4/20/2022 0 Comments Week 3: First two weeksStarting from where I last left off, I've continued to travel around multiple places around Tokyo. I've visited some of the more popular places like Asakusa, Shibuya, and Naka-Meguro. As the rain began to fade away, the weather has become warmer during the day. I occasionally start sweating while walking under the sun. But once the sun sets, it starts to get colder within an hour. Since it's still spring, the cherry blossoms are still in bloom. But as the weather has started to get warmer, the flowers have started to wilt or fall off. If I was able to get into Japan a few weeks earlier, I could have seen them in full bloom. Naka-Meguro is known for their wide street filled with cherry blossom trees, but most of the blossoms were already gone when I visited the area.
As I've been travelling around the city, I've noticed many things. To start things off, the people in Tokyo have a very good sense of fashions. Almost everyone goes out with an outfit that fits the weather. The main thing that I've noticed is that many people have been wearing trench coats. As a result, I feel that I am very underdressed compared to the other people and have been thinking about buying clothes to look more like other people. Another thing is that many people prefer wearing straight or baggy long pants. This is different compared to what people in Hawaii wear. Another big thing I've noticed is that food in Japan is relatively cheap compared to food in Hawaii. Small items like sandwhiches, onigiri, small pastries, and other premade meals fall around the 110-600 Yen mark ($0.89-$4.83 USD). Going to restuarants is also the same. I got a set that consisted of an appetizer, soup, a main dish, and a side dish for 990 Yen ($7.97). If I got something similar in Hawaii, the price would have been more than twice the price. Not to mention, the food quality in Japan is much higher compared to food back home. Everything I've eaten in restaurants have been very good and I have not been upset by a meal. I know for sure that the thing I'm going to miss the most once I return home is the food. A thing to note is that portions in Japan are smaller, but the food quality greatly makes up for it. Turning to my classes, I'm taking seven courses for the semester. With the way the university structures classes, I attend a class once a week. Five of the seven of my classes are online. To add on, I've been very luck to have a schedule where I only have classes for three of the seven days of the week. For the classes themselves, the classes I've taken so far show that reading and writing are a consistent assignments I need to complete. I reviewed the syllabuses of my classes and noticed that almost all of them require essays as the final assignment. This means I'm going to be spending a lot of my time indoors working on essays nearing the end of the semester.
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4/6/2022 0 Comments Week 1: Pre and post flightStarting off at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, my flight was on April 2, 2022. The procedure of getting onto the plane was the same as before the pandemic. The only difference was the proof of COVID-19 PCR Test. Luckily, my friends and I who were going to Keio University booked the same flight to make it more convenient. After getting into the airport gate for my flight, I noticed there were different types of people in the same flight as me. There was a mixture of Japanese citizens, Hawaiian citizens, and military personell. I found it interesting because the only people that were allowed to enter the country were Japanese citizens, and people entering for business and study abroad reasons. This was very suprising to me because almost all the seats were filled. The most difficult part of the flight was after landing and completing the Covid requirements. I needed to download multiple apps before I got on the plane, and was required to fill out multiple forms. Luckily, completing the requirements before my flight made the process go faster, but it was still a slug. One of the requirements was to take a Covid saliva test. There was a strange thing I noticed while trying to complete the test. As a way to promote salavating for the test, they had a picture of a lemon slice and some ume (sour plums). After finally finishing the Covid requirements and immigration, we were able to exit the airport. My friends and I booked hotel rooms as our dormitory check in-date were two days after our flight. Immediately leaving the airport, I was hit with multiple moments of culture shock. I learned the subway stations are interconnected with the airport. This meant, after you buy your train tickets, you can immidiatley hop into a subway. Our hotel was located 30 minutes away from our dormitory which was in the Kawasaki Nakahara Ward. The hotel itself was located in Ginza. My friends and I had extreme difficulty trying to move our luggage. The subway and its stations were small and did not accomodate for people that brought multiple cases of luggage with them. Once we exited the station, it got harder to move as it was raining and cold. After we were able to make it to the hotel, we decided to head out for dinner. As we were walking around the are, it reminded me of Waikiki. There was a bustling road with lots of people walking around, many building were large and fancy. To add on, the large buildings consisted of shops of many luxury western brands such as Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, and Tory Burch to name a few. On the move-in date for our dormitory, I continued to move my suitcases through the subway and streets and was finally able to check in. One of the resident assistants helped introduce me to the dorm and its facilities. Afterwards, I went out to buy an assortment of essential goods for my room. 100 yen stores such as Daiso greatly helped me out with finding the may things I neeeded. More updates will come soon as I continue to get accustomed with living in Japan and starting classes. My dorm room is the size of a studio but slightly smaller because there is no kitchen.
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August 2022
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