Day 43-47: August 17th-21st

August 17: With great sadness, I left Kyoto today for Toyama. This is a place I kinda wanted to explore, if nothing else, but for the food. Toyama’s in northern central Honshu, close to the aptly named Toyama Bay. This means that they have really good seafood, and I was curious to try. My shinkansen left around 12 and then I had to transfer in just 10 minutes, so that was kinda exciting. I was afraid I would miss my train, but I got to Toyama with little difficulty.

Toyama Station

My hotel was nice. It’s about 6 minutes away from the station, it’s pretty cheap (59 dollars per night) and quiet. I didn’t have too much time to myself when I got there, but I had enough time to explore the immediate area. Toyama’s a very quiet city, compared to Kyoto or Tokyo, and while there was some English, like I thought, there wasn’t much. Just walking the city as it gets dark was really nice and relaxing. I got back to my hotel, tried to do laundry and failed miserably. But I guess it had to happen eventually.

Nifty little way of storing the key. I like it

August 18: The lobby of my hotel is really large. That’s because instead of a separate area for breakfast, they serve it in the lobby itself. Breakfast was nice and simple and I really enjoyed that.

I probably should’ve done more hiking and exploring the scenery, but I didn’t. I did some more omiyage shopping and exploring. This time, I went a little further out. Toyama has this really cool light rail service, like the one in San Jose in California. I was supposed to get out at the second to last stop from Toyama station, but I fell asleep and got off at the last stop. But that didn’t really affect my plans too much. I really wanted to see Toyama bay and the observation deck was close to the last stop anyway. The view was really nice. You can see most of the city and the bay itself. I returned to the station, ate a really good lunch, and then walked an hour to the outskirts of Toyama. The further out you go from the station, the fewer stores appear (I did find a local dango store that I think just sold out of dango when I walked in. Feels bad). It took me most of the day to walk out there and then get back. There’s a kinda run-down train system that gets you back to the station from the outskirts. I had a bit of a scare there. People had this small tickets, and I didn’t. there was a ticket dispenser, but it didn’t have a ticket, so I couldn’t take one. I put 310 yen (the fare) in the machine, which didn’t light up, then thought that I should’ve given it to the people at the station. I checked later, and there was one last ticket, which was the driver’s. However, after talking to the station guy, turns out there wasn’t a problem at all. So long as I paid, I could leave, so that was a relief.

Toyama Castle. There’s something very fascinating about having an old building in the middle of a modern city

In hindsight, I probably should have done more careful planning with Toyama. I didn’t go see cool temples or pretty scenery. I just saw street after street of buildings (clearly, I am not a country boy). That said, I had a lot of fun just walking around. Just being in the city was enough for me.

Toyama Bay, seen from an observation deck

August 19^th: I left Toyama today for Sendai. I had previously planned to stay for longer, since I’ve never been to Sendai, but my JR pass expired the next day and I needed to get back to Tokyo. As such, I wasn’t able to see much of the city, but I was still able to walk around.

 

It seems many stations have a similar layout in front. When you exit Sendai station, you get spit out onto these walkways overlooking the street. It was like this in Tachikawa as well.

My hotel was close to the station again, so I got to see the immediate area. After coming from Toyama, Sendai’s much more in line with Tokyo. It’s busier, which I honestly kinda like. But unfortunately,  I wasn’t able to see the city in much detail. When I return to Japan, I would love to give Sendai a proper exploration.

Just outside Sendai Station

August 20^th: I returned to Tokyo today. The past shinkansen trips have been packed and since I’ve been lugging around a big suitcase, I feel like I’ve been causing people some trouble. I had a bit of trouble getting out the station (again). For whatever reason, my passmo card was not accepted and I didn’t know what was wrong with it. One of the workers did, but I didn’t understand him and he couldn’t speak English. I got it working by catching a random train to Ueno, and then riding the subway to my stop, Nihonbashi. After that, it worked fine; I don’t know why.

Almost looks like a zombie apocalypse, doesn’t it?

My last nights in Tokyo were in a capsule hotel. These things are crazy. The “rooms” consist of a single bed. You have headphones, a radio in the wall, a small tv, a little counter for things, and a control panel. That’s it. You can’t even stand up. Your luggage is kept in the lobby in a storage room. On the floor you sleep, there’s a small locker for your stuff. It looks like a gym locker, only much narrower. Bathrooms and shower rooms are public. Oh, and you need to be out of the room by 10 AM every day and you can’t go back until 4 PM. It was wild. The lady who helped me out was actually from Russia, so we had a nice little chat in Japanese. Helped boosted my confidence since I was really frustrated after the station fiasco. Other than that, I had a very lazy August 20^th.

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa

August 21^st: This was my last full day in Japan, and I wanted to cram as much as I could in. I started off the day with a visit to Asakusa. There’s this giant temple there, which looked vaguely familiar. I think many years ago, I visited with my family. Like in Kyoto, en route to the temple are all these stalls selling food and small gifts, so I stopped and checked them out. The temple itself isn’t all that impressive inside; what I mean by that is that you can’t go very far inside. When I got there, there was some Buddhist prayer going on and everyone was taking pictures, ignoring the fact there was a large “no photography” sign. Today was hot; after spending time in Toyama and Sendai, I had forgotten what “hot” meant. On the way to the temple, I caught a glimpse of the Tokyo Skytree, one of, if not the tallest, tower in the world, so I decided to pay it a visit. On the way, I got stopped by a Japanese family looking for the Tobacco and Salt Museum. With the help of my passable Japanese (and iphone), I think I pointed them in the right direction. I hope they got there ok; the father gave me 100 yen, so if I got them even more lost, he might have wanted this money back.

 

The Skytree was pretty impressive; it reminded me a lot of the Empire State Building, with long lines and really fast elevators. From the 4^th floor, it took about 3 minutes to get to the 350 floor. The view was impressive, but it was a little hazy that day; I’ve heard that on a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji. And for the crazy ones, a few floors down, they have a glass floor, so you can see just how far you would fall if that floor broke. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Pretty spectacular. It’s so high up you can see the cloud shadows. I thought that was cool.

After some last minute omiyage hunting, I decided to return to Musashi-sakai and ICU one last time. When I left after the program, I felt like I didn’t give it a proper goodbye, so I returned to see everything one last time. I also chose to have my final full day meal in the same place I had my first full day meal: at the Matusya right by the entrance to campus. I hope one day I can return to ICU.

So long, ICU. I’ll see you again someday.

I spent the rest of the night at an arcade in Shinjuku. I was initially going to try Pachinko, but the pachinko arcade was loud, smelly, and confusing. A more traditional arcade was better after all. I even got a blast from the past. In the arcade was a rail shooter called the House of the Dead 4 (in 2003, the nightmare returns, it said. IN 2003!) When I was 8 years old, I saw that game and it terrified me, but now, 13 years later, I finally understood what was going on and wasn’t scared anymore. Funny how those things turn out. I didn’t expect to see such an old game in a snazzy arcade.

 

I did have one day left in Japan, but I didn’t do anything, so I don’t think I’ll write about it here. Ultimately, I had a lot of fun in Japan. It hurt a little to leave, but that is all the more reason for me to come back. I’ll see you all later. Until the next adventure

 

Peter

 

Obligatory Food Pictures

 

The same thing I ordered my first night at ICU. It was only fitting.

A Moss cheeseburger.

A donburi ekiben (station food)

Toyama White Shrimp. These were advertised constantly

Toyama Chirashi

Unadon (Unagi and rice)

Day 40-42: August 14th-16th – Kyoto

the inside of a shinkansen. Looks a lot like a airplane, doesn’t it. 

August 14: I took the Shinkansen to Kyoto. It’s about a 2-hour ride to Kyoto from Tokyo, but since I overcompensated, I was at the station hours before my train, so I definitely didn’t miss it. I lived at this family inn close to Kyoto station and right across the Kamo river (Kamogawa) from Shichijo (7^th street) station. I was using a Passmo card in Tokyo, which was really nice, but apparently that card doesn’t work in Kyoto, so I had to purchase my tickets individually. I guess I didn’t realize just how nice the Passmo card really is. My room is tiny. It fits a tiny desk (if you want to even call it that), and a futon. That’s it. The bathroom is shared between multiple tenants and there’s no private sink. After unpacking (it was really hot in Kyoto), I took a visit to Shijo and Sanjo (4^th and 3^rd street). Those are big shopping areas, at least close by. I wanted to explore more, but it was getting late and most of the stores were closing. Heck, even the largest department store in the area, called Takashimaya, closes at 8.

Also, convenience stores are a blessing.

That’s mean

Day 41: Today I took a trip down memory lane. Shichijo is part of the Keihan railway, which runs the length of the Kamogawa. So after stopping at Sanjo to see a music store, I took that train to the first stop, Demachiyanagi, and walked down Imadegawa street. 13 years ago, my family and I lived on that street for 3 months, while my Dad was taking a sabbatical. Whenever we return to Kyoto, we make it a habit to visit this street. There’s a family mart on the corner, which has been there for at least 13 years, because it was there when my family was. I even found the house we lived in with little difficulty. I guess even after all this time, muscle memory endures.

I stood on those same stepping stones 13 years ago

The nearby playground was still intact with no change, as are the stepping stones to cross the river. When we lived in Kyoto, every weekday, my Mom, brother, and I would cross the river on those stepping stones (my favorite part of the day. I felt like I was actually platforming). On the other side was a Manju store that my mom liked (it’s still there and as crowded as ever), and right next to that was a little mall that had all sorts of cute things and food, of course. In the past, there was a guy selling noodles that we would purchase, but he hasn’t been there in years (now there’s a tempura store there). While wandering, I stumbled across the Kyoto imperial palace and took a walk around. It’s pretty cool (no it wasn’t. It was really hot).

Popular as ever

After getting lunch, I took the train out to Kohata, where a famous anime studio is located, aptly named Kyoto Animation. It’s a very unassuming building. You can easily mistake it for another house or something, and nearby is a store for all their anime. I say all their anime, but it was for this currently airing anime called Free! Dive into the Future.

Actual footage of me waking up in the morning

Despite all the fluids I was drinking, I think I got a bit of heat exhaustion by this point, because I had a throbbing headache, so I returned to the inn and took a nap. After waking up, I was going to try and get to Ginkakuji, so I knew the route to the Obon festival, but that didn’t end up happening. I decided to go home and sleep

August 16: I think I made a bus driver mad. I took a bus to Ginkakuji, or the Silver Pavillion, but only until I was nearly there did I see an announcement that said pay in exact change, which I didn’t have (it’s 230 yen to ride a bus). I had 500 yen, and offered to pay for a lady behind me, but she declined, and the bus driver just sighed and asked “together or separate?” Probably shouldn’t have done that, now that I think about it. I hope that wasn’t rude.

This was about how big my room was. It barely fit the futon

I walked around the area checking out the small stores set up on the way to the temple (I didn’t actually see the temple itself.) I guess the best way to describe today was that I tried all sorts of Japanese sweets. One lady even got me to go into her store because she advertised her cinnamon cookies are some sort of omiyage (at least, that’s what I want to say. I heard her say “omiyage,”but I didn’t understand the rest). The cookies were good, but hard. They wouldn’t travel well, so I had to decline.

All sorts of cool stalls on the way to the Silver Pavillion

I came to Kyoto for the Obon festival, and today was the last day. There are 5 mountains with giant Chinese characters carved into their sides and today, every August 16^th, those are lit up. I think it’s supposed be a farewell of sorts. It’s believed that during this time, ancestors return from the spirit world to visit their relatives, and they return home today. I even saw people selling wood where you could write a prayer that would then be BURNED. Instead, what I ended up doing was going to a nearby area called Arashiyama, and wandered around. This area is known for this really big wooden bridge and is much more traditional looking than Kyoto proper and looked similar to the area around Ginkakuji. One of the five mountains can be seen here, and I walked about half an hour to find the pond where you can see it. It’s actually a great view. I returned back to the bridge just in time to get poured on (it rained sporadically throughout the day). By now, the obon stalls had been set up and I got some of their food (it was kinda salty.)

These are the scaffolds for the lanterns

Every year on the 16^th, as another sort of farewell to the ancestral spirits, people light up paper lanterns and then release them down the river. It’s really pretty, which is what I would say if it wasn’t packed. The lanterns, or Toro Nagashi, is a big tourist event and I got there before it started, but not early enough to get a good spot. I did have some nice small talk with an elderly couple who came to see the lanterns as well. I forget what I said to the lady, but she responded with something like “next it will be our turn.” It took me a while to understand what she meant by that, but it was a little sobering. So instead of seeing lanterns, I saw people’s smartphones as they tried to get pictures of the lanterns. I would’ve gotten more, but my phone died, and I had to hurry back to charge it. The lantern event starts at 7 and the bonfires are lit at 8. I got back to Kyoto 2 minutes before they lit up the fires, and hurried back to the inn. Unfortunately, I was told the fire would burn for 40 minutes, but it only lasted 30. By the time my phone was ready to take more pictures, the bonfire was a little spark. That said, I did catch a glimpse of it as I was rushing back and it looked really cool. The fire is visible from the Kamogawa and people lined the bridges to see it. I wish I had gotten a photo, but I did see the end. I guess I just have an excuse to come back again and see the fire properly.

This was the best picture I could get of the lanterns. It was much too packed.

All in all, Kyoto was a lot of fun. It’s very different from Tokyo. The atmosphere is much calmer and people are very nice. I kept getting called Onii-chan (big brother) by a lot of different people, including that couple. I think I misunderstood some people’s questions. In Arashiyama, I stopped to look at a pizza place, and a family outside told me it was good. I agreed and said that I thought the stalls by the river would have food. They asked where I wanted to go (he said ikitai, which means want to go) and I told them I was going to go down to the river. To this day, I don’t know if he asked where I wanted to go or where I wanted to go eat. His kid, who couldn’t have been older than 4-5, asked who I was when I was leaving and I was kinda touched.

Just remember, Kyoto uses different “IC cards” (e.g Passmo, suica, etc.) than Tokyo, so prepare accordingly.

Tomorrow, I leave for Toyama, which is further north and likely completely different than both Kyoto and Tokyo. From what I heard, it’s more “conservative,” which says to me that it’s going to be more traditional. That means that it’s likely that there will be little English, so I guess this is the real test of the summer course at ICU. Let’s see how much I’ve learned

Obligatory Food Pictures

Deep-fried Chicken from Arashiyama

Cold Soba and Tonkatsu

Miso Ramen. This was taken in the same location as an old ramen store my family would frequent 13 years ago. It’s now a different ramen store

Green Tea Dango with Ramune frosting

Day 32-39: August 6th-13th

August 6^th: Today we got word that another typhoon was approaching Tokyo and this one will likely hit it directly around August 8th. As a result, we have to have our final exam a day early. Worst case scenario, the last day of class is cancelled. So we get to await the next few days in anticipation. Some of my classmates are betting on the typhoon not coming, so that’ll be embarrassing if it doesn’t hit after all. But the way they made it sound, this one is much more likely to hit.

 

August 7^th: This was the last day of formal instruction. It was also my birthday, though nothing all that exciting happened today. I just studied and didn’t go out. It’s ok though. I wasn’t planning on doing anything all that exciting for my birthday itself.

A moray eel just casually hanging out

August 8^th: We had our final today, due to the typhoon. It rained all day today, but it wasn’t all that bad. It’s kinda hard to believe that we will be getting a typhoon considering how mild the rain was. After the final, I went to Shinjuku to activate my JR rail pass. I tried. I really did my best, but the lady behind the desk looked at me and said, “I can speak English, you know” perfectly, so that was embarrassing. But I got my rail pass without a hitch and got tickets to Kyoto. I leave on the 14^th.

 

August 9^th: So turns out our class wasn’t cancelled because the typhoon missed us (AGAIN), so I ended up going to class and giving my final presentation. We just had to go somewhere and talk about it; I talked about a card shop because I am so original. Both senseis surprised afterwards with a small party in our classroom, which was fun, and I played one final yugioh match against a friend I made (I lost). After that, though, there was a farewell party and I played piano for everyone. I was so nervous that I made a few mistakes, but everyone seemed to like it, so I’m not going to question it too much. The real fun came later that night. As a final farewell, the dorm helpers organized a trip to an izakaya and then to karaoke. I had my first drink that night and I’m not a fan. Alcohol doesn’t taste very good; I’ll stick to water, I guess. Karaoke was fun, but I really just enjoyed spending some time with everyone before we all had to go our separate ways.

The farewell party

Also, I walked back to ICU, which took about 45 minutes, so that was fun.

 

August 10^th: I left the dorm today. Everyone was saying goodbye and taking pictures and all that other stuff you do when you say goodbye to people. I didn’t want to go myself. My parents came up (or down, I guess. They came from Tachikawa) to ICU and I went back with them to their hotel. I got my own room; I was so happy. Later in the day, we took the Tachikawa monorail out to this giant shopping mall. It looked very much like an American shopping mall, which surprised me. I figured Japan didn’t have the space. But it was cool, albeit not the kind of thing I was interested in.

I should also add that my parents were trying to get shinkansen tickets to Hokkaido, but they were sold out, so they had to scramble a bit. I would say that was exciting, and it was, but I was asleep for a good amount of it.

Farewell, ICU

August 11^th: We went shopping again today. My parents were nice enough to take me to Nakano Broadway, this shopping mall not too far from Nakano station. There’s a lot of figures in there and I know some people who would love a chance to visit. I took a brief stop in Shibuya (I’ve actually never been recently), and then met up with my parents to have a dinner with my mom’s cousin and his wife. It was nice and relaxing; we got o just chat and catch up. I learned a lot about my family’s history. Apparently, one of my distant relatives fought against the meiji government during the meiji restoration. He later went on to found a university or something, so that was cool. I also got to practice my Japanese. I can kinda feel it getting better, little by little.

Hachiko, Japan’s most loyal dog

August 12^th: I said goodbye to my parents today. They’ll be going off to Hokkaido for the remainder of their time here while I’ll be travelling by myself. I’m a little nervous, but also kinda excited. This is the first time I’ll be doing that. After I said goodbye, I checked into a hotel closer to Tokyo station (but not without getting lost. The first of may times, I’m sure), and then met an old friend for lunch. I hadn’t seen her in 7-8 years and it was nice to catch up. She seems to be doing alright at least. I returned to my hotel, took a nap, and that was about it. I did get lost again because I wandered too far from my hotel to get dinner and wasn’t sure of my way back, oh and my phone was low on battery, so that was exciting.

Apparently, there is competitive aikido, but it’s more of a dancing competition than it is a fighting competition. You have judges evaluate how you do each technique, how nice it looks, etc.

 

August 13^th: Today was a bit of a trip. I woke up earlier today to visit Tsukiji market (I say early, but I was there around 12). Tsukiji is intense, even that late. It was hot and crowded, but it was so cool. There was so much food that I hadn’t seen before or even expected to be at a fish market. I even found strawberry daifuku there. When I left tsukiji, I got a train to kita-senju, where I got lost (AGAIN), trying to find the JR Joban line rapid service (they really don’t do a good job telling you where it is). The reason why I was looking for that was because I was trying to get to Tsuchiura City. It’s kinda out of the way, about an hour by train. 8 years ago, I was supposed to visit as part of an exchange program, but that was the year of the Tohuku earthquake, so I couldn’t go. I would’ve loved to explore more, but Tsuchiura got hit with a thunderstorm and I didn’t know my way around. It’s a very quiet city; it reminded me a lot of the area ICU was located. On the way back (I got on the train just as the rain hit), I was fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with an elderly lady also going back from Tsuchiura. She didn’t speak any English, but we were somehow able to talk, so that was fun. It was a good chance to practice what I had learned this past 5-6 weeks. I had so much fun talking to them that I missed my intended stop and wound up in Ueno park. But I think that ended up working out better, because I got to spend some time in the park. It reminds me a lot of central park in New York. When I was searching for a train station, I kept walking down a street called chuoudoori. Turns out that if you go down that street long enough, you hit Akihabara. You learn something new everyday.

A buddhist temple I passed by on the way to Tsukiji

Obligatory food photos

Chirashi and Udon

Natto

Strawberry Daifuku

My last meal at the ICU cafeteria. Indonesian Fried Rice.

Day 24-31: July 28th-August 5th

July 28th: A typhoon was supposed to hit today. Everyone was hyping it up, warning us not to travel. And I did get rained on. A lot, actually, but it just looked more like a pretty heavy rainstorm than a typhoon. Honestly, it was a little disappointing. I was hoping for a little more drama, you know?

Anyway, this was the last meeting for Glocal Mitaka. We were supposed to go to a festival, but since it was cancelled due to the typhoon, we ended up just staying on ICU campus and did some fun activities. One lady taught us how to do a tea ceremony, which was pretty fun, and then we all did the Bon Odori. Turns out there are two versions, and depending on the region, it’s different. The first one we learned is the dance that looks like you’re digging a hole. The second is the one where you wave your arms around, supposedly like a Geisha. I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it was, but I really enjoyed it. There were fewer families this time around. I guess the rain kept them away, but some faces I did recognize.

After the dance ended, I was playing with some of the kids, who dared me to run out in the rain and touch a few trees. Of course, I couldn’t say no to kids like that, so I did. They seemed to enjoy it, which is all that matters to me. Something that did strike me as odd was how polite and responsible they were. I have a hard time picturing American kids at the same age acting the same way. Of course, that’s not to say that Japanese kids and American kids are all that different, because they’re not, but it was something that I noticed.

Is this me? Or a strawberry? Vote now on your phones

July 29th: This is the part where I would tell you all about my second Yu-Gi-Oh tournament in Shinjuku. Except I got DQ’d (disqualified). Turns out that store doesn’t allow English cards, so they made me drop after round 1. I did tie with a deck I didn’t expect to beat, so that’s good, I guess. I just spent the rest of the day in Shinjuku just not really doing anything. So my sunday was actually quite uneventful. Bit of a shame, really.

Amenities Dream Shinjuku

July 30th: It’s hard to believe that this is the start of the second to last week. It still feels like I just got to Japan and I’ll be leaving in a few weeks. But I didn’t do much today.

 

July 31st: Today I participated in Nihon-buyo, or Japanese traditional dance. It first started with a small performance by members of the Japanese traditional dance club at ICU, and we then were taught a short and simple routine. It’s nothing too fancy; certainly nothing like modern dance you might see today, but it was enjoyable. I also got to try a yukata for the first time. But that was the only interesting thing that happened today.

We T-Pose to assert dominance

August 1st: I probably shouldn’t be admitting this, but I woke up at 8:50 today. When class started. Fortunately, Sensei wasn’t angry (at least, she didn’t show it), but it was embarrassing. Outside of oversleeping, I don’t think anything particularly interesting happened today. I just went to class and came back. The only funny thing that happened was when I came back from eating out (I like the dorm food, but there isn’t much variety), I ran into my sensei at the bus stop.

August 2nd: Today, I participated in a kanji study that lasted for about an hour or so. It was kinda interesting, I got a 30 dollar gift card out of it, and I do feel like my kanji improved slightly. I just hope that the professor is able to use my data.

August 3^rd: I didn’t learn this today, but I want to write this down before I forget.

• White does not have any bad meaning in Japan. In fact, white represents holiness and purity. It is associated with ghosts because, during funerals, the body is often dressed in white clothes
• In the past, ICU was once called Isolated Crazy Utopia.

I tried going back to Shinjuku to play Yu-Gi-Oh friendlies with other people, but that didn’t happen. Since everyone is usually playing with their friends, it feels very awkward to ask if you can play a game. In addition, I didn’t read their rules very carefully. Turns out the tables are only available to those who have already purchased something. That was also kinda embarrassing, but also very frustrating. I think I said this in a prior post, but in case I didn’t, I’ll say it here. Since I am an exchange student studying Japanese, I feel more pressure to not look like an idiot. A tourist can embrace their stupidity because they’re tourists and I feel like the standards are lax. But for a student studying the language and culture itself, it feels like I should’ve been aware of the rules and followed them better. So all in all, today was . . .interesting. Not one of the better days, to be sure, but nothing particularly bad happened.

August 4^th: I wanted to participate in another tournament, so I went back to the first place I participated at in Akihabara. I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten a lot shyer when it comes to dealing with other players. They’re not doing anything wrong, but after I messed up in Shinjuku, I’m just scared I’m doing something wrong. Which is sad, because I want to play with more people, but I don’t know how to approach them. I just don’t want to be rude. Regardless, it was a lot of fun and I actually won my first match.

After spending a lot of time (and money, but don’t worry about that) in Akihabara, I decided to return early because I had a lot of work I wanted to complete. As I got back, I managed to catch a little bit of a festival going on right by the station. It wasn’t very big, but I think it was very cute. Even in the middle of an urban area, people still find places to do cultural festivals.

justdormthings

August 5th: I spent most of today doing work preparing for my final week at ICU. So I continued my travel plans and completed my homework. I also swung by Akihabara and Shinjuku to pick up some things for class (we have this end of the year party on Thursday, and our class is doing a puppet show, so I picked up the necessary supplies). But other than that, today wasn’t all that special. I had to use it to prepare for school.

 

Obligatory Food Pictures

Another beef teishoku.

Tsukemen.

Miso Ramen