Return to Tokyo

May 30, 2014

Ah it feels so good to be back in Tokyo! I’m not sure what it is about this city… it’s just got a great vibe!

We arrived in Toyko early this afternoon, and I set out exploring straight away with Viet and Kirby.

One really nice thing about Japan: restaurants are big on using pictures to show off their offerings (and the plastic food industry is huge here, plates of plastic food are featured in the windows of every restaurant you pass!) which makes life much easier for foreigners who don’t speak Japanese! We found a spot with pictures of curry and rice, so we ducked in there. 

It feels great to have independence like that! And our food was delicious.

Dr. Baba requested that we all return to the hotel by 2 so that he could give us subway passes and take a group around Tokyo. Viet, Kirby, and I joined the group at first, heading to a big park by the zoo and a museum (EDIT: It's called Ueno park, the most popular park in Japan!) but, when the rest of the group went into the museum, we decided to do our own thing. I love museums, but there was just too much going on outside for me to head in!

There were tons of people in the park and stands where vendors sold flowers, knickknacks, and snacks. 

The last time we were in Tokyo, it still felt like spring! Warm in the sun, but still breezy and almost uncomfortably cool in the morning and at night. I’m not sure what happened but, all of a sudden, it’s summer in Tokyo!
I didn’t mind the heat too much; I lathered myself up with sunscreen, got an ice cream cone, and was perfectly happy! 

(Side note: Below you'll see me with red bean paste man. He's my favorite super hero. He is basically a pancake stuffed with bean paste- cause everything in Japan in stuffed with bean paste- whose power is feeding children with bits of his head. He is everywhere in Japan!)

When we’d finished exploring the area around the museum, the three of us went to Ameyayokocho for some more wandering (I really like to wander in case you haven’t noticed)! 

Ameyayokocho (is a pain to pronounce) is a tucked-away alley and outdoor market, primarily for fish and dried goods. So many fun things to see! So many funky things to smell!

Walking down the street, in an ocean of sea food, veggies, and fruits, the last thing you would expect to see is a pet store! But there it was. In the middle of the fish/dried food market, there was a tiny store full of puppies and kittens! Of course we went in and played with them. I came close to stealing one, but I don’t think it would’ve made it through customs.  

Last summer, Kirby went to South Korea with a group from Furman. Another Furman student on her trip, Lauren, is now living in Tokyo, studying here for an entire year. We met up with her and a friend of hers in Shibuya, another pocket of Tokyo. 

Shibuya is such a cool place! You know the famous image of a ton of Japanese people walking through a giant crosswalk? Seen Lost in Translation? That’s from Shibuya. So, naturally, the first thing we did in Shibuya was walk the crosswalk. I have never seen so many people at once. I felt like all of Japan was going through the crosswalk with me! I found this youtube time lapse to give you an idea of what it's like, but its way cooler in real life/at night! 

Lauren and her friend, Allison, took us out to see a couple of shopping malls (I seriously don’t understand how it’s even possible for one city to have so many malls. How do they stay in business?) and a store called “Exciting Book Store.” 

I always love seeing crazy Tokyo fashion and looking at the fun items sold in these malls and shops.

Finally it was dinnertime! 

The style of the restaurant we went to is called Izakaya. It’s really fun, a lot like Japanese tapas! We got a ton of small plates and each tried a bite of a bunch of things, which is the best way to eat, in my opinion! 

Like a good blogger, I took pictures of several of the things I tried…

Bibimbap

Nigiri

Fried Mochi

Fried Avocado

They were all so tasty! We also got some gyoza, edamame, yaki soba, and fried chicken. Yum! 

It was a great time! The girls were so sweet to show us around and take us out. It was really cool having two semi-locals with us (they’d both been living there for about 9 months)! 

Plus, I discovered Lauren is a fellow Dallasite, so I automatically love her. 

oh and we got free hugs from strangers...

After walking the crosswalk a few more time and getting some real tourist-y pictures, it was time to say our goodbyes.

What a fun day! I love Tokyo so much and have been having a great time discovering all of its little pockets! 

Tomorrow we’re off to Kamakura for the day to do more touristing: seeing some famous temples and shrines! So excited! 

Goodbye, Headquarters!

May 30, 2014

As I write this, I am on a bus headed from Tochigi to Tokyo! 

I’ve got to tell you, I am so excited for the next five days! Today we’ll be in Tokyo, tomorrow Kamakura, then Kyoto, then Nara, then back to Tokyo, then home! 
Those who know me well know that I love to be busy when I travel; I like to get up early, sight-see, eat, explore, and do until I crash… then repeat. 
My time at Headquarters was a really neat experience, but I wasn’t quite busy enough for my taste! I’m feeling very ready to be back in a big city and back to traveling around! 

Still, I’ll miss HQ and the awesome experience I had there. It really was incredibly eye-opening. I’ve learned so much about the Eastern way of thinking and Japanese culture. It’s incredible how vastly different the mindset here is than the one I’ve had and known all my life. 
I feel that I’ve been challenged to open my eyes to new perspectives, and I’m so glad for that. 

I know that many aikido students will never get to study under sensei as prestigious as the ones I’ve come to know during my time, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity! I would never have known about aikido and what martial arts are really about had I not come on this trip and been to this place. I know now that I have the ability to do incredible things just by changing my attitude and finding the energy in others as well as myself. 

And I found out that I’m really good at forward rolling! I was consistently the worst in the class at everything (including breathing… like. What? How can someone really be that bad at breathing? Especially a singer! Sigh.) except rolling. I can roll like nobody’s business! I was probably among the best rollers and I will totally treasure the memory of out-rolling my peers for the rest of my life.

Well we’ve just arrived in Tokyo! Ah, feels so good to be back!

To end this “Goodbye, HQ” post, I’ve composed a beautiful, thoughtful breakup letter which I think summarizes my feelings on leaving HQ…

Dear Headquarters, 

It’s been a truly special two weeks. I will always treasure our time together. You challenged me, you were always consistent, and I learned so much from you! But you just felt too… safe. I’m looking for something with a little more adventure! More excitement! And well, Headquarters, that’s why Tokyo and I are getting back together. Please don’t take it personally, HQ! It’s not you, it’s me. You really are great. I really do think that! But. It’s time for me to move on. 

Best, 

Lizzie 

Mashiko

May 25, 2014

Sorry I've gotten a little behind on the blog! Homework has picked up (the unfortunate part of traveling in a university program) so I've had my hands full. After this post I plan to write a reflection on my time here at Headquarters, and then I'll be blogging from Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara! Very excited to get traveling again.

This post is about a day trip we took over the weekend... To Mashiko!

Mashiko is known as the city of sculptors. Its the number one place in Japan for pottery, and it's easy to see why!

Everywhere you turn in Mashiko, you see beautiful pottery of every kind. Cups, bowls, plates, pots, sculptures... And painted in a beautiful variety of colors!
I knew, before I came, that we'd be going to Mashiko and I'd get to see lots of pottery. I imagined white, symmetrical, glazed pots skillfully covered with blue illustrations. I had thought that that's what all Asian pottery looks like! I was so wrong; that's what Chinese pottery looks like. Japanese pottery, on the other hand, is much more earthy and hand-made looking. Many pieces I saw were asymmetrical, rough, left unglazed in places. There were bright blue pieces, yellow pieces, white pieces painted with pink flowers; some were brown and dark green, some textured while others were smooth... I went into a countless number of shops as well as an outdoor market, and everywhere I was greeted with an overwhelming amount of pottery.

Pottery piled up high on floors, artfully arranged on shelves, upstairs, downstairs, outside, in shops... You could never imagine so many beautiful things! Each one unique and hand made.

I could've spent two days just wandering there. And I could've spent every dime I have! Oh to have a kitchen stocked with a rainbow of dishes from Mashiko!
I restrained myself to only two mugs. While I really like my purchases, I must say that it was incredibly difficult to pick them out while in that sea of gorgeous art!

Although I was very happy just to wander, the next item on our agenda was a TON of fun!
We were going to make some pottery of our own.

The place where we went to work is a tiny, one-room art studio. We broke into two groups (One had art class while the other saw the city, then swapped. I was in the group to explore first.) in order to fit in the space.
Once inside, we sat at tables and were all given aprons, a hunk of clay, and some tools. Then an adorable Japanese woman demonstrated a few different methods for sculpting mugs and bowls by hand. 

I listened with one ear but, as she spoke, was eyeing the three electric pottery wheels off to the side of the room.
I have always wanted to try sculpting on a wheel and, when the woman asked if anyone wanted to try it, my hand shot up.
I was giddy as I climbed over the bench and lowered my legs into the sort of pit they'd created for the wheels. I quickly learned that I picked the wrong day to wear a skirt as I sat on the very dirty, clay coated bench and straddled the wheel (sorry, Mom, there's just no ladylike way to sculpt on a wheel). 

FYI- not my hands or my work; this was the instructor's example

After that, I pretty much got to work! We weren't given much instruction on the wheel. The woman's husband got it going for me, starting the wheel and forming a basic scooped shape, and then I just experimented with it until I'd created a cup I was proud of! I found the pottery wheel very relaxing. 
I ended up making several things: a bowl, a plate, a couple of cups... It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! I think the hardest parts might be centering the clay on the wheel, getting started, and cutting your finished piece off of the clay when you've finished. All things the instructor did for me. 
But I'd definitely do it again! I think it'd be really cool to create a piece from the very beginning, fire it in a kiln, glaze/paint it up, and fire it again. That would take like a month, but I'm putting it on my life bucket list anyway! 
After I'd made a few things I was proud of, I hopped off the wheel and gave hand sculpting a try.
I really didn't like it so it's probably not worth talking about. Basically I went from feeling like a legit artist on the wheel to feeling like a toddler with play-dough. 

I'm smiling in this picture, but I crushed up that mug in frustration shortly after it was taken and returned to the wheel. 

Fingernails crusted in clay and faces smiling, we left the studio and headed to lunch. 
Oh this lunch was so good. Shrimp and veggie tempura with cold soba noodles. The tempura was crispy and fresh and the tempura was perfectly flavorful and slurp-able.

Having taken in the beautiful pottery and delicious food, it was time to start heading back to Headquarters for the night.

...But not before a stop at another Japanese onsen! 
This onsen was much bigger than the first! After a little spa time, Mary, Kirby, and I found a nap room and crashed in there til it was time to go!
The nap room is seriously just a big room for adults to nap. How awesome is that? 
The room is full of recliners and blankets, and a TV in the front of the room plays sumo on low volume. 

Americans would totally be all about this! 

After the onsen, we returned to Headquarters for dinner and homework/social time before bed. 

I really have enjoyed this weekend away from headquarters and am definitely looking forward to more exploring and sight seeing as we begin traveling soon! 

Have a Nice Days! (Utsunomiya)

May 24, 2014

So glad to say that today I was able to take a break from aikido training and see more of Japan! (Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very grateful for the opportunity to train here at aikido headquarters... But I think I’ve earned a mindless day of shopping and dumplings!) 

Utsunomiya (oot-sun-oh-MEE-uh) is a much smaller city than Tokyo, and far less crowded, but still has plenty going on. It’s known as the dumpling capitol of the world (not “of Japan”... “of the world.” Granted, these are Japanese people telling me this...). It’s also known as the “Strawberry Kingdom” and the center of jazz music in Japan. That’s a lot of titles for one place! Pretty cool, huh? 

Our first stop in Utsunomiya was at the Shinto shrine in the center of the city. Unfortunately, every Shinto shrine looks pretty dinky after the Meijii Shrine in Tokyo (I mean, the Meijii Shrine is an entire man-made forest!), but I was still glad to see this one as it serves as the heart of the city. 
Dr. Baba explained that the shrine is 1600 years old (relatively new for a Japanese shrine, if you can believe it!), and was moved to its current location 137 years ago. In other words, the permanent structure we explored today is 137 years old, and the city was built around it. In fact, Utsunomiya literally means “the place where the shrine was moved”, or at least something close. 
Dr. Baba then went on to explain that, in Shinto belief, everything has a creative side and a destructive side, and this shrine is particularly revered as it is meant to enshrine the creative side of nature. 

Once again, we were blessed with a beautiful day! Everywhere we’ve gone in Japan so far has been cooler than I expected, but very sunny and pleasant! 
Perhaps because the weather was so nice, several families were at the shrine, bringing their young children to be blessed. 
I’ve got to say, Japanese babies are the cutest babies. I don’t want to offend anyone, but it’s just the truth. There’s no denying it. Especially the little girls who have the straight-across bangs and chin-length blunt cut hair. Oh my goodness.
This little boy in particular was adorable! I saw him goofing around at the shrine and, since I’m a total creeper, I took a picture of him. 

He totally caught me... Oops. 

After a while, it was time to leave the shrine and finally indulge in these famous dumplings we’d all heard so much about! 

We headed to the mall (malls everywhere... you cannot escape the Japanese shopping mall) where there is a sort of food court of gyoza (Japanese dumpling) restaurants. Basically, a bunch of restaurants are on a rotating schedule to get to use the space, several gyoza restaurants are in the space at once, and customers are able to get the best dumplings from some of the best restaurants in one spot. 
As talked up as these dumplings were, they did not fail to deliver. 
I ate a sinful amount of dumplings.
A waiter would bring a plate to the table, everyone at the table would eat one, then a waiter would appear with another plate, then everyone would eat one... In the end, I’m not sure how many dumplings were consumed by our group, all I know is I’m glad Furman was getting the tab for that meal! 

I’m not sure if anyone regretted our high-calorie lunch but, if they did, then I’m sure they were glad for the several hours of walking that would comprise the rest of the day. Pretty much the entirety of our day post-gyoza-feast was spent shopping. 
First we headed down a beautiful street full of every kind of shop and store imaginable. 

My favorite stop on the street was at a gorgeous grocery (think Japanese style Whole Foods). I love looking at all the foreign products. There were crazy jams, jellies, desserts, drinks... I could’ve spent a day in there! 

I probably could’ve spent a fortune in there, too. There were more than a few curious things in there I considered purchasing, just to try. 

tomato jell-o, anyone? 

Once I’d made my way down the street of shops, I headed into another giant shopping mall with my friends. We spent forever in there, checking out the crazy fashion and finding funny trinkets. 

like this super classy humidifier

or these awesome coin purses
(This is a good time to mention that the other day I told a sensei I'm a Texan, and he responded by widening his stance, pulling imaginary guns out of imaginary holsters, and saying "Texas! Pew! Pew!" pretending to shoot me. So that's good.)

When we finally needed a break, we stopped into a Starbucks. I told my friend that I felt so dumb for going to Starbucks while in Japan (like could we be any more in our comfort zone?) but, when that mocha frapp craving hits, there’s no ignoring it. 
In the end, I must say that I’m glad we stopped at Starbucks, not only for the frapp, but for the adorable message the barista put on my cup. 

I was the only one who got a cup message. Chalking that up as a win for the day.

The entire group reconvened at the Shinto shrine a few hours later. We were super lucky again to see another traditional Japanese wedding! At the Meijii Shrine, our guide told us that it’s fairly unusual to see, and we’ve seen two now! Woo hoo! 
In fact, I would’ve missed it if it weren’t for a kind stranger. I was sitting just outside of the shrine, sipping my frappaccino and instagramming a picture of my lunch, when an elderly Japanese man tapped my shoulder and said “Traditional Japanese style wedding! Go now! Go!” and practically pushed me into the Shrine just as the bride was entering. Thanks, friend! 

From the shrine, we loaded on to the bus and were dropped off at another mall on the other side of town. This mall was more famous for electronics, and I enjoyed a nostalgic trip down memory lane when I found the Pokemon section! 

I was very tempted to purchase this $40 stuffed Pikachu... Just look how cute he is! 

After wandering for a while there, two girlfriends and I found some place to get dinner, rest our feet, and gab until it was time to head back to headquarters for the night. 

I really did shop til I dropped today! 

I apologize for my lengthiness! Thanks for reading and, of course, have a nice days. :]