Robotics, Engineering, and the Future of Cities in Japan
HAS ARRIVED!!
Day 2 Blog Post [Eva, Sara, Alice, Megan]
First, we all ate breakfast in the hotel, and met in the lobby at 8:45. There was a wide variety of breakfast ranging from japanese to western food. It was also very yummy (朝御飯とても美味しかったです).
Then we took the bus to our first destination of the morning: the Zen Tea Experience. (We saw Tokyo Disneyland on the way!) There was a bit of traffic so we arrived a few minutes late but we got to enjoy the car ride with the song Makudonarudo as requested by Jacob. We also got to enjoy the scenery in Tokyo, which was very different from New York City.
During the Tea Ceremony, we watched a world-class tea master Rie Takeda make matcha tea and we also received a beautifully crafted bean pastry.
We then got to take photos with the tea master and/or the samurai sword that was left outside of the tea room space in the corner.
After that, we explored the Asakusa Kannon temple. On the bus ride, Kiki-san taught us about the differences between Japan’s two main religions: Buddhism (temples) and Shintoism (shrines). Outside the temple were two guardians– the guardian of wind and the guardian of thunder that protected the temple.
We walked around and washed our hands in the fountain, which in the center stood a cool warrior statue.
We then breathed in smoke from the incense in a well that was said to grant us wisdom and made wishes with coins.
There was some very beautiful scenery and old Japanese architecture along the way. (Koi fish too!)
Once we finished with that, walked through the garden, and then split up and had 2 and a half hours of free time. With the meetup time being 1:45PM, everyone ended up doing something different. We all went shopping though and bought a lot of stuff, such as souvenirs and gifts. A lot of people spent over 10,000 yen, with one kid spending even 48,000 yen ($300) there! We all ate lunch at different places and some of the boys even went to a dog cafe! Overall, we all had a lot of fun.
After exploring Asakusa, we took the bus to Hamarikyu Garden. We split into groups and also explored the area there. There were many grassy fields and a lot of crows cawing throughout the trees. Some of us even made it to the teahouse, which was by a beautiful lake. Others went through a muddy forest to the other side of the park.
When we all met back at the entrance, we wrote down our wishes on slips of paper that we hung from a tree. Most of us wrote in English, while others wrote in Japanese.
After exploring the garden, we went to a mall (Newcoast Shin-Urayasu) and shopped for an hour and a half until it was time for our dinner experience.
For dinner, we had tempura which usually consists of seafood and vegetables coated in a thin batter and then deep fried. At about 7:30, we returned to the hotel and went back to our rooms to recuperate from our day.
Day 1: Written by Daniel, Jonathan, and Rui
We met at JFK Terminal 7 at 6:00 AM (EST - Eastern Standard Time) on Sunday June 30th. We sorted out our boarding passes and checked in baggage, which took much more time than expected before going through security. We were allowed to roam around the JFK airport for a while until 8:30 AM (EST), which was the time for us to get back to the waiting area for our flight to Montreal.
Picture of cohort 3, which was taken by a kind stranger at JFK airport, whom Mr. Tomas had asked to take the photo.
Cohort 3 lining up to enter the flight from JFK to Montreal.
We arrived at Montreal around 10:30 AM (EST), as the flight from JFK to Montreal was on time. We then proceeded to stay in Montreal for about 5 hours before heading to Tokyo, due to that flight also being delayed from 12:50 PM (EST) to 2:50 PM (EST).
These two pictures show the state of what the students were like at the beginning of this long flight.
The plane ride from Montreal to Tokyo was very long, lasting about 14 hours. The food that was served didn’t help at all, as it tasted rather awful, with the texture of each part tasting off, with even the water seemingly not tasting “normal” in a sense. [Mr. Tomas Comment: this review was written by future Iron Chef judge, Daniel]
A picture of the lunch offered on the plane from Montreal to Tokyo.
Many students ended up complaining about how ached they were from the 13-14 hour plane ride except for some (such as Rui) who slept through most of the flight. We landed in Tokyo at around 4:30 PM (JST - Japan Standard Time) on Monday July 1st.
Picture in-front of a wall labeled “Welcome to Japan”, taken by another kind stranger. [Mr. Tomas’ Comment: I took the photo, can’t even get a photo cred!]
After we were done with immigration and customs in Japan, we went to go find out luggages that were rotating on the baggage carousel.
The Narita Airport Terminal 1, where we met our tour guide Kiki, and the photo was taken while waiting for the bus that would bring us to the hotel that we’ll be staying in for the entirety of this trip.
Bus ride from Narita Airport Terminal 1 to the hotel.
During the bus ride, we received 2,000 yen each from Mr. Tomas for food a bit later (but we sadly did not see him letting it rain). After we dropped off our bags and rested for a while in the hotel (until 8:50 PM (JST)), we went to a nearby place called Aeon Shin-Urayasu-Shop, which had a mall, supermarket, and food court. We spent most of the 2,000 yen we were given on the bus there for some food.
Kiki leading the way back to Aeon Shin-Urayasu-Shop.
A few boys just eating and talking with Mr. Tomas.
Lastly, we visited a 7-eleven that was very close to our hotel, where we got to see how different it was from our’s in the US, and buy some snacks, drinks or other things to take back.
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