The End of break and Golden Week!

I've been a neglectful blogger! Here is a photo summary of my break!

I went to Kamakura and visited several temples.

I went to DisneySea with my friends! It was a rainy day, but we had a blast!

I visited Mt. Fuji! Well, didn't climb it, but I was very close to it! Mt. Fuji is really beautiful! This photo is courtesy of my friend Nazuha and her Friendship Family.

photo courtesy of Nazuha

Ice caves near Mt. Fuji

Sakura bloomed in late March/early April, these were taken near Miyazakidai station.

I visited Meiji Jingu. This year is the 100th year since the passing of Emperor Meiji's wife's death. We missed the current Emperor's visit to the shrine by 15 minutes! I also learned that Obama was visiting the shrine! One day I will see you Mr. President...

We had another tea ceremony class, which was fun!

I joined the caligraphy club! The members are all very kind and patient.

Us K-step students were given the opportunity to wear kimono! Professionals helped us dress,put on make up, and do our hair. It took a very long time. Yet it took less than a minute to get everything off! Pro photographers were there to take pictures, as well as our own cameras. Both of these are courtesy of the photographers!

Along with traditional pursuits, we spent a day enjoying karaoke, the arcade, and a movie!

Karaoke

Taiko Drumming.

Captain America 2!

A sampling of my vacation

I've been on break since the end of January and I've had the opportunity to explore Tokyo and the surrounding area with my friends. I was invited to visit the Ghibli Studio Museum. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but I took these on the way there. Each ticket came with little cells from a studio Ghibli film. I have Howl from Howl's Moving Castle!

Totoro at the bus stop for the Ghibli bus. It did not come that day, so we walked.

Bus stop.

The outside of the museum.

Totoro and soot sprites welcome us.

 Then, we went ice skating! It was around $8 and you could skate as long as you want...It was fake ice. We wondered why, whenever we passed it on the way home, no one skated on it. The fake ice was sticky and there was no way to glide. Some spots were slick and you could slip, but other than that, it wasn't much fun. Well, we had fun walking around and laughing about it.

 I also went with some friends to Nippori, the textile town. There we saw just a few streets lined with fabrics, leathers, and shoes. There were many more we didn't get the chance to see!

 We met up with our Japanese friend Erika and went to eat lunch and karaoke. We had okonomiyake for lunch. This was my second time eating it. Its fun flipping and cooking it with your friends in the restaurant.

chocolate Hachiko statue in Hikarie

Okonomiyake, a sort of batter/omlette fried with whatever you want in it. 

The noodles were yakisoba ingredients, the other was pork okonomiyake.

Tokyo Snow!

I've been relishing in a mild winter, only to wake up today to insistent knocking at my door. My friends were so excited, there was snow! And lots of it!
We threw snowballs, built a snowman, and took lots of pictures in the nearby park. I brought my precious maple syrup with me so we could try snow syrup! So don't worry about us eating the brown snow!

The view from the dorm entrence

walking to the park.

Snow syrup!

Hokkaido Trip

Thanks to my friend's host mother, a small group of K-STEP students was able to book a trip to Hokkaido for a great price! Tokyo is very warm, snowing only once or twice a year. Hokkaido has a ton of snow and celebrates each year with a snow festival in Sapporo! Teams from all over the world come to compete! There were teams from New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the USA, among others. I saw one team from Portland Oregon and one from Hawaii. I was sure to cheer them both on.

The first day we explored after dropping our luggage off at the Keio Plaza Hotel. Sculptures were still being worked on and many exhibits were roped off. We also checked out a local food fair and tasted samples of dried squid, among other local foods. We shopped for souvenirs and I was tempted to buy canned bear meat, but I didn't, be proud of me. From there, our Host Mother treated us to a Michelin star restaurant! It was a bit intimidating, we all watched our host mother eat before digging in each dish. I was dubious as to how full we would be, because the courses were so small, but there were so many that it was hard to finish! It was my first time eating at a Michelin star restaurant and eating French food, and I would LOVE to do it again some time! The service was amazing the food was delicious! We got to keep the menus, but I have yet to unpack, or I would show you all what we ate.

The next day, we had breakfast at the buffet in the hotel ,which featured local food of Hokkaido as well as western dishes. It was very delicious. We then hopped on the bus to the zoo. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop and I bought melon and lavender twist ice cream. It was delicious! Hokkaido is famous for its melons. I must have contracted some inner ear infection or something, because by the time we arrived, the world was spinning and I had to sit down after a few of the exhibits. I did not miss the penguin march however! They were huge and adorable and I want to take one home!

The last day we explored the snow festival some more. It was snowing quite heavily and I was worried that our flight might be canceled. We ate inside a TV tower and got to glimpse Sapporo from an awesome height! Then we scurried back to the airport and came home. I wish our trip had never ended!

Feeding pigeons. I know NYC family, I shouldn't feed the rats with wings. They were too cute though!

A sculpture of an Ainu man in the train station. Ainu are the native people of northern Japan.

Olympic snow sculpture sculpted by the Japanese Defense force of Hokkaido!

Japan is super excited about hosting the Olympics! The Defence force is so talented!

A sculpture of Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia.

Curling, a bizarre winter Olympic sport.

Snow Festival mascot

Team Malaysia hard at work on their sculpture!

The view from the tv tower!

The view from the highest observation deck!