Kichijouji - Something Something Tokyo

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I'm almost through three days, but it feels like it's been so much longer... Right now it's about 5:00pm on July 5th. I've been ready for bed since about noon.

The last two days have been completely packed. Yesterday morning, I went over to Shibuya with Naomi and Mei. If you've seen the pictures of Tokyo with crazy neon lights, crowded streets, and really tall buildings, chances are it was Shibuya. Even during the daytime (and in the rain), it's really impressive. We're near the end of the rainy season over here, but that means it's still raining more often than not. Almost everyone carries umbrellas, so the crowds of people are actually quite pretty with hundreds of different colors and patterns.

After we toured Shibuya, we grabbed bento boxes from Shibuya station and rushed over to ICU for a short orientation. After that, I met my host mother for the first time! Before we met, I was really nervous about my homestay. However (and not surprisingly), everything's been going well. My host mother is extremely kind and patient, and I've been able to understand the vast majority of everything she has said. I also met their dog, Ichigo. My host mother speaks some English, but we're sticking with Japanese so I'll actually learn and use the language. As such, I've been speaking exclusively in Japanese with her whenever possible. We went out to dinner in Kichijouji, and then toured the neighborhood this morning. Kichijouji is packed with tons of restaurants and department stores. It's also got a quiet residential area (where I'm living) that's right next to a large famous park, called Inokashira park. After lunch (udon noodles), I explored the park and several shrines in the area.

Everything in Tokyo is sensory overload- 100% of the time, I'm surrounded by Japanese, large flashing neon signs, the sounds of cars, trains, and advertisements, crowds, different smells... It's extremely exciting, but it's also extremely exhausting. Instead of unwinding at the end of the day, I'm still speaking Japanese. In the end, it's these extra hours of practice in the day that will make all the difference, but I'm definitely overwhelmed. It's a good thing Carleton goes through language so quickly. I'm continually surprised at how much I can understand and say. There have been very few occasions where I have no clue what's going on. That being said, the constant translation takes a lot of energy, and my classes haven't even started yet.

Soon, I'm meeting more Carleton friends in Shibuya. This time, I'm going to try to take some pictures with all the neon signs turned on. I've got a ton of pictures of the things I've done so far below.

I miss you all at home!

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Photos

Shibuya
These buildings are really, really tall.

How Japanese People Picture Americans
Very flattering.

Candy!
Little chocolate cubes filled with green tea flavored... paste? something? I don't know, but it tasted pretty good and I didn't die.

Inokashira Park
Inokashira Park is only maybe a minute from where I live.

Trees!
Yay, parts of Tokyo have green!

Flowers
(Hydrangeas, just for you Mom and Dad!)

Leash Law Sign
Even warning signs are interesting when it takes like five minutes to read it.

Inokashira Park
This little trail goes all the way around the lake.

Comments

[Dad]

Thank you
Thank you for the "actually nice selfie".