Nagano

Nagano was by far my favorite weekend trip from Tokyo. It has a little bit of everything: temples, onsen, and nature. Our first stop was the Zenkoji youth hostel. We were greeted by an old lady who was perhaps the kindest hostel owner in all of Japan. She proceeded to lead us on the tour of the city on the way to the onsen. We stopped at a sake brewery where she got the owners to give us free tastes of sake (japanese rice wine), and umeshu (japanese plum liquor). Next she got us into the onsen (Japanese spa) for free. 

The main temple, Zenkoji, was also impressive. The main attraction was a 10 minute walk in complete darkness under the temple, where you touch the "key to paradise". 

Temple Guard

"Rotating the stone wheel may save one from pain and suffering"

It is no wonder Mario was invented in Japan. Religion sometimes seems set up like a video game. Rotating this stone wheel saves you from pain and suffering, visiting a temple on a certain day counts as 30,000 normal visits, dipping money in a specific shrines gives greater returns when it is spent. I'm continually fascinated by the many temples and shrines implanted all over Japan, and the general non-religiousness of most of the population.

After visiting the shrine we headed to the monkey onsen. I had been wanting to see the Japanese snow-monkeys since watching Baraka and seeing the saddest monkey in the world. Well, we found them, all of them. The Nagano monkey park housed more monkeys than we could imagine. Babies, adults, fighting for food, with plenty of japanese and a sprinkle of foreign tourists to entertain themselves.

Photo shoot

kawaii

We obviously had not choice but to get ice cream here

Fireworks

Fireworks are everywhere in Japan. You can buy sparklers at larger grocery stores and larger fireworks aren't hard to find. In addition, over the course of the entire summer, there are several firework festivals. We went to the one in Katsushika, which had about 7000 fireworks. 

What was most interesting about the fireworks was the music. During the course of the ~ 30 minute show they played: star wars, ode to joy (jpop version), coldplay, some opera song, amazing grace, more J-pop. The eclectic mix of songs was amusing, and different than the silence I am accustomed to at US shows. 

No night on the town can be complete without some Karaoke. Karaoke in Japan is done is small rooms with just the people you show up with. Because of rights issues (I assume) they play strange unrelated videos on the screen while you sing. This one shows the popular BBQ game of Suikawari. It is like a pinata smashing, except you smash a watermelon with a wooden stick (sword). 

Ishinomaki

We went to Ishinomaki for a day of volunteering. This city was one of the most devastated by the Tsunami. I have never seen so much devastation. 

We joined a church group that had been busing volunteers North almost every weekend since the disaster. After a 12 hour overnight bus ride (on a very uncomfortable bus) we arrived at the volunteer staging area. Volunteer groups from across Japan assemble and are assigned work projects for the day(s) based on group experience. 

Our particular assignment was to clean the area behind an old couples house. We had to remove soil that was damaged from the tsunami waters. 

Overall I am very impressed with the Japanese response to the Tsunami disaster. My friend from china commented that when he saw video footage from after the disaster he couldn't believe the Japanese were lining up in the evacuation. Because the Japanese are so disciplined and organized, they coped with the disaster much better than if it would have impacted another nation. 

Pod Hotel

The US space program may be over, but if you want to experience what it must be like sleeping on a space station you can just head to Tokyo, and climb into a pod capsule. 

Such accommodation is where I spent a night between switching from Tokyo Tech to University of Tokyo. As one expects, when you stay at a pod hotel you sleep in a pod capsule. There are communal showers and a locker to store your stuff. 

You basically climb in, pull down the shade, and catch some shut-eye. You can check out the TV if it suits your fancy. I was surprised at some of the channel options...

Nikko

Nikko is a small town a bit outside of Tokyo.

Nikko had three things we were looking for: shrines, onsens, and hikes. We started the first day visiting the shrine. By far one of the most impressive ones I had seen since entering Japan. No doubt a World Heritage Site. Also famous for its carving of the three wise monkeys. 

The three wise monkeys

We stayed the night at a Ryokan, a Japanese style hotel where you sleep on classic futon. You are normally served dinner as well but we checked in too late, although Gareth-san and Erik-san partook in the breakfast fish. 

We attempted a hike the next day, starting at Yudaki falls. 

The falls apparently has feminine qualities. 

Unfortunately, it started pouring so we had to take the bus back to the station, none of us having the foresight to bring our rain gear or even check the weather. Of course, rainy season ended two weeks ago, but with Tropical Storm Ma-on on the horizon I guess you can't be too rainshy.

Dragons. Still Awesome.

Not as weird as I thought

Overall, Japan is not as strange as I thought it would be. People who are obsessed with anime are actually called otaku, and somewhat shunned. I think the closest english translation would be trekkie. Many of my labmates thought I would be otaku when I came because that is common for americans coming to Japan. Upon confirming that I am not otaku they replied, 'oh, ok, you are normal.' Being obsessed with anime is not actually that popular here. Most of what we see of japan is the abnormal, but really the country as a whole isn't that strange. America has all sorts of crazy people too (like birthers, for instance). That being said, I did manage to find a vending machine that sells used panties. 

These are actually hard to come by, but they do exist. 

I also ventured into a cat cafe. This is where people pay by the hour to be around cats. Pets are very uncommon in Tokyo so this gives people a chance to pet, feed, and in general be in the vicinity of feline company. If you prefer the company of a dog you can rent one at the park and spend the afternoon with it. 

Gotta LoL-caption 'em all!

My favorite of the bunch. 

But not all are pretty.

So as a whole Tokyo isn't that weird. Apart from a few random vending machines and some strange cafes (I haven't even talked about the panties cafes yet), it is pretty much normal. 

Also, this.

Tokyo Nightlife

If you're going to go out on a Friday or Saturday in Tokyo, you have to go all out. The last trains come at ~12:30, earlier or later depending on your transfer, but don't expect to catch anything after 1 am. That means everyone who goes out on a weekend night has to stay out until the trains start running again at 5 am. This creates an interesting nightlife. The clubs don't get crowded until 12:30 and 1:30 am. They stay mostly packed until 4:30, and then start to empty out as people head to the station. For those who don't pass out on the street (pictures available on request), you can find a love hotel or a pod hotel depending on how lucky you were. So can definitely party in Tokyo, but it basically ruins your next day. 

They have lowriders in Japan too.

Tokyo Disney (Sea)

I told you the shirts we got in Beijing would make a reappearance when Erik-san and I hit up Tokyo Disney. Or should I say, Disney-SEA. This theme park is unique to Tokyo, so was chosen over Tokyo Disney. 

Mermaid Lagoon.

Like most disney parks, the rides were all well designed. Long waits for 5 minutes of thrills was the norm. However you could bypass this by getting Fastpass tickets for one ride at a time, which would allow you to come back at a given time and skip ahead. For a few select rides you could also go as a 'single rider', in which you filled in extra spaces so could also skip ahead in the line. 

Tokyo Institute of Technology

My first month here, I have been at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. I was put in the grad school office with many masters-course students.

It seems, US grad students have it lucky. 16 grad students were crammed into this office. However, not everyone is in the office at once. Many of the grad students generally show up between 10 AM and Noon, and stay to 10 PM, midnight, or even 2 AM. Unlike in the US where the late hours are where a place is empty, the office would be much more crowded between 8 and 12 PM than between 8 and 12 AM. I was also impressed that some students would commute 1 to 1.5 hours each way and still stay 10 hours at the office. Because of such commutes, it is also somewhat common for students to stay overnight, and they have cots and futons which get pulled out for such occasions. 

Tokyo Tech itself seems to be somewhat of a nerd campus, comparable to MIT or Caltech. I think this is confirmed by it having only 10% female students. The grad students as a whole seem to work very hard, of course since I went to undergrad 'where fun comes to die' I can't really say much. After undergrad, if they do well on exams they go to master-course, where they spend 2 years to get a masters. After master-course they decide if they want to job search or to do phd-course. Job searching is a big deal because once you start with a company, it is considered unloyal to switch to a different company.

The students are all nice. I think when I first came I overestimated the differences in etiquette. At any rate, they had a welcome party where I had to give a power point to introduce myself. They then had fun getting me to eat strange japanese food such as natto (fermented soy beans). They continue to compliment me on my use of chopsticks and good english. My phonetic pronunciation of english during Karaoke is apparently quite excellent, as is my english rap.

Respect.