Right off the plane, I hit the ground running. I had just landed in Tokyo and classes were already beginning. After an incredibly long day of travel and adjusting to a 16 hour time difference, the jet lag actually turned in my favor. I collapsed by 10:00 p.m. and was wide awake by 5:00 in the morning. My incredibly restful sleep and bountiful energy got me up and moving before my alarm went off. With Orientation starting at 9:00, I was able to take my morning nice and slow. I gave myself plenty of time to slowly rise with the lazy sun, shower, find food, and find the campus. I actually started to worry about how I would find food but I figured the opportunity would present itself as I headed to campus. Luckily, food was offered right in the main lobby and although it was not initially part of my plan, I figured this was as easy a meal as I was going to get. Naturally, seeing as it was Japanese, it was good too.
I was so prepared because in addition to planning to get there 10-15 minutes early, I added a little excess time as a cushion to the twenty minute walk in case I got lost or had trouble finding the orientation location. I did, after all, still lack a Japanese SIM card or mobile Wifi so I was kind of going in blind. I grabbed my bag, mapped the location from the hotel, and was off.
The weather was warm and a bit humid, and the sun finally broke through the overcast from my arrival. It was beautiful. I got to see the city during the day and all the massive buildings somehow felt more real. I got to have a beautiful view of the Tokyo Tower my whole commute (I'm lucky to have it rather close to my campus). I'd made it to Japan.
I wasn't sure what the dress code was at the university. As a university, I imagined it was pretty lax. Since they had said nothing anywhere, I figured it should be fine to wear whatever. Especially during this first day, seeing as it was only an orientation, I could go in and ask what I should wear to classes. I wouldn't really have had many options though. I tend to overpack, bringing things in case of every scenario. This has come in handy in the past, but I also often don't need everything and I just increase the burden I have to bear. While bringing my suit home came in clutch when I needed something to wear to my sister's graduation, bringing it "just in case" to Japan, was not a necessity. I decided to wear one of my casual collared shirts, a red flannel, in hope of finding an unoffensive medium. Imagine my horror as I stepped out into the streets and was enveloped in a sea of black and white. The morning commute came in a wave of business men and women, all wearing dress shirts and pants, about half of them in suit jackets. I stuck out like a bright red sore thumb. Just walking in the street I felt completely underdressed.
Luckily, as I approached the campus, the code became much less business formal and a lot more casual. The campus was beautiful. Instantly, I was hit by all the really cool architecture, and despite being enclosed in this sprawling metropolis, Keio had a very university feel. I used my elementary Japanese and was able to ask around until I found the orientation room. We were a decently small group. Maybe 30 people. I have no idea how many people applied to this program but the longer I've spent here, the more I've gathered that Keio is a highly revered institution here in Japan. I also later learned a potential reason as to why we're so small is that although we are here on the explicit Keio Summer Program, the university has just entered the second half of the semester. Many other students in our English taught courses were surprised to hear we'd only just arrived, seeing as we're just starting the second academic quarter. Many of them had arrived in March since the Japanese semester goes from April to August. For this reason, our orientation was pretty small. We got an overview of a couple services here on the Mita Campus and received a free lunch. The real highlight of the day was that after we finished all the initial administrative stuff, the rest of the day was devoted to exploring Tokyo. Accompanied by Japanese student volunteers, we explored four major sites all over the city.
We started our tour by heading to the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo's largest and most popular shinto shrine. It was amazing how even in the heart of Tokyo, we stepped off the bus into what felt like a forest. In this city, everything is incredibly compact and not an inch of space is wasted. That being said, a lot of space is dedicated to preserving nature or all these traditional shrines tucked away between the skyscrapers. Hidden in all these trees, one would never guess that this was the most popular shrine in the city.
As is customary, we cleansed ourselves before entering the gates. Using a ladle, we poured water first on our left hands, then our right, then pouring once more into our right, we cup our hand and rinse out our mouthes. We are then pure enough to enter. We walk on either the left or right side of the entryway as the middle is reserved for deities. Approaching the shrine, we make a small offering (goen), bow twice, clap twice (to get the deities' attention), give our prayer and then bow once more. Despite Japan being a very secular country, the role of tradition is still quite strong.
Next on the list, we visited the Imperial Palace. While we weren't allowed inside, we walked around the surrounding park and witnessed the massive ancient walls and moats that were once used as fortress defenses. Recently, these massive grounds were full of people. Just a couple months ago, Japan witnessed a transition between emperors. This is a very big deal seeing as the emperor usually serves for life. In this case, the emperor abdicated the throne to his son because of his old age and declining health. Although we couldn't go in, the view from the surrounding area was very nice.
We continued on to Asakusa where we caught glimpses of the Skytree and visited Senso-ji Temple. The buddhist temple was much more public and populated by tourists than the shrine we visited earlier. The sheer size of it was crazy (namely those massive lanterns). There were things to buy everywhere. The capitalist influence was very palpable but some people still followed traditional procedure, stopping to burn incense and soak in the smoke. The temple was nuzzled right into the city and surrounding streets were full of shops and vendors. We grabbed a quick snack and shared some matcha ice cream sandwiches before embarking one last time.
Lastly, we headed back in the direction of campus and visited Roppongi Hills, a mega-complex located right in the center of one of Tokyo's most wealthy and international areas. Our target was Mori Tower, the 54-story centerpiece of Roppongi Hills. On the first landing was a very cool Pixar exhibition talking all about the processes of building an animated film. What we had really come for was the roof. We made our way up just as the sun began to set and ended on quite a remarkable experience. I didn't quite realize how lucky we were to make it up on such a clear day but it led to some beautiful pictures. Unfortunately, the program organizers took most of the good ones of all of us together, but I hope I'll get those eventually.
With that, we were free to go. Z, Ethan and myself (the two leftmost in the picture by the palace) decided to grab dinner. I am ever so thankful to the group of volunteers who went out of their way to invite the three of us to dinner with them. They took us out to get ramen and I learned about the ticketing system to order food and how slurping your noodles is a sign of really enjoying your meal (I really struggled). We talked and laughed for a long time and the day couldn't have ended on a better note. I had gotten my first real taste of Keio and seen just a fraction of what Tokyo has to offer. The orientation was a resounding success and I couldn't be more excited for the summer ahead.
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