We have a few more days before orientation starts and we have to get in the swing of things for school, but there’s still so much to do so I’m obviously not gonna just sit here.
I met up with some friends from school and they showed me around cities most foreigners like, places like Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and all that good stuff. Maybe it IS because I’m a foreigner, but I loved every one of them.
I had been to some of these cities when I was in Japan a few years ago, but I was only in each place for a few hours so I didn’t get to do much. This time I did have the opportunity to peruse and buy things, but I chose to save my money. I mean, I am here for a while so I can always come back if I really do want something.
Speaking of money, food here is really cheap compared to New York, but the clothes are WAY too expensive for me. They’re also too small, but that’s another story.
Last Saturday, there was some festival going on in our street (I’m honestly still not sure what it was for). How often they do this, I don’t know, but basically, people take a little shrine thingy and walk with it all over town, bringing it to various shrines and ringing it’s bells, I assume to welcome in a good thing or scare something bad off.
Our landlord told us about the event and said that we could come watch, or if we wanted to, to haul the shrine across the town with the locals. I’m not that strong and I was still too tired from my constant moving around/jetlag, so I told him that I would watch. But when we got there, the guys in charge assumed that everyone was there to help. Not that I minded, but I was surprised when he told me to put on a uniform and showed me to the back of the shrine…
In the end, I was too short to hold it up most of the time, but I tried a few times. Eventually we wound up at a fairly large temple (I assume for the area) where a bunch of stands for food, games, and other things were surrounding it, so once we rang the bells of the shrine there, we walked around for about an hour to get food and stuff.
I guess it was like a little Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) at the end of the season, but I really still don’t know. Even after asking some Japanese friends, they don’t know what I’m talking about, but it was really interesting and in the end I’m glad I went.
Yesterday, I also went to a few game centers with a friend and then we met up at an Izakaya (basically a place for a ton of food and drinks for really cheap) with some other people.
I guess these past few days have been pretty hectic looking back on all this. Right now, I’m exhausted, orientation starts tomorrow, and then that’s not far off from classes, so I guess now I really DO need to sit here and relax before things get busy…
Life In Tokyo
We have a few more days before orientation starts and we have to get in the swing of things for school, but there’s still so much to do so I’m obviously not gonna just sit here.
I met up with some friends from school and they showed me around cities most foreigners like, places like Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and all that good stuff. Maybe it IS because I’m a foreigner, but I loved every one of them.
I had been to some of these cities when I was in Japan a few years ago, but I was only in each place for a few hours so I didn’t get to do much. This time I did have the opportunity to peruse and buy things, but I chose to save my money. I mean, I am here for a while so I can always come back if I really do want something.
Speaking of money, food here is really cheap compared to New York, but the clothes are WAY too expensive for me. They’re also too small, but that’s another story.
Last Saturday, there was some festival going on in our street (I’m honestly still not sure what it was for). How often they do this, I don’t know, but basically, people take a little shrine thingy and walk with it all over town, bringing it to various shrines and ringing it’s bells, I assume to welcome in a good thing or scare something bad off.
Our landlord told us about the event and said that we could come watch, or if we wanted to, to haul the shrine across the town with the locals. I’m not that strong and I was still too tired from my constant moving around/jetlag, so I told him that I would watch. But when we got there, the guys in charge assumed that everyone was there to help. Not that I minded, but I was surprised when he told me to put on a uniform and showed me to the back of the shrine…
In the end, I was too short to hold it up most of the time, but I tried a few times. Eventually we wound up at a fairly large temple (I assume for the area) where a bunch of stands for food, games, and other things were surrounding it, so once we rang the bells of the shrine there, we walked around for about an hour to get food and stuff.
I guess it was like a little Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) at the end of the season, but I really still don’t know. Even after asking some Japanese friends, they don’t know what I’m talking about, but it was really interesting and in the end I’m glad I went.
Yesterday, I also went to a few game centers with a friend and then we met up at an Izakaya (basically a place for a ton of food and drinks for really cheap) with some other people.
I guess these past few days have been pretty hectic looking back on all this. Right now, I’m exhausted, orientation starts tomorrow, and then that’s not far off from classes, so I guess now I really DO need to sit here and relax before things get busy…
Ally Martin
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