In 3 weeks I am going to Japan to live in Tokyo with a
Japanese family and do a summer language course for 4 weeks! I know no
Japanese, have very little knowledge of Japanese customs and traditions, and am
slightly terrified about travelling on my own for the first time.
I thought I’d start a blog so that I can add photos and
update what I’m doing for everyone back home. I’m
going to apologise in advance for the number of selfies and pictures of food
that will undoubtedly clog up the blog.
Now onto why I’m looking forward to Japan. I've done a tremendous
amount of reading and planning to get myself excited for this trip and I've
come up with a pretty big list of things I want to see, do, eat and buy.
To do in Japan
1. Learn some Japanese so I can actually talk to my host family! I'm living with the Fujimoto family, who have a 13 year old daughter and 8 year old twin sons, and live in Shinagawa-ku, 2 suburbs away from the centre of Tokyo.
2. Eat so much sushi!!!!!
3. Rent a bike and ride around the huge parks and beautiful temples.
4. Go to the national sumo championships in Nagoya.
5. Visit Kyoto during the Gion Festival and check out the hundreds of temples and shrines (Kyoto literally has over 1600 temples)!
6. Try and catch a glimpse of a real geisha walking down the street in her wooden clogs, full kimono and makeup.
9. Sing karaoke with the friends I'm hopefully going to make in my course. Otherwise I will have to do the cheeky walk in to the wrong room and just join in, show them my rendition of Don't Stop Me Now and Lady Marmalade!
10. Go to Tokyo Disneyland where I can meet Mickey and Minnie in a kimono! After my trip to the Gold Coast with Tom last year I am well adjusted to riding on rollercoasters by myself, so this will not be an issue for me!
11. Bath naked in an outdoor onsen! This is actually a rule, most Japanese hotels, homes and Edo style bathing houses have communal, single sex bathing areas and you're not allowed to wear clothes. Supposedly if you're really shy you can walk to the pool in a mini towel, but then you have to fold it on top of your head once you get in, it's not allowed to be placed on the ground. The benefits of travelling alone mean I'm ready to let it all out in open!
12. Go to a J-pop concert.
13. Chill out in a Zen garden.
14. Sit on a Japanese toilet, supposedly it is an experience! They warm the seat for you, play music or other sounds to your command, spray water and then wash themselves.
15. Visit a feudal Japanese castle.
16. Watch a specialty unagi (eel) chef prepare a meal, and then devour it! This will be a very detailed post when it happens, unless I get too excited and forget to take photos before I eat it (this has happened before).
17. Walk around the gardens of the imperial palace, home the current emperor of Japan.
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1. Learn some Japanese so I can actually talk to my host family! I'm living with the Fujimoto family, who have a 13 year old daughter and 8 year old twin sons, and live in Shinagawa-ku, 2 suburbs away from the centre of Tokyo.
2. Eat so much sushi!!!!!
3. Rent a bike and ride around the huge parks and beautiful temples.
4. Go to the national sumo championships in Nagoya.
6. Try and catch a glimpse of a real geisha walking down the street in her wooden clogs, full kimono and makeup.
7. Go to the 5am fish auction at Tsujiki markets. The record for the most expensive tuna sold at the market is $1.8 million! They have the world's freshest sushi and sashimi here, I can see myself having breakfast sushi very regularly.
8. Order a coffee at the starbucks at Shibuya crossing, sit back and watch the mayhem that unfolds below on Tokyo's busiest pedestrian crossing.
9. Sing karaoke with the friends I'm hopefully going to make in my course. Otherwise I will have to do the cheeky walk in to the wrong room and just join in, show them my rendition of Don't Stop Me Now and Lady Marmalade!
10. Go to Tokyo Disneyland where I can meet Mickey and Minnie in a kimono! After my trip to the Gold Coast with Tom last year I am well adjusted to riding on rollercoasters by myself, so this will not be an issue for me!
11. Bath naked in an outdoor onsen! This is actually a rule, most Japanese hotels, homes and Edo style bathing houses have communal, single sex bathing areas and you're not allowed to wear clothes. Supposedly if you're really shy you can walk to the pool in a mini towel, but then you have to fold it on top of your head once you get in, it's not allowed to be placed on the ground. The benefits of travelling alone mean I'm ready to let it all out in open!
12. Go to a J-pop concert.
13. Chill out in a Zen garden.
14. Sit on a Japanese toilet, supposedly it is an experience! They warm the seat for you, play music or other sounds to your command, spray water and then wash themselves.
15. Visit a feudal Japanese castle.
16. Watch a specialty unagi (eel) chef prepare a meal, and then devour it! This will be a very detailed post when it happens, unless I get too excited and forget to take photos before I eat it (this has happened before).
18. Go to as many of Tokyo's best museums and galleries as I can.
19. See a traditional wedding at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine.
19. See a traditional wedding at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine.
20. Go to Ueno Zoo and see the rare Giant Pandas.
21. Ride a bullet train.
22. Visit Yoyogi Park on a Sunday and revel in the extreme groups of people hanging out here. It is the place to be to for most social clubs on a Sunday, whether that be an ultimate frisbee group, cosplaying teenagers or the Yoyogi Rockabillies in their leather, busting out the moves to 1950's music.
23. Visit a puppy cafe. I know this sounds weird, but because apartments in Tokyo are so small most people don't have pets. Tokyo gets around this by having cafes you can go to and pay to play with puppies and kittens!
24. Visit Harajuku to check out the latest teenage fashion crazes and hopefully see some cosplay!
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25. Go to the tokyo food shows in Shibuya station.
26. Hike around the lakes of Hakone for that perfect view of Mt Fuji.
27. Visit Akihabra and watch demonstrations on the newest technologies hitting the market.
28. Try proper Japanese sake. My hostel in Kyoto has a sake tasting bar where you can learn about the different varieties and purities. That way I can teach Adam a thing or two when I get back!
29. Go to a pokemon, one piece and hello kitty store just to be surrounded by paraphernalia, and visit Gundam Front purely to see this giant robot!
30. FOOD in Japan
- Lots of sushi and sashimi
- Kobe beef with its delicious marbling (it's illegal to sell this outside of Japan and will likely break my wallet, Adam eat your heart out!)
- Unagi (I'll be thinking of you Traz!)
- Horse meat sashimi (supposedly quite common in central Japan).
- Green tea icecream
- Perfectly cooked tempura
- Vending machine sushi?
- Takoyaki balls
- Lots of ramen, which it's important you slurp really loudly as this is considered a compliment to the chef.
- Lots of Asahi beer
As you can see I'm pretty excited, and I am counting down the days until July 6th. There are a few things I still have to do beforehand like sort out money, my phone, possibly learn some basic phrases, put heaps of music on my phone seeing as I'll be spending a lot of time by myself, and try and work out the Tokyo Metro system:
Wish me luck!
22 days to go.
28. Try proper Japanese sake. My hostel in Kyoto has a sake tasting bar where you can learn about the different varieties and purities. That way I can teach Adam a thing or two when I get back!
29. Go to a pokemon, one piece and hello kitty store just to be surrounded by paraphernalia, and visit Gundam Front purely to see this giant robot!
30. FOOD in Japan
- Lots of sushi and sashimi
- Kobe beef with its delicious marbling (it's illegal to sell this outside of Japan and will likely break my wallet, Adam eat your heart out!)
- Unagi (I'll be thinking of you Traz!)
- Horse meat sashimi (supposedly quite common in central Japan).
- Green tea icecream
- Perfectly cooked tempura
- Vending machine sushi?
- Takoyaki balls
- Lots of ramen, which it's important you slurp really loudly as this is considered a compliment to the chef.
- Lots of Asahi beer
As you can see I'm pretty excited, and I am counting down the days until July 6th. There are a few things I still have to do beforehand like sort out money, my phone, possibly learn some basic phrases, put heaps of music on my phone seeing as I'll be spending a lot of time by myself, and try and work out the Tokyo Metro system:
Wish me luck!
22 days to go.
