Belmont in Japan

It is truly unbelievable how fast 21 days flew by. I was looking forward to come to Japan entire year and it is almost over. I am a little bit sad, but at the same time happy of what we were able to accomplish on this trip. I am very proud of all my students. I really wanted to see them explore not only Japan but their own boundaries. Most of them got to do a lot of things on this trip for the first time: trying traditional Japanese food including raw fish, tofu, green tea ice-cream and etc, learning public transportation system, finding directions to the places of interest, getting lost in a foreign country, climbing up the mountains, biking for 5 hours.

We have 10 students with different character and personality, different background, different majors and interests, as well as different expectations of this trip. Each student will bring back his or her own unique experience, positive and negative, happy and sad. I am a strong believer that the beauty of life is the spectrum of diverse feelings and emotions. We can't grow and mature without difficulties and challenges. I really hope that this trip challenged all of them. I hope that they are capable through this experience to understand better who they are and what they are, to appreciate and accept differences among cultures and countries, to become more aware of the importance of culture, economy, political system and their integration and interdependence of Japan, and any country they will visit in the future.

Thinking back and reflecting on my own experience, I would say the highlights of this trip for me were Tokyo, a cycling excursion in the Kibigi historic district, scenic island of Miyagima in the Seto Sea, getting and feeling totally lost in Osaka, and public bath experience in Spa World. I was able to find my way there despite the fact that it is located in Osaka. Right now I am feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. Tomorrow is the last class, buying souvenirs in the afternoon for friends and family, packing, and group dinner and karaoke. Tuesday, which is our last day in Japan I am going to say good bye to my favorite spots in Kyoto and contemplate on their beauty for the last time, and last but not least public bath to clear mind, and rest body after walking on average 6 miles a day.

Posted by Dr. Marieta Velikova at 01:39 PM | Permalink

Today began with what most considered, a disappointing trip to Osaka castle. The one redeeming part for me was old samurai armor that was on display. Other than that, I think my 600 yen could have been put to better use. By the time I came out of the museum the group had gone their separate ways so I decided to blindly head out on my own to see what I could find. I wandered down the street the castle was on and followed my ears to a drum circle played by some teenage boys. Though repetitive, it was really cool to hear the interesting instruments and rhythms they were playing. I soon was driven by hunger to continue my wander in search of food. Amazingly, I was able to find a ramen restaurant that had meals for under 700 yen! Quite an unusual event in such an expensive country. However, my excitement quickly dwindled when I remembered I had NO money at all. The post office is closed on Sundays and I had left myself with only enough for the castle. I was left to simply gurgle and growl my way around Osaka in search of the much needed 7 Eleven.

I had heard from Dr. Velikova that there was a Panasonic showroom in Osaka so I decided to jump on the subway and check that out. When I got off at the stop I asked the information desk where to find building but was only answered by a bland stare. After a few minutes of asking the same question over and over she finally pointed me in a direction. Unfortunately, she told me where the Panasonic offices were not the showroom so instead of a sleak layout of all the latest gadgets, I ran into a closed door and dark room since the offices are closed on Sundays. Being a little disappointed with the start of my day in Osaka I decided to hop back on the subway and just get off wherever it looked interesting.

I am still not sure what the name of stop was but after walking a few blocks I ran right into Universal Studios. It looked straight out of California and as gimmicky as Gatlinburg. I still did not have any money so I did not go inside but I had a good time walking the grounds and seeing all the attractions. I continued my walk and started passing through warehouse parking lots and neighborhoods. And then… there it was those beautiful green and orange lights that were my ticket to a satisfied stomach, 7 ELEVEN! I ran in and stocked up on money and convenient store sushi before continuing my walk.

After leaving the 7 Eleven I walked for about five more minutes before getting to a body of water with a sign in front saying “free ferry.” I decided to jump on sice I saw a ferris wheel and lots of people on the other side. As soon as I got off, I realized I had ended up at the Osaka Aquarium. I was still on the fence about dropping 2000 yen to get in, until I saw a sign saying that they had whale sharks. That’s all I needed to hear so I quickly ran up the stairs and bought a ticket. While standing, mesmerized by the odd Japanese river otters, I felt a tap on my shoulder and whirled around to see Dr. Velikova and Aaron. Happy to have some company, the three of us stayed together as we explored the rest of the exhibits. Besides TWO whale sharks the highlights were also the king penguins, tiger sharks, manta ray, spider crabs and jellyfish. All in all the aquarium was certainly worth my $20.

Outside was a ramen shop that I stopped in before taking the subway and JR line back to Otsu.

Posted by Ryan at 08:17 AM | Permalink

Today a small group of us (Annalise, myself, Ryan, and James) went with Dr. Vilekova to Okayama and went cycling on a scenic route to the Kibiji district, which is a historic district in Okayama. We left Otsu at around 8 o’clock and took the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Okayama. First things first, everyone had to eat. We went to a small French café in the Shinkansen terminal and ate a light brunch and drank coffee, and from there we went to one of the most famous gardens in Japan. After leaving, we decided to walk to back to the JR station to get on our train to the bicycle shop.

Once we arrived at the bicycle shop, we persuaded the reluctant store clerk to take a picture of our group on our rented bicycles. Smiling for the camera, I only had a vague idea of just exactly what I was in for. We began riding down a street with a map (if you can really call it that) given to us by the man at the bicycle shop. We then proceeded to get a little lost.

Then we got a lot lost.

It was really beautiful and we were enjoying ourselves thoroughly, and eventually we found our way back to the path. However, after about two and a half hours of sitting on the bicycle seat, I really wasn’t having as much fun anymore. At this point, I was silently wishing we would get to JR station and go get something to eat. It really wasn’t so much that I wasn’t having fun, per se… It was more so that I admittedly am not accustomed to such endeavors, which translates into the fact that I rarely ride my bicycle. Sorry mom!

About 3-ish hours after I stopped having an amount of fun proportionate to when we began, (about 5 hours total of riding our small Japanese rental bikes) we arrived at the other bike shop near Kibitsu station where the man proceeded to yell at our exhausted group in a dialect of Japanese we didn’t understand at all—although none of us understood much Japanese to begin with—and kept yelling while we struggled desperately to try to ask him where there was a close place to eat. (Picture five foreign people gesturing wildly to a man yelling in Japanese.) Finally, when the train arrived for Okayama station, and we gave up and returned our bikes.

We found a place to eat dinner and managed to make the waitress understand that neither Annalise nor I eat meat. The food was delicious and very authentic, and midway through the meal I didn’t feel like I was going to die anymore.

The internet in my hotel room doesn’t work, though… which is sort of an issue, but as our trip winds down and the theme seems more and more to resemble that of the amazing race, (because we’re always lost and always in a hurry to see as much as possible!) we are definitely making memories and changing our perspectives of ourselves and the culture we are immersed in. This has been an amazing, life altering experience, and I’m sure the next three days that remain of our trip will be equally as exciting as all the other days we’ve spent together in Japan thus far.

Posted by Aaron at 02:28 PM | Permalink

Hey everyone, Belmont in Japan 2009 Program Director Bisson here with an update of her experiences so far in Japan. I must say that I have had a wonderful time getting to know my students better in class and out. Together and separately we have all had a lot of different experiences that will make wonderful memories for all of us. This is my second trip here and I cannot get over how each time there is more to learn about this country and its people.

Today I went to the Daitokuji Zen Temple complex. It is greatly associated with the history of the samurai. The temple was founded in the early Ashikaga period (1336-1573) (history people always put in the dates) but was patronized by famous men like two of the unifiers of Japan, Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi. For those who are familiar with the greatest master of the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyu, well I got to see the place where he committed seppuku on orders from Hideyoshi. I also got to see the smallest zen garden in Japan. In fact I got to see about eight different zen gardens at the Daitokuji. They are all smaller than the one at Ryoanji, but each one was very unique.

Speaking of the samurai, many of the sites that we have visited so far have samurai connections, even Hiroshima which had a castle and the Byodoin Temple in Uji where the loser of the first battle of Uji Bridge in 1180 committed seppuku.

But samurai sites are not the only highlights of my trip. I got to celebrate my birthday with my longtime Japanese friend Hideki from Osaka. We went to traditional Japanese restaurant with traditonal and very delicious Japanese food.

We leave here on Wednesday, but like the students and Dr. Velikova, I will be trying once again to experience as much of Japan as possible.

Posted by Cindy at 10:48 AM | Permalink

We set off from Otsu this morning (7:30 am) bound for Hiroshima. After we got there we went directly to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Both were very reflective experiences. It was sobering to see all of the devastation that the atomic bomb had on this city.

The Peace Park was absolutely beautiful. Also, it was a well manicured park. The first part of the park includes a building that is the actual building that withstood the atomic bomb. It was very close to the hypocenter where the atomic bomb blasted. Another very touching thing about the park was the memorial to a girl who believed if she created enough paper cranes than she would heal from her injuries from the atomic bomb. However, she died but the memory still lives on today. Many schoolchildren all over Japan make paper cranes and send them to this memorial. It was very sad to see but also very touching to see that she is still being remembered today.

Another part of the park included a flame that will not go out until all the countries of the world destroy their nuclear arsenals. It gives the visitors of the park hope for a better tomorrow. However unlikely it is that all countries will do this is besides the point. It instead represents what happened in Hiroshima and hopes to bear reminder of how much of a toll a nuclear bomb will have on the world. The Atomic Bomb Museum was very graphic. It showed the charred remains of bodies stacked up and children suffering. A hand watch was also displayed that stopped at the exact time of the bombing. Also, there were pictures of all the victims that were identified as being killed during the nuclear bomb Watching the slide show was almost too much to bear because it puts such a human touch on the whole incident.

Hiroshima was not what I would call a great experience because I feel that such words are only reserved for things of a more positive nature. Instead, it was very reflective. The images and remains that we saw today were very sobering and we stay with me for the rest of my life. I am glad that I got to experience this trip.

God Bless Hiroshima

Posted by James at 05:32 PM | Permalink

Today a group of us went to see the famous Golden Pavilion and a Zen Rock Garden. It was overcast and cloudy with light showers here and there. Many of us came into the day real tired. All these long days and early mornings are starting to take their toll. The pavilion and garden were a bit of a walk from the train station so we took a bus to get us closer. It was our first bus experience and several of us had trouble fitting into the seats…

From the bus stop it was about a 15-minute walk to our first stop, the world renown Gold Pavilion. I personally was very excited about seeing an ancient oriental pavilion made out of pure gold. I was hoping it would be sunny so the gold would glimmer in the sunlight but it was real cloudy.

We got to the gates and were hit with an entrance fee of 3 bucks. When we got inside we read about the pavilion in the pamphlet. It was not actually an ancient one…it was rebuilt in 1957 as a replica…and it wasn’t made out of gold, just gold leaf on the outside. So the glimmering ancient solid gold structure wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was neat and I got some pictures but this was the first time on this trip that I can say I was disappointed. I was glad to find that I wasn’t the only one disappointed by the Golden Pavilion as it seemed to be the general consensus. However, Ryan and I did have fun trying to throw our yen pennies into the Buddha bowls so if you ever visit make sure you bring some change.

We then headed to the Rock Garden. I was very interested to see what it was like and figured if anything, it would at least be a pretty walk. We got to the gate and….it was a 5 dollar entrance fee. Only three of us went in while the others waited at the gate. It was about a 5 minute walk from the gate past a scenic pond and into the temple where the Rock Garden was. The rock garden is supposed to emphasize simplicity, a place where you can free your mind and meditate. Well let me tell you how soothing it was to be serenaded by the sound of bludgeoning hammers and construction reverberating off the walls and throughout the temple. They were in the process of remodeling the temple. The rock garden was…well, very simple. It was what it said it was, rocks in a garden. I know it is supposed to be simplistic and all, but to me it just looked like a gravel putt-putt course with a big white construction board on one side. Maybe I just don’t get it, maybe my zen was disturbed by the cacophonous racket caused by the construction, maybe I need to be more enlightened by climbing Mt. Hiei again or squeezing through some nostrils.

After the rock garden we headed back to Kyoto station and finished out the night with some delicious Okonomiyake. Although I was disappointed by the sightseeing today our group managed to have fun together and continue to make the best of our time in Japan!

- James -

Posted by James at 01:25 PM | Permalink

Deciding to mix things up a bit, the group decided to head to Kyoto station to eat before heading out to Arashiyama. At the station, one group ate at a French bakery while another ventured to the 10th floor where there was a variety of choices including ramen, takoyaki, soba, okunomiyaki, and....burgers?! It's true - we were aching for some western food, so we most hit up the one burger joint. The tastes of home were nostalgic, but we we're not quite ready to go home yet. We still have a lot to look forward to.

Normally, when we change trains in Kyoto, we take the Nara line, or change to the subway, but today we hopped on a train bound for Arashiyama which took us in a completely new direction, and we got the opportunity to see new parts of the city. Once in Arashiyama, we hastily partook in sakura (cherry blossom) ice cream. Green tea ice cream has found its competition. I myself would gladly make the 15 minute trip just to grab another cone.

The area of town was very easy to navigate, and was very accommodating to tourists, with shops lining the street up to the temple. After meandering around, the group split up and explored on their own. In addition to the temple itself was a monkey park and a bamboo forest. Both are fairly rare things to see in the US so it was a treat to experience.

After another exercise-filled afternoon, the group ended up back in Otsu, but the night couldn't end without yet another visit to the German restaurant. Mmm.

Posted by Shannon at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we headed for Mt. Hiei after class. Good thing we had some Italian for lunch, we needed the carbs for this hike...It all started fine with a Temple and Annalise trying to walk across the beams that were obviously giving Dr. Bisson a heart attack. After enjoying our time at this Temple, we headed up the mountain (Mt. Hiei) to a Temple at the top that is supposed to be beautiful.

As Shannon and JT and I took a break, we saw Taylor coming down the path...in sandals he said he couldn't do it..........that's good, based on what we came across on our adventure. Shannon also went back...the mountain was very steep and her feet were still hurting from the day before.

JT and I trekked on...shortly we found Gabrielle and Annalise. We all conquered the mountain together. Every turn we hoped for the top, but it never came. Eventually, we came to a resort (on top of this mountain?!?) but it was there. That is when we lost Gabrielle- thought she fell off a cliff or something- but she was fine even though we were yelling for her :) After we regrouped we were close to the train station that would take us back home, but I said that we've gone this far...we need to check out this shrine above.

Shortly after checking out the map of where we were, the officials started spraying down the Temple with four "firehoses", but this must be a ritual I have never seen. It was awesome! Check out pics on facebook.


We then conquered the mountain and found the rail train back down the mountain. 10 minute ride compared to the 2+ hours it took us to climb the mountain.

Exhausted and hungry, we headed for home, Otsu.
A great adventure, but speaking for all who were on it...that is the last time we will fight that mountain again ;)

Posted by Hunter at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While most of the group opted for the Tokyo trip, JT and decided to explore a different part of Japan. The 5 hour train ride to Nagasaki was not bad at all. We enjoyed the scenery traveling through cities like Hiroshima, Kobe, and Kokura (to name a few). We arrived around 7pm and headed for our hotel that a Japanese friend of mine (Hideaki Okamura aka Otoosan) reserved a room for us. After we unloaded our backpacks we set out looking for some food and Nagasaki nightlife.

According to JT's Japan guide the place to go for nightlife was in the Hamao-Machi District. We got there and noticed that everything closed at 8. Luckily we were right next to Chinatown where we found a great restaurant for dinner. With the help of the waitress and fellow customers in the restaurant, they pointed us in the direction where we could enjoy Nagasaki nightlife. Karaoke! We were treated like rock stars in this hole in wall club. You could never find this place without the map they drew out for us. It was great...JT sang the Beatles while I rocked it on the drums. The owner of the club, Lora, wanted us to keep singing and the crowd was loving it...we rocked Bon Jovi, Eagles, and some more Beatles songs...too much fun!

After that we headed back to our hotel to plan for the next day. We had to pack a lot in to make sure we saw as much as we could in this beautiful city on the ocean. To make it easier to see everything we made a huge circle all the way around Nagasaki, starting at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter.

We first visited the Site of the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan (6 European missionaries and 20 Japanese Christians were crucified here in 1597 and canonized by the Pope in 1862). On the way to Peace Park we found the Second Torii Arch at Shanno Shinto Shrine. This is a one legged Torii that was damaged by the bomb. When then headed to the Atomic Bomb museum (very emotional). After spending some time in the museum seeing all the pictures and burnt artifacts we headed to Peace Park - the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter. This was the exact spot the bomb exploded August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am. A beautiful park to remember the 145,000+ either killed or hurt by the bomb.

After paying our respects we continued our journey and went for lunch. Nagasaki is very mountainous, and going up and down these hills all day we needed some carbs so we grabbed lunch at this great Italian place on our way to the Hollander Slope. And just as the name says, it is a shaded flagstone incline surrounded by Dutch style homes. After that we checked out the Confucian Temple...Confucius say - not cheap ;) but well worth the visit to this historic Temple. After visiting Confucius, we headed up to the top of Glover Park (luckily there was an elevator!). From the top of the Park we could see all of Nagasaki sitting on the edge of the ocean. Beautiful view!

Our last stop was the Spectacles Bridge where we snapped some pics and headed for a youth hostel where we were staying that night. After washing up, we headed out for dinner and were declined at 3 different Japanese restaurants and decided to head back to Chinatown where we were more welcomed. We enjoyed the Karaoke Club so much the night before we went back that night and enjoyed more singing...as soon as we walked in they were excited we came back. Rockstars in Japan!

The next morning we wanted to check out an Onsen (hot spring), but when we got there we were turned away because as it turns out, I am Japanese mafia. I have tattoos and in Japan people with tattoos are considered part of the Japanese Mafia...go figure. So instead of the hot springs we found a massage place in the mall and got our muscles relaxed after the long exploration of Nagasaki from the day before. Afterward we headed to a sushi bar for some lunch and then it was time to head back home to Otsu. JT and I had a great time in Nagasaki. It is a beautiful city full of history and spectacular sites.

The Rockstars:

Posted by Hunter at 12:18 PM | Permalink

We just got home from another long day of walking, getting lost and finding small, yet delicious, portions of food. I'd say today was a success. We had class at 9am as always but Dr. Velikova and Dr. Bisson decided to give us the afternoon off because most of us were so burnt out from our weekend travels.

Some of us are taking third-year writing and Dr. Stover is having us write a paper based on a specific walk through Kyoto. After lunch in Kyoto station Shannon, Hunter, Ryan, James, and I all headed out for our walk of choice. We were walking towards the subway station when a Japanese man came up to us and said “Welcome to Kyoto!” We said thank you and the next thing you know we are talking to this man for 20 minutes. It started with him asking us how to say certain sentences in English and ended with a much more crude subject matter. It was hilarious and unforgettable and, thankfully, James got a portion of it on video. The man could speak English very well and kept telling us we had high IQ's. He was in his 80s but looked only about early 50s. We talked about Japanese speaking, diet, way of life, public bath’s, it was so great, like SO great. He suddenly had to run off to catch his train and we headed out too. After about 30 minutes of getting lost and confused as to how to get to our “walk” we chose a walk much closer to the city and found our way there.

The walk turned out to be really pretty. It started with a nice jaunt down a riverbank and then we headed to Yasaka Shrine. The map in the book wasn't great and we ended up no finding our way so we made our own way. After some chestnut ice cream, green tea ice cream and some interesting dumplings we walked though Maruyama, this really beautiful park. We were fascinated with the turtles and fish in the pond for about 15 minutes, as well as an adorable dog and a scared cat.

We continued to wander the path and 10 minutes later we ended up walking into this huge cemetery. The Japanese usually cremate but they put up memorials for the dead that look like gravestones. The cemetery was ridiculous. Hundreds upon thousands of stones, we climbed and climbed and took pictures and when we got to the top of this enormous hill/overlook we could see all of Kyoto so well. It was beautiful. The area was surrounded with trees and we could see the mountains in the distance, it was totally great and better than seeing whatever the planned walk would have had us see.

By the time we had our fill of the view it was 5pm and when we got down to the gate we realized it was shut and locked. We wandered over to another gate and found the same problem. Then a man appeared and let us out through this tiny door in the gate. We walked back down and navigated our way back to Shinjo Street, a favorite of ours. We were all hungry so the first stop was dinner. We ate at a traditional Japanese restaurant. By traditional I mean we had to take our shoes off and sit on the floor with our feet in a hole in the floor. After dinner we headed towards the station and after a few almost mishaps involving the subway and JR, found our way back to Otsu and the hotel.

Posted by Annalise at 02:44 PM | Permalink

TOKYO!!!!
Getting there: In the morning everyone--everyone who was going--was buzzing with excitement for the trip to Tokyo. People were in various stages of packing (from Dr. Velikova who was already done to people like me who had yet to put their belongings in a bag). Anyway, in class, we had a cultural presentation about anime by Shannon, introducing Hayao Miyazaki to a couple of people. Then Annalise gave her presentation on sushi: the origins, types, & even how to make it. Actually, she has some personal experience rolling sushi for a restaurant. Then class discussion turned to Japanese economy after the WWII. After which, we ran in our respective directions, along the way running into Hunter who missed class because he wasn’t feeling well. As a side note, Pepto Bismol is hard to find in Otsu. Anyway, we discovered that there was a misunderstanding about the meeting time since we reserved a train ride from Kyoto, not Otsu. Annalise was concerned about making her friend wait. Thus with the time of departure creeping up, we had to find the few people left behind and make a mad dash through Kyoto station with Dr. Velikova leading the way. I personally found the whole rush thrilling but only because we actually made the train—had we missed the train, the dash would have been stressful. Everyone went to Tokyo except Dr. Bisson (whom we left in Kyoto), Shannon (who went to see the Leis family In Shizuoka) and Hunter & James (who went to visit Nagasaki).


The arrival: After searching for Sarah, Annalise’s friend, we ate lunch in the station. As a side note, Annalise’s friend rocks! She was able to help us navigate Tokyo public transportation; she spoke to people for us; and she acted as our tour guide!!! I’m just saying. Anyway, we met some of Sarah’s friends at her university. Together, we all went to “Tocho” tower where we could see the cityscape of Tokyo. Upon walking through the streets, Brenda declared that Tokyo was very much “a Japanese New York.” After seeing the cityscape, Ryan noted that Tokyo is surprisingly flat, as in not as many high raisers as New York, but the city does have a lot of people. Like Aaron was saying, Tokyo is definitely metropolitan; we saw a lot more non Japanese people than we saw in Otsu. After leaving the Tower, we went to Ikebukuro to the place we were staying: Sakura Hotel. (Thanks to Dr. Velikova’s brilliant perseverance in getting us cheap lodging!) Our Japanese room was super cool with futons on the floor of the main room. Brenda and Aaron opted to take the double, which is hilarious when we found that there was only one bed in the room. They would have to figure out that sleeping arrangement for themselves.

Soaking it in: Before we even left for Tokyo, Brenda expressed that she wanted to go dancing. Thus, we headed to Shinjuku for dinner and to experience some of the night life. Yes, I finally got my bowl of ramen! I was so satiated:) We explored the streets with all its bright lights and hosts on the streets. Yes, hosts!—tall guys in black suits with spiked, orange hair. Anyway, if nothing else, we decided that we had to stick together as a group, especially at night and with all the people on the streets. Anyway, we had to catch the last train to Ikebukuro so we left early and were not able to go dancing. We would have to make that up to Brenda later before we left Tokyo.

Plans for tomorrow: In addition to finding somewhere to dance, there were plans of going to the fish market—the largest in Japan—at five in the morning, even though we got in after midnight. Instead of staying with Sarah’s family, Annalise stayed in the Japanese room with us to so she could see the fish market too. After which, we would meet up at 9 with everyone who didn’t go to the fish market at Ueno station. That was the plan. . .

Posted by Gabrielle at 11:04 PM | Permalink

Picture a mixture between New York City and Las Vegas but Asian style! This is sweet sweet Tokyo for you. the flashing neon lights, the different fashion statements, fast paced atmosphere, and so so many people. It was wonderful until...Aaron and I were lost! OMG!! If you are going to be lost anywhere...why one of the largest cities in the world?? We were supposed to meet with the group at 9am and we made it..but the rest of our group was not there and we had no phones...Dun dun dunnnnne....Well, we decided to explore Tokyo on our own. Survival Instincts kicking in! (Well...after we took the wrong train in the wrong direction but lets not dwell on that...) This was quite the adventure. First, we made sure that we knew how to get back to the hotel. Next, we were off to Harajuku. This is a very big shopping area with a very unique style. The only way I can describe it is to say that they like to wear Halloween costumes for fun. There are wall to wall stores and people soliciting from the streets. They just opened a Forever 21 and the lines were so long for this one store that you would think that they were going to a Beyonce concert! Also, it was HOT on this particular day! We didn't stay long because we would soon be returning with the group whenever they found us!

We decided to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the hotel. Mexican food in Japan...yeah it was amazing. Everything was fresh and tasted authentic. Japan continues to shock and amaze me. We found a fascinating cake place and decided to split one. My, my, my...if you have not had dessert in Japan yet then you do not know what you are missing! This cake took us to heaven and back again until we couldn't take it anymore! LOL. The battle of the cake and us began...The cake won! After meeting up with the group we explored Roppongi! One of the red-light districts in town! It was exciting, so was the dancing. We found out that the group got lost and that is why they were not at the meeting spot. Aaron and Brenda...you are the first to arrive at Ueno...You are safe from the elimination round! Who would've guessed the lost-prone two out of the group made it!

Posted by Brenda at 01:12 AM | Permalink

During our free weekend several members of the group decided to head to Tokyo. Saturday was our only full day in Tokyo so we made sure to live it up. We fortunately were able to get two rooms for a very good cost. One of the rooms was "Japanese style," which simply meant that five of us stayed on the floor in one medium sized room.

On Saturday, the majority of the group headed out to the Asakusa district in Tokyo to see the Senso-ji Buddhist temple. We were sad to learn that just the day before there was a major festival held at this temple. In the Askusa district around the temple was a great little strip of various vendors. I was able to get a couple of good gifts for people back home in the States. One great thing about Japan is that almost everything (minus a few meals we've had) is tax free. So the price you see listed is the price you pay.

After spending some time at the temple, the group headed out to Yokohoma district and saw Shibuya - the busiest intersection in the world. After getting off of the train, we were elevated enough to see above the intersection. It seriously looks like a whole bunch of ants going every which way. After watching from a distance we went down and became a part of the masses. Being in the midst of the intersection was fun but it was literally a wall of people. We went through it a couple of times and a few of those times it was difficult to make it to the other side. We spent most of the afternoon looking in various stores and doing a lot of window shopping. Now that I look back on the weekend, we really didn't do many "big" things, but we really just took time to walk around the city and take it all in.

Earlier that morning we ate a late breakfast/early lunch, so we got hungry around 5ish. We got back on the train and headed to get something to eat. After eating, half of the group that was with us decided to go do some karaoke, which is a really big deal here. Their karaoke is nice and I've seen several of them in Tokyo, Otsu, and Kyoto. The rest of us that didn't go to karaoke decided to head towards the Roppongi district of Tokyo which where a lot of foreigners (which in Japan is us) go. Surprisingly it was actually kind-of small and didn't have a lot to see. We ended up staying there for the rest of the evening and then headed back to get some good sleep in our Japanese style room.

Posted by Taylor at 11:58 AM | Permalink

Unfortunately, today became a free day due to the brewery cancellation. After discussing the economics and the Japan’s involvement in WWII, we rushed off to Kyoto station to reserve seats on the JR to Tokyo tomorrow. I am excited about Tokyo and very relieved that we are paying under $20 a night for a hostel. We were able to split up the group between a large five person room and a smaller double room which, reduced costs greatly. After getting things squared away at the station we were free to roam on our own the rest of the day.

Hungry and antsy, Aaron, Gabrielle, James and myself all headed to Sanjo Street for some food. After proudly navigating the subway we found ourselves at a small restaurant that taunted us with large glass displays decorated with various ice cream masterpieces. Unfortunately, money beat out our taste buds and we each walked away without ordering desert. The four of us wandered into the covered mall and began searching the rows of shops for our various needs. For me this meant shoes. This was my third day on my quest for adequate footwear and with every step shot pains of determination. Apparently, Japan does not know what a size twelve shoe looks like and I receive laughs and bewildered looks when I request it. As my size 11 Nikes force my toes inward I feel a small connection to the women with bound feet years before. After searching store after store to no avail it seems Tokyo is my only hope for fixing this dilemma.

While I looked for shoes, the others with me had their own agendas. For Gabrielle this was the ever-popular Japanese phone charms to bedazzle her cell. For James, the hippest threads to earn him cool points back in the states. And for Aaron, the obscure, outrageous and more than likely inappropriate. It did not take long before I tired of predictable rejection at shoe stores and headed back to Otsu.

After struggling with a foreign washing machine and dryer, a short nap and the usual email conversations with family we finished out our night loudly at our local German bar and restaurant.

Posted by Ryan at 04:13 PM | Permalink

I have successfully infected Japan with swine flu. There are upwards of 100 cases in Osaka and another city on the JR line and they're expecting it to spread to Nara, Kyoto, Otsu, and pretty much every other city on the line. Okay, I'm joking, I didn't do it... However, because Japan is now the 4th most H1N1 ridden country in the world, borderline hysteria has (further) erupted and everyone is wearing a mask. Literally, masks are sold out. I couldn't buy one even if I were legitimately sick and attempting not to infect everyone. Fortunately for them, the health ministry had made us fill out a questionnaire so I'm pretty sure if I were sick (which I had been..shhhhh) I would be on the next flight back to Nashville or in quarantine somewhere awful.

Yesterday we went to the Toyota plant, as you have read, about 3 hours away by train and we had to leave Otsu at 7 and we got to the plant around 10. Everyone was hungry and tired so none of us were in the best of spirits and after 3 hours and 4 trains, we were happy to be at the Toyota plant. The tour was cool but I'm pretty sure if I were to have to work in the plant I would either a. puncture my ear drums so I wouldn't have to hear the terrible repeated midi sequence children's songs play on repeat from 9-5 every day for the rest of my life or b. flee the country.

We got back and around 5 and I exchanged money in Kyoto and went grocery shopping at Kyoto train station. Honestly my ankle is killing me, so much so that I decided to stay in today, even though it is my turn to blog...

Today I discovered that the 120 dollar cantaloupes they have at the grocery stores here are meant to be wedding gifts or gifts in generally, not actually for the purpose of buying a 12,000 yen cantaloupe, because it is apparently customary to give gifts like... all the time here.

I can't remember the last time I bought someone a gift... which reminds me that I should probably buy some gifts since quite a few people have explicitly asked for something. Maybe I'll get generous and buy someone and cantaloupe!

Pray for my hurt ankle because I really don't want to limp around Tokyo this weekend. :(

- Aaron -

Posted by Aaron at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The morning started early today because we had to be at the plant at 10:30 am and we could not miss one train or we would have missed the tour. We had to catch a 7 am train to Kyoto station. Then from there we had to switch trains another 3 times. One of the connections gave us only 9 minutes to rush and catch a train in a station of which we had no knowledge. We made it just in time after we found out that the tickets could be purchased on the train. Once we arrived in Toyota City we then had another 15 minute walk to the Toyota Headquarters to meet our tour guide. Toyota City was very busy (not as much as Kyoto) and currently has over 400,000 residents.

We arrived at the tour entrance with time to spare. We were then surrounded by all of the new models of cars that Toyota has developed. They were in perfect condition and the showroom was quite impressive. Also, a robot would play a trumpet every 30 minutes at the entrance of the museum. The song it played for us was “Over the Rainbow” and it was perfect. It made absolutely no mistakes like a human composer. After taking pictures of the showroom we had to leave our cameras and cell phones at the museum because pictures are absolutely not allowed in the building. I can understand the reasoning but it was disappointing because the welding and assembly areas of the plant were simply astounding.

We toured the welding and assembly areas of the plant.Both areas gave us top-down views of the action below. In the welding are, 96% of the work is done by machines. The precision of the machines make it easier, faster and more efficient to assemble the vehicles. Sparks could be seen flying in the air as the machines worked with great speed. Only 24 workers were responsible for the welding shop. In the assembly area they use the doorless method (Nagamachi System) to make assembly much faster because the doors make it much tougher get in and out of the vehicle with parts. In fact, the doors are one of the last things to go on the vehicle. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the Toyota plant.

The ride back to Kyoto was not near as hectic as the ride to Toyota City. We had a much more leisurely train ride because we were not in a rush to catch an appointment. The group was exhausted on the return train as it was a long day. However, the ride back to Otsu was horrendous. It was delayed 55 minutes.

Posted by James at 11:32 AM | Permalink

Well, it all started as another venture to explore the beautiful Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine (Shrine of 10,000 Torii). As James, Shannon and myself wandered through the thousands of orange Torii that went on for what seemed like miles (and would soon become) we soon found ourselves not surrounded by the familiar orange we had started walking through. The adventure had begun.

The whole group had set out by train to Inari Station to visit the Todaiji Temple and Fushimi Shrine. When we arrived we all set out on different paths, Shannon, James and I stuck together to explore the Torii paths. We soon found ourselves on a path that had no orange Torii and realized that we were lost in Japan. I'll pause for a brief laugh.

We could have turned around and found the beautiful orange Torii path we had been following for at least 45 minutes, but we ventured on believing the path would lead us back around to the Temple. We were wrong. We kept on our own path only to come across a neighborhood full of homes. We were definitely lost now. But, we trekked onward stopping by the nearest Japanese bystander to ask directions towards the train station. It seemed each person we asked pointed us in a different direction, but that might just have been our interpretation of their directions :) Anyways, we then found ourselves on a main road. We followed that parallel to the train tracks. Eventually, we asked a Japanese officer (who needed the assistance of a nearby student) for directions that had us backtrack a few blocks to the station. But, before we back tracked, on the corner where we were standing we could see Kyoto Tower. We had walked all the way to Kyoto! There is no telling how many miles we had actually walked, but we estimate at least 2-3 miles. With the help of the student we found the Tofukogi station (which is just one stop from Kyoto station where we switch trains to Otsu) and headed home.

What could have been easily frustrating for most people, we found humor and enjoyment in our adventure. Sometimes not knowing where you are going makes the trip that much more fun. At least I thought so ;)

Find a path and follow it, you never know where you will end up - Hunter

P.S. The video is posted on facebook of our travels. It is about 12 minutes of footage of a 2 hour hike...well worth taking a look at :)

Posted by Hunter at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well it continues to rain in Japan while we continue to discover Japan. We have taken a trip to Nara, a city that was a capital of Japan in 18th century. This town is famous for the biggest wooden statue of Buddha in the world. The statue is truly grandiose, and just to give you an idea of how grand it is there’s a wooden log with a hole the size of Buddha nostril. It is believed that people who go through this hole become enlightened, so a few of us have become enlightened. However, after the grandiose Buddha, we witnessed truly grandiose prices for certain fruits. I was looking at the prices and I was thinking how often I complain about fruit prices in Nashville…Let just do a few comparisons since I am an economist. My last trip to Costco I bought 3 cantaloupes for 5 dollars, well it would cost me 120 dollars in Japan only for two of them. I just stood in front of those perfect cantaloupes afraid to move and afraid to make them less perfect with my presence.

Then my eyes moved down the shelf to find out that two mangoes were 70 dollars, and a combination of two mangoes and some cherries was 170 dollars…Well so much for fruit in Japan. I love fruit, but I don’t love it that much. Moreover, referring to the marginal utility theory there’s no way that the satisfaction of consuming those cantaloupes could be greater than cost. Therefore still reflecting on the fruit pricing in Japan, I walked to the sushi counter, where I got 10 very fresh sushi for just 5 dollars. Not too bad after all!

Posted by Dr. Marieta Velikova at 01:03 PM | Permalink

Day 4 - We ventured out about an hour or so outside of Kyoto to the earliest established capital of Japan, Nara. Nara is famous for its deer, and keep a good number on the Todaiji temple grounds. These deer are relatively tame and love to be fed. Unfortunately, no one had the guts to ride on one. :(
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that specializes in Okonomiyaki, a type of cabbage and egg based pancake. In addition to cabbage and egg, there are other numerous ingredients you can add such as beef, shrimp, squid, pork, and vegetables like carrots and pumpkin. This is by far one of the top meals on this trip. The smallest servings were difficult to finish, so naturally James ordered a large.

From there, we made our way to the Todaiji temple. The largest Buddhist temple in Japan, Todaiji contains the Great Buddha Hall which is the largest wooden building in the world. Filling the immense wooden structure is an equally huge statue of Buddha. Many Japanese were seen posing for pictures in the same position as the statue - right hand raised with the middle finger slanted forward with the left resting palm-up. It was a bit surprising to see so many Japanese at such a large tourist attraction.

A large percentage of the tourists were middle schoolers on field trips. Some had the assignment to have a conversation with a foreigner and take their picture. Needless to say, we felt like rock stars. We also bonded with the other tourists by going through an enlightenment process by which one must squeeze through a tiny hole in a pillar. Once you do this, you have been enlightened. Some of us were luck enough to make it through, however, others were not so lucky (poor Ryan).

Once we had our fill of enlightenment, we split up and went out separate ways. Some stayed in Nara for a while longer while others ventured back to Kyoto for the day. Hunter and I lagged behind and had the opportunity to talk to two other foreigners - one from Canada, the other from Germany - named Chris and Micah who gave us a lot of helpful tips on what places to visit. Ironically enough, we ran into them again at the Kyoto station after an hour long train ride. There, we had the greatest discovery of the day - KYOTO STATION itself. With 11 floors of shopping and restaurants, it is easy to kill an entire day in that building. On the very top floor/roof is a terrace and the best view of the city. It definitely deserves another visit.

On a side note, Hunter and I witnessed an adorable scene on the the train today - a mother and her 7-year-old son playing rock-paper-scissors, or in Japanese, Jan-ken-pon. It is far more intricate and in fact very different from the American version. They played for about 20 minutes non-stop and provided much entertainment to us both.

I would have to deem this day a huge success. Even though it began to rain after lunch, our spirits were not dampened. One thing remains true - green tea ice cream is the bomb.

Posted by Shannon at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well…It has been a raining day in Japan, therefore to get the best out of every single day here we have gone to the downtown Kyoto to explore the heart of Kyoto as well as Japanese cuisine and shopping. A group of students including myself went for lunch to one of the oldest conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Kyoto. I am very adventurous when it comes to food, and I have strongly encouraged all my students to step out of their comfort food zone and try the most “strange”, “weird looking”, “unfamiliar” as well as authentic Japanese food. I am really proud of them. We have truly had an adventure. We have tried numerous sushi, and most of them were DELICIOUS except one that I happened to pick up. We are still guessing what it was. After consuming raw seafood delicacies we have rewarded ourselves with GREEN TEA ice-cream.

We have also made some friends with 3 Japanese young adults who wanted to take picture with us. Our limitation in Japanese doesn’t allow us to be able to communicate to people as much as we would like to, however we have learned basic phrases and try to use them when appropriate, and we do get signs of appreciation and smiles back. To continue our adventure we visited Nikishi fish market, where you can find the most authentic Japanese food. We have walked by stands of Japanese vegetables, spices, fish, seafood, seaweed, sweets, and etc. Each one of us has tried… mmmmm… are you ready? Dried squid, dried fish the size of the half of the q-tip, fish bones, bean paste desert, and Japanese donuts. Japanese sellers were simply smiling and laughing at us tasting with all our courage traditional Japanese food. In the evening we have visited Gion, and famous Pontocho street, where I have found a little part of Russia hidden in the heart of Kyoto….Unfortunately most of you associate Russia with vodka, so yes it was Vodka Bar with traditional matreshka dolls in the window display. WOW…truly globalization! On the way back to the subway station we have seen a real geisha, that made our day, since they have become so rare even in Kyoto…So a great day of adventure despite the rain and clouds in the sky…Tomorrow Nara

Posted by Dr. Marieta Velikova at 05:26 PM | Permalink

Morning started early for me today. After getting plenty of rest on the 24+ hour journey here, I only needed a few hours of sleep to get me through today...i thought ;)
We started today with a hearty breakfast in the lobby of the Super Hotel...fantastic food! Dr. V and I then went out to exchange some currency before we all met at 9am to leave for Kyoto. Needless to say I kind of held everyone up......it's not easy to find the post office when you're the only one who speaks english :) Though the Japanese were very helpful and went out of their way to help me find the post office to exchange my $ to Yen. 45 mintues later, we are heading to Kyoto (just a little late...no worries). First group photo in front of Otsu Station and we are off to the Aoi Matsuri Festival.

The Festival was great and everyone got lots of great pictures. After the festival we regrouped and headed for the Crafts Center where we were going to grab some lunch...turns out, a little too expensive and the food...not so good. Instead we stumble upon a great hole in the wall "Zac Baran" (Jazz and Japanese...could life get any better?). After that, we split into groups and ventured out seeking whatever comes our way in Kyoto.
After a few hours of wandering around we headed back to Otsu to the grocery store to stock up on a little food. It just so happened that a few of us that had broken into groups just ran right into each other...small country :)


After a brief rest a few of us went down to Lake Biwa (4 blocks from the hotel) to just enjoy the sights. After that another brief rest and we sought dinner. After being told "no" to two restaurants, Brenda pointed Shannon, James and myself to a quaint little restaurant...two tables and a bar with stools. Perfect dining :) The food was good and we were ready to retire for the night.
It was a great first full day in Japan and I am sure we will have many more stories to come within these three weeks.
Konbanwa,

Hunter

Posted by Hunter at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We are in Japan. Safe and sound, all tucked into our little Japan hotel beds...

The trip has been long. We started in Nashville, Wednesday morning 6:30am...flight to Detroit at 8:30am, landed in Detroit, had a quick layover and then hopped onto our plane bound for Tokyo. This flight was long, there was some bad turbulence and some bad service but overall, it could have been much worse. I think most of us slept as much as we could. The majority of us chose not to sleep Tuesday night before our flight so we would be good and tired for the 13-hour flight and I think that strategy worked for most. I will admit to the fact that I got sick. I don't know what it was…just kidding I do. It was the fact that they literally started serving us breakfast 30 minutes before we landed. So with breakfast in our stomachs and not exactly the softest landing in the history of landings...it happens. But the best part of the flight hadn't even happened yet by the time we landed…

With the swine flu scare Japan has taken some precautions to keep it out of their pristine country. We were warned before we even landed that the quarantine crew would come aboard the plane to make sure everyone was safe to get off. We were all required to fill out a health form asking us questions about where we would be staying while in Japan, had we had any coughing or mucus or high fevers…etc. I’ve been suffering with allergies these past few days but asked Dr. Velikova if I should admit to that. She said no cause really they were just asking for us to be admitted into quarantine. They came by with these heat sensor camera things and were scanning all of us. The guy stopped by Dr. Velikova and said something along the lines of, “you have a fever” and she replied “no, I don’t have a fever I don’t know what why your machine says that” so then the lady with the camera guy motioned to Dr. Velikova to take her temperature in her ear. The temp came back good and the first scare was over. We were all laughing at the situation.

Unfortunately, the fun was not over yet. Brenda, who has also been suffering from allergies, decided to go ahead and admit to the symptoms that were mentioned on the sheet. This was the noble thing to do, (there was a nasty threat at the bottom of the page that said you would be imprisoned and quarantined if you did not admit to symptoms you had). A woman came around collecting our sheets and asked Brenda about hers. Brenda tried to explain to the Japanese woman about allergies but she didn’t understand and all of us were wondering who didn’t give Brenda the memo about not admitting to anything. Whoops. So the woman had another guy come over and Brenda convinced him that it was just pollen, grass, etc…and that she was taking Claritin. We all just had to laugh at the whole experience and when they finally let us off the plane we were more than ready.

We had a little confusion as to where to go after our Tokyo flight, we still had another flight to Osaka to catch. Luckily we had a long layover, which we spent getting our rail passes and other misc. business things taken care of. Before our Osaka flight most of us enjoyed some Japanese noodle dishes/dumplings and a beverage of choice. My first experience with a true noodle bowl was excellent, very salty, just the way I like it. Our last flight of the day to Osaka left at 6:20pm on Thursday, we got to spread out and almost everyone had a row to themselves. I passed out before we even took off the ground and woke up only when we hit back down on the ground.

We found our bags very easily, thank goodness, in the Osaka airport. We sent them off in Nashville, TN and I really think that it was a miracle that all of them were waiting for us in Osaka, Japan. The next step was to catch our train to Kyoto. The train was scheduled to leave at 8:47pm but by the time we got out of customs it was already 8:45pm. So we rushed out to the station where we learned that the train was late and would be arriving at 9pm. Yay! That could have been very bad. The train ride was another hour and a half and then we hopped on one more for about 10 minutes. From there we were finally in Otsu, where our hotel is. We easily checked into our rooms and off we went. WHAT A DAY!

I don’t think that it has hit us yet that we are in JAPAN; it hasn’t hit me yet at least. Tomorrow is an early day for us; we’re meeting up around 9am and heading to Kyoto for a festival. I don’t know what this festival entails but I’m sure excited to find out.

Stay tuned to learn more of our travels as this trip progresses…

With love,
Annalise

Posted by Annalise at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)