Leaving Japan.

So, the very last day in Japan was a sad one. I woke up and had to pack up all of my things. I went downstairs early to say goodbye to Michelle-san because she was leaving earlier than the rest of us. She left, and Dr. Thorndike left early with her, though we would be seeing him later, and I went back to my room to make sure that I had packed all of my things and then brought all of my things downstairs and checked out of the hotel by 11:00 am. We all met up downstairs and the hotel kept our luggage while we did some very last minute shopping. Ozaki-sensei and I needed to go to the post office to send some things and the guys came with us. Since the guys were hungry, they ended up going to Mos Burger and Ozaki-sensei and I went to the same Sensoji Temple/Kaminarimon Gate street shopping places and got a few things. I went to the Totoro store that they had right next to the Kaminarimon Gate and got a kitchen towel and some Japanese karuta to help me with the Japanese alphabets. We then all met back at the hotel where we got out stuff, got into taxi’s that took us to Tokyo station, and got on the Narita Express that took us to the Airport. From there we checked in our bags and got our tickets. The Conversational Japanese class met one last time in the airport at a restaurant where we had our last Japanese meal and class time. We got a few last minute candy things and went left to go through airport security. We actually got to meet up with Noel-san one last time and thank her(she gave Ozaki-sensei and I some awesome gifts!!!) before we went through security!!! 😀 We got to the gate where I said bye to everyone because I would be riding a different plane back home. It took 11 hours in the plane and 2 & 1/2 hours going through customs, but I got back home and had dinner with my aunt, uncle cousins, and my parents before going home and crashing on my very comfortable bed. I miss Japan very very very very very much, but I definitely want to go back next year. I don’t think I could handle not going back since it has become such a part of myself. I will see you next year Japan!!! I will always treasure this first time abroad and be thankful that it was to Japan with my sensei’s and all of the students that came on the trip. I am so thankful that I got to meet so many wonderful people in Japan and will always remember them. I will see everyone in Japan next year hopefully!!! I wouldn’t want to miss that trip for the world!

Until Next Time, Signing off for now,
Kit Kat ❤ ❤ ❤ :’)

So, I got to wake up a bit later this last day (though I missed seeing Dr. Franklin and one of his students from TCU, I wish I could’ve met them. 😦 ) A bit later in the day the Japanese Conversational student met up for one more class in Tokyo at Starbucks and had some Chocolate Brownie Matcha Frappaccinos as we gave our presentations. We then all left to go shopping in the Kaminarimon/Sensoji Temple street, last minute souvenir shopping and one of the students even found Gerard Butler there in the same area!!! Right in front of the Sensoji Temple apparently!! Anyways, we went shopping around there for a little while and then we broke up into two groups and the guys, Ozaki-sensei and I went in search of an Izakaya-type place for the last dinner that we would have in Japan. It was difficult and eventually we split up again and Sensei and I had a great lunch at a yakitori-type place (they had more than just chicken skewers) with a Calpico drink. It was delicious!!! After that, on our way back from the hotel, we searched for an Izakaya-type place again and found one that was right across the street from the hotel!! We made reservations and went back to the hotel, where I met up with Andy-san and Lukas-san and we went to Daimon(?) to go to the Pokémon Center!!! It was a pretty cool store, though, as Andy described, it had more school supplies than anything else. It had a some stuffed animals and a few figurines as well. After the Pokémon Center, we went back to the hotel. Soon after, everyone met up in the lobby for the last dinner! We all went to the Izakaya place and had a wonderful last meal! After that meal a lot of us went to the convenience store and got stuff for the plane ride and for breakfast (there had been hamburgers for breakfast. Every. Morning. … Anyways, after that I met up with Andy and Lukas again (Paul didn’t want to go out again) and we headed to the park that was right next to the river. On our way there, we met up with Dana and Hannah. Dana decided to come with us and Hannah went back to the hotel. The four of us went to the park and had lots of fun! We got to see the river and the beautiful city one last time and we talked and got to know one another. We even found this really awesome satellite-dish-looking sculpture and inside was grass that lined the dish. There were holes on the bottom of the dish where people could poke their heads into it and be like groundhogs!!! It was lots of fun and after that we headed back to the hotel and got some sleep. It was really awesome and a great ending to my last full day in Japan.

Until Next Time,
Kit Kat

So, Monday was a very busy day!!! Full of the happiest place on earth!!! XD We woke up really early (I woke up at 5:30am), met up with Ken-san and left the hotel so that we could beat both early morning traffic and the opening of the doors at DisneySea! We took the trains to the DisneySea train station where we got to ride a mickey mouse train where everything was in the shape of mickey mouse’s head!! The windows, the handles to hold on to, so many things! After the train, we met up with Kay-san and her family and we waited in line for a long while until the doors opened and everyone was literally rushing for both the doors and as soon as they got through the doors, they sprinted for the rides and to get in line for fast passes for the rides. We walked through the archway and made our way to the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” ride where we would meet Ken-san after he got fast passes for the Toy Story ride. We got there and the ride was actually closed for the day so we called him set a meeting at the Indiana Jones ride! We met up with him there and got on the ride and it was so cool!!! It was based off of the last movie, the crystal skull one. That was lots of fun, the picture that they took of us during the ride had me ducking my head, so you could only see the top of my head, everyone else had faces ranging from scared to both scared and happy and to just happy and having fun! The day went on much like this, we went around to different rides, the next one we went on was a loop one where we went into a 360-degree loop after going down two hills, after that I went to the character restaurant with Ken-san and we met up with Kay-san and her family. We got some really delicious food there and as we were eating we got to meet Minnie Mouse, Pluto and Mickey Mouse!!! It was so cool!!! We also celebrated Leo-chan graduating from Kindergarten!!! Ken-san bought a cake and we all had a piece in celebration of his graduation! 😀 After that, Kay-san, Ken-san (her husband), Leo-chan and I went to a ride that takes you swirling through the water! As we all waited in line we played games like “rock-paper-scissors” with a part at the end where the winner of “rock-paper-scissors” has to guess which way the other person is going to look, if they guess right, they win! We also played a game that involved how many people were in the game and everyone has their thumbs out and you have to guess how many thumbs everyone puts up or doesn’t. It’s a really fun game! 😀 We finally got to the ride and Kay-san and Ken-san rode together and Leo-chan and I rode together and all of us had lots of fun! After that ride we met up with Ozaki-sensei and the rest of the group and made a plan. They went to get something to eat and then some of us: Kay-san, Ken-san (her brother), Leo-chan and I, went to ride the StormRider ride. It was really cool!! when something crashed into the ship that we were on, it went through the ceiling of the ride! Then water splashed onto us as the ship got rained on! It was a fun ride! After the ride, we headed back to the restaurant (the part without the characters) and met up with Ozaki-sensei, Ken-san (Kay-san’s husband), and Riku-chan. We made plans and Kay-san’s family went to another ride and Ozaki-sensei, Ken-san (her brother), and I went walking around before meeting everyone else and we decided to meet Ariel in the mean time. Ken-san got to take a picture with her and talk with her and then I got to do the same. She told me that she often visits California and Florida. 🙂 After that we met up with everyone at the Toy Story ride! We got in the fast pass line and as we went through the line, we got to see different parts of the ride as we went through the line. We got to Andy’s room and went through his door!! The door was so huge that it made you feel like a toy!!! XD We got on the ride and the ride itself was a 3D shooting game! You had 3D glasses on as you rode through the ride, you would shoot things like at a carnival, you would pop balloons and shoot bulls-eye targets and the like. After the Toy Story ride Kay-san’s family went in as well. We all kept on having fun, going on more rides and we all met up with Kay-san’s family to go see that magic lamp theater and went on a gondola ride after that. After the gondola ride Kay-san’s family had to go and the rest of us went elsewhere. Our group went to see Ariel for those who didn’t get to see her before and then we went to see the Big Band Beats. We got to see a really awesome music show that included Mickey Mouse playing the drum set and did it awesomely, and he was ACTUALLY playing the drums! We even got to see Leo-chan, his brother,and his mom and dad in the audience!! Then after the show we went to the Tower of Terror ride since I didn’t get to go with them the first time and it was so scary!!! That ride drops you as if it wasn’t connected to anything, it stops…and then drops you again!!! It was a lot of fun and after that ride, we made our way back to the DisneySea station where we rode back to the JR line . 🙂 We went to the convenience store before going back to the hotel and then went back and I slept for a long time. It was a long day, but it was lots and lots and lots of fun!!! XD

Until Next Time!
Kit Kat

I am very late with this post! It’s a crime, I know, but what can you do when you have so much fun and then you crash when you get to your room? Well, I am taking this morning to write this and yesterdays blog. Hopefully I can do this in 40 minutes. 😀 Okay SO! The day before yesterday started out with a hamburg breakfast like the day before, they have it every morning. 😛 anyways, thats how it started and then I met up with the guys and they were looking up stuff to do in Shibuya and Harajuku and since I wanted to go there too, we set up a time to meet up because I wanted to go to the zoo before going to those places. So, I left for the zoo and on the way from the station to the zoo I encountered a Buddhist monk, they stand in the street with bowls in their hands waiting for other peoples generosity. On my way through the park that comes before the zoo I got to see a baseball game! I think it was a middle school baseball game, but it was really cool! I then made it too the zoo and went straight for the pandas (Giant Pandas). There was a huge line, well more wide than long, but there was a constant sea of people streaming through to see the pandas. The zoo people were cleaning the cages and putting food out for the pandas but they soon let the pandas go back into their cages and I got to take some great pictures of them. After that I went to the gift shop, looked around and then left the zoo to get to the train station (and on my way I encountered another Buddhist monk, a different one). I then navigated the station to get on the JR line to get to Shibuya. Once I was there, the guys actually found me! From there we left in search of food. Oh! We crossed the famous Shibuya crossing which was not as bad at that point in the day as I thought it would be. Andy immediately got approached by a man and was asked to be a model! He had to walk around and get his picture taken and everything! XD Then Paul got approached by an African man who asked him if he wanted to go shopping! Anyways, we finally got to a ramen shop where we had a good lunch. After that we went roaming around and eventually found a music store that had lots and lots of guitars, some pianos, and some DJ tech. There was even a repair shop within the store. 🙂 After that we went to the animate shop that was right above the music shop and I went crazy looking around that store (it’s a great store!!!) We then left for the station and headed to Harajuku. When we got there and went down Takeshita street (which is in the middle of “Harajuku”) it was so crowded it felt like we were in line to go somewhere when we were just trying to get through the street to find a store! After getting a bit lost, we went to H&M and looked/shopped there and then we left to find the Evangelion store! After a bit of looking we found the store and right next to that store was the store that I hd been looking for!!! XD I went in there and looked around a bit and it was sooooo cool!!! After that store and the Evangelion store, I found a VIVIENNE WESTWOOD!!!!!!! I immediately went inside and found the ring that I had been looking for…but it was too expensive to buy at that moment. 😦 So long had I been looking for that ring only to know that I couldn’t buy it. 😦 😦 😦 Anyways after that, the guys headed to Akihabara and I went back to the hotel. Soon after taking a rest I went out with Ozaki-sensei, Mia and Megan for dinner and Ken-san was going to meet up with us. We got to the restaurant and waited for Ken-san and ate and then Ken-san appeared after we had finished eating and said that he had actually just been right outside the restaurant! 😦 I felt bad that that had happened, but we went out and had a bit more fun. Ken-san showed us some cool umbrellas and took us to a candy shop that had specially shaped candy and then we encountered a little cafe that sold sweet potato soft cream! I got some of that, Megan and Mia shared a matcha soft cream and Ken-san got a drink that was sweet potato based I think. Soon that cafe closed and we went to a convenience store and bought some things for the next day and on the way back to the hotel we stopped by a case of masks that a store had on display and discussed what each of them represented and the fact that these masks were used in Noh. (a form of Japanese theater) Anyways, that was the end of the day and I went back to my room and went to sleep soon after. It was a great day and I had lots of fun!!! Now, I have to go to class so I will write about yesterday in length later today and I will also post about today then as well (as I think I might not get back until the evening, possibly). Anyways, I will talk with you all soon!!!

Until Next Time,
Kit Kat!!! ❤

Noel-san, Takahashi-san and Ozaki-sensei! We all had some really good desserts! 😀

Takahashi-san and Shotaro-kun making Monja! Ken-san kept getting hit by the hot sauce coming off the grill 😦 Sorry Ken-san!

This is Ken-san, Kay-san’s husband, holding Leo-chan because he was tired 🙂

So, I was really tired last night from yesterday that I went straight to bed asahp. There were many things that we did yesterday! So, there was a surprise yesterday morning as I went down to breakfast to discover that breakfast consisted of burgers…that was interesting. After that I went with a group to Yokohama where we met up with Ozaki-sensei’s sister, Kay-san, brother-in-law, Ken-san, and their two children, Leo-chan who is 6, and Rick-chan who is still a baby (I don’t remember how old he is). We met up with them and went to the pharmacy because one of our group was not feeling so great and after that we left for chinatown!!! We walked throughout chinatown and saw lots of little shops with cool things and delicious-looking food. We stopped at a restaurant and I ate some spicy pork with rice, tofu salad, a dumpling, a spring roll, almond jello, and some egg drop soup! and it was indeed delicious!! XD We then all went down the street a bit more and encountered a stand where they sold these huge buns that were a little bit bigger than the size of my fist and they were filled with meat. They were sooo goood!!! and fluffy!! 😀 All this time we are also being able to get to know Ozaki-sensei’s sisters family who are such fun people to hang out with!!! After chinatown, some of our group wanted to go back to the hotel, so Leo-chan helped them and gave them advice on what trains would be best to take to get back to the hotel as soon as possible. He has the whole train system memorized!! That is the coolest thing ever, the Japanese train system is very complex, so it’s really impressive that he knows so much about the trains! The rest of the group then went to go see the biggest Buddha outside of a building in Kamakura. At this point, Ken-san had to leave to go to a “giri” office party and then Ken-san, Ozaki-sensei’s brother, came to have fun with us at that point. We all got to see the big Buddha and we even got to go inside the Buddha and look around inside of him! After coming back outside, Ken-san got his book signed. This book is one that is more connected to the spiritual journey of visiting all of these ‘tourist-y’ sites (as he has many more stamps/signatures in this book from the other places that he has been to). After the Buddha we left and had a weird interval of time to kill so we went walking and got to this one place that sold taiyaki-like Buddhas and dango! Ken-san bought dango for Kay-san, Leo-chan, himself and I and we all took a picture together, it was great! 😀 It was really good dango! We walked back to the train station after that and after a few stops, we had to part with Kay-san, Rick-chan, and Leo-chan. We then parted ways with more of our group so that it was just Ken-san, Ozaki-sensei and I and we went to the Kaminarimon Gate again but this time we went to see the shrine at the end of the street that I hadn’t gotten to see the last time I went. Along the way to the shrine, Ken-san bought Ozaki-sensei and I some small food (freshly fried rice crackers and manja with green tea (that I spilled because of my clumsyness)). After visiting the shrine, we left to go meet up with Noel-san and her mother and brother, Takahashi-san and Shotaro-kun. We then walked to a restaurant next to the bridge that goes over the Sumida River. It was called “Manbo” (Sunfish) and we had Tokyo-style okonomiyaki and Tokyo-style monja (like okonomiyaki but cooked a different way.) I actually got to help cook some of it and made a monja with Takahashi-san and Shotaro-kun’s help. It all tasted soooo good!!! XD ❤ I had a lot of fun at dinner, it was so great to be able to meet even more people! I think that has become one of my favorite parts about being in Japan, is all the people I have gotten to meet here, they are all so wonderful and fun to hang out with!! 😀 After dinner we parted ways with Noel-san, Takahashi-san and Shotaro-kun. Ken-san, Ozaki-sensei and I went back to the hotel to drop off and pick things up, went to the family mart to get something to drink (Ken-san showed us what was good and recommended things to try), and then we went back to the hotel, where I proceeded to go to sleep. WOW!! Yesterday was full of things that we did and it was so much fun!!! 😀 Well!

Until Next Time,
Kit Kat

Last move!

Today was a long day. It started out with waking up and packing everything up and leaving for the last city in Japan that we will be staying in: Tokyo!!! We took a 7 hour train ride (most of it on the Shinkansen) back to the first city that we came to! Once we got here, we took a taxi to the hotel, got settled and then a few hours later had dinner together as a group. We went to the street past/through the Kaminari Gate (Thunder/Lightening God Gate) and went to a restaurant we found in that area. There were many shops that surrounded us full of cool little keychains, beautiful hand fans, and really awesome traditional things. After dinner, everyone parted ways and I went with Lukas-san, Andy-san, and Paul-san and we walked through that area a bit more wondering what we could do. (it was still really early after dinner) We eventually made our way back to the hotel and were still trying to decide where to go. I decided that I would go to the river by myself, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see something else that I hadn’t planned on seeing, but that I was still excited to see. I went to the river and it was soooooo cool!!! I got to see the bridge and many small ‘party’ boats (boats for business meetings where it looked like it was kind of like a restaurant/bar) Anyways, they were beautiful as they floated on the river. It was a good end to this day. Glad it all happened! 

 

Until Next Time,

      Kit Kat

So, today was a very busy day, but it was lots of fun!!! (that’s always the important part!) We got up early and left to go to a town called Nio which is in the countryside. We were greeted at the station by Ozaki-sensei’s sister, Ma-cha, and brother-in-law, Junya-san, and oto-san who lives at the farm. We were first driven to a place where we could see the farms that were being grown of mandarin oranges and other plants. We then made our way to the house, when we arrived, we were given refreshments and small cakes while we were introduced to Ozaki-sensei’s nephew, Asahi-kun who is 3, and her niece, Ayana-chan who is 1! 🙂 They are both cute little kids!!! :3 After seeing them (they were shy) we got another chance to make green tea from matcha, I participated and it was really cool! 😀 After that, we all went outside and helped pound out some rice cakes (mochi) and we made mochi balls with anko (sweet bean paste) inside. They were delicious!!! We then got to play with Asahi-kun for a little while and make giant bubbles that he popped. We then started to eat, they began making takoyaki (though they made some without the octopus first so it was takonashi (sp?)) During the takoyaki making, oba-chan came out again (she turned the rice as we pounded it for the mochi) and she began to roll out some dough that she had let rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours or the udon noodles! We all helped roll out the dough for the noodles and even cut them up. We had a wonderful lunch full of many things that were so very delicious!!! 😀 After lunch and helping with the udon (and the takoyaki) we rested a bit before getting on a ‘K-truck’ to go the beach there in Nio!! The ride was lots of fun, but the beach was even better!!! XD I got to wade into the water and it felt so good outside and the view was suteki!!!!! It was wonderful!!! We came back in to the beginning of the beach and began preparing for cracking open a watermelon by practicing on balloons! We all took turns with the balloons, and when it came to the watermelon, I volunteered to break it open. What happens is that you are blindfolded and have a wooden sword to cut the watermelon open with. You are turned around three times and guided to the watermelon by other people and then you take your best shot at splitting it! I took a swing and split that watermelon open like there was no tomorrow! it was awesome and I felt like a samurai….a watermelon samurai!!! XD :3 it was so cool! Then after cleaning that up, we left in the ‘K-truck’ and went to the top of the mountain that is right next to the beach and from the top, we got to see the most beautiful view of the ocean and the town below!!! It was the most amazing thing to witness, pictures don’t do it justice! We then descended the mountain and on our way down, visited a shrine that all the local farmers come to to pray. We then went back to the house where they quickly served us a really delicious honey and lemon drink after which we quickly left for the train and made our way back to the hotel. We got to the train station and went to the grocery store before heading back to the hotel where lots of us stayed in the lobby and had dinner together. It was a great day today and I had lots of fun. 🙂 Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo where we will spend the last days of our maymester trip! I am looking forward to the many things we will do before leaving! :3

Until Next Time,
Kit Kat