Tokyo Day 2
! Owen and Marc
Today marks the second day here in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the Freeman Study Tour 2024!! Just like yesterday, we woke up bright and early to go on a morning walk with some of the others at 7:45. But unlike yesterday, we visited Hie-jinja, a shrine located nearby our hotel. There we properly learned how to cleanse our body before entering the sacred space. It was a spiritually uplifting morning, except when Owen got left behind (but quickly found again thanks to Chey) because he was too busy shopping for charms and souvenirs.
After our walk, we made our way to Shibuya City where we met Mr. Kazuo Maekawa, our manga teacher. As we toured around Shibuya, we learnt how to draw a manga panel and we were able to draw about what we saw in Shibuya. We walked around Miyashita Park, a nice rooftop park with a peaceful atmosphere, then of course saw Shibuya crossing where it was packed with many people and filled with billboards. We then visited Hachiko Square, a famous statue of a dog who continued to wait for his owner in Shibuya station 9 years after his owner had passed.
We then made our way to Parco, where we saw many anime and game centered stores such as a Shonen Jump, Pokémon, and Nintendo. After we finished our small shopping spree there (and some of us went a smalllll bit over the time limit) we made our way to Pepper Parlor, and have lunch with robots!! At Pepper Parlor, we had robot entertainment at every table. We were able to talk with them, play games with them, or even watch them perform songs such as Cruel Summer! Also, our manga panels were graded by Maekawa-sensei, and the group with the best manga panel were Hayden, Kamakea, Julie, Owen, and Bo. Sugoi :DD
After we ate lunch with our soon new robot overlords, we soon made our way to Sunshine City, where we could spend as much money as we could as our hearts desired. I (Owen) know I was ready to spend copious amounts of cash on things I don’t need like I did at Shibuya Parco (got myself an AirPods case at a Pokémon Center). We were all split into multiple groups and spread all throughout the mall. Marc and I ended up in the group that would float around being flexible and all that jazz. First spot we hit was the Bandai Namco Cross Store. This was when the thrill of claw machines set in. For around an hour, we were glued to getting plushies and various things. Mary ended up getting a giant Pikachu, so at least someone won in our group. Much of our time there was spent walking around and experiencing the exhibits it had. I wandered around a stumbled upon the Masterpiece variants of various Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai toys. It really hit close to my heart because I grew up watching those shows. We moved on from there to the Studio Ghibli and Disney stores where many people were inside. There were amazing products that were really awesome and the perfect souvenirs to give to those back home in Hawaii. We then moved onto a brief stint at a sports store where we spent a bit more money, and wandered around the mall. With time almost running out, a small group of us and Chey went to try and go to the arcade, but instead went to BookOff and wandered in it’s endless rows of toys, figurines, books, and DVDs. We soon left for the meeting area for when we first split up and made our way to our next destination: Meiji University, for the East-West Center Alumni Mixer Dinner.
Meiji University was an experience. First of all, it’s a giant building with almost 3 floors. Just getting in the elevator scared me quite a bit. It also didn’t help that you could see outside of it. After reaching the top floor after being nauseous, we walked into the giant hall and it was astonishing. I didn’t really do much, but did talk to people about their experiences in Japan and told them about our lives in Hawaii. There were many lessons learned and taught about our culture and the culture in Japan, so many skibidis and sigma rizz. After the talking somewhat died down, we made our way to the “dance floor” and danced. Apparently we could make requests, so there were songs such as Good 4 u by Olivia Todrigo or something. It was amazing to get to know these people who had different experiences in life and compared it to our own.
Day 2 of this imPAACtful trip (see what I did there?) really helped us understand more about Tokyo, and we felt a much deeper connection with the city and the culture within it. Thus being said, Marc and I are blessed and thankful for this opportunity to communicate with all of you guys reading this post about this portion of this trip. Now, we look onward to what awaits us at the U.S. Embassy, Kawasaki High School, and our home stay family. Peace out ✌️
Shibuya evolved into a center for fashion, food, and many other "Western" things. There are several iconic department stores, including Seibu and PARCO -- and these two, especially by the late 1960s and into the 1970s when the middle-class Japanese buying segment emerged, were keys to developing how Japanese "see" fashion or lifestyle. For example, the "top" floor would have often an art gallery -- to show Japanese what was "Western" art all about. There was also a children's playground and family-oriented restaurants. On the floor below would be a range of restaurants -- from purely Japanese food to hamburgers to Chinese to Italian -- each would be attuned to Japanese "tastes". In the "basement" or "Depa-chika" for all kinds of food items and even liquor (this is a word like "Kara-Oke" -- Kara is "Empty" and "Oke" is Orchestra -- Depa is "Department" and Chika means "Underneath" or Basement in Japanese -- yet this happy adoption is not just Japanese -- always remember that ketsup comes from Indonesian and khaki is Hindi and "sushi" is sushi -- in English! -- I study 'olelo Hawai'i -- and "kelepona" is telephone, "elepani" is elephant -- again, are you from Hawaii or not?). Along the way, Japanese department stores were part of an eco-system (with the popular press) to trasnform Christmas into a Japanese holiday (although officially the day is NOT a holiday and it is a work day) where Japanese exchange presents (out of 125 million Japanese, only 1.5 million or so are Christian -- yet at least four Japanese Prime Ministers were Christian -- but nobody cared -- think if one US president was Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist! In this case of not caring -- which is good, in my view (vote for a leader, not what his/her religion is), Hawaii is like Japan -- Governor Josh Green, UH President David Lassner, and US Senator Brian Schatz are all Jewish -- but nobody cares and in fact, a local person would find it challenging to describe what Judaism is -- but that's OK! There are wars fought over religious differences, and we in Hawaii are very tolerant, very inclusive! The odd thing is that along the years, Christmas Eve dinner has been a tradition (in Japan) of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Christmas cake (a strawberry layered white cream cake) -- yes, and it profits KFC, of course! Valentine's Day is huge -- plus there is a day where you give back a present to people who gave you a Valentine Day's gift (White Day -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day ) Now, this "White Day" has spread to China, Taiwan, and South Korea!
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