Saturday, July 9, 2011

Restless

Restless
Adjective.
1. characterized by or showing inability to remain at rest: a restless mood.
2. never at rest; perpetually agitated or in motion: the restless sea.
3. without rest; without restful sleep: a restless night.
 
I am ending up having less free time than I expected I would have. I enrolled in this program assuming that I would be taking courses at the University of Tokyo and spending most of my time on campus or in my hotel doing work, but it turns out that this program is more about experience and learning during class than outside of class. So as a group, we go sightseeing in the mornings until lunch, meet up with the others for lunch, attend classes from 2:00pm-7:00pm, meet up with the others for dinner, do some more sightseeing, and then fall asleep immediately when we get back to the hotel. We seriously get the most out of every second of every day. I have gotten to see so much of Tokyo and learn so much in my course in such little time, and yet, the first week is already over.
Day 3: July 6, 2011, First Day of Classes   

This morning, I was kicked out of my room because a Japanese lady came to my room and didn't speak any English. I tried to tell her that I didn't want cleaning, but I was unsuccessful. So I ended up going on my own adventure to find a supermarket. I feel like my diet here has been largely rice and noodles, only a tiny bit of meat and vegetables, and no fruit at all. So I went out to buy some fruit. 

For lunch, I met up with the others to eat at a co-op on campus. The co-ops are pretty much like any school cafeteria, but it's all Japanese food. You also choose your meal by looking at the displays of plastic food and ordering through a vending machine. There are vending machines for pretty much everything here and they are everywhere!


During class, we learned about carbohydrate recognition and apoptosis and then we went on a tour of the professors' labs. The first professor was pretty cool. He walked into the classroom wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. He claims he is different from the other professors because he worked in Texas for a short time. 


We decided to go to Ginza for dinner. We went out to find an "Alice in Wonderland"-themed restaurant, as Japan is known for it's themed restaurants. To our disappointment, the restaurant was to busy to take us so we ended up at a princess-themed restaurant called "Princess Heart." The boys in our group chose it over the vampire-themed restaurant.


After we got back, I experienced my first earthquake in Japan. It wasn't any different from those in California.
Ginza
"Princess Heart" Themed Restaurant
Princess-themed creme brulee dessert

Day 4: July 7, 2011
Before class today, we decided to take a walk to see Tokyo Dome City, Kagurazaka, and the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens.
Tokyo Dome City.
Kagurazaka
Tokyo Dome from Koishikawa Korakuen Garden

Then we headed to the University of Tokyo's Komaba II campus for class to learn about nanotechnology. They seemed to be cutting down a lot on electricity here. All of the lights and air conditioning in all of the buildings were off. It was kind of eerie and uncomfortable. We were all sweating throughout the lectures and the air outside was cooler than inside. After lecture, we got to visit the most exciting labs yet. We got to wear those full on bunny suits to go into the clean room of a semiconductor lab! I wish I had pictures, but we weren't allowed to take our cameras or anything with us.


For dinner today, we decided to go to another themed restaurant as some of the group members really wanted to see this "Alcatraz ER"-themed restaurant in Shibuya. It actually was pretty scary. The whole place was designed like a jail cell with waiters dressed in lab coats and walls marked with fake blood. People were seated inside jail cells. There was a moment before we ordered our food where they shut off all of the lights and made the sirens go off throughout the restaurant. People dressed up in monster costumes came up to our table and tried to scare us. It was actually very scary.

Shibuya Crossing
Shibuya has the largest Starbucks I have ever seen.
Day 5: July 8, 2011
Today we visited Akihabara, Japan's "Electronic town," where you could buy all kinds of electronic appliances and parts. It is also a huge place for Japanese anime, video games, and arcades.
 
Akihabara
A 5-story arcade in Akihabara. One of the numerous arcades throughout Tokyo.
You can buy pretty much any electronic part possible!
After class, we went out to dinner at a yakitori restaurant nearby where you could eat chicken hearts, necks, tails, stomach, and pretty much any other part you can name. It was interesting, but not really my type of food.

After dinner, a few of us met up with one of the GSP students' Japanese friends and went out to a nightclub in Odaiba called Ageha. Four thousand people, five dance floors, a pool on the roof, a beach area, and a ramen noodle restaurant. It was amazing. The people were all very friendly and they treated us like we were celebrities because we weren't Japanese. We danced all night until 6 in the morning (since the trains don't start running until then).

Day 6: July 9, 2011 
Today we spent all day at Odaiba. I think it is my favorite place in Tokyo yet. Odaiba is a man-made island and the scenery is beautiful. You can get a view of all of Japan's famous architecture from the beach, and even a better view from Odaiba's ferris wheel, the tallest ferris wheel in the world!


Mock Statue of Liberty.
Walking along the beach.

Fuji TV building.

Venus Fort: Odaiba's huge shopping mall.

Inside the shopping mall.

"Kiddyland" store.


An omelette stuffed with rice.
Huge arcade in Venus Fort.

We went on the tallest ferris wheel in the world!

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