Day 17 : A different side to Japan…

We left at about 12 to go to Tokyo Comike. I didn’t know what it was even though I had heard a lot about it from Tom who really wanted to go and I had heard there would be a lot of people so I decided to come along. However, I didn’t realise it was a fan fiction and cosplay convention! Everywhere inside were stands selling manga “romance” fan fictions called Doujinshis and outside were half naked chicks dressed as their favourite anime characters being photographed. A scene straight out of a playboy mansion… I guess it was interesting and it opened my eyes to a different perspective of Japan but it definitely weirded me out! The family we were staying with just kept laughing XD! We ate at the convention then we went to Akihabara to visit the electronics district. We separated at Animate, a manga related store and I left to walk around. I stumbled across an arcade filled with pros. (I couldn’t help but think they dedicated their lives to the arcade). I just ended up looking at a few of them since they weren’t going to let anyone else play XD! The 3rd floor was for the smokers and I left. There was a yoyo competition in Akihabara but we left before it could start. Bought a yoyo though, however I didn’t realise it was for pros so it doesn’t retract… Then we went to Asakusa to see the most famous temple in Tokyo and maybe even Japan. It was really impressive! It had a giant red lantern at the entrance welcoming people in. We did the same ritual as in the Meiji shrine and left (very touristy). We then drove to sunshine city again (remember the giant department store?) to have dinner. Went to a tonkatsu restaurant (serves breaded deep-fried pork cutlets). It was delicious. Went back to the house and went to sleep.

Day 16 : Swallows vs Tigers!!!

Met up with Chihiro and her cousin Mayu as well as Muraiyama san (who would be our host father for the rest of our stay in Tokyo) and waited for Chihiro’s friend Aya. Then we left our bags with Muraiyama-san. We took the train and went to the Meiji shrine.

   

  

  

  

What a beautiful sight! It was very crowded with tourists too. After walking past the entrance, we came across a mound of sake barrels.

   

On the opposite side of the sake was an other mound of barrels but this time with wine.

   

We arrived at the shrine and we decided to read our fortune. You basically shake a box full of mikado sticks with a number on them and one comes out at random. Then you pay 100 yen to read the fortune linked to the corresponding number. Mine said if I have a goal, I shouldn’t give up and keep trying and it will be fulfilled…so I’ll get on that…

At the shrine, we did a “ritual” everyone can do. You throw any coin in a large crate (although the 5 yen coin is considered to be the luckiest) and bow twice. Then you clap your hands twice, keep your hands together and pray for any wish. You then bow a final time and be on your way! 

   
Then we ate at a Japanese/Korean barbecue restaurant which was a first for me. It was really good! Had beef’s tongue and intestines for the first time too! I must say, the consistency was quite pleasant. 

    
   
Afterwards, we walked through Takeshita street, the teenager/hipster street. Most of the shops were clothes shops. 

 
It was hilarious reading the English words written on some of them. (Adorable pleasure? Here comes the fat animals?) Anyway..afterwards we went to the top of what I think is called the city hall building. We had a look at the view from the top floor.

 
Then we walked the streets of shinjuku and went in an arcade, went in a photo booth, I bought some ds games super cheap! The girls showed us the big Godzilla statue. (Can you see it?)

 
Then Mayu had to leave and as it was time, we went to the baseball game. Tokyo swallows vs Osaka tigers! 

    
    
   
It was super fun. We met 3 more of Chihiros friends. Tomuhashi, Sosuke and Shinji. We were on Tokyo’s side of the stadium but they lost 3-6 if I remember right. One of the Swallow’s signature cheer is the Tokyo Ondo. Have a look. 

We went back to Ikebukuro and met up with Muraiyama san who drove us to his place. We introduced ourselves to his family. Went to bed.

Day 15 : Walking the streets of Tokyo!

Today we are alone in Tokyo so we decided to do some walking around in some of the famous places. Firstly, we went to Ochanomizu to look at some of the shops. Tokyo is divided in different districts, that specialise in different sectors. So, we had a look at the music, sports and book district and had a quick shoyu ramen in between. We then just looked for the nearest station from where we stopped (Jimbocho) and went to Shibuya. This is the place with the giant street crossing and I really want to cross it; so we crossed it.

     

Then we just looked at some shops. I bought a tshirt and we went back to the hotel. We had dinner and went to bed.

Day 14 : Pokemon Center Fun!

After waking up, we had breakfast at Starbucks. We met with Ohmori-san and he introduced us to a 19 year old girl (for which I cannot remember the name…shame on me) who would show us around Tokyo. We wanted to go to a Pokemon centre since we were in Tokyo and walked to Sunshine City, a giant department store.

   

We entered the store and bought a few things and found out they were holding an event related to a new Pokemon. It was a sort of treasure hunt where we had to find secret passwords in order to get to the final word. Naturally we chose the hard option and took about an hour to get to the end. It was a lot of fun though!
   

  

(Btw…the final password was pikachu, go figure) After that, we entered the Studio Ghibli store where I thought I would go crazy and buy the shop. But I managed to control myself (barely) and only bought a few items.

 
At that point it was noon and Ohmori-san and the girl had to leave. We said goodbye and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I ordered way too much food but managed to sort of finish everything. Went back to hotel. Bought takeaway at a nearby 7/11 and ate it at the hotel. Got caught up on all my manga and went to sleep.

Day 13 : The Terrific Tokyo Tower!

Today, after having breakfast, we helped Sumika’s family with the construction of a new shed. We started by getting rid of what was in the way (trees, shrubs and rocks) and opened all the boxes. Laying the foundation was harder than we thought because we had to get the first couple of beams perfectly straight so we needed to add or take away dirt accordingly. In the end, we pretty much only got that done. By that time, it was time for lunch so we ate, packed our bags and said goodbye to the parents.

 
Then Sumika drove us to the station and we met up with her grandfather at the same time. We introduced ourselves and jumped on the train. The first train took us to Koreyama. We then changed and took the next one to Tokyo. We arrived in Ikebukuro where our hotel is.

   

There, we met with Akemi who was staying with Yukiko-san (I think) and Ohmori-san, the man who would be our guide for our first days in Tokyo. We said goodbye to Akemi and joined Ohmori-san. The first thing we did was go to Tokyo Tower.

  

It’s basically the Eiffel Tower, only this one is painted orange and white (apparently to ward off any blind planes who can’t see a giant monument in front of them) and has a floor dedicated to One Piece (a manga)! We bought the tickets to go to the top, as well as visit the One Piece floor and went to the observatory deck. I wanted to climb the stairs and forced everyone to follow me (>{}<) hehe!!!
   
  

  Over 600 steps in total. The view from the top was great! We could see really far out and since it was already quite late, the building lights shone brightly against the night sky. We even saw a few random fireworks. We wanted to go to the peak of the tower but the queue was way to long and it would have taken us an hour to get through…

   
  

After that, we went to the One Piece floor. It was pretty fun! There were models and arcades we could see and play at!

        
We then went to the resultant with Ohmori-san and ate soba noodles for dinner. Went to bed.

Day 12 : Charity Concert!!!

Beautiful day today! Had breakfast and walked the dogs. We stopped off at one of their neighbours and had a drink.

 

Went back home and practiced for the concert scheduled for 4pm. We then went to a soba restaurant close to the house.

   

  

  

  

  

It was really really good! Really cool place and great food. I think soba noodles are my favourite now. I love dipping them in the broth and slurping them like crazy. It’s really tasty too! People say you shouldn’t drink the remaining broth once you’ve finished since it’s really salty but I love it! 

 

After we finished eating, we went to Goshichi Numa (literally meaning 5 colours lake). It was beautiful! It was such a vivid blue too! It’s hard to believe a volcano eruption less than 200 yeas ago created this lake!

 
  

When we returned home, is was nearly time for the concert so we quickly prepared. About 10 people were invited but I was still nervous. Tom and I alternated between our pieces and we managed to collect 10000 yen (about 50£)! The concert went better than I expected!
We all ate dinner (curry) then North and Akemi prepared to leave. We accompanied them to the station and said goodbye.

 
(They’re in the train btw). Tom wanted to send his guitar to Aomori at the same time so he wouldn’t have to lug it around Tokyo and so we stopped at a nearby convenient store where we sent it away. Here, we found some really neat anime merchandise and couldn’t resist buying some! We all went back to the hot springs and stayed a little longer at the arcade this time. We then went back to the house, then back to the springs again to retrieve my wallet which I had left on one of the games…(-_-) Went to bed.

Day 11 : Meeting Manami and Maria!

Woke up early so I could have a swim in the hotel pool. Since it opened at 8:00 am, I had breakfast first then swam for about an hour. There was no one there so I had the pool to myself! I met up with Akemi at 9:45 and we all left the hotel to go to Sendai. There, we first met Manami and her grandma. Both very nice. Manami was really shy but her grandmother was very lively! (^_^)

Then we all took the train together to go to Maria’s orphanage. There, we introduced ourselves. We went to a department store and the girls went shopping, so we stayed in a restaurant to have lunch. I had pasta napolitana. When we all met up again, it seemed to me Maria was a lot happier so that made me feel better and we all said goodbye at the station. We took the train to Fukushima where we met up with Sumika’s father (remember Sumika? The girl from Yakushiji that helped with the charity?) who drove us to their holiday home in the mountains. It is amazing over here! The air is so pure you would think it was made in heaven! Their home is in front of a National Park so there is forest everywhere! Also, they have two beautiful dogs that I love (Sophie and Lily). We arrived just in time for dinner and ate sushi. It was great! I even got to make my own nigiri! After eating, the family proposed to bring us to the hot springs nearby and we all went. The hot springs belonged to a hotel. The men and women went their separate ways and we went to the changing rooms, got naked and entered the baths. To be honest it’s not that weird…I mean it’s a bit shocking seeing a bunch of naked men everywhere, but if you don’t look it’s fine… (*~*)

As we entered we had to follow some steps so I’ll just list them all :

First, you rinse yourself using a bucket of water. Then you step into the indoor spring for a few moments. Then you go outside in the outdoor spring and soak for as long as you like. When you come back inside, you must wash and scrub yourself completely clean. Then you step into the sauna for 5 minutes and then the cold water bath (which is freezing after the steam room!) and finally you soak in the indoor pool for a bit before leaving to change. Then you can groom yourself in the changing room (shave, brush your hair…) and change into your comfortable clothes/pyjamas. Finally there’s a place where you can sit down and get a foot massage and back rubs (with machines) and voila! I’m completely relaxed! It feels really good I must say!

At the entrance to the springs is an arcade so we played a bit while we waited for the girls. We then went back home and went to sleep.

PS : Sorry! No pictures today…My phone had no battery… (>#<)

Day 10 : Pikachu Fireworks!

It’s my birthday today!!! I woke up at 6 am though, which meant that it wasn’t actually my birthday in England (oh well…). We had breakfast and went on the train with everyone to central Tokyo (we left our suitcases at the station) to attend the much anticipated tea ceremony. We met with Yukiko-san and Hiroshi-san. Both were really nice and funny! They even proposed to one of us if one of us wanted to wear a kimono and since we all did we settled it with Janken (rock paper scissors) and Tom won…   (; – 😉

   
 

That lady was one of the students who was going to execute the ceremony for us. We started by introducing ourselves in the waiting room and had a cup of hot water while we waited. Then, we went inside the tea room for the charcoal ceremony. Even the act of entering the tea room must be perfectly executed. It all starts when the tea ceremony teacher rings a bell 5 times. On the 5th chime, we all stay quiet and leave the waiting room one by one and put on sandals. We then leave go outside and follow a cobblestone path but before that we purify ourselves in the same manner as in To-Dai-Ji temple. We rinse our left then right hand with water, then our mouth and let the remaining water pour down the bamboo cup we used. When that is done, we make our way down to the room and enter one at a time through a very narrow opening, leaving our shoes outside. There is a reason the opening is so narrow. Whoever wants to attend the ceremony must feel humble and as such, must crouch down to enter. And so, rich or poor, everyone inside the room is on the same level. The room itself is very small, poorly lit and very humbly decorated. This is so that we concentrate only on the ceremony and appreciate it more. Once everyone had come in, upon hearing the sound of the hatch closing, one of the students entered through another door to begin the charcoal ceremony. It’s a sort of preliminary to the real ceremony and consists in checking if the water is boiling, and when we “find out” it’s not, add another charcoal to the fire. Once it finished, we all left the room to wait for the water to boil and went back to the house. Apparently, it is customary for the host to prepare lunch while the guests wait. And so Yukiko-san prepared a delicious meal for us. Each dish was beautifully presented. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of all of them…

   

When we finished, we ate a sweet so as to sweeten our palette before drinking the bitter tea, and repeated the steps to enter the room.

  

The ceremony was extremely calming and interesting and I loved every step of it (there are too many for me to list them all) like the appreciation of a piece of art the student brings, or the actual drinking of the tea, or the naming of the bamboo spoon (I think it was called “kokoro”=”the mind” today). It was really cool, exactly like what they describe in Shogun. Except they don’t tell you about the excruciating pain of kneeling for 40 minutes. I couldn’t feel my feet after about 10 minutes and when it was finished, standing up was so painful it was hard to stand. But overall it was a great experience!

After saying goodbye, we then went to LumiAmore, which I think was a really nice hotel, and ate dinner with Suematsu-san and Kumamoto-san.

  

It was really nice (Thank you again for the kind gesture) and in the middle of the meal, we listened to a duo singing and playing the piano (it was interesting).

 

At about 18:50, the Fire Festival set off their first fireworks and we went to the plaza to watch them. The fireworks were nothing I had ever seen before. You couldn’t even compare them with the ones in England. The display went on for about an hour and a half and the fireworks (hanabi) ranged from giant spheres of different colours to really cool sparkly ones that separated like fireflies. Some even exploded into shapes like hearts, pikachu or naruto which was amazing!

When the show ended, we said goodbye to Suematsu-san and Kumamoto-san and left to collect our baggage back from the station. Then we went to collect our baggage. I had lost my baggage receipt unfortunately but it only took a couple minutes for a member of staff to come and unlock the locker for me. We went back to a nice hotel. I got a room all to myself so I could call my parents. After a while they got Skype to work and I spoke with them for about an hour. Went to bed really late but in a happy mood.

Day 9 : Saying Hi to Waka-chan!

Woke up early to meet Waka-chan and her grandma. We didn’t have much time until our next train (only a few hours) but we spoke with her and introduced ourselves.We walked around Matsue and went to the sea. 

  

 

We got to learn a lot about her. However, we had to leave to go to Tokyo (not central Tokyo but close enough) and departed. I’m really sad we couldn’t stay longer, but if we raise enough money, we may be able to pay for a trip to London to meet her again next year!

The train ride took a long long time (I ate too much too)…arrived at night. We went to the hotel, and went to buy dinner. Just fruit for me… Went to bed.

Day 8 : A sad day in Hiroshima

Today I woke up at 7:30 which was a nice change of pace. We all met up in the lobby to have breakfast together. Afterwards, we left our bags at the hotel and went to Hiroshima by Shinkansen train. Hot hot hot! It was extremely sunny as we arrived near noon. We first went to a volunteer tour kiosque and met a pair of nice ladies (one who talked about the city and a student who translated in English. Both were really nice and interesting. 

We first went past the A-bomb dome which was kept as it was after the bomb landed. It really showed how destructive the bomb was. 

 

Next we went past a number of memorials for the Hiroshima incident. First was the Children’s peace monument. There is a very touching story behind it. Sadako Sasaki was two-years-old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, close to her home. Sadako survived the explosion but over the course of the next ten years, Sadako developed leukemia. Many other children who were exposed to radiation from the atomic bombs developed leukemia as well. While hospitalized, Sadako began to make origami cranes. Ancient Japanese legend holds that anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes (senbazuru) will be granted a wish. Inspired by the Senbazuru legend, Sadako set out to fold one thousand cranes. She continued faithfully and persistently to create these symbolic birds until she died at the age of 12. Her friends continued to make paper cranes after her death and the monument was created shortly after that. There is a chime below it you can ring to wish for peace. We all rang the bell and carried on walking around. 

 Our next stop was the Peace Bell. The bell was constructed so that whoever wished for peace could ring it. On the bell is a map of the world yet without any borders; this represents a world without conflict that we should strive to attain. Also, on the gong is the nuclear symbol and so when we ring the bell, we are stiking it and this destroying it. The bell itself is held a roof representing the universe which is itself held by four pillars which represent the 4 pains in life : birth, ageing, sickness and death. By striking the bell, we are releasing ourselves of these pains and obtaining peace of mind. Around the bell is a lotus pond. The flowers bloom every year around the Memorial Day so we could see the flowers. 

    
  

We then parted with the group and went in the museum. The museum was an eye opener. I felt so sad and emotional walking through it (I mean who wouldn’t…) and it made me realise how much tragedy and destruction the atomic bomb can bring to a whole city! It should never ever be used offensively for any reason whatsoever! And so at the end of the museum, I signed the petition o stop the use and possession of nuclear weapons (I kinda also signed for my sister and parents.. Hope they don’t mind!!!). Anyway it was really enlightening and horrific (especially the clay models of the ragged children running through burning rubble with their skin peeling off… We left solemnly and went to eat at a nearby department store to eat. We then missed the first bullet train but took the next one an hour later. We arrived back in Kurashiki And left straight away to go to Matsue. Tomorrow we will meet another orphan called Waka and her grandmother. (q-q)/