Day 11 Osaka Castle and Nara "Big Buddha" Temple

Grant:

We went to Osaka Castle in Osaka. The walls and moats surrounding the castle were beautiful and we went to the castle itself, which was huge and amazing. 

The entire castle was a museum, so we learned a lot about the City of Osaka’s history and about the construction of Osaka castle.

The first floor was really nothing, but the second floor was about Osaka history, and how much it’s advanced since then.

The 3rd and 4th floors you were unable to take pictures, it was artifacts from that age. The 5th and 6th floors had displays about a famous battle for Osaka, and the 7th floor was the observation deck.

It was a lot of stairs, but it was so worth it!

Raymond:

On our way out of Osaka, Grant and I were stopped by this old grungy dude and really all I need to say about him is that he asked Khalil (our African-American companion) if he was a Confederate. So, there it was.

Then we went to Nara, but Pa-Ying showed up a little late. So while we were waiting, Evan bought some deer food, but his shirt was apparently very tasty as the deer took some nips. After Evan "de-deered” his shirt, we went into the giant and amazing wooden temple building.

One of the big draws of this temple is the huge statue of Buddha. [One column has a hole cut into it the same size as Buddha’s nostril, that people can try to fit through.] I don’t know which nostril, but I assume the left one. Everyone made it through except for Tyler and me. I guess the other people just have nostril luck. 

According to the fortune from my Omikuji, I have “no luck” and “shouldn’t travel”. Whatever, the temple still looked awesome!

Afterwards we went to the Jyoko Technical High School, where the students are also volunteer "employees" of their own companies in the school. They repair toys, engage with local residents, and manufacture some items.

They had made some interesting pencil cases and pass cases, which they gave to us! They even had a little tag showing their "company" name!

We gave them Starburst, Skittles, and Sour Patch Kids candy.

Day 9 and 10 High School and Yokohama stay

Saying goodbye to our Yokohama host families... Hope to keep in touch and see you again!

Then we took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Yokohama to Osaka. It took about two hours, we flew at about 160 miles per hour!

Amazing seats, lots of room!

Even my camera can't keep up with the bullet train! The poles were not slanted :)

Our Osaka host families

Thanks to all our host families! You are the best!!

Day 8 Hakuyo (Yokohama) High School Visit

Today we visited Hakuyo High School in Yokohama. It took several trains to get here from Tokyo with our big backpacks! Everyone is doing great so far.

Our second host families all have high school students who attend this school. It's a tough school to get into!

We went to two English classes, did a Physics experiment, and a Math class. Then lunch, Calligraphy, Tea Ceremony, and Kendo. What a full day!

We will spend Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning with this host family 

We have an entire day to see what Japanese High School students like to do!

Don't forget to visit our online photo album: 

https://picasaweb.google.com/105463634903475138815/2015JapanTrip

And also feel free to leave a comment!

2015 Japan Trip Photo album

Here is our photo album. Use this link to see our pictures!

2015 Japan Trip photos

Enjoy!

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!