Day 4: Daruma factory, sushi, make rice cracker and Book-off

Cael:

Today we made Daruma. A Daruma figure is a thing to help you grant your wish. The origin of Daruma is that he was a monk who prayed so hard his arms and legs fell off. 

There are a few different types of Daruma. Red ones are general wishes, yellow ones are for money, and purple is for health and longevity. When you make your wish you fill in the left eye, and when it comes true you fill in the right eye.

The general impression was that painting Daruma is hard but fun.

Alex: we went to the conveyer belt sushi restaurant(kura-sushi). As the name suggests, sushi is served on conveyor belts. You have two options for ordering: 1. Sushi is spinning around on the belts and you can just take what you want or 2. You can order specifically what you want through a small screen and it will be delivered to you.

Each plate at the place we went was only 115円 or a little less than $1 so it's really cheap. The food was really good as well, especially for how cheap it was. I got 6 plates of sushi, soy milk ice cream, and a rice cola. All of is was delicious and it only costed 1010円 ($7)!!!

Erin: After we ate at the conveyer belt sushi restaurant we walked to an osenbe cafe. Everybody made them together by frying the uncooked osenbe on a grill. You have to flip it every three seconds, and once it starts to puff up you apply pressure to flatten it out. I ended up burning my first one, but the second one I made turned out really well! Once they're done cooking, you brush soy sauce over the top of it. I thought it was a really interesting process because of how quickly they would puff up. The experience was really fun and everyone seemed satisfied with their creations.

Lauren: Today we went to a Book-off, a type of store where they have books, games, manga (Japanese comics) and more for quite cheap. This book-off had two floors, and we spent a lot of time looking at the manga! Some people bought a lot of manga, and others bought video games. Personally, I bought three manga from a series that isn't available in America.

Day 3 With Hostfamily

Lauren:

I went to Book-Off (used book store) and got a lot of manga and figures for cheap! Afterwards we ate Ramen at a restaurant. It was very good!

Timmy: 

Went to an absolutely beautiful park and took at least 50 photos. Also got to try Miso Ramen which tasted amazing!

Douachee:

I got my hair cut! It looks cute, but I'm still not used to it yet. My host family took me to a huge shopping mall called LakeTown and I bought a lot of souvenirs.

 

Jet:

I got to try on a kimono and hold lots of old weapons from 200 years ago at Grampa's house.

Evan:

My host family took my to a calligraphy class and I got to write kanji on fans

Cael: 

My host family went to a second-hand bookstore and went out to eat at a barbecue place

Erin:

I went shopping with my host family! we played gacha and went to a huge arcade in the mall. I picked up a lot of cool stuff and got a matching Keychain with Ao-chan. 😁

Alex: 

We went to an American steakhouse, kinda felt like home, but it is still very different.

Mai Xia:

My host family took me out to eat やき肉(Grilled Meat). Then we went to AEON Mall to shop around and took some cute photos at the Photo Booth (ぷりくら).

Cheemeng:  

I went to the National Museum of Japanese History and learned about the Japanese history.

Collin: 

Went to a restaurant a couple blocks away from my host family’s house. Had some shrimp kaarage and miso soup. Met some other local families and we took this picture together!

                                                         

Ada: 

We went to the Aeon LakeTown Mall, it was so packed! At the outside outlet mall, there were performing artists who did amazing feats of strength.

April:

Sae-chan and I made origami. Then we went to a traditional style Japanese restaurant and soba. It was very yummy! We also went to a local art museum and saw The Great Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)!

Gage:

I went to Book.Off and got a few figurines. I also went to an onsen (a little too hot tbh but it was still relaxing). We also had Yakiniku for dinner.

Day 2 With Hostfamily

 On Saturday we spent time with our host-family. Here are our reports.

Alex: We went to go get sushi after relaxing at a hot spring!

Cael: I stayed home and played video games with my host family’s kids

April: Went to a small local shrine with Ada and her host family. Then with my host family we played Concentration and watched tv. 

Evan: My host family took me to a local art store that had very cool interactive pieces and we made takoyaki for dinner!

Erin: Ao-chan and I played a game on my ipad. you guess what the picture is and then pick a word that starts with what the previous word ends with! then the other person has to guess what it is. it was really fun and I learned a lot of new vocabulary.

Lauren: We took a picture in front of the family's shrine after watching Yuuta's soccer game - He won!

Cheemeng and Timmy: Timmy and my host family had a barbecue night and did fireworks.

Ada: In the morning we prayed at the shrine, then we went to the supermarket, had ramen for lunch and then we went to a large shopping mall. For dinner we had mochi pizza and tofu gratin.

Jet: We went to a food truck event in the afternoon. At night we made takoyaki together.

Timmy: Cheemeng and I had a family barbecue together which was super fun. We also played Mario Kart and also together formed a team to take down Luigi.

Mai Xia: I played Jenga and many other games with my host family.

Collin: I went to the Underground Flood Control Channel

 

Gage: We went to an arcade and had sushi for dinner. It was fun! (I also got to pet their cat Kara-chan a lot (^-^) )

Douachee: I went to the food truck event and some idols talked to me. We went to Yoshinoya and had beef gyudon. It was really yummy!

Day 1 & 2 With Hostfamily

 We are going to stay this weekend with our Japanese host-families!

Here's our first photos with our host-families. We will tell you more later.

Mai Xia

Sorry I missed Collin. We will get the picture later.

Day 1: We made it to Japan!

Our first picture of Japan Trip 2023 at Haneda (Tokyo) Airport

What do you think of your trip so for?

Cael:

I’m tired but excited for our trip. I’m looking forward to meeting my host family in person

Timmy:  

it was kinda nervous at first but after being on the plane for 13 hours, I was ready to land. Japan doesn’t feel as overwhelming as you may think but yes, very humid lol.

Cheemeng:

It feels tiring traveling 12+ hours to get to Japan. But by the time you get to Japan it feels like you're energetic and excited yet stressful.

Jet:

The plane ride was good for the most part. JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE REAL!!! I can't wait to meet my hostfamily

Douachee:

It is very humid here. The plane ride was very tiring but I couldn't get much sleep. I'm so excited to do everything!

Alex:

The air felt heavy leaving the plane, very humid. Looking forward to meeting my host family though

Mai Xia:

The airplane flight was long yet also gave me time to be prepared to come to Japan. The food was great and I liked watching the movies while eating on the food. Arriving in Japan, I was overwhelmed at first but now excited to experience new things after landing.

Erin:

it's suuuuuper humid and I couldn't sleep on the plane, but I'm excited to finally be here and meet my host family!

April:

I’m very nervous but also very excited! Getting through the airports was definitely the most stressful part of the trip so far.

Gage:

The plane ride was great until the last 30 minutes. Exited to do stuff but its also pretty stressful unfortunately. -_-

Lauren:

Going through customs was stressful, but now I'm home free in Japan! Very excited to see the country

Evan:

I only got 2.5 hours of sleep on the night before the trip and didn't sleep on the plane, but the pure excitement of being in Japan is overpowering any feeling weariness, that being said I'm still very nervous to meet with the host family

Ada:

13 hours on a plane is a really long time! I spent a lot of time thinking about the things I needed to make the trip back more bearable. Japan is as beautiful as I expected it to be, and I am so excited to be here.

Collin: 

Im surprisingly not as tired as I thought I’d be, considering I didn’t sleep much. Customs and such was pretty quick, glad that was over easily and quickly. Excited and trying to absorb as much vocabulary as I can!

After 2 hours bus ride from airport, we stopped the shopping mall to eat. Now we take the train about 30 minutes to meet host-family. This weekend will be the host-family time ! 

shopping mall （おおたかの森ショッピングモール）　

Mai Xia and Douachee visited shopping mall. She got a coin purse.

Ada is enjoying the Japanese snack. 

Let's go to the food court! (Otakanomori)