Incul is short for Intercultural Institute of Japan (my language school). I'm participating in a 3-week winter course with them and each day after we have class from 10-13:10 we head out to explore Tokyo together!
This week began with a trip to the Disaster Prevention Center. It was right next to the fire department so I took a picture of the fire truck for William Bick's kindergarten students to see!
This week began with a trip to the Disaster Prevention Center. It was right next to the fire department so I took a picture of the fire truck for William Bick's kindergarten students to see!
The building is pretty cool too! So in the disaster prevention center we watched a movie about the three largest recorded earthquakes in Japan's history, learned about fire safety and had a Taiwan vs America how to get out of a burning building without dying from smoke inhalation competition (I think we tied at slight casualties but no deaths level), practiced using fire extinguishers, and went through an earthquake simulator. I don't think I want to be around when a magnitude 7 or higher occurs...
It was educational, but I really wish we could have been taught in English because I couldn't understand everything our guide told us in Japanese.
It was educational, but I really wish we could have been taught in English because I couldn't understand everything our guide told us in Japanese.
The next day was 節分 (Setsubun) which is the last day on winter here (the beginning of February). Because of this, after class everyone went to the first floor of the building to throw 豆まき (mamemaki; soy beans) at Oni (demons) while saying 鬼は外!福は内!(Out with the demons, In with good luck) and then eating the number of beans as our age. It was quite fun.
Pictures here.
After Mamemaki festivities, the winter course group went to Koiwa to watch and enjoy 茶道 (a tea ceremony).
Pictures here.
After Mamemaki festivities, the winter course group went to Koiwa to watch and enjoy 茶道 (a tea ceremony).
The next day, I finally made it to Meiji Jingu. Meiji is the Shinto enshrinment of the souls of Emperor Meiji and his Empress. It was completed in 1920 and is a very popular shrine to visit in Tokyo. Around New Years it is so crowded that one can barely move and people cannot even make it up to the coin toss area of the shrine (according to my friends who went earlier in the trip). At the beginning of February it wasn't quite so crowded. Due to the proximity of Harajuku's Takeshita-Dori, we went there when done touring the shrine. Honestly, it wasn't what I was expecting and felt a little cheated due to how little street fashion was being represented that day.
After Meiji, I went home to prepare for my interview the next day. Word of advice: don't schedule interviews at 4am. It's a really weird time of day to have an interview and I thought I could tough it but I was too nervous to sleep before the interview and too exhausted after it to go to class the next day.
Because I hadn't used my rail pass to go to the school and it was expiring that day I decided to make it worth it and went shopping. FYI clothes and shoes run much smaller in Japan than in the USA. When I find a place where an LL isn't tight on me and shoes that fit, I will probably be shouting it from the rooftops (you might even hear me back in Cincinnati).
Then Friday I had my last day of class for the week. There were no planned activities for the winter course, so we all went to get curry at the Indo-Curry place down the street and ordered an extra naan in addition to our meal (that included naan) and in the process confused the crap out of our waiter.
Because I hadn't used my rail pass to go to the school and it was expiring that day I decided to make it worth it and went shopping. FYI clothes and shoes run much smaller in Japan than in the USA. When I find a place where an LL isn't tight on me and shoes that fit, I will probably be shouting it from the rooftops (you might even hear me back in Cincinnati).
Then Friday I had my last day of class for the week. There were no planned activities for the winter course, so we all went to get curry at the Indo-Curry place down the street and ordered an extra naan in addition to our meal (that included naan) and in the process confused the crap out of our waiter.
Later that night I had Cameron and his guest over for dinner! I learned that my apartment can cozily accommodate three for dinner, but definitely no more! We made pasta (with chicken liver....) and then enjoyed some tasty ice cream (from the biggest container I've seen sold in Japanese stores!). Enjoy photos of food and other random things I neglected to mention above!
まったね~!Until next time everyone!