pretty, and all the waitresses were dressed as Alice!

Day 6 Imperial palace and Odaiba( Tokyo Bay shopping area)

By Zach

Today we left our Showa host families and traveled by train to Tokyo. The train ride was quite long and hot. Then we dropped our things off at Tokyo Central Youth Hostel in central Tokyo. 

After, we went to a small shopping district in Tokyo, influenced by French culture. In said district contains several French-styled bakeries and restaurants, as well as an arcade. We ate lunch at a Mos burger, which held inside delectible teriyaki chicken. It sizzled on our taste buds like nothing we have never consumed in our lives. It was really  fun! 

After the delicious burgers, we walked to the Imperial Garden of the Japanese Emperor, which was very spacious and beautiful! After, we had free time at the Hostel, and then headed to a jam-packed train.

We went to Odaiba!

Day 5 Nakano Elementary School

By Sam

Last night, after we arrived home from the Daruma factory, my host family took me to the 100-yen store. It was interesting seeing how different yet how similar it was to a dollar store in the US. After we were done there, we went to the house of a friend of my host mother. There we saw an incredible model train set! For dinner, we had a nice bowl of soup and rice.

Today I got up early and ate a quick breakfast so that I could make it to the elementary school by 8:00. Soon after I arrived, Sensei ushered us inside for a school assembly where we gave a presentation about Eau Claire. The children did a dance called Soran and we all loved it. We taught them the Chicken Dance. Afterwards we split up into 3 groups. My group got to go to gym first where we played a rhythm  game and a jumping game. Next we went to a 3rd grade classroom where we played musical chairs and charades. After that, we made paper cranes with the 4th graders for the tsunami affected zone. We then had recess where we played dodgeball. The rules were different from what we normally play.

In another 3rd grade class, we made spinners. We had school lunch which was very yummy. It consisted of a hard-boiled egg, soup, veggies, and rice. After lunch, we played some more dodgeball. We went back inside for gym class with the 4th graders and jumped rope. 

A big thanks to Mr. Takamura. He took over 100 pictures at elementary school.
Here is the picture site<https://plus.google.com/photos/105463634903475138815/albums/5889412024937363377>
Our day at school was over around 3:00, so we met our host families and went home.

My host mother had other plans though. We again went to visit the house of one of her friends. I had met them the other day and they invited us over. They were a Pakistani family who have lived in Japan for 5 years because the father runs a car business. They had an 18 year old son who spoke pretty good English because he lived in England as a child. We talked for about 2 hours about life in Japan and other matters. I had a Pakistani meal there too. It was a salad with some slightly spicy but flavorful chicken. It was a lot of fun. We had to leave so that we could go grocery shopping. It was a fun day!

Day 4 Daruma and sushi

By Alex:

By the train we went to Daruma shop. We didn’t make the Daruma, but we painted his face. The owner of the shop did a very good job of explaining how to make Daruma. Even thought I am not very artistic I still had very good time.

Following our experience at the Daruma shop, we had another great experience. We took a train to Kazukabe and ate a place called Kaiten Sushi. Here sushi, juice and dessert are served on a conveyer belt, which loops around the restaurant. When you want something, you can take whatever plate you like. You also have the luxury of special ordering items by using a small computer touchpad that sends a small train to your table, which delivers your food. You pay for how many plates you eat. There was a special going on and each plate was about 93 yen. Some plates (desserts and noodle soup) are more expensive.

Conveyor-belt sushi. You pick a plate of sushi from the conveyor (behind Matteen), and later are charged for the plates you ate!

Day2 and Day 3Weekend with Hosfamily

Kandis（Sat） I went to Kendo practice, it was really fun! After, we went to Baskin Robbins.

（Sun） Reivi had a test in Kashiwa, so we went shopping there!

(Best) Definitely Kendo! All the Sensei were sooo nice, and taught me some formal etiquette (such as how to sit and bow).

Mallory（Sat） I went with my host family to a hot spring spa, then went to EON mall, watched a movie and then played at an arcade.

（Sun） On Sunday, my entire host family went to karaoke! It was so much fun!(Best)I definitely liked karaoke the best!

Sam

（Sat） On Saturday e went to the aptly-named Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel and went to an event called global family.
（Sun)On Sunday we went to a train museum and ate at a family restaurant and did fireworks at night.

(Best): The best thing we did was global family because I got to interact with many different cultures.

Fallyn

（Sat） Osenbe—We went and made osenbe, it was fun the youngest daughter wasn’t very good but it was so fun it didn’t matter.

（Sun） We went to a piano recital—so much classical music made me tired but I recognized most of the music. It was so nice to just relax and listen to music that reminded me of home. Then we went to get ramen! It was sooo good! I can’t wait to go back. Then we went to a supermarket to get shoes for our elementary school visit—they had everything there!

Matteen:（Sat） we went up to Nikko and stopped at a ramen shop. We also sampled Japanese sweets and went on a suspension bridge. For dinner we had Korean-style grill.

（Sat） we went to Edo Wonderland, a ninja theme park, we also visited Toshogu shrine.

Zach:

Toshogu

(Sat) we went to Nikko National Park, an amazing park with temples and shrines. After that, we went to Yamano restaurant where is on the mountain.

(Sun) We went to Nakagawa aquafic park on amazing aquariun. We waent to a Japanese art gallery. The weekend was an amazing expereince!!!

Alex:

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my hostfamily this weekend. On Saturday I went with my host dad to the school he works at, and I got to watch three activities going on the school. One of the activities I got to watch was a cooking class. The elementary kids were making pasta and cutting various vegetables into the mix. I was really surprised they were allowed to handle the knifes even though there was a supervisor at each station with them. The next activity was a game called Shogi. It’s usually a game played by older me but it’s similar to chess.  

Lastly I want to the gym where the kids were playing paper hockey. It was really interesting because each kid made his or her own stick made out of rolled up paper. They also used a small paper ball.

After I finished my tour of all the activities, I was invited back to eat the pasta that the kids had made. It was surprisingly very delicious. Soon after my host dad and I went back home and I got to watch a Studio Gibiri movie that’s only been released in Japan with English subtitles Later that day I talked a lot with my hostfamily and went shopping.

The next day my hostfamily and I drove two hours north to an area in Japan called Nikko. With my host family my host sister’s friend we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was probably the best Chinese food that I have ever had. We ate ramen, vegetables and various meats.

Next we went to Toshogu temple where a Japanese emperor was buried. It was on top of this small mountain so we had to climb a lot of steps. As we walked up the mossy stairs, I got to enjoy the view of the large tree that surrounded temple.

Toshogu is famous architectural structure called “ The roaring Dragon”. In this shrine for the past emperor there was a large blue dragon panted under the celling. If you clap under the dragon, it will echo throughout the shrine. The we went to a foot only public bath. Here you took off your shoes and soaked your feet in a small pond. The water was really hot but really relaxing.