March 18 marks my third day in Osaka, which was a rather quiet day compared to the previous two. Yesterday, Mitsuteru and I explored Kyoto for 10 hours and the day prior we explored Osaka’s Namba (sometimes spelled “Nanda”) district. Today was one of extra sleep, catch-up work, and more Namba. I woke up at…
Saturday, March 17, 2018 was Saint Patrick’s Day back in the U.S. In Japan, however, it was just another ordinary Saturday. Except this Saturday was still special. On this fine, fair-weathered day, Mitsuteru and I explored Japan’s cultural and historical capital: Kyoto. Kyoto is world famous for its many temples, shrines, and of course the…
March 16-21 was yet another Undergraduate Holiday at TUJ, or as I like to call it, “Spring Break.” Just like the other study abroad students, I decided to spend a couple days in Osaka, along with a day trip to Kyoto, the cultural center of Japan. I could’ve gone anywhere in Japan but I chose…
Sunday, March 11 marks the seventh anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan’s Tohoku region, creating a tsunami (harbor wave) that damaged the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Gee, that’s a great way to start off a…
This piece was originally written, and submitted, as a reflection assignment for my Practical Japanese class. No alterations were made this time. On Sunday, March 4, 2018, my Japanese class and I visited Asakusa to experience Nihon Buyo, Senso-Ji, and eat Okonomiyaki. The two most interesting things I experienced this trip were dancing and dressing…
Japan is unlike any country in the world. Heck, Tokyo is unlike any metropolis in the world. One of the first things you’ll notice while you’re settling into the world’s largest metropolis is that there are convenience stores EVERYWHERE. According to my Japanese professor, there are over 7,000 convenience stores in Tokyo alone; that’s more…
Thursday, March 1, 2018, was what TUJ calls an “undergraduate holiday,” or basically a day off for no particular reason. On this fairly warm day, TUJ took a group of students on a trip to see Sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossom) trees in Kawazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Along the way, we also stopped to pick strawberries in…