Went to all-night karaoke in Shibuya to celebrate my friend Dan's birthday! It was quite impressive how many people we were able to squeeze into one room... I think the total number was 23. All night karaoke usually starts about 11pm and you get to sing your hearts out until 5am.
Playing around with the settings on Emelie's camera..
Goofing around during the singing
Birthday boy is the second in from the right.. making a weird face!
Clearly, not everyone has a voice like an angel but they try anyways... actually Sasha (the guy singing) has a good voice this was just one of those bad timing situations.. oops!
I know my parents would absolutely kill me if I ever got a tattoo... so for now I'll just stick to henna! It's more fun, plus Emelie is our resident henna artist and we've kind of got an unspoken deal - she tests out henna designs on me and I get a free henna! Win/win situation.
This design was massive and so intricate! She used shading on the flowers.
My attempt at doing henna - still working on my flowery designs..
In the middle of rainy season, though I'm not entirely sure I know what that means. I was expecting downpours everyday but apart from a few typhoons and tropical storms, it's been mostly cloudy with a few sunny days here and there. To make the most of our last remaining month-ish in Japan, Emelie and I have been scouring guidebooks for things we haven't done/seen/been to yet (turns out there isn't much). We decided to go to Odaiba and visit an onsen(hot springs) for the day (we assumed it would be raining)... but it wasn't. Plus I had a henna tattoo drawn on my arm, I might have been able to hide it from the staff, but since tattoos are not allowed in most public bath houses we figured we shouldn't risk it.
So we went to the beach instead! It looks deserted, it's probably because it was about midday on a Thursday - the only other people out were on their lunch breaks or heading back to the office.
it felt so nice to sink our toes into the sand though!
There was a nice boardwalk where we enjoyed a nice picnic..
and had a goofy photo shoot!
After we'd have enough of the sun we went to one of the many arcades that Odaiba is known for!
This might be a repeat of a post but enjoy it anyways! Our school provides us with the opportunity for cultural learning in the convenience of our dorm. Each semester they host four culture events - Japanese Tea Ceremony, Ikebana (flower arranging), Shodo (Calligraphy), and Traditional Dance. I attended three out of four events last semester (I can't remember why I didn't make it to the calligraphy lesson though... might have been in Okinawa). This semester the events are the same, so I have been lazy about making an effort to attend them but apparently so has everyone else. The events usually take place in the dorm kitchen at 11am and last until 12:30pm, they end with snacks and a nice chat.
For the tea ceremony, our lovely hosts brought in a few things to help set the atmosphere. They brought in an instant fold-away tatami mat (flooring style of traditional Japanese rooms)!
Our hosts! The two women in the front row in the kimono's were the tea ceremony instructors. Pretty sure everyone else (the old men) just came for the snacks. Out of the 25 or so exchange students only 4 (including myself) attended the event. Everyone else just avoids the kitchen area until about mid-afternoon.
You can see the instant tatami mat and the other utensils used during tea ceremony. It's such an intricate process to go through just to make a cup of tea! There are many different schools of tea ceremony, and the style of manners/performance varies. It is really interesting to watch a tea ceremony being performed because of the many rules and customs, from the way the host walks into the room, sitting style, bowing style, pouring water into the bowl, stirring the tea, etc. If you ever get the chance to attend a tea ceremony, I highly recommend it! Also, Matcha (fine powder green tea) has many health benefits!
Here we are looking a little frazzled (we're probably worried about the red-bean paste filled sweet we're about to be handed). Usually wagashi (Japanese traditional confectionery) are enjoyed before the tea is served in tea ceremony. These sweets are often beautifully decorated in some way that ties in to the season, occasionally I like them but they are definitely an acquired taste. This website might do a better job at explaining the traditional tea ceremony - Art and Essence of Japanese Tea. Enjoy!
After the success of our pub quiz/trivia night event last semester we decided to have another one! The questions might have been a bit more difficult this time, but it was a good event and everyone in attendance seemed to enjoy it!
A sampling of our questions - we had a picture quiz where you had to name the company behind the logo, and guess the movie from the scene, etc.
This is our answer sheet but some of the questions were - What year was Martin Luther King Jr shot, What color are the 5 Olympic rings, When was Meiji Gakuin University established, Name as many prefectures in Japan as you can, etc. We tried to make our questions world friendly!
This is one group's answer sheet for the prefectures question... all in Japanese!
All of the shoes arranged neatly at the entrance to the dorm, typical sight in Japan.
This group came in second place... but it was close! The winner's got 99points and these guys got 97..
Hard to explain the reasoning behind these shirts... we've become obsessed with badgers. One of the quiz questions had to do with badgers - How many different species of badgers are there?
Thankfully we had our friend Aki to help us out with the translations of the questions/checking the answers that were written in Japanese.
梅雨(tsuyu) or Rainy Season has officially started in the Tokyo region.. In most of Japan, the rainy season starts in the beginning of June and lasts until mid July. So far it hasn't been too unbearable - just cloudy and light rain- but I've been warned that everything will get moldy and damp. Can't wait! Overall I think I've broken about 3 (cheap) umbrellas since I've been in Japan, the wind just flips them inside outside out and then you end up just walking in the rain..
The past week was our mid-term exams so I've been busy studying! (Believe it or not) and apart from going to school just about everyday not too much has been happening worthy of a blog post so I've decided to throw a bunch of pictures all into one big post!
One rainy afternoon we had a nail salon party in the dorm kitchen! It reeked of nail polish and nail polish remover so the boys stayed far away as possible but we had fun. Thanks to the amazing internet we discovered a nail painting technique that marbles your nails! Bit of a messy activity but it's fun to do.
Went clubbing in Roppongi - tried out some different clubs.. this one was called 'De Links Bar' and with a name like that, why not!? Well, it was kind of a let down because when you reach the entrance (after walking down some steep steps) they make sure that you can't see behind the curtain... because once you get to the other side you realize how tiny the place is. It's about the size of a walk-in closet.
De Links was a bit of a fail so we moved on to find a different club - one with more space for us to dance around like idiots. Somehow made our way into a salsa club which was packed and also playing a variety of techno and salsa music. Emelie and I weren't fans so we decided to go to our 'usual' club Muse which is a good hike away since it's not actually located in Roppongi (it's in Nishi-Azabu which is basically the next stop over). Anyways after a long trek in heels/barefoot we ended up having a good night dancing our hearts out in our favorite club.
This guy. Not sure if he knew that the word on his hat is considered offensive..
Emelie, Haru, and I went to go see a movie on a random Wednesday (ladies day! cheaper for the ladies on Wednesdays). The movie we saw was テルマエ ロマエ(Thermae Romae). It's based on a manga/comic book about a Roman who travels to modern day Japan and gets ideas for building baths. It was hard to follow since there were many parts which used old Japanese words and certain characters had country accents but it was overall funny and enjoyable! The trailer is in Japanese but you can get the idea. After the movie we took Purikura which is the Japanese photo booth that makes your eyes huge. It's always fun!
This is just a typical night in the dorm kitchen... well, not entirely. I think we were making a massage train but as you can tell Emelie and I are just goofing off in the background.
Started doodling again! Decided that a comic book should be made of all of the mishaps and adventures of the foreigners in Japan. Still a work in progress...
I went to the magical place where dreams come true this past Wednesday - Tokyo Disneyland!! It was so much fun. It was the middle of the week so it wasn't too crowded, but it was a bit hot and humid. At Tokyo Disneyland, everyone wears character ears or dresses up (character inspired) while walking around the park.
Got ourselves a picture taken with Tweedle-dum (he wasn't as popular as the other characters so there wasn't a line)
Also took one with Smee from Peter Pan
So right now in Tokyo Disneyland, the theme is Easter. Still don't really know why since it's June but there were character eggs hidden throughout the park that you had to 'hunt' for!
The splash mountain ride takes your picture right as you're going down the drop - so we all decided to do some sort of pose. In the front row we did a heart, second row was an okay sign, third row was mickey ears, and the fourth row kind of failed. They were supposed to form a heart...
See no evil, speak no evil, say no evil.. there's not really any explanation to this photo. We were just trying to think of clever things to do for the pictures on the rides.
We got to the park at 10:30am (it takes about an hour or so to get there) and we made it home at about 11pm. It was such a long day but it was a magical one!
In case you weren't aware, when I was younger I attended Seigakuin Atlanta International School (that's a mouthful). I only attended for a short while before switching to American schools but the friendships made were definitely long lasting. A few friends have stayed in America while the others have returned to Japan. My friend Anna (lives in the US) is in Tokyo for a few days before going to visit her family in Oita and we were able to catch up and hang out while she was here! We were also able to meet up with our old classmate,Yukino, who now lives in Japan.
This is an oldie picture of Anna and me!
From the left is Hiromi (who's also going to be in Tokyo soon!), Yukino, and Anna.
On the left is Anna, Yukino, and me. It was nice to be able to catch up - it had been easily 10+ years since we were all together but it didn't feel like it!
