This is it, the final blog post relating to my internship in Japan.
Before I get into the main bulk of what I have to say, we had one last place we never tried. Truth be told, we always walked by this place since the start of the internship while on our way to the Shibuya Station. It only took us six weeks to actually walk inside.
As you may have guess, they sell curry. Now when I ordered the about curry bread, I was not expecting it to be as crispy and delicious as it was. Each bread was about $2 which makes it really unfortunate that we waited so long to actually try it.
As it was our last week and Friday being our last day, we had a couple farewell parties. The first was with the Shibuya residents who were always great fun to talk with. I’ve always been a listener in conversations so it was great since they had so many things to share. Later, there was a farewell party for us Chat Leaders as well! It was amazing seeing all the students that showed up. Hearing them say that they personally enjoyed having chat sessions with me, made me well up with an abundant amount of happiness!
To commemorate the event, our supervisors in the featured image gave us two certificates: one documents the completion of our internship with the appropriate hours and the other is a formal letter recognizing our contribution during the internship.
Best of all is the little photo album they gave us. We weren’t here for long but seeing all the photos of everyone enjoying the various Chat Room activities makes me really happy. At the same time, it becomes more real that I would be leaving Japan. Prior to the party, I was excited to see my friends back home, but during the party I realized I would be leaving all my new friends too.
I have had so many great experiences since coming to Japan but it was definitely the people I met while there that really enriched my experience. I do plan to stay in contact with those that I can through things like Facebook and LINE. One day I will return to Japan for vacation at the very least. Hopefully at that time, I will be able to reunite with as many of the wonderful people I have met during my stay as I can.
On the glorious Monday, we, the IWU interns, were in charge of event that went surprisingly well. We had many things planned but after teaching and playing Ninja with 30 or so people, we didn’t have much time for anything else aside from snacks.
Tuesday, we got to see Strong-sensei (his last name is literally Strong) as well as his class again. We had to chart our personal level of culture shock and for the most part we all had different experiences for various reasons. 
If you’re curious, the only thing I would have considered culture shock would have been the trains and only being able to read with 60%-70% accuracy because kanji (Chinese characters that are also used in Japanese) is hard. We also got a chance to tell our (skip to the next section if you don’t like bugs) cockroach stories. The story that involved me occurred that morning actually. I woke up at 5AM but not because I planned on it. I felt something on my neck so I slapped it away thinking it was a fly. Immediately after, I heard something hit the floor. I thought that was odd so I grabbed my phone, used the flashlight, and looked around. There was nothing. I got up, turned on the lights, and looked around. Still nothing. I walked over to my futon, paused for a moment, and kicked it. Out came a scurrying cockroach. Since I had just woken, my reflexes were too slow to catch it so I had no choice but to let it be when I lost it.
Our last day with the Junior High kids was on Wednesday. We even did short farewell speech. Not just a normal farewell speech, we were broadcasted throughout the school with video. I was definitely not expecting that. For my little speech, I took the opportunity to speak in Japanese since they offered. From what I heard from the teachers, all of their students were dumbfounded when they heard me speak so that was an accomplishment! For Moss-sensei’s elective class, he had his students act out and translate “AU” (phone company) commercials. The commercials featured characters from old Japanese stories such as: Momotarou, Kintarou, Urashimatarou, Orihime, Kaguyahime. It was hilarious watching them trying to perform the skit and, to their credit, some of them did exceedingly well. After that, I had the English Math class where, surprisingly, I was in full control of the lesson after reviewing the test. Saki-sensei forgot to record the lesson so sometime later we will do recordings so they can use it for next year’s class.
For Monday, we ate at a Korean BBQ place called “Gut’s Soul”. Such a place in Japan is called yakiniku which literally translates to “grilled meat”. For the equivalent of $13, it was an all-you-can-eat experience with various types of marinated meats and sides that you can cook yourself. Being able to grill your own food was fun and gave you something to do instead of just waiting for someone to bring it out for you.
On Wednesday, our friend Masahiro showed us an amazing ramen place near Shibuya Crossing. Not many people seem to know about it, but the ramen there was better than the Ichiran place I talked about before. It was only about $8 and the size of the bowl was larger than my hand! I unfortunately don’t know the name, but I remember how to get to it if I ever need to go again.
After having a ramen dinner, I went straight Akiba and visited one of the many game centers, or arcades. I really love seeing things from my hobbies displayed so openly. The first few floors were crane games which actually had interesting game/anime-themed prizes such as figures, plushies, and other collectible goodies.
On the higher floors they had actual games. Final Fantasy Dissidia was a game that came out on the PSP many years ago and recently got a new release. This was an arcade version which you can actually play for quite some time for only $2. One thing I would like to mention is that at these arcades, there are memory cards you can buy so you can keep your progress at any machine and continue at any other arcade in Japan! If America had a system like this, then I would definitely spend more time at arcades.
On Saturday I met up with previous Keio Exchange students that went to IWU. Four of them were my Japanese tutors (they came in pairs although Nozomi had to leave so she is not in the photo) and two of them will be the exchange students for this upcoming school year! That night I spoke the most Japanese since coming to Japan!
This past Saturday I went to Asakusa with few friends that I made a while back. You know, the ones from the Honmonji visit. It was a surprisingly hot day when we went out, but it was most certainly beautiful.
Before the temple, there is a rather long shopping strip. Only just now realizing this, the photo does a good job showing how long the strip is. There were various foods, snack, and many souvenir booths. The photo just shows the main lane, however, there are also more shops on the outside.
The main Sensō-ji Temple (copy & paste solution for diacritical marks) was large just like the Honmonji Temple. Here you can buy mikuji (fortunes) as well as omamori similar to the Enoshima Shrine.
You may have noticed previously, but at both the gate and the temple, there are these large lanterns. On the underside of them, there are carved depictions of a dragon. At the time, I didn’t think to take a picture of it, however. The meaning and importance of said lanterns are unfortunately outside my realm of knowledge so feel free to enlighten me.
This was a funny photo because one of the girls got lost a little while ago and was trying to explain what she saw. First, she called it the “Golden Tongue” which, after seeing it, I couldn’t say was a fitting name. After a quick Googling, we saw some called it the “Golden Poo”. I really didn’t want to believe that one. Finally, we found that it is actually a logo for the Asahi brand and its shape is supposed to be symbolic of their passionate he burning gold as it leaps through the air… That level of symbolism is lost on me.
This is a park that is themed like a ship so I can imagine this would be a lot of fun in the summer! We only passed this on our way to the last group destination for the day.
What a nice family photo! If you have read my first blog then these faces should be familiar. So our friends Erina and Eri showed us a really nice yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick) place in Shibuya on Monday.
The food was great and the best was that it was all you can eat! All you can eat is always such a great experience so we just kept ordering more and more. There were also a variety of other types of chicken and foods available too. I am just in love with Japanese cooking and it’s going to be really sad when I have to leave.
So for those of you who like anime, games, etc., I went to Akihabara or Akiba on Thursday. I met up with my Japanese tutor who was an exchange student at my school two years ago and he showed me around. If anyone is curious, the above features characters from the anime “Darling in the Franxx”.
Of course, if I’m going to be in Akiba, then I need to by some anime merchandise. I will say though, Akiba is an entirely different experience. Anime is slowly becoming more open in America by literally everything advertised on billboards, buildings, etc. were of anime or relating to stereotypical “otaku culture”. Part of that culture includes maid cafes. The name itself if self-explanatory but literally every block had three or so people dressed as maids trying to bring in customers. They all had different outfits and some were dressed eccentrically like a military officer or really gothic. Definitely not something you’d see in America.
In the event it’s hard to see, those are people. Those people are driving go-karts. Those people are wear certain costumes while driving go-karts. It’s real life Mario Kart in Akiba everybody. The surprising thing is that this is not an uncommon sight. How awesome would that be! Unfortunately, I do not have an international driver’s license…
Friday, we went out to eat with our supervisors from the Chat Room! They took us to a seafood place we get to fish for our meal. Yes, we fished for food inside of this restaurant.
After catching the fish, we can choose in what way we want our fish prepare. This fish was alive like 10 minutes prior to this photo. Thank you for the food.
On Saturday, we went to an onsen (hot spring) in Odaiba. I was very excited because it is also a common troupe in anime so of course I had to try it.
The venue also gives yukata to their guess to I got to wear some traditional clothing. It was also required that we leave our shoes at the entrance to the building so everyone was barefoot. The interior was designed like a matsuri (festival) and even had games and foods that were typically attributed to matsuri to help add to the lively atmosphere!
I had my first okonomiyaki (savory rather than sweet pancake with fried noodle) here. Whenever I explain the part about it being a pancake, my friends in America think, “Wouldn’t that taste terrible”, but there are many ways to enjoy food.
While I didn’t play any of the traditional matsuri games, I did play Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master). It’s a very popular rhythm game in Japan and it always looked like fun to me even in America. I have a weird soft spot for rhythm game. The actual gameplay and the feeling of hitting the drum was more fun than I initially thought. It was also neat how Min Hyuk and I would unintentionally sync up our movements to the beat of the music.
For obvious reasons, I do not have any photos of the onsen area but there was an open-air foot bath that was also nice. In one part of the bath there were stones you walk on that press into your feet to help improve circulation. Everyone thought it hurt a lot to walk on them but I guess I just have a higher pain tolerance.
Later that evening, after we had our fill of onsen, we met up with other students from our school who were sent to Japan on the same program but to different sites. We met up and had a great time eating and drinking. Our sensei (teacher) was supposed to meet us at the venue but he bailed last minute so it was just us.
On Sunday, I met up with the people from my Honmonji visit and we all went to Tokyo Tower! If you couldn’t tell from the photo.
The main deck ticket was $9 while the top deck was $30 so we all settled for just the main deck. The view was amazing from 150m up! At first they all thought we had to take the stairs which would have been 600 steps but were relieved when we saw the elevator. While riding it, I could feel the pressure difference in my ears as we rose.
There also a comedy routine of sorts going on while we were there. Unfortunately, we only caught the last few bits of their act. It was really funny and I do enjoy the comedic performances that I’ve seen while touring Japan thus far.
After Tokyo Tower, we all got crepes at the base of it. Crepes are really popular and find them almost anywhere or at least in the Tokyo area. There was apparently over 100 different varieties at this one shop.
I just went with the special because why not? A crepe, at its base, is something wrapped in a pancake. The process of it was very cool in my opinion. My special had ice cream, whip cream, some syrup, banana, cinnamon, and a whole lot of other sweet things.
Since the tower visit was over, we took a stroll to the a nearby temple as we tried to make our way to the Imperial Palace.
Here they were preparing for the Tanabata festival that takes place on July 7th. I may have mentioned it in a previous post but the festival is to celebrate the reunion of Prince Hikoboshi and Princess Orihime. During this time, people will write wishes and then tie those wishes to bamboo in hopes that it will be granted.
So as we made our way closer to the Imperial Palace, we realized that the palace was under some sort of construction. We only realized after we had gone to literally every possible entrance and saw it was blocked off.
So while I had been to Shinjuku before, I didn’t have a chance to look around at the time. When we were looking around for a place to eat for dinner, I noticed a rather auspicious looking Godzilla looking over one of the buildings.
First day of the work week is Monday. So this is the day after my Honmonji visit from the last post. Once a week from now on we are to head to the Sagamihara Aoyama campus to do Chat Room sessions and possibly help teachers with their class. Sagamihara is very familiar to IWU in the sense that it’s very open and spacious. The chat room works just like the one in Shibuya except there isn’t as many Chat Learders. In addition to the normal sessions, we also were interviewed by a class of university students. By interview, I mean they asked us our name, major, hobbies, etc. You know, the usual ice breakers. With that in mind, you can probably see where this is going.
For Wednesday, we were at the Junior High again helping the same teacher as before. This time, however, we also joined his elective class where the students had to come up with jokes based on pictures that the teacher chose. The jokes or quips had to be in English of course….it was probably the most difficult thing they’ve done yet. Afterwards we also visited a Math class taught in English. It reminded me that while I can have a normal conversation in Japanese, I lack the ability to do math and talk about more in-depth topics. Last week we received confirmation to join one of the after school clubs and as such (since soccer didn’t meet on Wednesday) I practiced handball with all of the Junior High students!
Sorry about the photo quality, it wasn’t taken using my phone. Anyways, Thursday and Friday were essentially the same. We went to the High School and did a presentation five or six times over the two days. The rough outline is as follows: Personal Bios, Wesleyan Information, and Cultural Sensitivity. We weren’t really given a prompt for what we should talk about and so we did a bit of culture awareness. My portion of the presentation included the common ice breaker topics as well as a bit of what education and work was like in America. The questions we didn’t get to answer at the end were later submitted to us and from those it seems our presentation went over rather well despite their lack of reaction during it.
So it looks like a plate of steaming hot steak and well…you’d be correct. There was bound to be food somewhere right? So steak, just like most places, can be on the higher end for prices. We ate at a place called “Ikinari Steak” which translates to “suddenly steak”. That alone was the main reason why I wanted to eat there. The idea of just walking along and then “suddenly steak!” was a very amusing thought. Only rarely do I follow whims like that.
Continuing the short food train this time around is McDonald’s! Yes, that’s right. A Japanese McDonald’s. My close friend that travels with his family a lot always said to try a familiar brand in an unfamiliar land. The menu is significantly smaller than America but they had some interesting burgers that you would not see in America. What I had was that day was the Ebi (Shrimp) Fillet! Normally shrimp aren’t big enough to fillet but they made a layer of shrimp then floured and fried it in a fillet fashion. I honestly wish this was something available stateside.
After the shrine, I was making my way to the Seacandle but stopped after seeing a crowd gathered around a performer. He was doing a comedy routine with a Queen soundtrack that incorporated into his performance as well. I genuinely enjoyed his show and it was a nice little break since I had been walking for quite some time up to that point.
I know I’m mid-sentence in this photo but I just feel like I have a weird face… Anywho, if I recall, last time I had just finished doing my orientation where I learned a bit about the internship specifics. To put it simply, I am to help student from elementary through university as well as local Shibuya residents who come to the Chat Room practice their English and provide a cultural exchange. We interns are not always in the Chat Room as the above photo would depict. We were taken to a professor’s class for his students to ask us questions about various things including but not limited to schooling, work, and life in America.
Here we were taken to the junior high to act as partners for pair work that the teacher assigned to the class. Most of the students I had for the pair work could speak English really well. I later learned that Aoyama’s schools are pretty expensive so it wouldn’t have been unusual for them to have overseas at one point or another. This upcoming week, we were green-lit to participate in the clubs at the junior high for a little fun. Soccer wasn’t meeting the day we would be there so hopefully I can learn handball well enough instead.
With the work stuff out of the way, we can talk about what we did for fun outside of our work hours. The above photo was taken at a restaurant called “Ootoya”. It’s a place that serves genuine Japanese meals at a great price! Erina and Eri showed us the place because it has tasty food and it would have been kinda hard to find on our own since the entrance was a narrow staircase down to the restaurant.
This was us shortly after our meal at the Shibuya Crossing. The day and night of Shibuya are such stark contrasts of each other it’s amazing! Or maybe that’s how it always is with bigger cities but I wouldn’t know since I grew in a small town. It’s exciting nevertheless!
So Friday night after work at the Chat Room, we were invited by the other Chat Leaders to go to a place called “Chiba-chan”. The restaurant seems to be highly popular on the weekends because it was packed and people were hooting and hollering like no tomorrow. It was great! There was a little bit of everything for appetizers until we got to the main course for the night: the Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) boat. Everything about it was simply delicious. The seasoning, the tenderness, the juiciness, all of it. There was so much that we barely finished it as a group of 8 people that night.
Saturday, I spent a lot of doing nothing mainly because it was our first day off. However, later at night Min Hyuk and I went out for some sushi at “Genki Sushi”. It was funny because the little sushi mascot they had did not look genki (good state of being, happy) with his somewhat angry expression. The sushi here was amazing and completely blew all the other sushi I’ve ever eaten out of the water. And to top it off, it was so ridiculously cheap compared to America. There’s only three prices you pay:108 yen, 183 yen, and 237 yen. The yellow plates are the cheapest at roughly $1 per plate and there’s a huge variety of over 50 different sushi. That’s just the yellow plates too!
So today, June 10th, I had made plans to do a flower viewing and temple visit at Honmonji Temple through Sakura House. I do more than just eat in my spare time you know! The flowers in season right now were the hydrangeas whose color is dependent on the acidity of the soil in which they are planted in.
While I knew about the colors thanks to my high school chemistry teacher, I did not know that they also come in various forms like the above. I thought it was really pretty with its icy blue coloring. It can be hard to obtain a specific color since rain has the potential to shift the acid levels in the soil.
The pagoda shown is one of the many buildings at temple and was constructed in the 13th century. It’s said that the top of the tower is to contain the ashes of Buddha but of course that is to be taken with a grain of salt. The four faces of the building, interestingly, have all 12 zodiac animals which then lead to asking each other in my tour group what their zodiac was.
At the main entrance to the temple, on either side of the gate you will find the above guardian statue. One statue has its mouth closed and one has it open. We were told that they were mouthing the word meaning “universe”. Seeing the two kinda reminded me of Raijin and Fuujin (diacritical marks are hard), the gods of lightning and wind respectively.
This is the main Honmonji Temple. At the right, there is a place the priests use to purify themselves with water produced from a dragon statue. Dragons, as I was told, are attributed to water more so than fire. We also participated in the cleansing as it was a simpler ritual than originally thought. The inside of the temple was very pristine and captivating with its interior design and the main object of worship. The ceiling also featured a grandiose painting of a dragon being formed from the sea. Unfortunately no photos of the inside because it would have been disrespectful and that’s the last thing I want. 
After all the outdoor touring in the rain, we spent the remainder of the tour doing more cultural things indoors.
Gotta say though, doing calligraphy for the first time was pretty nerve-wrecking. In my mind, I definitely define it as art and as such I put needless amounts of pressure on myself whenever attempting it in any form.
After going through various practice papers to get used to the brush everyone ultimately made a fan with their own hand-written kanji. I blanked out super hard the 200ish kanji I should know, so I settled for writing down “heiwa” or “peace” because who doesn’t like some peace.
After my kanji panic mode, we moved on to flower arrangement! I more than likely don’t have an eye for this sort of thing so I actually didn’t overthink anything and just went with the flow. It was, as some might say, neato burrito. There was also origami thrown into the mix at this station but I had already learned some in junior high. Instead, I taught some nice ladies and a little girl how to make an origami lotus! After we finished I gave mine to the girl because she had a hard time with the small paper we were folding with. She was ecstatic!
Lastly, the female participants got to try on a yukata (summer kimono/dress) and the males got to try on a bit of samurai foot soldier armor and wield a katana (dull of course). The sword had a nice weight to it so drawing it from the sheath was exciting! Yukata also aren’t strictly female attire as there are male yukata which have more of a plain design. In general, they are worn at matsuri (festivals) but also can be worn on other occasions.
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