Saturday, April 21 was just a travel day. After getting a comfortable night’s sleep at the Capsule Hotel ASTIL Dotombori, I packed my belongings, changed into my clothes, and checked out of the hotel. I boarded the Midosuji Line train for the last time for Shin-Osaka Station where I ordered Avocado Toast from Dean and…
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…
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…
Sunday, February 18, 2018, was the kind of day I needed to experience while studying abroad in Japan. It’s been about a month since I’ve made a genuine effort to explore the vast metropolis that is Tokyo. In fact, many of the areas I explored today were areas that I actually commute by on a…
The week of February 11-17 marks my fifth week of both classes and my time in Japan. I am currently studying for Midterms and working on some leadership applications back at Chapman. In the meantime, here are some photos taken within the last week. Tokyo is an amazing city to walk around in and I…
This post is a modified version of an assignment I wrote for my Practical Japanese class. This post is also written from the perspective of a dumb American who barely knows what Setsubun is, so please forgive me. I will update the post with corrections as I see fit. Saturday, February 3, 2018 was not…