Day 7 Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya

Today we visited 3 famous Japanese sites in Tokyo: First we went to the Meiji Shrine, which is a huge forest and shrine in the middle of downtown! The trees were all planted hundreds of years ago to honor the Emperor Meiji and his wife.

Big barrels of Sake rice wine offered to the shrine 

Meiji Shrine torii (Gate)

These are Ema, wooden tablets you write your wishes onto.

Meiji Shrine is huge

Right outside the shrine is the Harajuku young-people's fashion area. Takeshita street is where you can find tons of clothes and baubles for young people.

Harajuku Takeshita street (young people's fashion)

Then we went to Shibuya, the station from the story of "Hachiko", the dog who never forgot his owner. Shibuya is most famous for its area in front of the station, where all traffic stops for a red light in a huge intersection so pedestrians can swarm across the crosswalks. It is quite a sight, and we were part of it today!

We are in Shibuya!

So much to see!

Ahead is 5 floors of Forever 21 store

Famous Shibuya pedestrian crossing

Alex:
    The gates at the Meiji Shrine are huge. I wish we would have had a whole day there to look around and explore.

Takeshita street was really cool. We all got crêpes because that area is famous for them. The one I got had brownie, green tea ice cream, and green tea whipped cream.

We had a lot of free time at Shibuya so Zurn-san and I wandered around and got ramen. It was "heavy" ramen so it had chicken broth and more seasonings than standard soy sauce-based broth. The ramen also had delicious soft-cooked egg.

After lunch we walked to a tiny shop that had a whole bunch of traditional Japanese gifts hanging all over, crammed in such a small space.

Afterward we walked around and look around and swung through the Shibuya Apple store to check it out.

Day 6 Imperial Palace and Waterfront Park (Odaiba)

Mallissa:

   Yesterday the Kaiten sushi restaurant was すごいい [really good]! I thought it would be like regular American sushi restaurants, but you basically just select the sushi you want from the Kaiten (conveyor belt). I loved how theft came around, it was cute. Tried the hamburger sushi [a thin cooked hamburger patty on rice]. It was the best I ate yesterday.

   Today's travel was tiring from carrying all our big bags and taking 3 trains & walking a LOT of stairs. It was worth it, because free time [near Iidabashi] was fun.

Pa-Ying:

    Rain. Lots of rain. Enough said. Anyway, we went to a second-hand bookstore called "Book Off" where you can buy the cheapest books and games. Better spending there than Best Buy. Also went to eat at Mosburger, where obviously they served burgers, but they were better than McDonalds. Then walked into the Imperial Palace and stuffs. My feet were tired from walking around, but it's worth it.

Hi, Mallissa! Having a good time?

An Arcade machine, where you try to push candy off the shelf, we got a lot.

Kahlil tries his luck.

At the Imperial Palace, before big rain!

Finally we can walk around the palace grounds.

Selfie time! 

Girls team at Iris garden

Huge stone walls from 1600's, reconstructed in 2010.

Khalil:

We went in a driver-less train to Odaiba in Tokyo harbor. It was amazing. The view was unbelievable: a shipyard, ferris wheel, a giant Gundam statue and you can’t forget the view of the buildings plus the water all around us. The train stopped at Daiba for Venus Fort, the shopping mall area. I broke off into a group with Pa-Ying, Raymond, and Grant. We went to DiverCity and looked around a bit before we headed off to eat at McDonald’s. I had a Teriyaki Chicken burger, which was really delicious. After we finished eating, Grant noticed an arcade, and we went there before we left.

We entered the arcade and looked at all the games, they were interesting games I’ve never seen before. Grant and I split off from Raymond and saw this awesome game called BoneEater. The machine I used was frozen so I got to play a free round of BoneEater. The setup was outstanding. There was the regular game screen and then the gun had a scope on it which you would look through while aiming it at the normal screen so you could shoot your target.

Afterward Raymond and I separated from Pa-Ying and Grant as all of us went to the other arcade. Ray and I took photos at a Photo Booth. Unfortunately we were out of time and had to go to the 30-foot tall Statue of Liberty which was our meeting point. We couldn’t see the Gundam statue up close.

While walking to the Statue we witnessed a beautiful light show on the trees we walked past. We made it to the Statue of Liberty and when everyone came we all took a picture together with dolphins. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel. I had so much fun with everyone!

Day 5 Daruma and Sushi

Khalil and host sister:

Aaron:

Today we gathered at the station, got our Pasmo train pass cards, and took the train to Koshigaya. There, after a short walk, we got to a quaint old house where we were shown how to make Daruma. 

Everyone sat or kneeled on the tatami mats and started to paint the face on their Daruma.

The idea of a Daruma is to paint in one eye while making a wish. When the wish comes true, paint in the other eye [thanking the Daruma for helping make your wish come true]. It was a wonderful experience. Everyone worked really hard and cared about their own. The house was jam-packed with beautiful old Daruma and items of many kinds. 

 The man who taught us was the 4th generation in his family of Daruma makers.

Now that we're done, we're on the next train headed for sushi. Everyone is excited!

Conveyor-belt Sushi! About $1 for 2 pieces.

You can also order, and it comes on a little train! 

Evan tried Miso and crab soup.

Tomorrow we head into Tokyo!

Day 4 Elementary School

Today we visited at an Elementary School in Nagai-sensei's home town. We gave short speeches about our home town, and then we participated in many different classes in the school.

We talked about Wisconsin and
Minnesota to 1st grade 

We showed them Duck Duck Gray Duck game

Waiting to be a Gray Duck!

Then 4th Grade came to hear us

We played a Japanese card game with kids

Music Class, using our rhythm (if applicable)

Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese game like Musical Chairs:
"Everyone with red on their shirt, switch chairs!"

Now a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament!

6th Grade science class

Finally we get to do Recess again!

Traditional Japanese Flower Arranging (Ikebana)

Everyone can participate

Our creations! it was very interesting.

Then we went home with host families to share the day!

We will have more photos on our Shutterfly site soon! Everyone is doing great so far.

Day 2 and 3 with host family

We spent two days with our hostfamilies. Here are their reports.

Khalil: I had fun shopping with my host family, very interesting stores. We went to look at Bonsai trees; they are very intricate. I had fun eating with my host family.

Evan: My hostfamily had a barbeque with the sister of my host mother. They brought “Totoro”-shaped cream puffs. I have had a lot of time to play with my host kids. I taught them tic-tac-toe. 

Alex: Playing with kids a lot! We went to an amusement park. Also I wore a traditional-style kimono and took pictures with family.

Ray: We went to Akihabara (Electric Town in Tokyo). We helped and participated in an event at the Kindergarten where my host mom works.

Aaron: We visited Bonsai Tree Museum. I played with kids a lot!

Tami: I have a big host family! We spent a lot of time to hung out.

Pa-Ying: We went to the Dollar Store (Daiso) where everything is 100 Yen (about $1). Lots of great things there. Then we went to an Onsen (Hot Springs bath), it was really fun to see.

Mallissa: We went to the host family's parents house and we did gardening with them. Lots of plants in a small space. Then we went to a Hydrangea flower place and a farm. We went to Daiso as well.

Grant: I had a huge BBQ/clambake with 3-4 families. It was so much food, and was super fun. I taught my family how to play Spoons (where you hold two spoons back-to-back and clack them in rhythm). And I got 16 manga books for about $6!

And we picked up Tyler from the Airport on Monday, he had a good flight but it was long.

Day 1, We are in Japan

Japan Trip 2015 Crew:

Kahlil, Grant, Raymond, Alex, Tami, Evan, Aaron, Pa-Ying, Mallissa, Tyler (he is flying in soon), Nagai-sensei and Zurn-sensei.

Our flight was delayed about 1.5 hours, but we are enjoying the time at the Minneapolis airport!

Fun in Airport! Grant showed Solitaire to Kent.

Off to Japan! Boarding the plane.

We made it! Our first photo in Japan!

Everything about the flight went really smooth (after delay). Weather is great, not too humid. We took 3 trains about 2 hours from Narita (Tokyo) Airport.

Getting a train ticket

Everyone went home with their host family. Hope they will have a great time with their host family.

J-Quiz 2015 Memorial High School 2nd and 3rd place !

J-Quiz 2015 Memorial High School 2nd and 3rd place !

2nd place team :
Grant Winsand and Breanna Dean

3rd place team:

( from left) Raymond Higgins, Victor Lokken, Nicholas Alegria 

 On Saturday, February 14, 2015, high school students from all over Minnesota and Wisconsin will gather together to put their knowledge of Japanese Language and Culture to the test!

Teams of students from each school will compete in 3 levels of difficulty. Students will first write an essay, then participate in a preliminary round of questions regarding Japanese Language and Culture. The winners are sent to Washington D.C. to compete in the national Japan Bowl and attend the Sakura Festival.<http://mn-japan.org/2014/12/j-quiz-2014/>

after the competition, stop by Nagai-sensei's house