The Last Week

Well, once again, a lot has gone on just over the weekend! There were so many pictures, it was hard to pick less than 60...so, once again, I apologize about the massive amount of them.

Ashleigh and I went to Shinjuku and then around Waseda to try to find a bank and open an account. For the record, never try this method. Wait until the banks come to your school and then decide. And also, for the record, Resona appears more student-friendly than Citi, especially considering the lack of Citi ATMs...everywhere.

These couple of pictures are from Sweets Paradise--an all you can eat Sweets Buffet! Delicious, but a little painful to the stomach...

and a little bit painful to English speakers, as well. The heeltaps in America are better. :P

The yummy, yummy sweets :)

Next, a few of us went to a little traditional art gallery/museum/shop that was in the same area (Ikebukuro). These are a few of the things we saw:
Beautiful set up of utensils.

Aww

This style of art originated from Koreans living in Japan centuries ago. It is known for the blue paint on the white background.

Even the adorable little guys were so intricate!

The next day, Marija, Clare, Alex, and I went to Kamakura to look at the shrines and temples.

This one is from a shelter for women who's husbands wouldn't allow them to divorce. It is a Buddhist Temple and graveyard, as well.

Probably a protector for wanderers or the deceased...but, I'm not sure.

The graveyard at the shelter. Some of the graves were gorgeous, and a lot of them had fresh flowers as offerings to ancestors. One of them even had a beer; I guess beer and sake are pretty common "gifts" to the dead.

Next on our journey was the hike to the Daibutsu (big Buddha temple). The way was sort but quite slippery from the rain the night before and a little trecherous!

Footholds. They were only in one part, but I found them very convenient.

A beautiful view from partway down the trail.

These spiky, green fruits were growing in a little field by the trail. I later saw them sold in a shop--no clue what they are!

Me in front of the Daibutsu. Amazing! He was giant--and the artwork was so intricate. We got to go inside him for another 2 bucks or so--displays inside showed how he was built using a layering technique. Very interesting.

Compare this picture to the next. Adorable!

Compare this picture to the last. Adorable!

Our next visit was to a Shinto shrine dedicated to samurai called Tsurugaoka Hachiman-Guu. A cherry-tree lined path lead the way. In front of that gate stood two lions (a special, more legendary type whose name eludes me), each with a different expression. The asymmetry surprised me, but I liked it.

At the shrine itself. Every shrine has a wash station with a hand-washing ritual (described in an earlier post), and some of the bigger ones have several small shrines before the big one. There are shops where you can buy prayers and souvenir-like things. Then, there is the big shrine (the one up the stairs in this case).

Our little group of travelers (Clare, Alex, me, Marija), by the water and huge lily pads (or, at least we think that's what those may be)! Everyone here is happy to take a picture for you if asked; it's very easy and pleasant.

After our journeys in Kamakura, we went with Waseda International Club to a night viewing at a government building (described earlier in my blog) to see the city. It was really beautiful....

The city at night.

The next day, Ashleigh, Marija, Clare, and I went to Ueno Park to go to the zoo.

This prince started the red cross and blood donation society of Japan. Good for him!

There were canadian geese at the zoo.... Funny that they could be a novelty here! There were also gila monsters; it made my day!

There were several shrines at the zoo; this is Ashleigh in front of one of them! There was also a tea house; apparently, the zoo was built around that house. It was where leaders of an older Japan would go for tea ceremonies.

Marija, me, Ashleigh, and Clare in front of the closest thing to a giant panda the zoo had. It did have real red pandas, though! Adorable!

Baby monkey. SO cute.
This is a soft-shelled Chinese turtle. There's one in the turtle pond at school; it always looked so awkward and different, so I was very glad to find out what it was. He was in the giant reptile house, along with lots of lizards, several gators, snakes, and other, more primordial creatures.

This guy was some sort of aquatic lizard with a vestigial leg and foot. Look toward the right hand side and the back to see it!

The rest of the creature with the vestigial leg.

I think this was some sort of toad!

A hippopotamus! Among the other creatures in the zoo were bears, lions, tigers, gorillas, condors, hawks (there were a lot of various birds), bison, rodents, bats, and many more! It was a really cool trip.

The next day, I went on the Tokyo Tour hosted by the two International Groups: Nijinokai and W.I.C. (Waseda International Club). I had to pick one of four places, so I chose Tokyo Tower and Tsukishima. In Tsukishima, we tried a type of food called monja...or at least, everyone else did. It had shellfish bits in it, and I didn't want to let my table down (since it's a group type of eating), so I had to go somewhere else. Still, my pork and rice was delicious!

After eating, we went to a beautiful lookout point over a famous river (the name eludes me).
The river leads to the sea and has a great view of the city! The people with me are some fellow exchange students and some people from the international clubs.

We arrived at Tokyo Tower! Interestingly, some Japanese nationalists were circling the tower in big vans, blasting and old World War II army song and honking loudly at the gaijin (foreingers) they saw. It was a little tacky, and it was probably the first time I've been more than a bystander in a racist display.

Tokyo Tower was meant in some part as a way to one-up France. It's a whole 9.5 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower, but it is nowhere near as magnificent. It actually looked a bit silly to me with its bright colors and satellite-things sticking out of the side. Still, it was fun getting to see it and go inside.

Some of us took the elevator, but the cool kids took the stairs up to the first and second observation levels (I would have gone to the special observatory had time permitted, but our group was on a schedule). We got a little "you did it!" card for taking the stairs all the way to the top. This was my favorite picture of the view of Tokyo from the tower.

After taking the stairs back down, my friends and I found the rather phallic mascot of Tokyo Tower (he's supposed to be shaped like the tower, but it looked a little different to us).

These dogs are the ones who ventured bravely to the South Pole. Not sure why they're next to Tokyo Tower, but I liked the display.

These little clothed statues are for departed children...usually from miscarriages and the like. It was kind of sad to see so many lining the side of this shrine.

These scary dark birds are everywhere. They sound like crows, but they have very strange beaks....

There was a Matsuri (festival) going on in the next prefecture! So lucky to be able to see these types of things. Really, the very old next to the very new is quite the fascinating thing to be able to witness. Starbucks right next to old temple gates, Matsuri in the big city...everything is truly amazing.

Anyway, until next time!