The Panda Travels: Well...Hisashiburi Ne? Finally Getting Back to Writing

Hey oh y’all,

Well, better late than never…I mean it’s only been three plus weeks after.

Shout-out to Jacob Cruz for the Gambatte Award!

He out of all 12 of us here was the only one to keep a regular blogging schedule – and he posted daily videos too – please check his blog out at http://kealoha14.blogspot.jp.

I will explain this again in future posts – ie the ones that relate to my school work and whatnot – but ya – I am actually studying while I’m here. So that means Japanese tests and final papers.

And SAD but that’s a different aspect all together.

Anyways – let’s begin - I apologize for the current lack of photos. I'll put them in after I sort through them, so please check back soon!

And so...OUR TOKYO TRIP!

First – special shout-out to my bro’s back home – The Autobots (Christo, Hayden, Greg + Will)! They sent me some awesome A-me-ri-ka gu-u-zu! That translates to Gaijin Sunglasses!

As if I didn’t need another “Hey Japan! I’m Gaijin!” sign, for the whole of Tokyo trip, I wore my American flag sunglasses. Oh yeah! In America!

I don't know him...

So our trip starts – Shinkansen mo ikkai! That’s "once again on the Shinkansen."

But this time – with friends! Did you know that the Shinkansen seats can spin around. So let’s say you and a group control multiple rows, as we did. You can spin one of the rows around to face the other row. Of course you can do this w/o knowing the people behind you, but even I don’t recommend doing that – for one you lose a lot of leg-room, though you do get a nice space for large suitcases (which of course, only you as the gaijin brought). Besides, doing it when you know the people behind you gets you looks of exasperation already. But hey it’s fun!

Of course, us being Stanford students, we played games only Stanford people would find fun: “the I know something you don’t know game.” Is it frustrating? Yes. Is it noisy with the other people yelling angrily at you? Yes. Is it fun? Duh. Don’t you know that?

See what I did there?

So once we arrived we headed to our hotel called International House in Roppongi. Apparently it was built as part of the post-WWII US-Japan reconciliation movements – funded by the Rockefeller Foundation as a gathering place for rebuilding-minded intellectuals. America, for all it did during WWII especially to Japan, did do a relatively decent job rebuilding Japan (yes, this is America-centric and America did take “victor’s justice”, but US-Japan relations really did build well in the post-war period – in notable contrast to Japan-other Asian nation relations).

Then we went to the Ghibli Museum! Yay Ghibli! Home of Nausicaa, Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), and of course Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)! I’m sure Sumi-chan will explain the museum – haha despite what she says, she’s a anime fan ;p

Off to Ghibli Museum!

Then we went to Shibuya – the hip-downtown part of town – name brand shopping, bars, karaoke and the famous Shibuya Crossing – the big street that is just filled with people crossing every which way? You’d probably recognize the picture.