Art Gallery

 My first semester at Meiji Gakuin University is finally coming to a close! I don't know why I said finally because these past 4 months have been flying by. I've definitely become used to life in Japan by now but at the same time there is still so much that I need to do/see/experience before I go back to the States! Anyways, the school year is different in Japan: fall semester starts in September and goes until January, and then Spring Break, then Spring semester starts back up again in mid-April. Haven't fully decided what to do during my spring break (best time for traveling! - Lots of my friends are trekking up to Hokkaido to see the famous Sapporo Snow Festival, I opted out of that one since A. it's expensive! and B. my brother is in Okinawa... free place to stay! I am still a student after all) But we'll see! I still have one more essay to finish before I can say I'm officially done with school..

This is my Sumi-e class, all of us with our final projects. There are usually more people in this class but this was the last day of class so only about a third of us showed up. My teacher is the lady in the grey sweater on the bottom left. 

All of our final projects were hung up on display in the cafeteria. 

Emelie and her final piece (it's a peacock)

Me and my final piece. (it's an elephant)

Jen and her final piece (koi fish in a pond)

Sophie and her final piece (it's an owl)

Kappabashi

Kappabashi is a little street in Tokyo known for selling everything needed to start your own restaurant. They have lots of shops for utensils, plates, cups, bake ware, cookie cutters, tea pots, rice cookers, you name it.  

Once you see this guy you know you're in the right place. 

Coffee cup balconies!

Lots of pretty ceramic stores - makes you wonder how these stores manage during major earthquakes..

Another thing Kappabashi is famous for - plastic food. In front of restaurants they use these plastic foods to show customers what they offer. It's pretty helpful for tourist who can't read Japanese.

They even have fake beer - with fake frost!

My dad waiting patiently while my mom and I took our time looking at all the pretty tea cups!

Plates for soy sauce

This is a kappa (river child) - there is a Japanese folk story about this guy. They are mischievous little guys, and they have kind of a bucket on there head that is full of water, which is the source of their power. If they tip the water out of their heads then they lose their power and become unable to move. 

Conveyor Belt Sushi - 回転寿司！(kaiten-zushi)

Wish I could take credit for this video but I found it on the internet. It's a video of a camera that was placed on the conveyor belt at a kaiten-zushi restaurant in Japan. Kaiten-zushi is a sushi restaurant where the plates with the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. Customers may place special orders, but most simply pick their selections from a steady stream of fresh sushi moving along the conveyor belt. The final bill is based on the number and type of plates of the consumed sushi. Some restaurants use a fancier presentation such as miniature wooden "sushi boats" traveling small canals or miniature locomotive cars.

初詣 (hatsumoude) First shrine visit in the New Year!

Hatsumoude is the first shrine visit of the year in Japan. It is for wishes and luck for the new year, good luck charms are bought, etc. It's crazy. My friends went to Meiji Shrine on the 1st and said it was insanely crowded. I went to Kamakura on the 3rd and visited the Hachimangu Shrine, it was still insanely crowded. Generally the first week of January is when everyone does Hatsumoude so all the major shrines are crowded.

Walking to the shrine

Japanese style Candy Apples

There were lots of stalls set up in front of/on the way to the Shrine

Masks!

The inner part of the shrine

This stump is what remains of a famously old tree that was the symbol of this shrine. During the tsunami it fell over, but there is a new one being planted.

Wishes for the new year

 

Good luck charms for sale

crowds of people

We went for lunch afterwards with my mom's friend Funaki-san. Funaki-san was a Seigakuin parent (a friend of Alex).

New Years Food

 We were able to meet with Baba Sensei (Brendan's Japanese teacher way back when) and her family. We were invited for a traditional New Years Dinner. Baba Sensei's mother is a cooking teacher so she took the time and effort to make the traditional meal. Nowadays you can buy it pre-made...

Megumi-chan, me, Pampers, Big T, Kota-kun, Baba Sensei

The beautifully arranged table. This meal is usually prepared before December 31st so that the wife/mother can rest from cooking and enjoy the New Years Holiday. 

Veggies that were carefully cut and carved for decoration.  As my dad always says, 'eye appeal is half the meal'

Pampers and Kota-kun. (side note: Kota-kun was just recently on a NHK Japanese television show called Gou - Himetachi no Sengoku. It's a historical drama and pretty cool! He played the son of the main character)

Megumi-chan and me!

お誕生日おめでとう！ Happy Birthday!

Because I'm not able to say it in person, wanted to do a quick birthday post for Nana! Hope you have a wonderful day! お誕生日おめでとう!

テレビ TV!

There is a TV show in Japan that is called 逃走中(tousouchuu). Apparently there is an American version of the game called, Run For the Money. It airs about 9 times a year, and it's really entertaining! There are maybe 20 people at the beginning and they are dressed in brightly colored clothing, and their main objective is to run away from the 'hunters' until a certain amount of time passes and then they get money! Sounds easy, right? Well, usually the escapees are celebrities and the hunters are athletes. The video clip below might help you visualize it a little bit better. For one of my classes I had to do a presentation on a Japanese tv or movie. My group decided to present on this game. For our presentation we made a movie depicting our version of the game... I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. It's basically just us fooling around in front of the dorm on a Saturday.

This is our version, starring Emelie and me as escapees and Takashi as a hunter.

Anyways! The first 逃走中of the new year was on tv last night and we watched it, not exactly realizing just how long this show is. It started at 7pm and went until about 10pm. It was worth it though. The best part was that while watching this show, I realized that this episode was filmed at Edo Mura! It was a place I had just recently been to so watching them run around a place I could easily recognize was pretty cool. 

Also- another exciting side note! Pampers, Big T, and I were recently interviewed in Shibuya for Japanese TV. They asked us what kind of Japanese food we liked. The interview was about 5 minutes long. Honestly, you see people with cameras and microphones all the time in Shibuya so I thought nothing of it.... and then someone (a Japanese friend) said that she saw me on TV! I'm not sure what channel or show it was for though.

江戸村（Edo Mura) Edo Wonderland

While my parents were visiting, we had a chance to visit Nikko with my mom's cousin, Tatsuru. Nikko is a little bit north of Tokyo, about two hours or so. I say or so because on the way there we took the Shinkansen (bullet train!) so the ride in was easy, breezy, and fast. Our return trip was a little bit longer because we took a private rail home to avoid the crowds of people. (For future reference, if you are visiting Japan during お正月 New Years, be prepared to brace yourself for the crowds of people visiting shrines during the first week of January for 初詣hatsumoude.) Edo Mura was really cool if you're interested in Japanese history, I'd describe it as kind of a renaissance fair for Japan. It is set up like an old Edo Village and there are reenactments and people who don't break character. Here's the website in case anyone is planning a trip to Japan:- http://www.edowonderland.net/  it's in Japanese but there is a translated page for English!

It says Edo Wonderland, but 江戸村（Edo Mura) means Edo Village..

Japanese Calligraphy 書道(shodou)

This was the entrance to a Ninja House. It was like you're basic house of mirrors. There were trick doors, dark corridors, a room of mirrors, etc. Tatsuru told us that when he visited Edo Mura with his parents (my mom's aunt and uncle) his dad couldn't figure out where the door was in one of the rooms so he just turned himself around and came out the entrance. We managed to make it through the whole thing without any struggles this time though.

Geta - old style shoes. Check out the ones on the bottom though, don't they look like something you might see Lady Gaga sporting?

Since we were north of Tokyo, it was so cold! There wasn't any snow on the ground but you could see snow capped mountains. Also, the fake lake in Edo Village was partially frozen. 

Target practice

These buckets were filled with water and used to put out fires. 

Dad, Mom, and Tatsuru waiting in line for some お汁粉(o-shiruko). It's a sweet red bean soup, may or may not contain chunks of mochi (rice paste cake) in it. 

The guy was good, he didn't break character!

Pampers and her cousin enjoying their snack of お汁粉

pretty fabrics!

There were lots of food stalls in one area that were supposed to represent the 下町(shita-machi) downtown areas of the Edo Village.

This is a statue of the New Years Dragon

One of the shows we watched was about an 花魁(oiran). Oiran were courtesans. The show was pretty entertaining because they picked a poor man from the audience to play the role of her guest. It was all in ancient-y Japanese so it was even more difficult to understand. It was fun though, and the emcee was very entertaining, his face was very expressive.