Last night we stayed at the Keio Plaza in Tokyo, which I talked about in my previous post. My roommate, Kayla, and I played Japanese radio, and we got to sleep in complimentary kimonos!
Our complimentary night kimono! Sideways :P
This morning we were roused by a 6 o clock wake up call, which I answered with a slurred, "もしもし," after dropping the phone once.
Looking out the window, the sun had already rose, and I saw several pedestrians and bicyclists at that early hour.
We had an American style breakfast, before taking off for our first full day in Japan.
The breakfast room at the Keio Plaza! It was huge.
We went to a college for the beginning of orientation. We listened to an interesting lecture by Professor Nakamura about the Great East Japan Earthquake(GEJE). We learned a lot about the damaging effects of the disaster, and the things that led up to it, and what things were like following.
After the morning lecture, we had some debriefing about our trip to the Fukushima and Tohoku area, which is still struggling to recover.
After the orientation, we went to an all-you-can-eat 肉やき (grilled meat) buffet. Basically, you go through a buffet line and get raw meat, and a separate plate of cooked dishes if you wish. Then you return to your seat where there is a grill in the middle of the table with a fire underneath. You grill your own meat! It was very yummy. I attempted to grill my own squid tentacles, but they were really chewy. :P
While at the 肉やき, I had the pleasure to wander into the bathroom stall, and find the infamous, "Squatty Potty," on the floor. Imagine a urinal on the floor, but smaller. And yes, you squat over it to go.
Squatty Potty! Haha.
From the restaurant, we made our way to Tokyo station, where we boarded a 新幹線(bullet train) to Fukushima. The bullet train reaches around 180 mph.
At Tokyo Station!
Waiting for our train!
Kayla and Adam at the Tokyo station!
Before getting on, we waited on the lower level of the station for 15 minutes, where there was air conditioning. My friend Rebecca and I made our way to the bathrooms. We almost walked into the men's, before we saw another man walking out. I think he knew what we were about to do, too! It was embarrassing, and we raced into the ladies', red and laughing.
The bathroom Rebecca and I almost walked into! -.-
I also had my first experience with a Japanese vending machine today. The main differences between America's and Japan's is that in Japan, they always work. Always. Also, they serve both cold drinks and hot drinks, rather than room temperature. We even saw one that served small heated meals. At the Tokyo train station (東京駅), there was a touch screen vending machine! They also are very reasonably priced, ranging from 100-200 Yen.
Lauren using the vending machine! :)
Today I stopped at a few different vending machines. I had a flavored tea, fruit-flavored water, and what I thought was chocolate milk, but turned out being some form of chocolate-coffee-cappuccino. It was cold, and tasted more like watered down chocolate milk with slight coffee flavor. I'm not that into coffee, but I actually enjoyed it. My fourth was some odd flavor of tea, which turned out to be the only one I disliked.
While on the bullet train, I was notified that we would be seeing my friend Takako this Friday! She was an exchange student at Kennedy during the 2010-2011 school year, and we became pretty close. This made me SUPER excited, since I haven't seen her in over a year!
Getting off the bullet train, we had a bathroom break, where I had a wonderful opportunity to use the Squatty Potty again! Although I honestly felt much more adept this time.
After arriving in Fukushima, we boarded another bus to go to our hotel, the レジーなの森(Regina no Mori). We went up and up a mountain to get to the area, around a forest and lake. It is really beautiful. Our hotel rooms are stand-alone buildings shaped like domes, with 4 beds and a bathroom. After dropping off our stuff, we went to the restaurant hall for the welcome reception. Outside, they had someone in a giant bunny suit! It was sooo cute!
A sign for our hotel! レジーナの森 ^^
Our hotel rooms!
Our dome! It seems bigger on the inside. :)
The giant bunny!
Coming into the restaurant, we had our own table for CR schools. They had some introductions, and showed us a video about the destruction from the GEJE. There were surveillance videos that showed entire rooms and buildings shaking, bookshelves falling, and one clip of debris falling off a building on the road. There was a clip that showed the inside of an office building, and you could hear a woman's panicked screams. It also showed a large break in the middle of a road from the quake. There was footage of water rushing in from the tsunami, which was frightening.
They had a welcome banner in the restaurant!
Overall, the video showed more than any news broadcasts did, and it portrayed how terrifying it was to be there.
After that, there were more intros, followed by our group presenting a t-shirt, Iowa flag, and an Iowa photo book to the workers there.
Then we ate supper, which was finally a Japanese style meal. YUM.
The restaurant hall at Regina no Mori.
During dinner, there were musicians that played ががく, or a traditional Japanese style music. It was very different, but I thought it was cool.
I ate soba noodles, and some other dishes that I don't remember the name of. I truly loved about half of what I put on my plate, but at least I tried all of it!
The buffet they had set up for us! Yum.
There was the CUTEST little boy at the reception. He had to have been 3 or 4. He smiled at me!
After dinner, we went outside on a deck for a laser light show, projected from across the lake. It was all green, and reflected off the water, and shined on the treetops behind us.
On the way back inside the restaurant hall, I saw the little boy again! I nudged my friend next to me, then pointed and said, "かわいい," which means cute. However, I think his father was behind me, and overheard! He laughed though, and made an effort to get his son to say hi to me. He was really shy and embarrassed though, so he didn't. :( But maybe I'll have more chances to see him over the next few days we'll be staying at this hotel. :) If so, I'll try to win his heart. がんばって！
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