Exploring Tokyo with Hanley and Becky!

Okay so on the 5th (Saturday) I did some homework, shopping (finally got the polariod camera I've been wanting!!!), and had some cake and tea and talk time with Becky. After that we went to the Niji nomikai. It wasn't as big as it usually is (and it started a lot earlier than usual) but it was a lot of fun! Made more friends! And afterwards went to this place called The Hub with Becky, another guy from our program, our Japanese friends Miwa and Kota (who are seriously two of the cutest Japanese people ever). It was a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know them better!

A polaroid of me and my friends!~

The 6th was such a full and amazing day. Woke up early to meet Hanley at Tokyo Station around 9. From there him, becky, and I (Earlham reunion) went to Akihabara since we had never really been there before. It was still pretty early when we got there, so most of the shops were closed and there weren't too many people around. We walked around a cat cafe that we decided to go to one it opened, so to kill time and get food we went to a nearby Jonathon's (a family restaurant) for breakfast. After that we eagerly walked down the street to the cat cafe where we played with cats for a half hour. These cats were more active than the cats at the last cat cafe we went to, which was pretty exciting. One cat was even curled up on some guy's lap (jealous. he seemed like a regular...lol).
After the cat cafe we walked around Akihabara some more and went to a game center where we did purikuri (and I ended up cosplaying for free...haha).

a wooden door!

CATS

Next we headed up to Ueno station to get Hanley's luggage and then headed over to Asakusa to find Hanley's hostel. It was in a really quiet part of town. It's amazing how if you walk five minutes away from the main parts of the city, you'll end up in really quite and nice residential areas (although who knows how nice this area really is since there was graffiti on the old election posters lol). For lunch we hit up kaiten-zushi and then tried to look at the kaminarimon area/temple, but it was still super crowded since new year's festivities are still ongoing.

Sky tree and other buildings near Asakusa!

We didn't really have a plan for the day, but Hanley wanted to go to Tokyo Tower, and Becky and I hadn't been, so we all headed there. I'm super proud of myself for getting us around the whole day by the way. I'm no expert of Tokyo by any means, but I've gotten to the point where I can navigate/show someone around!
Anyway, we checked out Zojoji temple (a big/famou(?) temple right by Tokyo Tower that I've been to before but only when it was closed). Right by the entrance was a monkey show going on (such random things can happen in this city) which we watched till the end. Next we went up to the main part of the temple where I made an offering (first temple visit of the year for me) and ended up buying my first charm! I've been wanting to buy a charm for forever, but usually can't read the kanji so I've never bought anything before. But there was English thankfully so I knew what I was getting. I got a ちえまもり which is a charm for wisdom. I also got a year of the monkey charm/key chain for good luck. I was also tempted to buy a charm for good health, but thought maybe buying three at once would be too much...

Jump!

Next we walked over to Tokyo Tower and bought a ticket for the main (but not the highest) observation deck. It was pretty cheap (like $9). And the view was really nice! We got there at the perfect time, as the sun started to set so we could see the city in both the day and night time! We were also able to see Mt. Fuji a bit! We were pretty exhausted at this point from walking around all day, but for dinner we decided to head over to Shin-Okubo (the Korean town area) for Korean food (which was pretty good)!

Fuji!

Yesterday was my first day of classes again after break...so sad. So much work to do before the end! But we ended up meeting Hanley for lunch. And it was so random, but we happened to run into one of the Japanese guys who studied abroad at Earlham! It was random...and awkward a bit haha. But after that we said goodbye to Hanley and went back to class. And yesterday I actually managed to do some research for a paper due this week. Now I just need to write it haha.

But seriously, so much to do soon. I need to finish planning out what I'm doing in Osaka with my brother/host family, need to plan out more for the Philippines and Korea, etc., etc.

Cat Cafes and More!

Yesterday morning our Japanese class session was cancelled due to rain (although I don't think it actually rained that much). It was nice to have a morning off, although I didn't see the email until after I took a shower. Even so, I had time to register for classes and take a quick nap. I won't bother writing what classes I registered for (since I might not be able to take them due to it being lottery) but I'm hoping to get the classes I want. After registering, Becky and I headed over to Waseda to eat lunch with the JS associate from Earlham. We left a bit early to make sure we got there on time and good thing we did. For the most part I've been able to get from the hotel to Ikebukuro station pretty well. But we usually walk around with a bigger group of people, or at night, so we got a bit lost. Thankfully after that we were able to easily find our way.
It's weird riding the trains every day here. I've gotten used to it, but the stations can be a bit intimidating, especially when it's rush hour.

At Waseda we have Japanese language class orientation. We were all half asleep for it. There was also a short orientation session after that just for JS people. Once we were done with orientation we had the rest of the afternoon free. So a couple of Team members and I decided to try and find a cat cafe called Nekobukuro in east Ikebukuro. We saw the building once at night, so we thought it would be easy to find again. Somehow, however, we got lost. We ended up asking this old man for directions, but still weren't able to find it. After some walking we just decided to go to a different cafe. It was 200 yen per 10 minutes, which is somewhat expensive, maybe, but we wanted to check it out anyway. They asked us if we understood Japanese, and we do, so we were able to enter. We took off our shoes before we entered and put on slippers they had for us. And then we entered the land of cats.

Actually it wasn't as amazing/exciting as I thought it would be. Most of the cats were asleep, and they were so used to being pet that they weren't excited by people at all. They were still super cute though! And one of them actually licked my fingers! It was interesting to watch the other customers too. Some people were sleeping, some were reading manga, and only a few people other than us (mainly couples) were actually petting/looking at the cats. Soft music was in the background, and it was pretty quiet there. We only stayed 20 minutes. I can't wait to check out more cat cafes in the future!

For dinner a couple of us went to kaiten zushi. My first sushi in Japan! We went with a Waseda assistant and another club member. I've meet so many Niji no Kai members here it's hard to remember them all haha. Anyway, the kaiten zushi place was pretty reasonable and quick. For those who don't know what kaiten zushi is, basically there is a conveyor belt that plates of sushi go around on. Most plates were 120 yen. I don't remember the names of anything I ate, but it was all delicious! I sat next to the new member I meet and she explained how to get tea, and that I could ask for something specific if I wanted. I ended up eat 7 plates (14 pieces)! I was really hungry. It was interesting to note that once the sushi goes around a certain amount of times, the workers throw it away!

After dinner a couple of us went to a department store like place called Don Quixote (Donki for short). We wanted to buy alcohol to have a small nomikai (drinking party), so our guides took us there. It was really interesting! There were about 7 or 8 floors of the most random stuff. For example, boob pillow. I bought umeshu (which is Japanese plum wine) and a popular drinking snack which is basically dried squid. I got to talk a lot with our guides which was really nice.
When we returned to our hotel we had a small nomikai with Team members and one of our guides in one of the hotel rooms. It was a lot of fun! We mainly just talked, drank a bit, and ate some food. And I still went to bed at a reasonable time!

Today we had more orientation. For most of it we were supposed to go around to different stores around Waseda and look at prices, kanji, etc. For lunch we ate at a place called Nan and Curry where we got nan and curry. It was so good! But I got so full so fast.

Today I finally got my host family information! I'll be living with a dad (who is a company president!) and mom (who is a company worker) and I'll have a 5 year old little brother! I'm only 40 minutes away from school, so I'm still pretty much in the downtown area. I wanted to live further out in the country, but oh well. I'm a bit nervous to meet them on Sunday! I hope everything goes well. And I need to buy a gift for my 5 year old brother. Crazy.

Instead of going out with the JS group tonight I met one of the Waseda students who studied abroad at Earlham last year. Me and another girl here who goes to Earlham got gyudon (meet on rice) with him for dinner. It was my cheapest meal here yet, 280 yen! It was a lot of fun talking to him (in Japanese!) and catching up with him. He told us that our Japanese was really good, but we still have a long way to go. He's building is on the same Waseda campus that our is, so we will be able to meet with him often throughout the year! After dinner he took us to a game center since we wanted to do purikura (photo booth). The part of Ikebukuro we were in was pretty busy for a Thursday night. It's crazy how many people are here! Purikura was fun, but all of the options you have are timed so we didn't get to decorate all of them, but still the pictures are pretty great.

We told him about how we tried to find Nekobukuro the other day but couldn't, so he showed us where it was since we were close which was really nice. We didn't go in to play with the cats, but there was a pet store outside so we saw some cute pets. Even though we didn't hang out for very long (we all had to get up early in the morning) it was really great to see him and I'm glad he showed us around. Hopefully I'll be able to hang out with him and some of the other Waseda students who studied abroad at Earlham!

And I tried to skype with my mom tonight, but since she can't use technology very well at all, we weren't able too. It would be nice to talk to family members, but I don't really have the time. I need to pack still to send a bag off to my host family, so until next time!