We slept in late again this morning, even though we tried to get up around 10am. I eventually rolled out of bed around noon, and I still had to wake Derrick up a couple of times. We stayed up late working on our project, so it was understandable that we were tired. I was afraid that Norio and his mom would be up and about, but they were still wandering around in their pajamas too. Norio’s mom didn’t have breakfast prepared for us since they had plans to take us out to eat at one of their favorite places. Once Norio’s dad got home from work, we jumped in their car and went to get some good food. The restaurant they took us to turned out to be about 30 minutes away, and it was an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet. It was really busy, and we had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a table. The buffet itself was a lot nicer than any buffet I had visited in the U.S. All the food was consistently changed out with freshly made food, and the variety of foods offered kept changing as well. I had a couple plates of food and definitely got my fill for the day.
We drove back home and were all completely exhausted from eating so much. Norio’s dad went back to work the rest other four of us took a nap. It was such a lazy day! We woke up around 6pm and began working on our project again. Once Norio’s mom woke up, she prepared the bath for us so we could eat shower and bathe before returning to the NOMYC later that night. We packed all of our stuff back up, and once Norio’s dad got back, we loaded up the car and left around 11pm. We stopped by Mina’s house really quickly so I could return her hair supplies to her, and I once again thanked her many times for the kimono and obi. After saying our goodbyes, we still hadn’t eaten dinner, so Norio’s parents took us to one of their favorite ramen places. It was known for its special volcano ramen, so they were really excited to show it off to us. I ordered shoyu ramen, and everyone else got miso ramen. The ramen came out in a stone-like bowl, and when they poured the dashi in the bowl, it sizzled up and spilt everywhere. The restaurant had provided a sheet of paper to hold up in order to protect ourselves from getting burnt. It was really interesting. The meal also came with a bowl of rice, three pieces of gyoza, and anin dofu dessert. The process for eating the meal was a bit different as well since you were supposed to eat the ramen first, then dump the rice into the remaining dashi to eat it. I liked this process much better since I’m not a huge fan of plain rice, and anin dofu turns out to be one of my favorites. We all finished our meals, then jumped back in the car to sadly head back to Tokyo.
The drive to Tokyo takes about an hour and is about 120km. We made one rest stop, and it rained for the entire drive back. I was really sad to say bye to Norio’s parents, but I’m hoping I will be able to see them once more before I leave. It was a great experience overall, and I am truly grateful for their immense generosity. The rest of the night was spent working on our design project and presentation since we have another draft due tomorrow. I still can’t believe we will have everything finished up in a week and a couple days. It is such a crazy thought, but I am also getting excited to see my relatives.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
30 May 2009
We slept in this morning since we were all tired from the long day yesterday. By the time we got up and moving, it was already lunch time. Norio’s mom had prepared a soup-like meal in a pot with tofu, pork, mushrooms, and many greens. It was really good and complimented the plain bowl of rice very nicely. I ate until I was completely full, but I still wish I could’ve eaten more. It was so good! We already had plans for the evening since today was supposedly a special day of celebration for the welcoming of summer to Japan. There was going to be food vendors set-up along the river in Tochigi, and the city was going to set off fireworks if the weather permitted them to do so. It was steadily raining all day, so I hoped it would stop so we could go out and enjoy the festivities. The three of us worked on our studio design project for most of the day since the weather was poor anyways.
Norio’s mom’s friend Mina came over around 6pm, and she brought with her one of her old kimonos and hair styling supplies. Norio’s parents had additionally bought Derrick a new yukata from the store since he was too large to wear anyone else’s. Derrick, Norio, and I were going to dress up in celebration of the festivities tonight. Before getting dressed, Mina offered to do my hair since I did not know how to do it properly. I just assumed I could sport the pony tail, but I guess she wasn’t going to settle for something so casual. She gave me two different hairstyle options, and I decided on the bun since it seemed like the least amount of work. She put tons of hair product in my hair and pulled my hair back tighter than I’ve ever had it pulled back. I could feel the skin on my face become completely tight on my face. It was a weird feeling. After finishing my hair, which I liked a lot, Mina dressed me in the kimono she brought. It was a beautiful teal green with white butterflies on it. She even had a golden yellow obi with butterflies on it to match. It was the first time I had the complete look, and it was really neat. It turns out that the kimono and obi were ones that Mina had worn since she was a young girl, so it had even more meaning for me to be wearing it. I was completely overwhelmed by her generosity when she even told me I could keep it. It was instances like this one where I wish I could’ve spoken Japanese. I couldn’t possibly imagine taking something of her’s which she had had since she was a little girl, and especially a kimono and obi. Wow! I told Norio to tell her that I couldn’t except such a generous gift, but she already had her mind set. Norio said I was just lucky, and I eventually had to just accept the gift. I still wish I could’ve thanked her even more, but due to the language barrier, I just kept repeating the same phrase of arigato gozaimas. Norio’s mom dressed him and Derrick in their yukatas, and we were finally ready to go.
In order to get the best view of the fireworks, we had plans to go to Mina’s mom’s house since she lived right by the river where the vendors and fireworks were. Even though her mom only lived about 10 minutes away from Norio’s hosue, it took seemingly forever since traffic was so backed up. The three of us went in Mina’s car, and she was a crazy driver! Norio said she had gotten much better, but Derrick and I were definitely scared. We arrived safely though, and once inside, there was tons of good food already prepared. It felt very similar to when I go to my grandparents for any special occasion. We sat upstairs on the tatami, ate the great food, and enjoyed the view of the fireworks. For dinner, we had homemade udon, fried squid, maki sushi, inari sushi, cucumber rolls, and pickled veggies. It was a really filling meal. We walked around the river and vendors after eating, and it was only slightly raining. Many of the younger people were dressed similarly to us, but the older people were casually dressed in everyday clothes.
We spent the rest of the evening at Mina’s mom’s house playing the taiko Wii game with one of the grandchildren. It was so much fun! I wish they had that game for the U.S. Wii. We met many other extended family members during the night, then we finally headed home around 11pm. We took our shower and bathes again, then stayed up late working on our project. I will definitely be really sad to go back to Tokyo tomorrow because I am having so much fun here in Tochigi.
Norio’s mom’s friend Mina came over around 6pm, and she brought with her one of her old kimonos and hair styling supplies. Norio’s parents had additionally bought Derrick a new yukata from the store since he was too large to wear anyone else’s. Derrick, Norio, and I were going to dress up in celebration of the festivities tonight. Before getting dressed, Mina offered to do my hair since I did not know how to do it properly. I just assumed I could sport the pony tail, but I guess she wasn’t going to settle for something so casual. She gave me two different hairstyle options, and I decided on the bun since it seemed like the least amount of work. She put tons of hair product in my hair and pulled my hair back tighter than I’ve ever had it pulled back. I could feel the skin on my face become completely tight on my face. It was a weird feeling. After finishing my hair, which I liked a lot, Mina dressed me in the kimono she brought. It was a beautiful teal green with white butterflies on it. She even had a golden yellow obi with butterflies on it to match. It was the first time I had the complete look, and it was really neat. It turns out that the kimono and obi were ones that Mina had worn since she was a young girl, so it had even more meaning for me to be wearing it. I was completely overwhelmed by her generosity when she even told me I could keep it. It was instances like this one where I wish I could’ve spoken Japanese. I couldn’t possibly imagine taking something of her’s which she had had since she was a little girl, and especially a kimono and obi. Wow! I told Norio to tell her that I couldn’t except such a generous gift, but she already had her mind set. Norio said I was just lucky, and I eventually had to just accept the gift. I still wish I could’ve thanked her even more, but due to the language barrier, I just kept repeating the same phrase of arigato gozaimas. Norio’s mom dressed him and Derrick in their yukatas, and we were finally ready to go.
In order to get the best view of the fireworks, we had plans to go to Mina’s mom’s house since she lived right by the river where the vendors and fireworks were. Even though her mom only lived about 10 minutes away from Norio’s hosue, it took seemingly forever since traffic was so backed up. The three of us went in Mina’s car, and she was a crazy driver! Norio said she had gotten much better, but Derrick and I were definitely scared. We arrived safely though, and once inside, there was tons of good food already prepared. It felt very similar to when I go to my grandparents for any special occasion. We sat upstairs on the tatami, ate the great food, and enjoyed the view of the fireworks. For dinner, we had homemade udon, fried squid, maki sushi, inari sushi, cucumber rolls, and pickled veggies. It was a really filling meal. We walked around the river and vendors after eating, and it was only slightly raining. Many of the younger people were dressed similarly to us, but the older people were casually dressed in everyday clothes.
We spent the rest of the evening at Mina’s mom’s house playing the taiko Wii game with one of the grandchildren. It was so much fun! I wish they had that game for the U.S. Wii. We met many other extended family members during the night, then we finally headed home around 11pm. We took our shower and bathes again, then stayed up late working on our project. I will definitely be really sad to go back to Tokyo tomorrow because I am having so much fun here in Tochigi.
Friday, May 29, 2009
29 May 2009
I woke-up at 8:15am this morning and got ready to visit Kengo Kuma’s office. I met up with Shae around 9:20am, and we walked to the Yoyogi-koen Station together in order to catch the 9:39am train. Our appointment at Kengo Kuma’s office was at 10am, and of course, it was raining. The office was very close the station that we got off at, but the tour itself turned out to be very unorganized. People don’t even show up to the office until at least 10am, so not many people were there when we walked through. A lady just took us to each floor, but she didn’t tell us much about the firm. One project manager showed us an orchestra hall that had won a competition recently, but that was the only project we were shown. Supposedly many of their projects are confidential, but not seeing or hearing anything about the office made for a dry tour that didn’t last very long.
After the office visit, we were on our own. Since the tour was at 10am, it was nice to be done before 11am. Derrick, Norio, and I headed to Shibuya to get some lunch and relax. Since Norio planned to take Derrick and I home with him to Tochigi, I tried to buy something to take to his house for his parents, but Norio got mad. He said I could take something if it was American, but otherwise, his parents buy whatever they want. That ended that discussion, so I decided I would just mail them something later. We got lunch at Saizeriya, and I ordered a mozzarella cheese pizza for 399 yen, plus unlimited drinks at the drink bar for 180 yen. I was really thirsty, so I ended up drinking a glass of melon soda, pepsi, oolong tea, milk tea, cappuccino, and jasmine tea. Considering that one soda at a restaurant usually cost upwards of 400 yen, the 180 yen price was a great deal. We walked through a few stores, then walked back to the NOMYC in the rain. Once back at the NOMYC, we packed and waited for Norio’s dad to call him.
Norio’s dad eventually picked us up at the NOMYC around 6pm. There was an accident on the expressway, so he was delayed about an hour. Traffic was heavy on our drive to Tochigi as well, so it ended up taking us over an hour to get there. When we got to Norio’s house, I was surprised at the small town feel of his city. His house was in a nice neighborhood situated between small alley-like streets. His house was two stories, with a living room, family room, kitchen, tatami room, three bathrooms, a bath room, and two bedrooms. Norio’s room is really large, and it even has a loft in it. There was definitely plenty of space for us to sleep and leave our stuff. For dinner, Norio’s parents had already made reservations at one of their friend’s restaurant. We swung by a dessert bakery and grocery store before going to eat since our reservations weren’t until 9pm. At the dessert shop, we each had to pick out two desserts. Everything looked amazing, but I finally decided on two things I had never tried before: a chestnut cake with frosting and a chocolate-covered banana thing. We dropped off the desserts and groceries at the house, then headed to the restaurant. We met one of their good friends there, and they took care of all the ordering. It was yakiniku, which is Japanese-style BBQ. We got kimchi, pickled greens, beef tongue, thin-sliced kalbi beef, kalbi steak, spicy soup, rice, and lychee for dessert. To drink, they ordered me a melon ice cream float. Everything was extremely good, and I think the kalbi beef was the best meat I have ever eaten in my life. I know the meal wasn’t cheap either since there was eight of us total, but Norio’s parents paid for it with no problem. I asked Norio later how much the kalbi beef costed approximately, and when he asked his mom, she had no idea since she didn’t even look at the total price before she paid. That surprised me a lot, but it proved how well-off they must be financially.
Following our huge dinner, we went to Norio’s mom’s best friend’s house. It was literally behind their house on the next block over. I could tell by their house that they were really well-off too. We hung out and talked a bit, then called it a night. Once back at Norio’s house, we ate the desserts we have gotten earlier, took showers and bathes, and went to sleep. My dessert was a chestnut cake thing, and it was really tasty. Norio’s mom prepared a bubble bath for me, so after showering, I relaxed in the tub for a while. I remembered that you aren’t supposed to drain the tub after a shower, but at Norio’s house, it is different. Since money doesn’t seem to be a problem, everyone got their own bath water with their own scent of bubble bath. It was really funny. This will definitely turn out to be a really interesting weekend.
After the office visit, we were on our own. Since the tour was at 10am, it was nice to be done before 11am. Derrick, Norio, and I headed to Shibuya to get some lunch and relax. Since Norio planned to take Derrick and I home with him to Tochigi, I tried to buy something to take to his house for his parents, but Norio got mad. He said I could take something if it was American, but otherwise, his parents buy whatever they want. That ended that discussion, so I decided I would just mail them something later. We got lunch at Saizeriya, and I ordered a mozzarella cheese pizza for 399 yen, plus unlimited drinks at the drink bar for 180 yen. I was really thirsty, so I ended up drinking a glass of melon soda, pepsi, oolong tea, milk tea, cappuccino, and jasmine tea. Considering that one soda at a restaurant usually cost upwards of 400 yen, the 180 yen price was a great deal. We walked through a few stores, then walked back to the NOMYC in the rain. Once back at the NOMYC, we packed and waited for Norio’s dad to call him.
Norio’s dad eventually picked us up at the NOMYC around 6pm. There was an accident on the expressway, so he was delayed about an hour. Traffic was heavy on our drive to Tochigi as well, so it ended up taking us over an hour to get there. When we got to Norio’s house, I was surprised at the small town feel of his city. His house was in a nice neighborhood situated between small alley-like streets. His house was two stories, with a living room, family room, kitchen, tatami room, three bathrooms, a bath room, and two bedrooms. Norio’s room is really large, and it even has a loft in it. There was definitely plenty of space for us to sleep and leave our stuff. For dinner, Norio’s parents had already made reservations at one of their friend’s restaurant. We swung by a dessert bakery and grocery store before going to eat since our reservations weren’t until 9pm. At the dessert shop, we each had to pick out two desserts. Everything looked amazing, but I finally decided on two things I had never tried before: a chestnut cake with frosting and a chocolate-covered banana thing. We dropped off the desserts and groceries at the house, then headed to the restaurant. We met one of their good friends there, and they took care of all the ordering. It was yakiniku, which is Japanese-style BBQ. We got kimchi, pickled greens, beef tongue, thin-sliced kalbi beef, kalbi steak, spicy soup, rice, and lychee for dessert. To drink, they ordered me a melon ice cream float. Everything was extremely good, and I think the kalbi beef was the best meat I have ever eaten in my life. I know the meal wasn’t cheap either since there was eight of us total, but Norio’s parents paid for it with no problem. I asked Norio later how much the kalbi beef costed approximately, and when he asked his mom, she had no idea since she didn’t even look at the total price before she paid. That surprised me a lot, but it proved how well-off they must be financially.
Following our huge dinner, we went to Norio’s mom’s best friend’s house. It was literally behind their house on the next block over. I could tell by their house that they were really well-off too. We hung out and talked a bit, then called it a night. Once back at Norio’s house, we ate the desserts we have gotten earlier, took showers and bathes, and went to sleep. My dessert was a chestnut cake thing, and it was really tasty. Norio’s mom prepared a bubble bath for me, so after showering, I relaxed in the tub for a while. I remembered that you aren’t supposed to drain the tub after a shower, but at Norio’s house, it is different. Since money doesn’t seem to be a problem, everyone got their own bath water with their own scent of bubble bath. It was really funny. This will definitely turn out to be a really interesting weekend.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
28 May 2009
My group had the earlier meeting session with Don this morning, so we met at 9:45am in one of the NOMYC classrooms. There were three other groups there as well. The second group met at 11:15am, then we had to meet at Yoyogi-koen Station to catch the 12:40pm train. We had a 1:30pm appointment to visit Fujimoto Sou’s office in Tokyo, even though Fujimoto himself is currently in the Netherlands for a project. The guy that met with us spoke very good English since he had lived in Australia for a while. I always find it a bit strange when Asians have a non-Asian accent. We got a tour of the office, and I was especially impressed with Fujimoto’s office because they design purely through physical models. It was very similar to the school studio setup, and I had never seen so many models at one time in my life. It was so astounding! It definitely looked like a cool place to work! At the end, we were each given an autographed copy of Fujimoto’s more recent book, and we were all thrilled. What a great experience overall!
From Fujimoto’s office, we all headed back to the NOMYC. We grabbed lunch at Matsuya, and Derrick paid for my meal since I had cut his hair. I tried the new item which was tuna sashimi, potato, and ginger over rice for 490 yen. It was really good, so I will probably be buying that again. By the time we returned to the NOMYC, we were all ready for a nap. I only meant to nap for about an hour, but it turned into a much later nap. I woke-up around 7pm and worked vigorously on finishing up my scholarship application. The deadline is May 29th, so I wanted to make sure I got it done with a day to spare or so just in case I hit any problems. I finished it around 11pm and submitted it via email. I then Skyped and hung out in the guys’ lounge since the girls’ side had no more internet. Four of my classmates came back very drunk later, so I was very amused by their drunkenness. Shae, Derrick, Jeff, Karen, and I just hung out and watched the Dan, John, Scot, and Zach humiliate themselves. It was really funny.
Tomorrow we have another office visit scheduled for 10am at Kengo Kuma’s office. Kuma is out of the office as well, but I’m excited to see his office since he is really famous as well.
From Fujimoto’s office, we all headed back to the NOMYC. We grabbed lunch at Matsuya, and Derrick paid for my meal since I had cut his hair. I tried the new item which was tuna sashimi, potato, and ginger over rice for 490 yen. It was really good, so I will probably be buying that again. By the time we returned to the NOMYC, we were all ready for a nap. I only meant to nap for about an hour, but it turned into a much later nap. I woke-up around 7pm and worked vigorously on finishing up my scholarship application. The deadline is May 29th, so I wanted to make sure I got it done with a day to spare or so just in case I hit any problems. I finished it around 11pm and submitted it via email. I then Skyped and hung out in the guys’ lounge since the girls’ side had no more internet. Four of my classmates came back very drunk later, so I was very amused by their drunkenness. Shae, Derrick, Jeff, Karen, and I just hung out and watched the Dan, John, Scot, and Zach humiliate themselves. It was really funny.
Tomorrow we have another office visit scheduled for 10am at Kengo Kuma’s office. Kuma is out of the office as well, but I’m excited to see his office since he is really famous as well.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
27 May 2009
We had Arch 480/420 lecture with Don this morning from 10am-noon, then the rest of the day was our’s. Almost everyone was completely exhausted from the past couple days, so no one wanted to go out. It was warm and humid outside, but it was a little bit less intense than usual. Since I’m planning to go to Norio’s parent’s house in Tochigi this weekend, I wanted to visit the two museums that Don has plans to visit on Sunday. I went by myself since everyone else was too tired. I hopped on the subway at Yoyogi-koen Station and got off at the National Art Center Tokyo stop. The façade and main interior space of the National Art Center Tokyo is really neat since it consists of a huge glass undulating façade with upward opening cones on the interior. It was nice being able to take my time and photograph at my own pace. The strange thing I realized about the museum was that, due to its large size, you had to pay for each gallery separately since they all had different exhibits in them. Don said the program would pay for the admission, but I wasn’t sure how many. I found one exhibit that I was interested in seeing, and I paid 1,000 yen to get in. It was the Hitoshi Nomura exhibit on the changes in time, perception, and field. I really enjoyed the exhibit, and I’m glad I was by myself since museums are meant to be experience at your own pace.
After the National Art Center Tokyo, I made the short walk to Tokyo Midtown where the Suntory Art Museum was located. When I got up to the museum, I found out it was closed until May 30th since they were in the process of changing the exhibits. It didn’t really look like something I was interested in anyways, but maybe I’ll go back at a later date. By then I was pretty tired, so I caught the subway back to the NOMYC and took a nap. For dinner, Derrick wanted to try a new burger joint that just opened called De Mode Burger. Dan and John had tried it earlier and said the burgers were decently sized. Blake came with us too, so that made three of us. I ordered the standard burger and added cheese for 790 yen. When the burger finally came out, it was huge! It also came with some big potato wedge fries, and I was completely stuffed by the end of the meal. Since it was new, they also encouraged us to write on the walls, so I wrote “05.27.09 Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo KENCHIKU”, and we all signed our names below it. [Kenchiku means architecture in Japanese.] It was really cool.
We went back and basically worked on our project until very early in the morning. Tomorrow we have to present to the class, so everyone was trying a little bit harder than usual. I’ll just be glad when we’re all done with the project, and I can hopefully get a little more sleep every night.
After the National Art Center Tokyo, I made the short walk to Tokyo Midtown where the Suntory Art Museum was located. When I got up to the museum, I found out it was closed until May 30th since they were in the process of changing the exhibits. It didn’t really look like something I was interested in anyways, but maybe I’ll go back at a later date. By then I was pretty tired, so I caught the subway back to the NOMYC and took a nap. For dinner, Derrick wanted to try a new burger joint that just opened called De Mode Burger. Dan and John had tried it earlier and said the burgers were decently sized. Blake came with us too, so that made three of us. I ordered the standard burger and added cheese for 790 yen. When the burger finally came out, it was huge! It also came with some big potato wedge fries, and I was completely stuffed by the end of the meal. Since it was new, they also encouraged us to write on the walls, so I wrote “05.27.09 Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo KENCHIKU”, and we all signed our names below it. [Kenchiku means architecture in Japanese.] It was really cool.
We went back and basically worked on our project until very early in the morning. Tomorrow we have to present to the class, so everyone was trying a little bit harder than usual. I’ll just be glad when we’re all done with the project, and I can hopefully get a little more sleep every night.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
26 May 2009
Our appointment to meet with Don this morning was at 9:30am. It was difficult to get out of bed, especially since we were the first group to go. I was jealous of everyone who got to sleep in. Don liked the progress we had made on our project and told us just to continue developing it. We had an appointment to meet with Shigeru Namba at 1:30pm, so I was able to take a quick nap between the time we finished up with Don and noon when we had to meet at the gate. Power naps really help get me through the day sometime. We caught the subway from Yoyogi-koen Station and took it to Tokyo University where Namba sensei teaches. Don got us there a bit early so that we could get lunch at the university cafeteria. I wasn’t really hungry, so Shae and I decided to share a meal. All of the food offered by the cafeteria looked really good, and it was very reasonably priced as well. The ordering process was a bit strange, since there was a glass case displaying all of the meals they served, then you bought the meal ticket from a vending machine. From the vending machine, you proceeded down to the cafeteria level and went to the correct window to get your food with your ticket. Once I figured it out, it was fine, but it was a very confusing process in the beginning, and it was really funny to walk around a glass case looking at all of the plastic fake food. Shae and I ended up splitting an order of fried chicken with mushroom cream sauce, salad, miso soup, and rice. Mugicha tea was free, so I drank a couple glasses of that as well. The meal was really delicious, and I wish campus food at Cal Poly was as reasonable and tasty as it is here in Japan.
A little before 1:30pm, we made our way through the campus to Namba sensei’s building. We met him in a small lecture hall, and he proceeded to give a presentation on his Box House series of works. It was really interesting, and I was glad that he was able to present in English. He already had plans for after the presentation, so we finished up, and we went our separate ways. On our way out, Don walked us through one of the architecture studios at Tokyo University, and it was a lot like Cal Poly’s studios except with much more people in one room. I assumed that we would head back after the meeting, but Don wanted to take us to the book district to visit a couple used bookstores. It took us a good 15-20 minutes to get to the district, but once there, we were on our own. Don pointed out one really good used architecture book store, but that was about it. Rather than all crowd into the bookstore at once, Norio, Derrick, and I went to a coffee shop just to relax. I ordered a small iced café mocha, and it was better than any café mocha I’ve had in the States. What a treat! After resting for a bit, we went to a couple bookstores, but only Norio bought some books.
From where we were, we decided to take the subway back to Shibuya, then walk back to the NOMYC from there. In Shibuya, we stopped and did a little bit of shopping, and Derrick bought more t-shirts at Uni-Qlo. For dinner, the three of us tried a Chinese restaurant across the expressway from the NOMYC. It was really really good, and I ordered fried rice that came with a cup of soup. It cost 680 yen, and the portions were pretty big. I am definitely going to eat there again in the near future. The rest of the night, I worked on my studio project and worked on my submission for a scholarship. I was really tired from staying up the night before, so I made sure to go to bed a little bit earlier.
A little before 1:30pm, we made our way through the campus to Namba sensei’s building. We met him in a small lecture hall, and he proceeded to give a presentation on his Box House series of works. It was really interesting, and I was glad that he was able to present in English. He already had plans for after the presentation, so we finished up, and we went our separate ways. On our way out, Don walked us through one of the architecture studios at Tokyo University, and it was a lot like Cal Poly’s studios except with much more people in one room. I assumed that we would head back after the meeting, but Don wanted to take us to the book district to visit a couple used bookstores. It took us a good 15-20 minutes to get to the district, but once there, we were on our own. Don pointed out one really good used architecture book store, but that was about it. Rather than all crowd into the bookstore at once, Norio, Derrick, and I went to a coffee shop just to relax. I ordered a small iced café mocha, and it was better than any café mocha I’ve had in the States. What a treat! After resting for a bit, we went to a couple bookstores, but only Norio bought some books.
From where we were, we decided to take the subway back to Shibuya, then walk back to the NOMYC from there. In Shibuya, we stopped and did a little bit of shopping, and Derrick bought more t-shirts at Uni-Qlo. For dinner, the three of us tried a Chinese restaurant across the expressway from the NOMYC. It was really really good, and I ordered fried rice that came with a cup of soup. It cost 680 yen, and the portions were pretty big. I am definitely going to eat there again in the near future. The rest of the night, I worked on my studio project and worked on my submission for a scholarship. I was really tired from staying up the night before, so I made sure to go to bed a little bit earlier.
Monday, May 25, 2009
25 May 2009
Getting up this morning was difficult as I had predicted. I slowly got ready and met the group at 8:50am as scheduled. Since we were planning to meet with Terunobu Fujimori this morning, I bought my gift to give to him, along with three other people. We made the 30 minute walk to Shinjuku Station, then caught the Chuo Line subway for 20 minutes. We were still in Tokyo but just more on the outskirts. We arrived to the station a bit early, so we had a chance to grab a bite to eat for breakfast. Shae and I went to a bakery we found in the station, and I bought a custard-filled pastry for breakfast and a chicken pita sandwich for later. The custard pastry was absolutely amazing, and I wish I could’ve bought more of them to bring back with me to the NOMYC. Anyways, after finishing up my breakfast, Fujimori Sensei showed up and walked us to one of his nearby projects. The project was a residential house that was nearly complete, except for the landscaping. The clients were already living in the house, but since the owner was on-site at the time of our arrival, we were able to go inside the house as well. The house had a very interesting copper shingled exterior, and the interior was very primal and natural. Though Fujimori nor the owner spoke any English, we were still able to learn a lot about the house and the architect-client relationship through Don and Norio’s translations. We gave two of gifts to the owner for being so generous in allowing us to visit his home, then we followed Fujimori to his own residence. Fujimori’s residence was a very interesting one. The exterior was all wood, and he had plants and flowers growing up the vertical surfaces and on the roof. The wood slats were designed so there were basically planters built-in to the walls. It gave the house a very interesting aesthetic. Fujimori invited us into his home, and we met his wife once inside. He took us up to the roof of his home so we could more closely see the interesting plants growing out of his house and enjoy the beautiful view from above. When we went back inside, Fujimori and his wife offered us lunch since they had already ordered sushi bento boxes from a nearby sushi restaurant. Good thing Fujimori is a very well-known and wealthy architect because those sushi bento boxes must have been really expensive. The sushi and sashimi was probably the highest quality of fish I have ever eaten, and it was just so good! I can’t even put into words how much I enjoyed that meal. There was a lot of sushi and sashimi in the box too, so I was barely able to finish it all. After lunch, we all gathered in Fujimori’s tea room, and his wife performed the act of serving tea to four people in our group. She properly made and served some matcha green tea, then she quickly made enough for the rest of us as well. The matcha was really good as well, and they also served chocolates immediately before to counter the bitterness of the matcha. It was an overall great experience. Before leaving, I gave my gift (a wooden Cal Poly pen) along with Zach’s candy gift to Fujimori’s sensei to show our appreciation.
Fujimori sensei led us back to the main road, and we said our farewells. He is a very famous and well-known architect in Japan, so I’m really glad I had the opportunity to meet him and see some of his projects. We took the train back to the NOMYC and almost everyone was tired by then. I took a short nap and woke up around 6pm. The rest of the night, I worked on my studio design project with my group. Norio, Shae, and I grabbed take-out at the Himalayan Curry House and brought it back to the NOMYC to eat. I got the spinach vegetable curry with plain nan since last time the chicken curry upset my stomach. The nan at that restaurant is definitely one of my favorites! We are scheduled to meet with Don in our individual groups tomorrow, and my group’s appointment is at 9:30am. I ended up not going to sleep until 4:30am, but I was on a roll and was able to get a lot done on my part of the project.
Fujimori sensei led us back to the main road, and we said our farewells. He is a very famous and well-known architect in Japan, so I’m really glad I had the opportunity to meet him and see some of his projects. We took the train back to the NOMYC and almost everyone was tired by then. I took a short nap and woke up around 6pm. The rest of the night, I worked on my studio design project with my group. Norio, Shae, and I grabbed take-out at the Himalayan Curry House and brought it back to the NOMYC to eat. I got the spinach vegetable curry with plain nan since last time the chicken curry upset my stomach. The nan at that restaurant is definitely one of my favorites! We are scheduled to meet with Don in our individual groups tomorrow, and my group’s appointment is at 9:30am. I ended up not going to sleep until 4:30am, but I was on a roll and was able to get a lot done on my part of the project.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
24 May 2009
The four of us girls woke-up at 9am this morning when Don knocked on our shoji screen door. He said it was time for breakfast, so we hastily got up and went downstairs. Luckily breakfast was much smaller than the meal we were served for dinner last night, but I still had to force myself to eat most of it since I’m not usually a big breakfast eater. It was once again very tasty and was composed of many small dishes. After breakfast, I met up with Norio, and we walked to the washi paper making factory located about 15 minutes away down the mountain. Gokayama is known for its washi paper, so I was really interested to see the process which goes into making it. The factory turned out to be more of a workshop, and there were only two people working in it. It was so cool being able to watch them manually make every single sheet of paper. I had blindly assumed that a machine did most of the work, but I was completely wrong. Even some of the tools that they were using were quite historic looking, so it was a great experience overall. We ended up running into over half of the class while there as well since it was something very different than anything we would ever see in the U.S.
After visiting the washi paper making factory, Norio, Matt, and I walked back to our village. It was overcast outside but still extremely humid. By the time we made it back to our village, it started to rain, and the rain continually got heavier as it moved closer to our departure time. It was really calming to sit under the covered veranda of the Gassho Style Houses and listen to the rain hit the roofs and rice paddies. I sat outside enjoying the weather for the two hours before we had to catch the bus at 1:58pm. By the time we have to make the 10 minute walk to the bus stop with all of our stuff, it was completely pouring. It was such a miserable and surprisingly cold walk, and the short wait didn’t help matters.
After catching the local bus, we took it all the way back to the local train station. We waited an hour for the train to arrive, then we took it for 57 minutes to Takaoka Station. Once arriving in Takaoka, we had another 45 minute layover. I took this time as an opportunity to get some food, and everyone ended up having the same idea. We all ended up going to McDonald’s since it was quickest and most convenient. Since I was getting low on money again, I only got two Shaka Shaka Chickens for 200 yen total. It was enough to hold me over since I still had a pack of two peanut butter sandwiches in my backpack. From Takaoka Station, we caught the Hakutaka to Echigoyuzawa for 2 hours and 8 minutes. With the help of my iPod, I was able to sleep for more than half of that long train ride. When we got into Echigoyuzawa, we had to run to the Shinkansen platform since we only had 8 minutes to make it from one train to the next. We barely caught the Shinkansen in time, and we rode that back to Tokyo for an hour and 12 minutes. From Tokyo Station, we hoped onto the Yamanote subway line and rode that for about half an hour to get to Shinjuku Station. From Shinjuku Station, we switched to the Odakyu Line and finally got off at Sanjubashi Station, which is the closet station to the NOMYC. That completed a day with over seven hours of travelling! We stopped by 7-11 so all of us could get more cash out, then we bought stuff at the convenience store and got dinner at Matsuya.
We checked-in at the NOMYC a little after 9:30pm, picked-up our sheets, and got our room assignments. We surprisingly got the same rooms that we had last time, so that was convenient. I took a shower, Skyped, then went to bed since I was so tired. Tomorrow we have plans to meet with an architect named Fujimori, and he was actually Don’s old professor. It should be interesting, but we have to meet at 8:50am. Hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to sleep in. Haha…
After visiting the washi paper making factory, Norio, Matt, and I walked back to our village. It was overcast outside but still extremely humid. By the time we made it back to our village, it started to rain, and the rain continually got heavier as it moved closer to our departure time. It was really calming to sit under the covered veranda of the Gassho Style Houses and listen to the rain hit the roofs and rice paddies. I sat outside enjoying the weather for the two hours before we had to catch the bus at 1:58pm. By the time we have to make the 10 minute walk to the bus stop with all of our stuff, it was completely pouring. It was such a miserable and surprisingly cold walk, and the short wait didn’t help matters.
After catching the local bus, we took it all the way back to the local train station. We waited an hour for the train to arrive, then we took it for 57 minutes to Takaoka Station. Once arriving in Takaoka, we had another 45 minute layover. I took this time as an opportunity to get some food, and everyone ended up having the same idea. We all ended up going to McDonald’s since it was quickest and most convenient. Since I was getting low on money again, I only got two Shaka Shaka Chickens for 200 yen total. It was enough to hold me over since I still had a pack of two peanut butter sandwiches in my backpack. From Takaoka Station, we caught the Hakutaka to Echigoyuzawa for 2 hours and 8 minutes. With the help of my iPod, I was able to sleep for more than half of that long train ride. When we got into Echigoyuzawa, we had to run to the Shinkansen platform since we only had 8 minutes to make it from one train to the next. We barely caught the Shinkansen in time, and we rode that back to Tokyo for an hour and 12 minutes. From Tokyo Station, we hoped onto the Yamanote subway line and rode that for about half an hour to get to Shinjuku Station. From Shinjuku Station, we switched to the Odakyu Line and finally got off at Sanjubashi Station, which is the closet station to the NOMYC. That completed a day with over seven hours of travelling! We stopped by 7-11 so all of us could get more cash out, then we bought stuff at the convenience store and got dinner at Matsuya.
We checked-in at the NOMYC a little after 9:30pm, picked-up our sheets, and got our room assignments. We surprisingly got the same rooms that we had last time, so that was convenient. I took a shower, Skyped, then went to bed since I was so tired. Tomorrow we have plans to meet with an architect named Fujimori, and he was actually Don’s old professor. It should be interesting, but we have to meet at 8:50am. Hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to sleep in. Haha…
Saturday, May 23, 2009
23 May 2009
I woke-up at 6:30am this morning since we had to meet at 8am in order to safely catch the 8:20am Hakutaka train to Takaoka. I packed up all of my stuff and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast for one last time at the Toyoko Inn. It is somewhat sad to think this was my last time staying at one for the rest of my trip. I wanted to photograph Kanazawa Station before leaving today as well, so Norio and I left at 7:45am to allow adequate time to photograph. Luckily, it wasn’t raining, but the weather was still very overcast. As a group, we successfully caught the 8:20am train, then transferred to a local train line at 9am. We rode the local train for almost an hour, then had an hour layover to wait for the local bus in Takaoka to take us to Gokayama. Since Gokayama is such a rural town, we only had a minimal number of opportunities to actually make it to the city. During the downtime while waiting for the bus, I walked to the closest Lawson convenience store to stock up on some snacks during our stay in Gokayama. No one knew what types of facilities the small town would have, so I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry. I bought a pack of peanut butter sandwiches and a couple potato veggie stick snacks.
We boarded the bus at 10:47am as scheduled, and it took about 20 minutes to arrive in Gokayama. Once in Gokayama, I was completely surprised by the appearance of the town. Almost all of the structures are Gassho Style Houses, which are basically a steep peaked roof made of dried grasses and plants. They give the town a very historic aesthetic, but surprisingly, the town had great facilities, and I even had perfect internet connectivity on my Blackberry. I never would’ve guessed that my Blackberry would be able to connect to the 3G network while I was in the mountainous town of Gokayama. It was a pleasant surprise. We wandered around upon our arrival, then took the bus to two neighboring villages still composing Gokayama. These two similar villages had all Gassho Style Houses as well, so it was very relaxing to walk around in such a natural environment. We took the bus between cities, but we made the 30 minute walk back from the last village to the village we were staying in.
Once arriving back at our village, the two groups went to their respective houses for dinner. For dinner, they were cooking whole fish skewed around a fire. The skewer went through the tail and out the mouth. It was really really scary, and I definitely knew I wasn’t going to be able to eat it. Derrick had already requested that he didn’t get any fish since he is allergic to seafood, but Don asked about my dinner as well. When I ended up getting my dinner, they somewhat misunderstood what Don requested, so they still served me fish, except without the head and tail. The mid section of the body was still completely intact, fins and all, so I was still scared of my dinner. Luckily, there were a million other items served with the fish. It took me 30 minutes to even touch the piece of fish in order to flip it over so I didn’t have to look at the fins. It was so sad. I decided I would eat everything else on my tray first, then I would try to eat the fish. I wanted to make sure that my phobia of fish didn’t make me sick before having a chance to enjoying the rest of the good food. I ended up eating everything and even most of the meat on the inside of the fish. It was a very filling meal.
After dinner, Norio, Derrick, Seth, Blake, Jeff, Shae, and I made the 5 minute hike up the hillside in order to photograph the village at night. Most of the Gassho Style Houses were illuminated from the inside, so we got a few good night shots from above. It was pretty scary being out in the wild when it was pitch black, and even some of the guys were getting creped out. It was funny now that I look back on it. The rest of the evening we hung out and talked. The room that Shae, Karen, Katie, and I were sharing was the largest, so our whole group hung out in there. The sound insulation is non-existent in the Gassho Style Houses however, so we called it an early night and went to bed by 11pm.
We boarded the bus at 10:47am as scheduled, and it took about 20 minutes to arrive in Gokayama. Once in Gokayama, I was completely surprised by the appearance of the town. Almost all of the structures are Gassho Style Houses, which are basically a steep peaked roof made of dried grasses and plants. They give the town a very historic aesthetic, but surprisingly, the town had great facilities, and I even had perfect internet connectivity on my Blackberry. I never would’ve guessed that my Blackberry would be able to connect to the 3G network while I was in the mountainous town of Gokayama. It was a pleasant surprise. We wandered around upon our arrival, then took the bus to two neighboring villages still composing Gokayama. These two similar villages had all Gassho Style Houses as well, so it was very relaxing to walk around in such a natural environment. We took the bus between cities, but we made the 30 minute walk back from the last village to the village we were staying in.
Once arriving back at our village, the two groups went to their respective houses for dinner. For dinner, they were cooking whole fish skewed around a fire. The skewer went through the tail and out the mouth. It was really really scary, and I definitely knew I wasn’t going to be able to eat it. Derrick had already requested that he didn’t get any fish since he is allergic to seafood, but Don asked about my dinner as well. When I ended up getting my dinner, they somewhat misunderstood what Don requested, so they still served me fish, except without the head and tail. The mid section of the body was still completely intact, fins and all, so I was still scared of my dinner. Luckily, there were a million other items served with the fish. It took me 30 minutes to even touch the piece of fish in order to flip it over so I didn’t have to look at the fins. It was so sad. I decided I would eat everything else on my tray first, then I would try to eat the fish. I wanted to make sure that my phobia of fish didn’t make me sick before having a chance to enjoying the rest of the good food. I ended up eating everything and even most of the meat on the inside of the fish. It was a very filling meal.
After dinner, Norio, Derrick, Seth, Blake, Jeff, Shae, and I made the 5 minute hike up the hillside in order to photograph the village at night. Most of the Gassho Style Houses were illuminated from the inside, so we got a few good night shots from above. It was pretty scary being out in the wild when it was pitch black, and even some of the guys were getting creped out. It was funny now that I look back on it. The rest of the evening we hung out and talked. The room that Shae, Karen, Katie, and I were sharing was the largest, so our whole group hung out in there. The sound insulation is non-existent in the Gassho Style Houses however, so we called it an early night and went to bed by 11pm.
Friday, May 22, 2009
22 May 2009
I woke-up around 8am this morning to make sure I was able to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast before we met with Don at 9:30am. This Toyoko Inn served plain rice, daikon salad, tsukemono, fish cake in scrambled eggs, sausage, miso soup, three types of rolls, plain yogurt, and vegetable fruit juice. It was really filling so I was glad it was going to hold me over for the majority of the morning. Once meeting with Don at 9:30am, we walked as a group to Kenrokuen Garden. Kenrokuen Garden is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan, so it was really large and beautiful. Don paid for our admission, and we were free to wander at our own pace. I wandered around with Derrick and Blake, since Norio had to complete a group project while within the garden area. It took us a little over an hour to make it through the garden, then we walked to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa by SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa). Not only did the museum have some of the coolest exhibits I have ever seen, but it also had another one of James Turrell’s works. This one didn’t seem as impressive after having the opportunity to stay in the House of Light, but I still enjoyed it. The design of the structure itself was also very impressive, and I’m really glad I was able to visit it today.
Unfortunately after leaving the museum, it had begun to rain. The weather was no longer hot, and it was surprisingly cold and windy. By the time we left the museum, our group had grown to include Norio, John, and Scot. All of us did not have a jacket and were not really prepared for rain. Luckily I had my umbrella, but that was about it. We miserably made our way back towards the hotel in hopes of finding reasonable food somewhere. We ultimately decided to eat at a ramen and gyoza place within Kanazawa Station, but we made a quick snack stop at Mister Donut on our way since we were all starving. I tried the new honey tofu donut, and it was really good. Once arriving at the station, I ordered the ramen and eight piece gyoza set for 720 yen. I was really hungry, and I finished all of it. Scot was so hungry that he ate 32 pieces of gyoza, so that was really impressive.
We originally had plans to visit other parts of the city today, but since the weather was so miserable, we decided against it and instead headed back to the hotel. I got back just in time to Skype with Jenna, so that was really nice. It was only the second time I’ve been able to talk with her since arriving in Japan, so we had lots of catching up to do. Other than that, I rested and tried to catch up on my photos and blog. Dinner was provided by Toyoko Inn again, and tonight it was ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬Japanese curry with rice. The portion was small again, but since both Scot and Zach didn’t want their meals, they gave their plates to Seth and I. I therefore got to eat two plates of curry instead of just one, and I saved money by not having to buy a second dinner. The rest of the night was a lazy one for me. I worked on my Arch 420 assignments, Arch 480 travel journal, student blog for the class website, and on my Arch 453 design project. There is a lot to do. Tomorrow we have to get up early in order to catch the train at 8:20am, so I made sure to be all packed before going to bed. The rain continued for the rest of the night, so I’m hoping that tomorrow will be dry when we’re moving.
Unfortunately after leaving the museum, it had begun to rain. The weather was no longer hot, and it was surprisingly cold and windy. By the time we left the museum, our group had grown to include Norio, John, and Scot. All of us did not have a jacket and were not really prepared for rain. Luckily I had my umbrella, but that was about it. We miserably made our way back towards the hotel in hopes of finding reasonable food somewhere. We ultimately decided to eat at a ramen and gyoza place within Kanazawa Station, but we made a quick snack stop at Mister Donut on our way since we were all starving. I tried the new honey tofu donut, and it was really good. Once arriving at the station, I ordered the ramen and eight piece gyoza set for 720 yen. I was really hungry, and I finished all of it. Scot was so hungry that he ate 32 pieces of gyoza, so that was really impressive.
We originally had plans to visit other parts of the city today, but since the weather was so miserable, we decided against it and instead headed back to the hotel. I got back just in time to Skype with Jenna, so that was really nice. It was only the second time I’ve been able to talk with her since arriving in Japan, so we had lots of catching up to do. Other than that, I rested and tried to catch up on my photos and blog. Dinner was provided by Toyoko Inn again, and tonight it was ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬Japanese curry with rice. The portion was small again, but since both Scot and Zach didn’t want their meals, they gave their plates to Seth and I. I therefore got to eat two plates of curry instead of just one, and I saved money by not having to buy a second dinner. The rest of the night was a lazy one for me. I worked on my Arch 420 assignments, Arch 480 travel journal, student blog for the class website, and on my Arch 453 design project. There is a lot to do. Tomorrow we have to get up early in order to catch the train at 8:20am, so I made sure to be all packed before going to bed. The rain continued for the rest of the night, so I’m hoping that tomorrow will be dry when we’re moving.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
21 May 2009
The second “Light Show” of the Turrell House of Light was scheduled for 3:15am, so I woke-up to my phone alarm at 3:10am. Most people’s alarms went off, but only Shae, Jeff, Trent, and I actually stayed awake. Shae and I were the only ones who were awake for the entire hour of the show, but it was basically the opposite of the show at sunset. We watched and photographed from 3:15am to 4:15am as the sky changed from black to light blue again. It was really tranquil, and afterwards, we went back to sleep. I woke-up to my alarm again at 8:30am since we had to be ready to leave by 9:30am. Two representatives from the House of Light arrived to meet us at 9:45am, and taxis were waiting in the driveway for us at 10am. The taxis cost 2,840 yen again, and we split it three ways. Hopefully Don will be reimbursing us for the taxi fares, but I’ll have to inquire about that later. Once at the station, Norio checked to see if there was an earlier train we could take to get to Kanazawa, but the one we had reserved for at noon was the earliest. This meant we had two hours to kill, so most of us just sat around and relaxed at the station. There was only one small hole-in-the-wall place to eat at within the station too, so I ordered tempura soba for 390 yen. It was made by a little lady in a really small booth, and it tasted really good! I always love the small places that served home-cooked meals!
At noon, we boarded the Shinkansen headed to Kanazawa. Since I reserved my seat separately from everyone else, I was in car #4, Norio was in car #2 (the smoking car), and everyone else was in car #8 or #9. I always enjoy sitting by myself since it is much more peaceful, and it is one of the few opportunities I have to escape from everyone. The train ride was two hours and eighteen minutes long, so I set my alarm for two hours. I realized that was phone battery was going to die very soon though, so I ended up having to figure out how to set the alarm on my iPod instead. Luckily it worked out just fine, and I was able to sleep for a good two hours on the train. Once arriving in Kanazawa, everyone from both groups got off of the train. We all met up on the platform and followed Don to our Toyoko Inn which was about four blocks from the station. I was so glad to find out that we eat got our own rooms at this Toyoko Inn, plus they provided complimentary breakfast and dinner, along with free wifi. This was the best Toyoko Inn yet!
I took advantage of the down time to rest for the remainder of the night. The complimentary dinner for the night was stew over rice, but the portion was a bit small. Seth and I ended up going to the convenience store immediately after to grab a few snacks and drinks for the night. It was another really hot and humid day, so all of us have continually been very thirsty. I was able to Skype with my parents and finish up a few more assignments that I was behind on. Lastly, I helped Norio study a bit of LEED before finally going to sleep.
At noon, we boarded the Shinkansen headed to Kanazawa. Since I reserved my seat separately from everyone else, I was in car #4, Norio was in car #2 (the smoking car), and everyone else was in car #8 or #9. I always enjoy sitting by myself since it is much more peaceful, and it is one of the few opportunities I have to escape from everyone. The train ride was two hours and eighteen minutes long, so I set my alarm for two hours. I realized that was phone battery was going to die very soon though, so I ended up having to figure out how to set the alarm on my iPod instead. Luckily it worked out just fine, and I was able to sleep for a good two hours on the train. Once arriving in Kanazawa, everyone from both groups got off of the train. We all met up on the platform and followed Don to our Toyoko Inn which was about four blocks from the station. I was so glad to find out that we eat got our own rooms at this Toyoko Inn, plus they provided complimentary breakfast and dinner, along with free wifi. This was the best Toyoko Inn yet!
I took advantage of the down time to rest for the remainder of the night. The complimentary dinner for the night was stew over rice, but the portion was a bit small. Seth and I ended up going to the convenience store immediately after to grab a few snacks and drinks for the night. It was another really hot and humid day, so all of us have continually been very thirsty. I was able to Skype with my parents and finish up a few more assignments that I was behind on. Lastly, I helped Norio study a bit of LEED before finally going to sleep.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
20 May 2009
We woke-up around 9am this morning and decided as a group to go up the Echigoyuzawa Ropeway. For breakfast, we grabbed something quick at 7-11, then made the short walk to the Ropeway. It cost 1,300 yen to make the round trip. It was expensive, but there was supposedly some cool stuff at the top. The Echigoyuzawa Ropeway is additionally the largest ropeway in Japan, so that was really cool. Once at the top of the ropeway, there was a summer bobsleigh and rock garden. The summer bobsleigh cost 600 yen and was totally worth it! It was basically a metal loge track running down the hillside, and we individually rode down the track on sleds with wheels. It was so much fun, and the sleds went surprisingly fast. I almost flipped over on one of the banked turns since I was going so fast! The end of the summer bobsleigh took us directly to the rock garden. It was a very peaceful garden, and there were a lot of families and older couples enjoying the hot day. The terrain was pretty hilly, so walking around was very difficult since the air was so thin. I took my inhaler a couple times, but it didn’t really help very much.
After going down the mountain on the gondola, we went directly to the Echigoyuzawa Station. We caught the local train to Matsudai and ended up running into the other group. We didn’t have much time to mingle since we were on a strict schedule due to the limited train times. Don provided us with a map, and we made the quick 45 minute walk to see multiple art pieces located throughout the city. The most interesting building we saw was the Snow-Land Agrarian Culture Center, which was located directly next to the train tracks. We photographed that last then we waited on the platform for the train. It turns out that the trains stay on the same side of the track the entire day, so we ended up having to run down under the tracks to get to the other side before the train left. It was crazy.
We arrived in Matsudai around 5pm then we walked over to 7-11 to get some food for dinner and breakfast. Since James Turrell’s House of Light was located pretty far from the station, we took three taxis to the house. It took about 20 minutes of driving, and it cost 2,840 yen per taxi. Once at the house, a representative gave us a short orientation about the house then showed us around. Since the house is considered a piece of art, there were many rules that we had to abide by. The main feature of the house was the operable roof that opened up to the sky. There was a “Light Show” scheduled for 6:50pm and 3:15am, for sunset and sunrise. We all gathered in the main room at 6:50pm and watched the sky change color from blue to black for the hour of transition time. It was really neat, and the rest of night, we enjoyed looking at the stars through the roof.
After going down the mountain on the gondola, we went directly to the Echigoyuzawa Station. We caught the local train to Matsudai and ended up running into the other group. We didn’t have much time to mingle since we were on a strict schedule due to the limited train times. Don provided us with a map, and we made the quick 45 minute walk to see multiple art pieces located throughout the city. The most interesting building we saw was the Snow-Land Agrarian Culture Center, which was located directly next to the train tracks. We photographed that last then we waited on the platform for the train. It turns out that the trains stay on the same side of the track the entire day, so we ended up having to run down under the tracks to get to the other side before the train left. It was crazy.
We arrived in Matsudai around 5pm then we walked over to 7-11 to get some food for dinner and breakfast. Since James Turrell’s House of Light was located pretty far from the station, we took three taxis to the house. It took about 20 minutes of driving, and it cost 2,840 yen per taxi. Once at the house, a representative gave us a short orientation about the house then showed us around. Since the house is considered a piece of art, there were many rules that we had to abide by. The main feature of the house was the operable roof that opened up to the sky. There was a “Light Show” scheduled for 6:50pm and 3:15am, for sunset and sunrise. We all gathered in the main room at 6:50pm and watched the sky change color from blue to black for the hour of transition time. It was really neat, and the rest of night, we enjoyed looking at the stars through the roof.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
19 May 2009
Checkout from the Toyoko Inn was at 10am as usual, but I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast beforehand. I went downstairs at 9am with Seth, and Derrick caught up with us later. This Toyoko Inn had the largest breakfast selection out of any one we have stayed at thus far. They had green salad, three types of tsukemono, four types of nigiri, bamboo shoots, kamaboko, toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, and teriyaki meatballs. They also had a drink machine that made cappuccinos, café au lauts, and plain coffee, along with hot tea and water. I was so full after finishing my meal, but it was so good!
We met with Don at 10am, and he planned to take us to see one more of Hitoshi Abe’s projects and return back to Sendai Mediatheque to visit the two library levels that were closed last night. We departed on foot to visit the Sasaki Office Factory for Prosthetics and Orthodics by Hitoshi Abe, but Norio, Shae, Derrick, and I got separated from the group and got a bit lost early on. Luckily, Norio was finally able to find directions to the building, and we took a bus for 180 yen to get to it. From the outside, the Sasaki Office Factory was not very impressive, but we went inside to get a short tour, and the interior of the building was much nicer. It was really hot and humid outside again today, so it was a nice break to be inside as well. After visiting the Sasaki Office Factory, we walked to the Sendai Mediatheque to meet the rest of the group. It was almost noon, so we had to start heading back to the hotel if we wanted to catch our 1:44am Shinkansen to Omiya then Echigoyuzawa. Norio and I, on the other hand, had plans to possibly visit another one of Hitoshi Abe’s interior design projects, Aoba-Tei. It was less than a block from the Sendai Mediatheque, but since it was highly exclusive, we couldn’t get into the building until 4pm. It was a major decision as to whether or not we would be able to visit it, but it was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were split into two groups to separately visit the next two areas, so the other group didn’t even have the option of staying since the train schedule didn’t allow for them to leave any later. Norio and I, however, decided we would probably stay to get the exclusive tour. We went back to the Toyoko Inn to make sure no one else had changed their mind, and surprisingly, five people from our group wanted to stay and go with us. We hung around the hotel for a couple of hours, then walked back to Aoba-Tei to meet with one of the workers at that time.
Visiting the Aoba-Tei restaurant and being able to see the interior was absolutely amazing! I can’t even put the experience into words, but as a whole, I’m completely glad that I went. From talking with one of the workers, Norio found out that only the owner’s friends and friends of friends were allowed to eat at the restaurant, and reservations had to be made in advance in order to visit and eat at the restaurant. It was extremely high class, and I still can’t believe we were allowed to go in there and photograph the space. Wow! We got done around 4:45pm, then happily walked back to the Toyoko Inn to pick-up our luggage and catch the next Shinkansen to Omiya. We grabbed some snacks in the station to hold us over, since we didn’t have time to eat dinner. The total trip time from Sendai to Omiya was about an hour and a half, and I slept for the majority of it. The next train ride from Omiya to Echigoyuzawa was about an hour, and I didn’t sleep at all on this shorter trip.
We arrived in Echigoyuzawa around 8pm and experienced some difficulty in finding our onsen. It was up a hill and down some smaller streets, so Norio ended up having to call the onsen in order for them to come find us. The guy from the onsen ended up giving us a ride back to the accommodations, so that was really nice after a long day of travel. The rest of the night, Shae and I enjoyed the hot spring public bath and relaxed in our room. The room is similar to the one we stayed in at the ryokan in Miyajima, so it has so far been a very pleasant experience. There is no internet here, but luckily I have full service on my phone. Once again, I am very glad that I have it. Tomorrow, checkout is theoretically at 10am, but since the other group will be staying in our rooms tomorrow night, we don’t actually have to leave at any specific time if we don’t want to. Japan’s largest ropeway is supposedly a few blocks away from here, so we might go check that our in the morning. I looked it up on my phone, and it doesn’t open until 10am and it only costs 300 yen. What a deal! Hopefully that works out, and then we will head to Tokamachi to stay at James Turrell’s House of Light tomorrow night. I am definitely really excited about that since I am a huge fan of James Turrell……
We met with Don at 10am, and he planned to take us to see one more of Hitoshi Abe’s projects and return back to Sendai Mediatheque to visit the two library levels that were closed last night. We departed on foot to visit the Sasaki Office Factory for Prosthetics and Orthodics by Hitoshi Abe, but Norio, Shae, Derrick, and I got separated from the group and got a bit lost early on. Luckily, Norio was finally able to find directions to the building, and we took a bus for 180 yen to get to it. From the outside, the Sasaki Office Factory was not very impressive, but we went inside to get a short tour, and the interior of the building was much nicer. It was really hot and humid outside again today, so it was a nice break to be inside as well. After visiting the Sasaki Office Factory, we walked to the Sendai Mediatheque to meet the rest of the group. It was almost noon, so we had to start heading back to the hotel if we wanted to catch our 1:44am Shinkansen to Omiya then Echigoyuzawa. Norio and I, on the other hand, had plans to possibly visit another one of Hitoshi Abe’s interior design projects, Aoba-Tei. It was less than a block from the Sendai Mediatheque, but since it was highly exclusive, we couldn’t get into the building until 4pm. It was a major decision as to whether or not we would be able to visit it, but it was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were split into two groups to separately visit the next two areas, so the other group didn’t even have the option of staying since the train schedule didn’t allow for them to leave any later. Norio and I, however, decided we would probably stay to get the exclusive tour. We went back to the Toyoko Inn to make sure no one else had changed their mind, and surprisingly, five people from our group wanted to stay and go with us. We hung around the hotel for a couple of hours, then walked back to Aoba-Tei to meet with one of the workers at that time.
Visiting the Aoba-Tei restaurant and being able to see the interior was absolutely amazing! I can’t even put the experience into words, but as a whole, I’m completely glad that I went. From talking with one of the workers, Norio found out that only the owner’s friends and friends of friends were allowed to eat at the restaurant, and reservations had to be made in advance in order to visit and eat at the restaurant. It was extremely high class, and I still can’t believe we were allowed to go in there and photograph the space. Wow! We got done around 4:45pm, then happily walked back to the Toyoko Inn to pick-up our luggage and catch the next Shinkansen to Omiya. We grabbed some snacks in the station to hold us over, since we didn’t have time to eat dinner. The total trip time from Sendai to Omiya was about an hour and a half, and I slept for the majority of it. The next train ride from Omiya to Echigoyuzawa was about an hour, and I didn’t sleep at all on this shorter trip.
We arrived in Echigoyuzawa around 8pm and experienced some difficulty in finding our onsen. It was up a hill and down some smaller streets, so Norio ended up having to call the onsen in order for them to come find us. The guy from the onsen ended up giving us a ride back to the accommodations, so that was really nice after a long day of travel. The rest of the night, Shae and I enjoyed the hot spring public bath and relaxed in our room. The room is similar to the one we stayed in at the ryokan in Miyajima, so it has so far been a very pleasant experience. There is no internet here, but luckily I have full service on my phone. Once again, I am very glad that I have it. Tomorrow, checkout is theoretically at 10am, but since the other group will be staying in our rooms tomorrow night, we don’t actually have to leave at any specific time if we don’t want to. Japan’s largest ropeway is supposedly a few blocks away from here, so we might go check that our in the morning. I looked it up on my phone, and it doesn’t open until 10am and it only costs 300 yen. What a deal! Hopefully that works out, and then we will head to Tokamachi to stay at James Turrell’s House of Light tomorrow night. I am definitely really excited about that since I am a huge fan of James Turrell……
Monday, May 18, 2009
18 May 2009
Since today was move out day again, I woke-up at 6am. We had to be completely moved out and turn in our sheets by 7:15am. We then waited in front of the luggage check-in and drop-off location until it opened at 7:30am. Don paid for each of us to leave one piece of luggage for 300 yen a day, which totaled 2,100 yen for the week of travel we will be doing during the next seven days. After everyone had dropped off their luggage, we departed on foot to the Yoyogi JR Station. I was carrying my new backpack and my messenger bag, and it already made a huge difference in the ease of my travels. Usually I carry my regular backpack, messenger bag, and other shoulder bag. Using just the backpack and my messenger bag, my hands were both free to carry food on-the-go and to easily take my JR Rail Pass in and out of my bag every time we went in and out of a station. Even Norio was raving about how great his new backpack was, so I’m glad he was satisfied with his purchase too. After making the 30 minute walk to the station, we were all completely tired and sweaty. It was only around 8am, but it was already hot and humid. When we got on the train at Yoyogi Station, it was additionally rush hour, so we had to push our way onto the trains with all of our luggage. It was not a pretty sight, but we were able to make it. We had to go to Tokyo Station in order to catch the correct Shinkansen, and this meant riding the Yamanote Subway line for over 30 minutes in heavy traffic. I’m just glad I didn’t get motion sick for the long ride. Once arriving to Tokyo Station, we caught the Max Yamabiko Shinkansen at 9am. We took the Shinkansen to the city of Utsunomiya and got off to visit the Sumika Project before going all the way to Sendai. The Sumika Project is a series of four different projects by four different Japanese architects. It is sponsored by Tokyo Gas, and representatives from the company gave us a tour of all four structures. We saw the Sumika Pavilion by Toyo Ito, House by Terunobu Fujimori, House Before House by Sou Fujimoto, and Coal House by Taira Nishizawa. They were all really intriguing in different ways, and the explorations taken in each of the projects was really astounding. Since each of the structures was scattered throughout Sendai, Tokyo Gas actually provided a bus to drive us around. It was really convenient and interesting in concept.
Once finishing up at the Sumika Project, we were dropped off at Tokyo Station by the Tokyo Gas bus. We gave the two representatives/tour guides a bottle of Cal Poly wine to show our appreciation before they left. The next Shinkansen on our itinerary left at 11:59am, so we had about 20 minutes to grab some food for lunch and make it onto our train. Shae, Norio, and I decided to get McDonald’s since it was quick and convenient. As always, I ordered the filet-o-fish meal to go. We had reserved seats again for the Shinkansen ride to Sendai, and I was all by myself since we all made reservations at different times. I didn’t mind the alone time since it is very rare to have time to ourselves when traveling in such a large group. Even though Sendai was the end terminal for our particular train and it was over an hour away on the Shinkansen, I opted not to sleep since I did not want to chance the possibility of being left behind. Instead, I passed the time by catching up on emails on my Blackberry, watching videos, and listening to music on my iPod.
We arrived safely in Sendai around 1:17pm, and we immediately walked to our Toyoko Inn hotel. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm, so we left our luggage at the front desk, and Don took us to see a Hitoshi Abe building that was recently built in Sendai. It wasn’t very impressive, especially on the inside, so we still had time to kill afterwards. Shae and I decided to go to the Loft since it was right next to the Sendai train station. At 4pm, we returned to the Toyoko Inn to get our rooms and key. We met up again at 4:15pm to go visit the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito. It was about a 30 minute walk to the building, but I was really excited to see such a famous project. Norio and I photographed the interior and exterior of the building, but unfortunately the third and fourth levels of the mediatheque were closed. All in all, the project was very nice, but it also didn’t quite meet my expectations for such a renowned and well-known building.
For dinner, Norio and I went in search of Toyo Ito’s project, Aoba-Tei Restaurant. Norio asked a woman in the convenience store, and she gave us directions to where she thought it was. Upon arriving there however, it was only a branch of the main building we wanted to see. The workers helped us find the actual location of the building we wanted, but since it was late, we elected to just eat at the informal Aoba-Tei. Since Sendai is known for its beef tongue, I ordered a beef tongue steak that came with a huge salad, rice, and tongue soup for 880 yen. It seemed really reasonable in price. Norio ordered the tongue steak special which cost about 1,550 yen, but I wasn’t willing to spend that much on one meal. The beef tongue was really tasty, and I would definitely order it again. It wasn’t gross at all.
The rest of the night I did laundry and uploaded photos to my Picasa. I was completely exhausted from moving and traveling practically all day, so it felt nice to take a hot shower, relax, and go to bed. Tomorrow we have to checkout at 10am, so I still haven’t decided what I want to do between eating the complimentary breakfast and catching the Shinkansen around 1pm. Tomorrow will probably be another travel intensive day, so we’ll see how that goes.
Once finishing up at the Sumika Project, we were dropped off at Tokyo Station by the Tokyo Gas bus. We gave the two representatives/tour guides a bottle of Cal Poly wine to show our appreciation before they left. The next Shinkansen on our itinerary left at 11:59am, so we had about 20 minutes to grab some food for lunch and make it onto our train. Shae, Norio, and I decided to get McDonald’s since it was quick and convenient. As always, I ordered the filet-o-fish meal to go. We had reserved seats again for the Shinkansen ride to Sendai, and I was all by myself since we all made reservations at different times. I didn’t mind the alone time since it is very rare to have time to ourselves when traveling in such a large group. Even though Sendai was the end terminal for our particular train and it was over an hour away on the Shinkansen, I opted not to sleep since I did not want to chance the possibility of being left behind. Instead, I passed the time by catching up on emails on my Blackberry, watching videos, and listening to music on my iPod.
We arrived safely in Sendai around 1:17pm, and we immediately walked to our Toyoko Inn hotel. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm, so we left our luggage at the front desk, and Don took us to see a Hitoshi Abe building that was recently built in Sendai. It wasn’t very impressive, especially on the inside, so we still had time to kill afterwards. Shae and I decided to go to the Loft since it was right next to the Sendai train station. At 4pm, we returned to the Toyoko Inn to get our rooms and key. We met up again at 4:15pm to go visit the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito. It was about a 30 minute walk to the building, but I was really excited to see such a famous project. Norio and I photographed the interior and exterior of the building, but unfortunately the third and fourth levels of the mediatheque were closed. All in all, the project was very nice, but it also didn’t quite meet my expectations for such a renowned and well-known building.
For dinner, Norio and I went in search of Toyo Ito’s project, Aoba-Tei Restaurant. Norio asked a woman in the convenience store, and she gave us directions to where she thought it was. Upon arriving there however, it was only a branch of the main building we wanted to see. The workers helped us find the actual location of the building we wanted, but since it was late, we elected to just eat at the informal Aoba-Tei. Since Sendai is known for its beef tongue, I ordered a beef tongue steak that came with a huge salad, rice, and tongue soup for 880 yen. It seemed really reasonable in price. Norio ordered the tongue steak special which cost about 1,550 yen, but I wasn’t willing to spend that much on one meal. The beef tongue was really tasty, and I would definitely order it again. It wasn’t gross at all.
The rest of the night I did laundry and uploaded photos to my Picasa. I was completely exhausted from moving and traveling practically all day, so it felt nice to take a hot shower, relax, and go to bed. Tomorrow we have to checkout at 10am, so I still haven’t decided what I want to do between eating the complimentary breakfast and catching the Shinkansen around 1pm. Tomorrow will probably be another travel intensive day, so we’ll see how that goes.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
17 May 2009
I woke-up at 9am this morning as planned and let some of the guys put their luggage in my room to store until 3pm check-in. Since I had cleaned my room, there was probably enough room to put everyone’s luggage, but many of the guys didn’t care about the security of their luggage and just left it in the lounge. After all the guys had moved their luggage into our wing, I got ready and headed to breakfast with Jeff, Derrick, and Blake. Jeff felt like eating the Turkish kabob pitas that we had gotten once before in Harajuku, so we walked through Yoyogi Park in order to reach Harajuku. All four of us ordered the chicken kabob pita with mixed sauce and extra meat for 600 yen. It was a really filling meal and the heavy amount of meat really hit the spot.
After breakfast, the three guys went back to the NOMYC to relax, but I decided to explore the Harajuku area on my own and possibly do some shopping. I also remembered that I still wanted to photograph the interior of the gymnasium 1 at Yoyogi National Stadium, so that was a short five minute walk from Harajuku. There was an International Asian Cheerleading Championship going on in t gymnasium 1, so it would’ve cost 3,500 yen to get in! What a rip off for something that I don’t even want to see, so I refused to pay the price of admission. I instead attempted to talk with the four girls in the ticket booth, but none of them spoke any English. With only my minimal knowledge of Japanese and my small Japanese guidebook, I was able to figure out that the gym was never open for free, and it was only accessible during scheduled events. They did not have a schedule to give me, and they wouldn’t let me run in really quickly to snap a few photos. It was really frustrating to have such a strong language barrier, but in the end, I was at least able to get a phone number to call to hopefully make reservations to tour the interior. I plan on giving it to Norio so maybe just the two of us can check out the building. Overall, I was really proud of myself for even being able to figure out that much information, especially since I was barely only able to put together a couple of sentences. The girls probably made fun of me after I left, but oh well.
Next I walked to Shibuya to do some more browsing in all of my favorite stores. I went to Uni Qlo, The Loft, Gap, and Tokyu Hands. I ended up emailing with Norio on my phone, since he was also in Shibuya, and we met up at Tokyu Hands. We were both looking to purchase larger backpacks to make traveling much easier, so we shopped together at Tokyu Hands. According to Norio, this was the cheapest store to buy nice items. I was looking for something reasonable, but Norio, of course, was looking for anything cute. He didn’t really have much of a cutoff in terms of price, so that was interesting. He was incredibly indecisive, but in the end, we both got backpacks. Mine is a Berghaus that holds 35 liters, and it cost 12,600 yen. Norio bought a North Face hiking backpack that holds 40 liters, and it cost 19,950 yen. I am very satisfied with my purchase since I can use it for our one week trip that starts tomorrow, and I can use it as a carry-on. It is also a very versatile size which I can use many times in the future. Norio almost bought a Porter large duffle bag instead for 28,750 yen, but I convinced him not to since he really only wanted it for the name brand. He is so funny sometimes. After completing our purchases, Norio and I grabbed dinner at the Denny’s in Shibuya. I ordered a side salad for 150 yen and a grilled beef platter with fries for 880 yen. It was so good! I love Denny’s in Japan! Norio got French onion soup and a bowl of somen noodles.
The rest of the evening, I Skyped with my parents and packed for my weeklong trip which starts tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be heading to Sendai, so I am really excited to see the Sendai Mediatheque. It is probably one of my favorite projects (without actually having seen it). With my new backpack, I only have to take that and my messenger bag. It will be so nice to travel with less baggage. Don is additionally paying for us to leave one bag each at the NOMYC for the 300 yen per day charge. I just hope the weeklong trip isn’t too intense, and hopefully I can catch up on some sleep too.
After breakfast, the three guys went back to the NOMYC to relax, but I decided to explore the Harajuku area on my own and possibly do some shopping. I also remembered that I still wanted to photograph the interior of the gymnasium 1 at Yoyogi National Stadium, so that was a short five minute walk from Harajuku. There was an International Asian Cheerleading Championship going on in t gymnasium 1, so it would’ve cost 3,500 yen to get in! What a rip off for something that I don’t even want to see, so I refused to pay the price of admission. I instead attempted to talk with the four girls in the ticket booth, but none of them spoke any English. With only my minimal knowledge of Japanese and my small Japanese guidebook, I was able to figure out that the gym was never open for free, and it was only accessible during scheduled events. They did not have a schedule to give me, and they wouldn’t let me run in really quickly to snap a few photos. It was really frustrating to have such a strong language barrier, but in the end, I was at least able to get a phone number to call to hopefully make reservations to tour the interior. I plan on giving it to Norio so maybe just the two of us can check out the building. Overall, I was really proud of myself for even being able to figure out that much information, especially since I was barely only able to put together a couple of sentences. The girls probably made fun of me after I left, but oh well.
Next I walked to Shibuya to do some more browsing in all of my favorite stores. I went to Uni Qlo, The Loft, Gap, and Tokyu Hands. I ended up emailing with Norio on my phone, since he was also in Shibuya, and we met up at Tokyu Hands. We were both looking to purchase larger backpacks to make traveling much easier, so we shopped together at Tokyu Hands. According to Norio, this was the cheapest store to buy nice items. I was looking for something reasonable, but Norio, of course, was looking for anything cute. He didn’t really have much of a cutoff in terms of price, so that was interesting. He was incredibly indecisive, but in the end, we both got backpacks. Mine is a Berghaus that holds 35 liters, and it cost 12,600 yen. Norio bought a North Face hiking backpack that holds 40 liters, and it cost 19,950 yen. I am very satisfied with my purchase since I can use it for our one week trip that starts tomorrow, and I can use it as a carry-on. It is also a very versatile size which I can use many times in the future. Norio almost bought a Porter large duffle bag instead for 28,750 yen, but I convinced him not to since he really only wanted it for the name brand. He is so funny sometimes. After completing our purchases, Norio and I grabbed dinner at the Denny’s in Shibuya. I ordered a side salad for 150 yen and a grilled beef platter with fries for 880 yen. It was so good! I love Denny’s in Japan! Norio got French onion soup and a bowl of somen noodles.
The rest of the evening, I Skyped with my parents and packed for my weeklong trip which starts tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be heading to Sendai, so I am really excited to see the Sendai Mediatheque. It is probably one of my favorite projects (without actually having seen it). With my new backpack, I only have to take that and my messenger bag. It will be so nice to travel with less baggage. Don is additionally paying for us to leave one bag each at the NOMYC for the 300 yen per day charge. I just hope the weeklong trip isn’t too intense, and hopefully I can catch up on some sleep too.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
16 May 2009
I had to register for fall classes at 6am this morning, which is 2pm U.S. time, and I completely overslept. Norio ended up waking me up at 11:30am when he knocked on my door. Luckily registering later made no difference in my options for classes so I still got everything that I expected to, and I waitlisted for the classes that were already full. I didn’t have anything pressing to do today, so I just got up and took my time. We leave for our second weeklong trip on Monday morning, so the most immediate order of business for this weekend was to exchange my voucher for my second Japan Rail Pass and make seat reservations for eight different Shinkansens for my travels during the next week. Many people had left to take care of it earlier this morning, so I found Seth and Blake, who also didn’t go this morning, and we jumped on the train to Shibuya. Our two choices of stations were Shibuya and Shinjuku, but Shinjuku is the #1 busiest station in Tokyo, and Shibuya is #3. Once at Shibuya, we navigated our way to the nearest JR Information booth. The lady spoke almost perfect English and barely even had an accent, and she was still clearly Japanese. She exchanged our rail passes for us and directed us to the nearest location to reserve our seats. We waited in line to reserve seats, but once we got the front, the lady we got spoke no English. Instead of being helpful, like most other people are in Japan, she was rude and refused to even try to help us. She told us to go back to the information booth where the lady spoke English, but we told her we couldn’t make reservations there. She just kept interrupting our sentences with the word “NO”, and she wasn’t even trying to figure out what we were trying to say. It was really frustrating. We went back to the information booth and explained the situation to the lady. I could tell it was a bit frustrating on her as well, but she began figuring out what we needed to reserve. She ended up having to call for a second person to help her since our needs were going to take a while. The second lady spoke fairly good English too, and together they slowly worked to figure out our reservations. It was additionally unfortunate because they were not equipped with the proper computers to look up the reservation information, so instead, they had to use huge schedule books for all of the JR lines to figure out which trains to book. The entire process ended up taking over an hour, and from the start, we could already tell it was going to take a while. As a result, I stepped away for about ten minutes to go buy a nice box of chocolates to show our appreciation towards their helpfulness. We gave it to them at the end, and they were really surprised at our generosity. We still felt really bad, but at least we felt like we did something.
By the time we finished up making our reservations, it was already past 3pm. All of the guys had to move out of their rooms today to a different part of the NOMYC complex, so their check-in time for the new place was 3pm. Seth and Blake resultantly had to rush back to the NOMYC to get their stuff and find the new room. It was 3:45pm by the time we got back, and the three of us still hadn’t eaten anything. I was starving, but I waited for Blake to get done moving his stuff so we could go get McDonald’s. I had been craving McDonald’s since yesterday afternoon, so I decided I would go to the one across the street from the NOMYC. While waiting for Blake, I ran into Derrick and Jeff, who also ended up coming with us to McDonald’s. I ordered the filet-o-fish meal set as usual with a Qoo soda. It cost 590 yen. My favorite thing about the filet-o-fish sandwich here in Japan is that they always make it for you fresh, so even though I always have to wait three minutes for them to prepare it, it is always better than the ones I get in the U.S.
After my late lunch, I was tired again from all the hassles associated with getting my rail pass and reserved seats. I ended up going back to my room and napping for about four hours! It was a longer nap than I wanted to take, but it was definitely much needed. I felt much better after my nap, so I worked on my blog and uploaded more photos. Shae, Derrick, and Norio all stopped by my room at different times, and we all ended up hanging out for a while. After Shae left, Norio decided to take a nap on the couch in my wing’s lounge, and Derrick actually asked me to give him a haircut. The thing about haircuts in Japan is that they are really expensive and seemingly overpriced when compared to the U.S. Since Derrick only have short-ish hair, he figured it’d be much cheaper to ask me to cut it rather than pay at least 3,000 yen at the cheapest place. He gave me a few photos of what he wanted it to look like, and it took me almost an hour to cut it al since I was only using scissors. If someone had had an electric razor with a longer tip on the end, it would’ve only taken ten minutes but oh well. I think I surprised both myself and Derrick because the haircut came out pretty much exactly how he wanted it. The true test will be when he styles it tomorrow, but the rest of the night, he was really content about it.
Even though it was a little after 11pm when I finished the haircut, both Derrick and I were really hungry. McDonald’s was the only meal I had had all day, so we decided to go to Matsuya for a late night dinner. Matsuya is open 24 hours a day, so that is always convenient. I ordered the kalbi beef and kimchi rice bowl for 490 yen. Norio had ordered it the last time we went there, and it looked really good. I figured I’d try it this time, and it was definitely a good choice. The rest of the night, Derrick Skyped with his parents and girlfriend, and Norio continued to nap. Tomorrow the guys of the group have to move out again and move into another building at 3pm, so I am letting whoever is interested store their luggage in my room until check-in. Most of the other girls said no when the guys asked to do that today, and I was the only person who offered to help them out. Norio was the only one who stored his stuff in my room today, but many people have already asked me to store their stuff for them tomorrow. Since checkout is at 10am, I will probably wake-up around 9am to make sure I’m up before people start bringing over their luggage. After that, I have no idea what I’ll be doing with the rest of my day.
By the time we finished up making our reservations, it was already past 3pm. All of the guys had to move out of their rooms today to a different part of the NOMYC complex, so their check-in time for the new place was 3pm. Seth and Blake resultantly had to rush back to the NOMYC to get their stuff and find the new room. It was 3:45pm by the time we got back, and the three of us still hadn’t eaten anything. I was starving, but I waited for Blake to get done moving his stuff so we could go get McDonald’s. I had been craving McDonald’s since yesterday afternoon, so I decided I would go to the one across the street from the NOMYC. While waiting for Blake, I ran into Derrick and Jeff, who also ended up coming with us to McDonald’s. I ordered the filet-o-fish meal set as usual with a Qoo soda. It cost 590 yen. My favorite thing about the filet-o-fish sandwich here in Japan is that they always make it for you fresh, so even though I always have to wait three minutes for them to prepare it, it is always better than the ones I get in the U.S.
After my late lunch, I was tired again from all the hassles associated with getting my rail pass and reserved seats. I ended up going back to my room and napping for about four hours! It was a longer nap than I wanted to take, but it was definitely much needed. I felt much better after my nap, so I worked on my blog and uploaded more photos. Shae, Derrick, and Norio all stopped by my room at different times, and we all ended up hanging out for a while. After Shae left, Norio decided to take a nap on the couch in my wing’s lounge, and Derrick actually asked me to give him a haircut. The thing about haircuts in Japan is that they are really expensive and seemingly overpriced when compared to the U.S. Since Derrick only have short-ish hair, he figured it’d be much cheaper to ask me to cut it rather than pay at least 3,000 yen at the cheapest place. He gave me a few photos of what he wanted it to look like, and it took me almost an hour to cut it al since I was only using scissors. If someone had had an electric razor with a longer tip on the end, it would’ve only taken ten minutes but oh well. I think I surprised both myself and Derrick because the haircut came out pretty much exactly how he wanted it. The true test will be when he styles it tomorrow, but the rest of the night, he was really content about it.
Even though it was a little after 11pm when I finished the haircut, both Derrick and I were really hungry. McDonald’s was the only meal I had had all day, so we decided to go to Matsuya for a late night dinner. Matsuya is open 24 hours a day, so that is always convenient. I ordered the kalbi beef and kimchi rice bowl for 490 yen. Norio had ordered it the last time we went there, and it looked really good. I figured I’d try it this time, and it was definitely a good choice. The rest of the night, Derrick Skyped with his parents and girlfriend, and Norio continued to nap. Tomorrow the guys of the group have to move out again and move into another building at 3pm, so I am letting whoever is interested store their luggage in my room until check-in. Most of the other girls said no when the guys asked to do that today, and I was the only person who offered to help them out. Norio was the only one who stored his stuff in my room today, but many people have already asked me to store their stuff for them tomorrow. Since checkout is at 10am, I will probably wake-up around 9am to make sure I’m up before people start bringing over their luggage. After that, I have no idea what I’ll be doing with the rest of my day.
Friday, May 15, 2009
15 May 2009
This morning we had individual meeting times scheduled with Don, so my group’s was the last one at 11:25am. It was nice since this allowed us to sleep in a bit longer than all of the other groups. I actually thought I was supposed to register for my classes this morning at 6am, but once waking up at 5:30am and unsuccessfully attempting to register for fall classes, I realized that I was a day early since Japan is a day ahead of the U.S. What a silly mistake I made! I’ll just have to make sure to wake-up at the same time tomorrow morning so I can successfully register for classes. Haha. After meeting with Don, we decided as a group to visit our project site again, then afterwards, we did some shopping with Norio. He had to buy a few things, so I just tagged along to browse.
This evening, Don had a meeting scheduled with Henri de Hahn, the head of the architecture department at Cal Poly. Henri is visiting Japan as a quick vacation with his wife, and he wanted us to visit the Park Hyatt Hotel which he was staying at. It was located on the 41st floor in a high rise building in Shinjuku. We walked there as a class and arrived around 6pm. Henri and his wife gave us a short tour of the high scale hotel, then we had two tours scheduled for the two types of suites they offered to their guests. The Hyatt was nice, but it still seemed a bit over-the-top for the amount a room probably cost, and there were plenty of amenities in the rooms which I would consider unnecessary. I think living in Japan has made me into more of a minimalist, so the excessive living arrangement in the Hyatt was almost distasteful and financially unpractical. Henri and his wife were also very showy with their status and money, which also turned many of us off. They kept trying to get fees waved or just walked into formal dining areas without asking, so I was almost embarrassed to be associated with the group. The employees and other guests obviously weren’t happy about our presence, so a small group of us just stood in the lobby until Henri was done showing off.
Since the bar at the Hyatt had a cover charge per person, Henri decided he would take us out on the town to tour the Shinjuku area. By then, we were really unhappy, since we had obviously already visited this area many times. We did not need to have the head of the architecture department give us a tour of a place in Japan, especially since we had already been there. About half of the students were completely trying to suck up to Henri, and the rest of us just kept to ourselves. Don ended up leading us to a drinking restaurant in Shinjuku, where there was a 300 yen cover charge per person. I ordered chicken brisket yakitori and cheese wontons, along with a coke since there was a one drink, one food minimum. Don ended up paying for the meal since he figured he owed us for some stuff anyways, so I was glad that I ordered more than one food item.
After dinner, Henri returned to the Hyatt, and Don left us on our own. I headed back to the NOMYC on the local train with Jeff, Blake, Derrick, and Shae. Once getting off at the Sangu-bashi station, I stopped by the SunKus convenience store and bought a huge Coca-Cola can for 100 yen. Once back at the NOMYC, I took a shower and went to bed. I have to register for class tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure I got plenty of rest beforehand.
This evening, Don had a meeting scheduled with Henri de Hahn, the head of the architecture department at Cal Poly. Henri is visiting Japan as a quick vacation with his wife, and he wanted us to visit the Park Hyatt Hotel which he was staying at. It was located on the 41st floor in a high rise building in Shinjuku. We walked there as a class and arrived around 6pm. Henri and his wife gave us a short tour of the high scale hotel, then we had two tours scheduled for the two types of suites they offered to their guests. The Hyatt was nice, but it still seemed a bit over-the-top for the amount a room probably cost, and there were plenty of amenities in the rooms which I would consider unnecessary. I think living in Japan has made me into more of a minimalist, so the excessive living arrangement in the Hyatt was almost distasteful and financially unpractical. Henri and his wife were also very showy with their status and money, which also turned many of us off. They kept trying to get fees waved or just walked into formal dining areas without asking, so I was almost embarrassed to be associated with the group. The employees and other guests obviously weren’t happy about our presence, so a small group of us just stood in the lobby until Henri was done showing off.
Since the bar at the Hyatt had a cover charge per person, Henri decided he would take us out on the town to tour the Shinjuku area. By then, we were really unhappy, since we had obviously already visited this area many times. We did not need to have the head of the architecture department give us a tour of a place in Japan, especially since we had already been there. About half of the students were completely trying to suck up to Henri, and the rest of us just kept to ourselves. Don ended up leading us to a drinking restaurant in Shinjuku, where there was a 300 yen cover charge per person. I ordered chicken brisket yakitori and cheese wontons, along with a coke since there was a one drink, one food minimum. Don ended up paying for the meal since he figured he owed us for some stuff anyways, so I was glad that I ordered more than one food item.
After dinner, Henri returned to the Hyatt, and Don left us on our own. I headed back to the NOMYC on the local train with Jeff, Blake, Derrick, and Shae. Once getting off at the Sangu-bashi station, I stopped by the SunKus convenience store and bought a huge Coca-Cola can for 100 yen. Once back at the NOMYC, I took a shower and went to bed. I have to register for class tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure I got plenty of rest beforehand.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
14 May 2009
Today is my 22nd birthday, but it really doesn’t feel any different than any other day. It is still only the 13th in the U.S., but I will fully enjoy my two days of celebration. Seth was the first person to wish me a happy birthday, and he gave me some Hichu strawberry candy. I had class in the morning with Don, and we additionally found out that Zach, Scot, and Trent were successful at getting tickets to the sumo tournament this evening. I was a little skeptical about how well sumo wrestling would maintain my attention, but the idea of going to a sumo tournament to celebrate my birthday was completely ridiculous and amazing at the same time. After class, Jeff, Shae, Derrick, Seth, Norio, and I quickly packed up our stuff and headed to the train station to make the 45 minute trip to Ryoguku. The Edo Tokyo Museum was located directly adjacent to the sumo wrestling hall in Ryoguku, so we ended up going there first to photograph the museum and look at the historic exhibits which documented Tokyo’s progression through time. It cost 600 yen to get into the museum, but we made sure to get receipts since Don said he’d reimburse anyone who visited the historically significant Edo Tokyo Museum. The museum was surprisingly very interesting, and I really feel like I got a lot out of that experience.
From the Edo Tokyo Museum, we walked to the sumo hall. The non-reserved cheap seats were already sold out, so it was a good thing the boys purchased them in the morning. Our 2,100 yen tickets were located as high in the hall as we could go, but the view was still surprisingly good. The matches went from 12:30-5:30pm, and the level of competition ranged from intermediate levels to pros. We were all hungry too, so I bought a hot dog and fries for 600 yen. The food prices surprisingly weren’t too overpriced at all, and we all got a decent amount of food for the amount we paid. Throughout the entire sumo match, I took a lot of photographs and even recorded some videos of the wrestling. I became increasingly intrigued with the sport, and by the end, I was completely into the matches. It was so much fun, and it was a very awesome way to celebrate my birthday.
Once the sumo matches ended for the day, we took the train back to our Yoyogi-Koen station and walked in search of a place to eat for dinner. We found a Korean restaurant that many of our classmates had raved about, so we decided to try it for a change. Derrick, Seth, and I ordered chop chae noodles, kimichi Korean mochi, and clam hot pot to share. All of the dishes tasted amazing, and I never quite realized how much I like Korean food. Everyone ended up paying for my portion of the meal as well, so that was very nice of them. The rest of the night was spent working on our studio project which has another presentation due tomorrow. As always, I stayed up late and contemplated the selections for my schedule next fall. I register for fall classes at school tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that figured out asap. Overall, I had a really enjoyable and exciting birthday, so I am very fortunate about that. Jeff and Shae even gave me a small tiramisu cup, some Hello Kitty muffins, and a Hello Kitty flat tin. Norio also gave me a crepe dessert, a hair tie, and another Hello Kitty tin. It was really thoughtful of people to remember.
From the Edo Tokyo Museum, we walked to the sumo hall. The non-reserved cheap seats were already sold out, so it was a good thing the boys purchased them in the morning. Our 2,100 yen tickets were located as high in the hall as we could go, but the view was still surprisingly good. The matches went from 12:30-5:30pm, and the level of competition ranged from intermediate levels to pros. We were all hungry too, so I bought a hot dog and fries for 600 yen. The food prices surprisingly weren’t too overpriced at all, and we all got a decent amount of food for the amount we paid. Throughout the entire sumo match, I took a lot of photographs and even recorded some videos of the wrestling. I became increasingly intrigued with the sport, and by the end, I was completely into the matches. It was so much fun, and it was a very awesome way to celebrate my birthday.
Once the sumo matches ended for the day, we took the train back to our Yoyogi-Koen station and walked in search of a place to eat for dinner. We found a Korean restaurant that many of our classmates had raved about, so we decided to try it for a change. Derrick, Seth, and I ordered chop chae noodles, kimichi Korean mochi, and clam hot pot to share. All of the dishes tasted amazing, and I never quite realized how much I like Korean food. Everyone ended up paying for my portion of the meal as well, so that was very nice of them. The rest of the night was spent working on our studio project which has another presentation due tomorrow. As always, I stayed up late and contemplated the selections for my schedule next fall. I register for fall classes at school tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that figured out asap. Overall, I had a really enjoyable and exciting birthday, so I am very fortunate about that. Jeff and Shae even gave me a small tiramisu cup, some Hello Kitty muffins, and a Hello Kitty flat tin. Norio also gave me a crepe dessert, a hair tie, and another Hello Kitty tin. It was really thoughtful of people to remember.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
13 May 2009
I woke-up this morning and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the Toyoko Inn. They had a larger variety of nigiri, but that was about it. I ate two salmon nigiri with miso soup and takuan. Checkout was at 10am, as always, so we packed up and left by that time. Luckily, it wasn’t raining, so that was a very pleasant surprise. It was still very hazy and extremely humid, but the temperature wasn’t too extremely hot. To get back to the NOMYC, we took three different train lines and transferred twice. It was over an hour of traveling by train and subway. We got back to the NOMYC around noon, which allowed us enough time to work on our design project until 2pm when we had to present. Norio, Derrick, Seth, and I were able to get a decent amount of work done in the two hours before class, so it was nice to feel productive. Since our class is split into two groups again, my session went from 2pm-3:30pm, and the second session went from 3:30pm-5pm. During my break, I went to Matsuya with Seth and Norio to get a late lunch. I’ve recently been craving curry a lot, so I once again got curry with a side salad for 440 yen. It was delicious!
At 5pm, we met back with Don in our classroom at the NOMYC and went as a group to get the keys to our rooms. We were in the same building but on a different floor. Since the building is C-shaped, the rooms on the exterior face off the C are much larger than the ones on the inner face of the C. Last time I had a small, narrow room, so I was really excited to find out that I had a substantially larger room on the outside of the C this time. Besides that, everything else is about the same. For some reason, the internet has also been free ever since we arrived. Jeff plugged-in the wireless router, and everyone has been able to access it since we moved in. No one knows how long it will last, but for the time being, everyone is taking full advantage of the free internet, including myself.
The rest of the night was very chill and uneventful. Since I wasn’t able to use the internet at the Toyoko Inn we stayed at in Yokohama, I took the time to catch-up on uploading photos and writing some papers that I continue to put off. Today Don announced that he is additionally reducing the number of papers that we have to write since he realizes how busy we are, and he is even more behind on reading the papers than we are with writing them. Either way, I’m glad the workload will hopefully lighten a bit. After I caught up on my blog and photos once again, I grabbed a late dinner around 10:30pm with Derrick, Seth, and Shae. We went to the Himalayan curry restaurant again and got take-out. I ordered the mild chicken curry with nan for 680 yen. It was so good! Including the four of us, I think at least seven of us got curry for dinner today. It is that good I guess. Haha. Late tonight, Zach came and told us there was a sumo competition going on from now until May 24. A group of my classmates are planning on going to watch tomorrow afternoon after class, so we were all invited to go. It costs 2,100 yen. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I figure it’ll be really cool to see sumo wrestling on my birthday. It sounds like a pretty unique and special experience to me, so I might as well watch it once while I’m here. Zach, Scot, and Trent will go try to buy tickets around 7am tomorrow morning, so hopefully they can get some. Tomorrow night, I would still like to go to Ginza to photograph the buildings at night, so we’ll see if I can squeeze that in as well.
At 5pm, we met back with Don in our classroom at the NOMYC and went as a group to get the keys to our rooms. We were in the same building but on a different floor. Since the building is C-shaped, the rooms on the exterior face off the C are much larger than the ones on the inner face of the C. Last time I had a small, narrow room, so I was really excited to find out that I had a substantially larger room on the outside of the C this time. Besides that, everything else is about the same. For some reason, the internet has also been free ever since we arrived. Jeff plugged-in the wireless router, and everyone has been able to access it since we moved in. No one knows how long it will last, but for the time being, everyone is taking full advantage of the free internet, including myself.
The rest of the night was very chill and uneventful. Since I wasn’t able to use the internet at the Toyoko Inn we stayed at in Yokohama, I took the time to catch-up on uploading photos and writing some papers that I continue to put off. Today Don announced that he is additionally reducing the number of papers that we have to write since he realizes how busy we are, and he is even more behind on reading the papers than we are with writing them. Either way, I’m glad the workload will hopefully lighten a bit. After I caught up on my blog and photos once again, I grabbed a late dinner around 10:30pm with Derrick, Seth, and Shae. We went to the Himalayan curry restaurant again and got take-out. I ordered the mild chicken curry with nan for 680 yen. It was so good! Including the four of us, I think at least seven of us got curry for dinner today. It is that good I guess. Haha. Late tonight, Zach came and told us there was a sumo competition going on from now until May 24. A group of my classmates are planning on going to watch tomorrow afternoon after class, so we were all invited to go. It costs 2,100 yen. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I figure it’ll be really cool to see sumo wrestling on my birthday. It sounds like a pretty unique and special experience to me, so I might as well watch it once while I’m here. Zach, Scot, and Trent will go try to buy tickets around 7am tomorrow morning, so hopefully they can get some. Tomorrow night, I would still like to go to Ginza to photograph the buildings at night, so we’ll see if I can squeeze that in as well.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
12 May 2009
Since we were up so late last night, we slept in really late and didn’t even take advantage of the free breakfast. We all finally got up around noon, and it was nice to feel well-rested. We picked up brunch at the convenience store, and I got a nikomon (steamed pork bun) for 105 yen. It was already very hot and humid outside, so that is probably one of my least favorite things about Japan. We still hadn’t taken photos of Osanbashi Yokohama International Port Terminal, so we went there first. We ran into four of our classmates who were also photographing the famous port, and we tried to finish quickly in order to visit other nearby sites. First, we took the train to Shonandai to see Keio University. There were multiple architecturally interesting buildings on this campus by Fumihiko Maki and Associates, Shoei Yoh + Architects, Yoshio Taniguchi and Associates, and Yasushi Ikeda. During our long walk to the campus from the train station, we stopped at the Fujisawa Municipal Gymnasium by Fumihiko Maki and Associates. They were all very decent projects, and I’m glad we were able to find all of them since the architectural guidebook isn’t always really clear with directions. After Shonandai, it was already 5pm. We still had plans to visit Toin Gakuen, which had the Toin Gakuen High School and Memorial Hall. The buildings were designed by Kenzo Tange Associates, Jiro Inazuka and Associates, and Akira Kuryu and Associates. Even though we were photographing at night, I was able to use my tripod again and get some really great shots. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to shoot photos indoors, and since it was night, some teachers told us we could only shoot photos from street level. It was a bummer, but we still wandered around the outskirts of the campus and viewed the buildings from the road.
By the time we finished up at the Toin Gakuen High School and Memorial Hall, it was around 10pm. I can’t believe we had another late day. We took the bus for 210 yen to the Nakayama JR Station and had dinner at Nakau. I got curry with beef for 490 yen, then we took the train back to the Yokohama Kannai Station. It was after 11pm by the time we got back to the hotel, so we did a little bit of work on our project for tomorrow then went to bed. Tomorrow we have class at 2pm at the NOMYC, so our plan is to enjoy the complimentary breakfast, checkout by 10am, then head back to the NOMYC for class with Don. This will be the second to last time we have to move, so I am really glad about that. It began to rain lightly tonight however, so moving in the rain will not be fun.
By the time we finished up at the Toin Gakuen High School and Memorial Hall, it was around 10pm. I can’t believe we had another late day. We took the bus for 210 yen to the Nakayama JR Station and had dinner at Nakau. I got curry with beef for 490 yen, then we took the train back to the Yokohama Kannai Station. It was after 11pm by the time we got back to the hotel, so we did a little bit of work on our project for tomorrow then went to bed. Tomorrow we have class at 2pm at the NOMYC, so our plan is to enjoy the complimentary breakfast, checkout by 10am, then head back to the NOMYC for class with Don. This will be the second to last time we have to move, so I am really glad about that. It began to rain lightly tonight however, so moving in the rain will not be fun.
Monday, May 11, 2009
11 May 2009
Today was an early morning since we had to move out of the NOYMC by 9am. I woke-up at 7:30am, and luckily I had packed almost everything the night before. We finished up our packing, turned in our neatly folded sheets, and left the NOMYC. Derrick, Seth, and I headed for Yokohama since that’s where we had made reservations at a Toyoko Inn. It took us a couple of train lines to get there, but we finally got there after about an hour. We left our stuff at the Toyoko Inn since check-in wasn’t until 4pm, and we went out to explore. I had bought an architectural guide book for the Yokohama prefecture, so we used that to find interesting buildings and architecture. We ultimately found many old and new buildings, all of which were fairly modern. We walked all over the city of Yokohama, even finding a small theme park along the water. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the city, even though it was extremely hot and humid. My skin has never gotten so sticky from the humidity in such a short amount of time. We returned to the hotel around 4:30pm to check-in, then took the train to the city center of Yokohama. We enjoyed the bright city lights at night, and I also purchased a tripod for my camera to shoot night photos. I bought it from Bic Camera, a large chain store, and it only cost 980 yen. Once opening it, the tag on the actual tripod said 8,190 yen as the retail value. I got a really good deal, so that was exciting! Around 8pm, we got dinner at Saizeriya, a really reasonable restaurant. I ordered meat spaghetti and garlic bread for 548 yen. It was a really good meal for a great price!
After taking the train back to our area of Yokohama, we decided to go back to the Osanbashi Yokohama International Port Terminal to retake our night photos from the previous night with Norio. Since I had my tripod this time, the pictures came out a million times better, so my purchase was already being put to good use. We arrived at the port around 10pm and surprisingly didn’t leave until around 1am. It was unbelievable how long we stayed there just taking pictures! Once arriving back at the hotel, we still had to do our laundry as well. Since the laundry facilities are so expensive at the NOMYC, we all brought all of our laundry to the Toyoko Inn where it is much more reasonable. Washing and drying the laundry takes about two hours, so we were all up until almost 4am. What a long day!
After taking the train back to our area of Yokohama, we decided to go back to the Osanbashi Yokohama International Port Terminal to retake our night photos from the previous night with Norio. Since I had my tripod this time, the pictures came out a million times better, so my purchase was already being put to good use. We arrived at the port around 10pm and surprisingly didn’t leave until around 1am. It was unbelievable how long we stayed there just taking pictures! Once arriving back at the hotel, we still had to do our laundry as well. Since the laundry facilities are so expensive at the NOMYC, we all brought all of our laundry to the Toyoko Inn where it is much more reasonable. Washing and drying the laundry takes about two hours, so we were all up until almost 4am. What a long day!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
10 May 2009
I stayed up fairly late last night, so I decided to sleep-in a bit this morning. Don had an optional trip to Ginza planned for 10am, but Derrick, Seth, and I decided to meet there at 1pm instead. Seth is Mormon, so he went to the morning service from 9am-noon, then met us at 1pm. It was another really hot and humid day, which makes outdoor sightseeing really uncomfortable. We didn’t have a set itinerary of things to see, so we just walked along the main streets of Ginza and wandered down smaller streets that seemingly had interesting buildings too. There were a lot more modern and well-known structures in Ginza than I had previously realized, and I was able to see many buildings that I never would’ve dreamed of seeing while in Japan. It was so cool! We walked around for about four hours, and we were able to see everything that we wanted to during that time. Derrick and Seth needed to get back to the NOMYC to Skype, but I opted to stay a little while longer and explore some of the stores. I wasn’t intending to buy anything; I was merely curious to see how American stores are in Japan. I went into Uni Qlo first, since they were having a sale, then I went into H&M. H&M is one of my favorite stores in the U.S. so it was interesting to visit one while in Japan. The store façade was much more elaborate than those in the U.S., but the merchandise inside was pretty much the same. That seems to be the case with most American stores I find here. After that, I wandered around Muji then headed back before it got dark.
For dinner, Derrick, Seth, and I went to Matsuya as usual. Seth and I split the cheese hamburger set, which came with a cheese-filled hamburger, salad, miso soup, and rice for 630 yen. It was so good, and since we split the order, it was only 315 yen each! Tomorrow we have to move out of the NOMYC by 9am, since they are closed on Monday and Tuesday for reasons I am unaware of. Once back in our rooms, Seth, Derrick, and I made reservations at a Toyoko Inn in Yokohama. After visiting that area with Norio and his dad last night, we really want to explore it further. The three of us will share a two bed room, since Seth is willing to sleep on the floor. It costs 8,300 yen a night, so for two nights, that totals out to 16,600 yen, or 5,533 yen each. We are each allotted 10,000 yen for the two days, so the remaining money can be spent on food, transportation, etc. I think all three of us are really glad we’ll be able to save that much money and divert it to other areas. With 1,600 yen of my 10,000 yen, I bought the architectural guide book for Yokohama, and Derrick bought a bilingual atlas of Tokyo for when we return. We figure we can all share the books, so hopefully they will both be very helpful.
The rest of the night I spent cleaning my room. The users of the rooms are required to clean the rooms thoroughly before leaving because I don’t think anyone actually comes into the rooms to clean them before new people move it. That probably explains why they are so gross to begin with, but oh well. I also packed my smaller bag with necessities for two days of travel, along with my laundry and detergent. My large rolling luggage will be stored at the NOMYC for 300 yen per day. That is a way better deal than having to lug the huge and heavy bag around. So tomorrow should be very interesting, and I’m really excited to stay in Yokohama. I will additionally have “free” internet access there, so I think we are all looking forward to that as well.
For dinner, Derrick, Seth, and I went to Matsuya as usual. Seth and I split the cheese hamburger set, which came with a cheese-filled hamburger, salad, miso soup, and rice for 630 yen. It was so good, and since we split the order, it was only 315 yen each! Tomorrow we have to move out of the NOMYC by 9am, since they are closed on Monday and Tuesday for reasons I am unaware of. Once back in our rooms, Seth, Derrick, and I made reservations at a Toyoko Inn in Yokohama. After visiting that area with Norio and his dad last night, we really want to explore it further. The three of us will share a two bed room, since Seth is willing to sleep on the floor. It costs 8,300 yen a night, so for two nights, that totals out to 16,600 yen, or 5,533 yen each. We are each allotted 10,000 yen for the two days, so the remaining money can be spent on food, transportation, etc. I think all three of us are really glad we’ll be able to save that much money and divert it to other areas. With 1,600 yen of my 10,000 yen, I bought the architectural guide book for Yokohama, and Derrick bought a bilingual atlas of Tokyo for when we return. We figure we can all share the books, so hopefully they will both be very helpful.
The rest of the night I spent cleaning my room. The users of the rooms are required to clean the rooms thoroughly before leaving because I don’t think anyone actually comes into the rooms to clean them before new people move it. That probably explains why they are so gross to begin with, but oh well. I also packed my smaller bag with necessities for two days of travel, along with my laundry and detergent. My large rolling luggage will be stored at the NOMYC for 300 yen per day. That is a way better deal than having to lug the huge and heavy bag around. So tomorrow should be very interesting, and I’m really excited to stay in Yokohama. I will additionally have “free” internet access there, so I think we are all looking forward to that as well.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
9 May 2009
Today I awoke to the sun beaming in through my window, and it felt like my body was on fire. This was the first time the sun has shone through clear skies since we arrived in Tokyo, and boy was it a surprise. This was at 7am, and I didn’t have to wake-up until 9am. I sleepily closed the curtain in my room and went back to sleep. When I finally woke-up at 9am, I could already tell it was going to be a very hot day. I grabbed a blueberry cranberry bagel from the convenience store for 147 yen and met Don and the class as scheduled. Our first destination was Asakusa, and it was a very long train ride to get there. I still cannot grasp the immense size of Tokyo and all of its districts. The completely travel time to get to Asakusa was probably a little over an hour, but it gave me a chance to nap on the train as usual. Napping is probably one of my favorite activities. Haha! Once in Asakusa, we first visited the Asahi Super Dry Hall Headquarters, then one of the most famous temples in Asakusa. Unfortunately, the temple was undergoing some major renovation, so we couldn’t even see the outside at all. What a disappointment after traveling so far to get there! That was all Don had planned for us to see there, so we hopped back on the train to Ueno.
In Ueno, we first grabbed lunch since it was noon. I was seeking something cheap, so a group of us ended up finding a quick noodle and rice bowl place. I ordered hot udon with a potato croquette on top for 390 yen. It was really hot outside, but the udon tasted really good. It was the first standing restaurant I’ve been to in Japan, so that was also interesting. I kind of wished we had been able to sit down, since my feet are always tired after a long day of walking, but it was tolerable nonetheless. After lunch, Don walked us through parts of Ueno Park and ultimately brought us to the entrance the Tokyo National Museum, located within the park. He had to get back to his place in order to finish writing an article for a magazine, so he paid for our admission and left us on our own. I was in a group with Derrick, Seth, Blake, Jeff, and Shae. Within the complex of Tokyo National Museum, there were five separate museums. We didn’t have the desire to visit all of the five museums, but there were two major ones that Don highly suggested we visit. We visited both of them, and they were both pretty cool. Norio emailed me while we were there, and he inquired about what we were up to since he didn’t go with us. He was leaving to go home to Tochigi tonight, and his dad was going to drive and pick him up. He asked if Derrick, Seth, and I would be interested in meeting his dad and joining them for dinner around 6pm. Of course we were interested, so we left Tokyo National Museum around 4pm in order to get back by 5:30pm.
Norio packed up all of his stuff, and we jumped in the car with his dad. His dad just goes by the name Papa, and he was really cute! He didn’t look old at all either, which was surprising since Norio is 30 years old now. Papa drove us to Tokyo Midtown and treated us to tonkatsu at a nice restaurant. It was 1,700 yen for each plate, which was pretty expensive but definitely worth it since the food and portions were amazing. Tokyo Midtown is already a high-end establishment, so it was such a privilege to be able to eat at such a nice restaurant. Afterwards, Norio and Papa went to an expensive chocolate store to by Norio’s mom a Mother’s Day gift. Everything looked so delicious, but it was also fairly expensive; in comparison to other chocolate places in Tokyo Midtown however, it was decently priced. Then Norio and Papa wanted Starbucks, so Papa insisted on treating everyone to Starbucks. We were all super full, so I ended up just splitting a strawberry frapaccino with Seth. It was really good, but Starbucks is also much more expensive in Japan than in the U.S.
Following our visit to Tokyo Midtown, Papa wanted to drive us around Tokyo and show us different areas. It was already dark outside, but we were glad to go along since we almost never have the opportunity to view the city by car. We drove through Roppongi, Central Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, Odaiba, and Ginza. It was really cool being able to drive on the expressways as well since they are all elevated and offer great views of the city. The one surprisingly thing about the expressways is that they all cost money, and it definitely adds up quickly. I now understand why it can be so costly to drive here in Japan! After driving around Tokyo, I assumed Papa would take us home, but he still wanted to show us more of the area. We ended up getting on an expressway and driving all the way to Kawasaki and Yokohama, completely different cities than Tokyo. We drove around on many streets seeing different areas and sites, and we finished our journey by stopping at Osanbashi, the port structure in Yokohama by Foreign Office Architects. This is one of the most famous and iconic buildings in architecture, and it was such a special opportunity to visit it in person at night. Norio’s dad had never been there either, so I was really glad that it was a new place for all of us. We took tons of pictures and walked around to enjoy the space. We will definitely be going back there to take photos in the daytime since the feeling of the building is completely different during day and night.
This was by far the best night I have had in Japan, and my stomach still hurts from laughing so much. It was just a great night all around. Papa dropped us off at the NOMYC, and we thanked him tremendously. He told Norio to tell us that we definitely had to come stay at their house in Tochigi before leaving. Norio left to go back to Tochigi with his dad, and the rest of us were completely exhausted. Tomorrow there is an optional trip to visit Ginza with Don, but Derrick, Seth, and I are considering going on our own and being able to sleep in.
In Ueno, we first grabbed lunch since it was noon. I was seeking something cheap, so a group of us ended up finding a quick noodle and rice bowl place. I ordered hot udon with a potato croquette on top for 390 yen. It was really hot outside, but the udon tasted really good. It was the first standing restaurant I’ve been to in Japan, so that was also interesting. I kind of wished we had been able to sit down, since my feet are always tired after a long day of walking, but it was tolerable nonetheless. After lunch, Don walked us through parts of Ueno Park and ultimately brought us to the entrance the Tokyo National Museum, located within the park. He had to get back to his place in order to finish writing an article for a magazine, so he paid for our admission and left us on our own. I was in a group with Derrick, Seth, Blake, Jeff, and Shae. Within the complex of Tokyo National Museum, there were five separate museums. We didn’t have the desire to visit all of the five museums, but there were two major ones that Don highly suggested we visit. We visited both of them, and they were both pretty cool. Norio emailed me while we were there, and he inquired about what we were up to since he didn’t go with us. He was leaving to go home to Tochigi tonight, and his dad was going to drive and pick him up. He asked if Derrick, Seth, and I would be interested in meeting his dad and joining them for dinner around 6pm. Of course we were interested, so we left Tokyo National Museum around 4pm in order to get back by 5:30pm.
Norio packed up all of his stuff, and we jumped in the car with his dad. His dad just goes by the name Papa, and he was really cute! He didn’t look old at all either, which was surprising since Norio is 30 years old now. Papa drove us to Tokyo Midtown and treated us to tonkatsu at a nice restaurant. It was 1,700 yen for each plate, which was pretty expensive but definitely worth it since the food and portions were amazing. Tokyo Midtown is already a high-end establishment, so it was such a privilege to be able to eat at such a nice restaurant. Afterwards, Norio and Papa went to an expensive chocolate store to by Norio’s mom a Mother’s Day gift. Everything looked so delicious, but it was also fairly expensive; in comparison to other chocolate places in Tokyo Midtown however, it was decently priced. Then Norio and Papa wanted Starbucks, so Papa insisted on treating everyone to Starbucks. We were all super full, so I ended up just splitting a strawberry frapaccino with Seth. It was really good, but Starbucks is also much more expensive in Japan than in the U.S.
Following our visit to Tokyo Midtown, Papa wanted to drive us around Tokyo and show us different areas. It was already dark outside, but we were glad to go along since we almost never have the opportunity to view the city by car. We drove through Roppongi, Central Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, Odaiba, and Ginza. It was really cool being able to drive on the expressways as well since they are all elevated and offer great views of the city. The one surprisingly thing about the expressways is that they all cost money, and it definitely adds up quickly. I now understand why it can be so costly to drive here in Japan! After driving around Tokyo, I assumed Papa would take us home, but he still wanted to show us more of the area. We ended up getting on an expressway and driving all the way to Kawasaki and Yokohama, completely different cities than Tokyo. We drove around on many streets seeing different areas and sites, and we finished our journey by stopping at Osanbashi, the port structure in Yokohama by Foreign Office Architects. This is one of the most famous and iconic buildings in architecture, and it was such a special opportunity to visit it in person at night. Norio’s dad had never been there either, so I was really glad that it was a new place for all of us. We took tons of pictures and walked around to enjoy the space. We will definitely be going back there to take photos in the daytime since the feeling of the building is completely different during day and night.
This was by far the best night I have had in Japan, and my stomach still hurts from laughing so much. It was just a great night all around. Papa dropped us off at the NOMYC, and we thanked him tremendously. He told Norio to tell us that we definitely had to come stay at their house in Tochigi before leaving. Norio left to go back to Tochigi with his dad, and the rest of us were completely exhausted. Tomorrow there is an optional trip to visit Ginza with Don, but Derrick, Seth, and I are considering going on our own and being able to sleep in.
Friday, May 8, 2009
8 May 2009
I had class as usual this morning, and nothing exciting happened. After class, the rest of the day was free for us to do as we pleased. Norio, Derrick, Seth, and I had a short group meeting to discuss the next step for our project. It is really nice having four people in a group since we are able to develop elements in our project in much more depth than we would usually be able to do in pairs. Following our group meeting, Norio, Derrick, Seth, John, and I went to Tokyo Midtown, which is located in the Roppongi District. The Roppongi District has been known as the tourist area, but they recently developed Tokyo Midtown as a mixed-use mall and high-rise residential. It is a really rich area, so everything was really nice and extremely unaffordable. The space itself was amazing, and we all took a lot of photos. We are using this project as a precedent study for our final project, so we examined it very closely. Norio left early to hang out with a friend, so the remaining four of us also visited Tadao Ando’s gallery on-site called Design Intent.
After finishing up at Tokyo Midtown, we went to lunch at an affordable restaurant a little ways down the street from Tokyo Midtown. Seth wanted to go visit Yoyogi National Stadium before it got too late, so he headed off on his own. I was really hungry, so I ordered a bowl of miso ramen and a dish of gyoza (5 pieces) for a total of 600 yen. It was a great deal, and the food was really good. If I am ever in that area again, I will definitely go back for a second time. The gyoza was by far the best gyoza I have had since arriving in Japan! After lunch, John, Derrick, and I decided to check out Roppongi Hills, another fairly new mixed-use development just a few blocks away from Tokyo Midtown. This project was even larger than Tokyo Midtown, and it had multiple residential towers piercing the skyline. There was additionally a really neat staircase, museum, and outdoor auditorium which were all very photogenic. The rain was off and on, so we photographed when weather permitted us to do so.
We debated whether or not we should head back to the NOMYC after visiting Roppongi Hills, but it was still fairly early. We could see Tokyo Tower seemingly within walking distance, so we headed off on foot to find it. None of the Tokyo’s streets are truly laid out on a grid, so navigating our way based solely on our view of the tower was a bit cumbersome. After walking for about 30 minutes, we surprisingly hit the base of the tower. Tokyo Tower was designed and built mimicking the Eiffel Tower, and it is slightly taller in height. We wandered inside, and it cost 820 yen to ride the elevator to the top. We paid the steep fee, and it was totally worth it once we got to the top. It was practically sunset, so we got some awesome shots of the city during that time. We stayed up in the tower until it got completely dark outside and shot more photos of the city lights. It was still consistently raining outside, but we additionally took exterior photographs of the tower illuminated at night. It was definitely a wonderful sight.
I asked for directions on how to find the nearest subway line, and we headed back to Yoyogi-koen via two subway lines. It took a total of 27 minutes, but it never feels that long while we are in-transit. Once back at the NOMYC, Derrick, Seth, and I went and grabbed a late dinner at Matsuya. I wasn’t too hungry so I just got a salad for 200 yen. I always have to remind myself to eat vegetables since almost all of the dishes here are starch only. We were all very exhausted from another day of walking, so we went to bed fairly early. Tomorrow we will be visiting Asakusa and Ueno Park with Don. Ueno Park is supposed to have some pretty cool museums, so I am really excited to see those. The weather is also supposed to clear up, so I will hope for the best.
After finishing up at Tokyo Midtown, we went to lunch at an affordable restaurant a little ways down the street from Tokyo Midtown. Seth wanted to go visit Yoyogi National Stadium before it got too late, so he headed off on his own. I was really hungry, so I ordered a bowl of miso ramen and a dish of gyoza (5 pieces) for a total of 600 yen. It was a great deal, and the food was really good. If I am ever in that area again, I will definitely go back for a second time. The gyoza was by far the best gyoza I have had since arriving in Japan! After lunch, John, Derrick, and I decided to check out Roppongi Hills, another fairly new mixed-use development just a few blocks away from Tokyo Midtown. This project was even larger than Tokyo Midtown, and it had multiple residential towers piercing the skyline. There was additionally a really neat staircase, museum, and outdoor auditorium which were all very photogenic. The rain was off and on, so we photographed when weather permitted us to do so.
We debated whether or not we should head back to the NOMYC after visiting Roppongi Hills, but it was still fairly early. We could see Tokyo Tower seemingly within walking distance, so we headed off on foot to find it. None of the Tokyo’s streets are truly laid out on a grid, so navigating our way based solely on our view of the tower was a bit cumbersome. After walking for about 30 minutes, we surprisingly hit the base of the tower. Tokyo Tower was designed and built mimicking the Eiffel Tower, and it is slightly taller in height. We wandered inside, and it cost 820 yen to ride the elevator to the top. We paid the steep fee, and it was totally worth it once we got to the top. It was practically sunset, so we got some awesome shots of the city during that time. We stayed up in the tower until it got completely dark outside and shot more photos of the city lights. It was still consistently raining outside, but we additionally took exterior photographs of the tower illuminated at night. It was definitely a wonderful sight.
I asked for directions on how to find the nearest subway line, and we headed back to Yoyogi-koen via two subway lines. It took a total of 27 minutes, but it never feels that long while we are in-transit. Once back at the NOMYC, Derrick, Seth, and I went and grabbed a late dinner at Matsuya. I wasn’t too hungry so I just got a salad for 200 yen. I always have to remind myself to eat vegetables since almost all of the dishes here are starch only. We were all very exhausted from another day of walking, so we went to bed fairly early. Tomorrow we will be visiting Asakusa and Ueno Park with Don. Ueno Park is supposed to have some pretty cool museums, so I am really excited to see those. The weather is also supposed to clear up, so I will hope for the best.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
7 May 2009
Having class every morning is really exhausting, since technically we only hold daily sessions since it is required by the NOMYC. Today Don gave a two hour lecture on the history of Tokyo. It was very long and boring, so I had a hard time staying awake along with everyone else. After class, Don planned an optional trip to Shinjuku to wander around and explore a new place. I had already been there with Norio, Derrick, Seth, and Misato, so all of us opted not to go. Seth had to go figure out how to transfer money at a Citi Bank, and Norio had to catch-up on many of our Arch 420 written assignments. Derrick and I were the only ones left, so I decided that I wanted to go to Ebisu and Hiroo. Following the directions and maps in our Japanese architectural handbooks, we walked for the rest of the day looking at various buildings. We stopped to have a late lunch at Wendy’s, and I ordered a hamburger, chili, and vanilla frosty (all off the 99 yen menu). The food tasted very similar, but the portions were tiny! I still can’t even believe how small the small chili was! I think I will definitely appreciate the American-sized portions when I return to the U.S. Overall though, Wendy’s served a very good meal, and I definitely plan to go there again. After lunch, we saw everything from contemporary to historic buildings, and we even got to see a few modern houses. It was raining off and on all day, so that made photographing very quick and minimal as always. I am really tired of the consistent rain.
To get back to the NOMYC, it is always difficult since there are so many different subway and train lines. Sometimes you can transfer from one to another, and sometimes you can’t without buying a completely separate ticket. Derrick and I ended our exploring in Hiroo, so we must’ve stood in front of the fare chart for at least 10 minutes straight. It was ridiculous. Then we remembered that Seth had eaten Mexican food in Hiroo, so I used my Blackberry to search for Mexican restaurants. I found out that the best one in Tokyo was only a block away, so we went to check out the menu. Everything there was ridiculously expensive, and they didn’t even have burritos, so we didn’t eat there. It was very sad, but we both knew it wasn’t worth it. A taco alone with 1,300 yen, and two enchiladas cost 2,100 yen. I sure miss cheap Mexican food in the U.S.! We sadly walked back to the station and decided to take a chance and buy a transfer ticket in order to take two lines. Surprisingly, it ended up working perfectly, and we got off at Yoyoji Metro Station. We had no idea which way to go, so we used our best judgment and wandered onward. I think we were both thrown off a bit since we expected to come up next to Yoyogi Park, but instead, we were in the middle of high-rise buildings. It was starting to get dark, but somehow, we miraculously found our way home on our first try. What a relief that was!
For dinner, we had Masuya again. Norio, Seth, and Blake joined us to make a total of five. I ordered the same thing as last time: pork rice bowl with miso soup for only 320 yen. The rest of the night we worked on our group project. Don already sent out plans for the weekend, but I have no idea what he has planned for tomorrow. All I know is that I hope it stops raining!
To get back to the NOMYC, it is always difficult since there are so many different subway and train lines. Sometimes you can transfer from one to another, and sometimes you can’t without buying a completely separate ticket. Derrick and I ended our exploring in Hiroo, so we must’ve stood in front of the fare chart for at least 10 minutes straight. It was ridiculous. Then we remembered that Seth had eaten Mexican food in Hiroo, so I used my Blackberry to search for Mexican restaurants. I found out that the best one in Tokyo was only a block away, so we went to check out the menu. Everything there was ridiculously expensive, and they didn’t even have burritos, so we didn’t eat there. It was very sad, but we both knew it wasn’t worth it. A taco alone with 1,300 yen, and two enchiladas cost 2,100 yen. I sure miss cheap Mexican food in the U.S.! We sadly walked back to the station and decided to take a chance and buy a transfer ticket in order to take two lines. Surprisingly, it ended up working perfectly, and we got off at Yoyoji Metro Station. We had no idea which way to go, so we used our best judgment and wandered onward. I think we were both thrown off a bit since we expected to come up next to Yoyogi Park, but instead, we were in the middle of high-rise buildings. It was starting to get dark, but somehow, we miraculously found our way home on our first try. What a relief that was!
For dinner, we had Masuya again. Norio, Seth, and Blake joined us to make a total of five. I ordered the same thing as last time: pork rice bowl with miso soup for only 320 yen. The rest of the night we worked on our group project. Don already sent out plans for the weekend, but I have no idea what he has planned for tomorrow. All I know is that I hope it stops raining!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
6 May 2009
We didn’t have class until 10am this morning, so I fully took advantage of my opportunity to sleep in until 9am. During class, Don documented who was in working with who for the final project, then setup appointment times with each group to talk about what they were planning on to work on. Norio and I were partners, and Derrick and Seth were partners, but we asked Don if we could take on a larger project and work in a group of four since we all wanted to explore similar things. Don was fine with it, and we decided upon an appropriate site to work with. After we were done with class, Derrick, Norio, Seth, and I embarked on the 40 minute walk to our site in Shibuya. The skies were very overcast, but it wasn’t raining yet. Once we were about halfway, it started raining. We stopped at a Lawson convenience store to grab a quick meal for lunch. I got a corn dog and tea for 231 yen, and the corn dog was so good! By then, it was raining really hard, but we walked over to our urban site to investigate and analyze it anyways. I took pictures of the site since I was the only one with a “cheap”, non-SLR camera. Haha.
After investigating the site, we didn’t want to head back to the NOMYC because there is nothing to do there. Instead, I wanted to wander around and check out the stores in the area. Norio went off on his own to do some shopping, and Derrick and Seth followed me. First we went to Uni Qlo, a store that I think is very comparable to American Apparel in the U.S. I was looking to buy a cheap pair of shorts, or something for warmer days, but I ended up finding a pair of skinny flood pant jeans on sale for only 1,490 yen. It was such a good deal, and I also got a pair of everyday sweat pants for 1,000 yen. They were both really good deals. Derrick also bought three shirts and a pair of slippers, and we ran into our friend John who was buying jeans. One really cool thing that I found out that Uni Qlo does is that they will alter/hem anything for you for free when you buy it. John had this done to his jeans since he is really short, and the alteration was really clean and quick. I was really impressed. Next, we went to Tokyu Hands. This is somewhat like a department store but much less formal. It kind of reminds me of a Target combined with a hardware store. Derrick and I both ended up buying pads for our shoulder strap on our bags since our shoulders are beginning to hurt from walking all the time. I paid a little bit more to get the pad with the rubber grid rather than the foam since the foam will definitely flatten over time, and I can already tell it makes a huge difference. I figure since I saved so much on the cost of my messenger bag originally since I got it at a second hand store in SF, I can afford to pay the extra 1,980 for the shoulder strap pad. Finally, we went to the Loft just to browse around. The Loft is always a store that I find fun and exciting.
I began to get hungry, so I wanted to try out the Kentucky Fried Chicken here. I ordered off of the Colonel’s Value Meal and got the small combo set. The small set came with two pieces of fried chicken, small fries, and a small drink. I think the KFC in the states is better, especially since I really enjoy the mashed potatoes and coleslaw, but it was still a nice change. The fried chicken was extremely greasy though, so that was probably the grossest part. We had already spent enough money, so we decided to endure the long walk back to the NOMYC. It was raining very hard and very consistently, so by the time we got back, my shoes were soaked all the way through. It was pretty miserable, but due to the humidity, the air wasn’t cold outside. It was a good thing I was wearing my rain jacket and had my umbrella. Once we got back to the NOMYC, I worked on my blog and Arch 420 assignments since I am still behind. It is really hard to stay entertained with no internet though. I’m just glad that my phone seems to be working because this is the time that the $70/month is really worth every penny!
For dinner, Seth, Derrick, and I went to Matsuya. It is a place similar to Nakau, but it actually gives slightly larger portions. It took us the usual 10 minute walk to get there, since everything is located by the train station, and it was still raining. The pork rice bowl was on sale for 320 yen, so all three of us ordered that. Derrick and Seth additionally had coupons for one free side dish, so we each got either salad or kimchi, along with the bowl of miso that was included. For 320 yen, it was a really great meal and deal! The rest of the night we hung out in my room and worked some more on our Arch 420 assignments. I am pretty much caught up now, so that is a big relief. I think the rainy weather and lack of internet is the main driving factor behind everyone’s newfound dedication to work on school stuff. Tomorrow, we once again have class at 10am, and no one knows what else Don has planned for the rest of the day. All I know is that the consistent rainy weather really sucks and prevents us from really seeing anything in Tokyo without getting soaked and having horrible photos due to the rain. Bleh. Hopefully by the weekend, things will clear up, and everyone’s spirits will be raised.
After investigating the site, we didn’t want to head back to the NOMYC because there is nothing to do there. Instead, I wanted to wander around and check out the stores in the area. Norio went off on his own to do some shopping, and Derrick and Seth followed me. First we went to Uni Qlo, a store that I think is very comparable to American Apparel in the U.S. I was looking to buy a cheap pair of shorts, or something for warmer days, but I ended up finding a pair of skinny flood pant jeans on sale for only 1,490 yen. It was such a good deal, and I also got a pair of everyday sweat pants for 1,000 yen. They were both really good deals. Derrick also bought three shirts and a pair of slippers, and we ran into our friend John who was buying jeans. One really cool thing that I found out that Uni Qlo does is that they will alter/hem anything for you for free when you buy it. John had this done to his jeans since he is really short, and the alteration was really clean and quick. I was really impressed. Next, we went to Tokyu Hands. This is somewhat like a department store but much less formal. It kind of reminds me of a Target combined with a hardware store. Derrick and I both ended up buying pads for our shoulder strap on our bags since our shoulders are beginning to hurt from walking all the time. I paid a little bit more to get the pad with the rubber grid rather than the foam since the foam will definitely flatten over time, and I can already tell it makes a huge difference. I figure since I saved so much on the cost of my messenger bag originally since I got it at a second hand store in SF, I can afford to pay the extra 1,980 for the shoulder strap pad. Finally, we went to the Loft just to browse around. The Loft is always a store that I find fun and exciting.
I began to get hungry, so I wanted to try out the Kentucky Fried Chicken here. I ordered off of the Colonel’s Value Meal and got the small combo set. The small set came with two pieces of fried chicken, small fries, and a small drink. I think the KFC in the states is better, especially since I really enjoy the mashed potatoes and coleslaw, but it was still a nice change. The fried chicken was extremely greasy though, so that was probably the grossest part. We had already spent enough money, so we decided to endure the long walk back to the NOMYC. It was raining very hard and very consistently, so by the time we got back, my shoes were soaked all the way through. It was pretty miserable, but due to the humidity, the air wasn’t cold outside. It was a good thing I was wearing my rain jacket and had my umbrella. Once we got back to the NOMYC, I worked on my blog and Arch 420 assignments since I am still behind. It is really hard to stay entertained with no internet though. I’m just glad that my phone seems to be working because this is the time that the $70/month is really worth every penny!
For dinner, Seth, Derrick, and I went to Matsuya. It is a place similar to Nakau, but it actually gives slightly larger portions. It took us the usual 10 minute walk to get there, since everything is located by the train station, and it was still raining. The pork rice bowl was on sale for 320 yen, so all three of us ordered that. Derrick and Seth additionally had coupons for one free side dish, so we each got either salad or kimchi, along with the bowl of miso that was included. For 320 yen, it was a really great meal and deal! The rest of the night we hung out in my room and worked some more on our Arch 420 assignments. I am pretty much caught up now, so that is a big relief. I think the rainy weather and lack of internet is the main driving factor behind everyone’s newfound dedication to work on school stuff. Tomorrow, we once again have class at 10am, and no one knows what else Don has planned for the rest of the day. All I know is that the consistent rainy weather really sucks and prevents us from really seeing anything in Tokyo without getting soaked and having horrible photos due to the rain. Bleh. Hopefully by the weekend, things will clear up, and everyone’s spirits will be raised.
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