But first, a moment to revel at the sheer cleanliness of Tokyo Subway stations.
As well as the way EVERYTHING is advertised using cute cartoon/stuffed animal creatures. Even AIDS testing.
Anyway, back to The Quest. My landlord gave me a map with supermarkets and such marked on them, so I decided to head out for the one closest to me, off of the Daimon subway stop. After a while of wondering around, and someone finally asking what I was looking for, I was informed that the supermarket had actually gone out of business. Gee, thanks landlord. My inner cartographer clucks her tongue judgmentally at the lack of updated maps.
Not to let my $2 subway fare go waste though, I had already looked up the sights around Daimon, and it turns out that Tokyo Tower and Zojo-ji Temple are both located at this stop, so I decided to go check them out. ^^
Zojo-ji Temple's main selling point is that after the famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to Tokyo, Zojo-ji became the Tokugawa family temple, and the family crest and a mausoleum can still be found on the grounds.
And here's the entrance to Zojo-ji! (the suffix 'ji' is added to the name to denote a Buddhist temple, so I guess calling it Zojo-ji temple was a little redundant..). Anyway, I mentioned that the subway stop was called Daimon, and when I finally say the characters, I realized that it was the 'dai' that means 'big,' and the 'mon' that means 'gate,' therefore 'big gate.' It wasn't THAT big, but you haven't seen the pictures from Todaiji yet.... anyway, that's the gate from the city outside to the tranquil gardens inside.
Another hand-washing place.
A statue of what looks like Kannon to me.
And beside her, a tree planted by George H.W. Bush. Probably why that tree SUCKS. The other trees don't need supports... Ok, ok, I'll be nice. I'm too young to have a problem with George Senior anyway. His son however, is a different story... (P.S. Barack Obama '08!!! WOOT!)
And you can't see it so well, but here's a craving of Buddha's footprints. Back in the day, you weren't supposed to carve Buddha's image, but around the 600's I guess sculptors started getting tired of just carving footprints and they custom was eventually discarded.
A big bronze bell. How it works is that a monk (or whoever is designated bell-ringer) pulls a string that's attached to that really big stick, and throws back his whole body weight until he's almost lying down, then lets it go and the stick hits the bell in the specially denoted prime bell-hitting area. Or something.
Another pretty statue.
Some other temple buildings, with skyscrapers in the background. ^^
And Tokyo tower peeking out from the trees!! Built as a slap in the face to France (well, I'm sure that wasn't the intention.. well, maybe it wasn't the intention.... but anyway, in true Japanese tradition of stealing Western models and improving them, this tower was built to model the Effiel tower, except it was 8.6 (or 32.6, if you include the antennae) taller than the Effiel tower, and over 3000 tons lighter. Also, the first suicide committed by jumping off the tower didn't happen until the 2000's, which is surprising considering Japan's suicide rate and the fact that this tower has been around since the 50s.
And here's another picture of Tokyo Tower right behind the main hall of the temple complex. there were actually some monks in there ringing bells and singing and stuff, but I guessed that I wasn't allowed to take pictures... they had cool robes though.
And here you're supposed to put money in the box, then ring the bell/gong so you'll have good luck/wishes will be answered I think. It's just a rope though, so the sound isn't very loud...
Another building thing with engraved red writing all over it.
For some reason, there were pinwheels everywhere. I'm not sure why.
And a cute little teahouse over looking the temple gardens.
Anyway, after this little detour, I was kinda hungry, so I decided to try Japan's version of McDonald's in terms of subpar fast food - Mos Burger.
We had to read the menu in Japanese class during first year while practicing katakana, and the fact one of their items was a 'fresh burger' led us to be rather sketched out and wondering if that implied that the other burgers were not so fresh... They also had 'rice burgers' which sheer morbid curiosity led me to order.
It's apparently just a burger where the buns are made out rice pressed into bun form. This here is a kinpira rice burger, and though I have no idea what it was, it was pretty good. Note the glass of water however, made out of actual glass. This was a big of an odd fast-food experience for me, since they actually bring the tray to your table. O_o Is that even fast food anymore?
Anyway, after that I continued the quest for a super-market, and went to Azabu-Juban (which I remembered later, is the same neighborhood Sailor Moon was supposed to have lived in ^^). I didn't find the supermarket that was listed on my map, but I did find a place called Food Magazine (which also turns out to be one of the only 24 hour supermarkets in Tokyo), and so stocked up on all my non-perishables (since I was going to be leaving for a week anyway). But seriously, look at the SIZE of my fridge!
The laptop is beside it so you can see just how big it really is. This is like, a full-size fridge in Japan. With an actual freezer! (college has taught me that the freezers in mini-fridges don't really work, and are just for show). I CAN KEEP ICE CREAM!!!
Anyway, a fridge of that size was just begging to be filled, so I obliged as well as I could. I also don't have cabinets really, so all my food is currently in the fridge. Even the pancake mix. Anyway, then I made my first home-cooked meal. Ta da!
Do not laugh at the instant noodle-ness of it. This took work. Aside from running all over Tokyo looking for a supermarket, I had to figure out what the hell the sauce they put soba in is called (asnwer: Tsuyu), then pick of a bottle of said out from an entire wall of bottles of black sauce that ALL LOOKED THE SAME! But were not. This is where being able to read Japanese comes in handy.... Anyway, it's cold kitsune soba! Sort of. Er, I'll get better at it...
I then spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and organizing my room, and here are the pics of the finished product. Rejoice in the roominess of my 6-mat room. It feels a lot bigger than it really is. Must be the huge closet and good layout. ^^
Here's the fridge, desk, bed, and my nice mirror. ^^
Another view
The other end of the bed, with my table, TV, and window
My HUGE closet, and tiny kitchen. Also, the shopping bags I got from the grocery store have little happy faces on them. ^_^ Everything in Japan is SO cute.
Anyway, afterwards I went over to Waseda Univeristy, where they had an intern meeting, and we got to meet some Waseda students and learn about some of the stuff available to us. We can use all the Waseda facilities (gym and library), and can take language classes and cultural exchange classes with some of the student volunteers. They also had dinner, but not enough and charged us an arm and a leg for it. -_-;; It sounds like some fun activities are planned though, so we might all be hiking up Mt. Fuji together, going to a baseball game, or going to Tokyo Disney. And one of the girls told me that I actually live really close to Disneyland! Like, 20 minutes away. I'm SO going.
Me, Micheal (who was in my freshman seminar on dark matter/black holes/the universe), and some kids from Waseda! The girl is the middle is Sachiko, and the light-haired one is Ayano, who studies French and French culture, and is particularly interested in African immigration to France.
Me, some kid that graduate last year, and more Waseda kids. The guy in the white shirt is Yuya, and plays the Japanese flute.
And that was Waseda! The kids are really nice (though my friend Jon pointed out later with horror that all the girls had terrible teeth.... I guess braces aren't so common here?), and the campus is awesome. Maybe I'll do a semester abroad here...
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