I was sort of expecting this to happen, but since coming back my stomach has not been happy. My taste buds are both happy and sad. I'm happy to have access to good pizza again, but I miss my favorite ramen already, and I really wanted some gari-gari kun today as well. I went to get my favorite pizza today, but my stomach is paying the price.
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I know the date says it's just the next day. But thanks to time differences it's actually been two days since I've posted. The trip took me to Taipei for a couple hours, then from there a straight flight to SFO. My best friend Brian picked me up and I got to spend the day with him talking about Japan and everything I've missed since being there. It's too late to go today, but tomorrow I'm definitely driving up to Stockton to grab some pizza from Dante's.
Today is my last day in Tokyo. I'm getting the same uneasy feelings I had the day before coming here. I decided to say goodbye to Tokyo I would go to Tokyo tower at night to see Tokyo one last time with all of the light shining in the darkness. Unlike Tokyo Sky Tree, I highly recommend spending the extra cost of going to the top observatory. I also highly recommend going at night. The view was breathtaking. I said my goodbyes to Tokyo and promised to return again and on my way out I stopped by the One Piece shop and got some gifts for my friends back home. I want to wake up early tomorrow to avoid the crowd of tear filled eyes that I know will be occupying the lobby so goodnight, this will be my last post on this blog from Japan.
My friend took me a remote area in Saitama today to get some kakigori, we got there about 20 minutes before they opened but there was already a pretty long line. The place was called Asami Reizo. The wait was definitely worth it. It's a very large amount of shaved ice, with the syrups and toppings that we got it was absolutely delicious. After that we walked around a bit and found our way to a little diner, I could relate it to a mom'n'pop diner back home. We sat at the counter and the kitchen area was right in front of that so we could see all the preparation of our food. It was funny because the owners asked if we were from Toyo university. The food was some of the best I've had in Japan so far. I hope I can find my way back there again when I come back to Japan.
I've been saving some of the big sights for the end. Leaving in three days now. Went to Tokyo Sky Tree today in the afternoon. Got to see a really great view of Tokyo from the top. I don't really recommend spending the extra amount to go to the highest part. Wasn't really worth it in my opinion. Got some gifts for my family while I was there.
Leaving in four days now. Me and my roommates spent the day cleaning out our room. After taking our mess down to the garbage room I felt bad about the mess that Kaji san would have to deal with after our group left. I guess he deals with this at least twice a year though so I suppose he's used to it to some degree. Also my roommate and I had to send another box of manga back home. I just need to abstain from buying more... must resist...
Managed to get some tickets to go to the Ghibli Museum. It was a really cool place. They showed us a really fun little animated short film, and there was a lot of displays of the animation techniques that the studio uses as well as recreations of what some of the rooms that the animators use look like and loads of reference materials and sketches that they have made. I understand why we can't take pictures in the museum but I wish we could have. They had a really cool shop in the museum that had both manga a light novel versions of all of their films. I ended up buying Grave of the fireflies and Princess Mononoke light novels. I also visited the cafe there to get a coffee with a cool design drawn into the foam, expensive but the experience was worth it.
Just about a week left till we all have to head home. I'm getting a little sad that I may not see many of friends I've made here again, or at least not for a long time. Me and Evan went to Odaiba together to check out the malls there and to see the giant unicorn gundam. We walked around, saw some of the sights, explored the really awesome gunpla store in the mall, then had Panda Express(big mistake). I hope I get the chance to visit Evan in Missouri some time in the future, he's a really cool guy.
I went to the Sumidagawa fireworks show today. It was really amazing. There were so many people there so it was hard to find a good place to see the fireworks that wasn't charging money to see them. I wish I had a friend like in anime that had access to a rooftop nearby that has that perfect view, but I still managed to find a pretty good spot. The fireworks went on for almost three hours, it was amazing, and I was close enough that I could feel some of the debris from the fireworks flying towards me. Along with the Tokyo sky tree in the background it was an unforgettable experience. I decided not to take the train back, wanting to avoid another crowd like back at Enoshima last year. It was only about an hour walk back home and I got to see a lot of Tokyo that I hadn't gotten to see yet.
The semester isn't quite over yet, but we're having the exchange student graduation party today. Emotions were definitely high today. Took a bunch of pictures with everyone looking their best, except Josh, he forgot the party was happening and was a little under dressed. We all got a really nice looking certificate indicating our completion of our program and said a nice farewell to our professors that had made it to the party. Which is gonna be weird since we'll be seeing some of them next week for finals still.
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Study abroad 2018-2019 blogAuthorMy name is John Webster and I'm a Japanese language and culture major at CSUMB. I studied abroad at Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan. Archives
August 2019
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