A visit to Juku, Odaiba, Shinagawa, and Kamakura
An spent her winter break in her native Japan shopping, touring, and eating.
An spent her winter break in her native Japan shopping, touring, and eating.
Hello! It’s the end of the first week of winter term at Carleton, and after taking some rest back home, I am ready to tackle my second term here at Carleton.
Since it has only been three days since I returned on campus and don’t have much to talk about, I will be writing about things that happened during my winter break!
Banner delivery to my “juku”
Juku is a cram school in Japan, where students continue to learn more advanced materials after school, or prepare for entrance exams to get into their dream schools. I visited the juku that I studied at and brought a Carleton Banner with me. Carleton has been proudly added to the wall of school banners!
Being indecisive in Odaiba
Odaiba is full of cool places from modern shopping malls to traditional Japanese “shotengai,” a row of small classic Japanese shops ranging from snacks to stationary and toys. In one of the stores in the “shotengai”, I found my favorite character called Mokeke. I couldn’t decide which I one I should get, so I ended up buying the yellow one in the lower right corner of the picture for my twin sister.
Lonely walk and photoshoot in Shinagawa
I know this will sound weird, but after my parents left for work and I became all alone in one of the busiest regions of Tokyo, I decided to visit an aquarium with just me and my camera. Amidst the crowd of families, friends, and couples, I spent almost 3 hours taking pictures of cute little fish.
Falling in love in Kamakura
Although my house is only about a 30 minute train ride to Kamakura, one of the best tourist spots in Japan, I’d only visited there a couple of times. Since my parents and I had nothing to do on one of the weekends, we decided to visit Kamakura and shop at “Komachi Dori.”
Here, I met the love of my life: a green tea parfait. It was the perfect parfait topped with green tea soft serve, mochi, and a red bean paste. The bottom was filled with green tea flavored whipped cream and green tea jelly. This is a must eat for green tea and ice cream lovers. I’m already dreaming of the day I get to visit Kamakura again and reunite with this ice cream masterpiece.
Spending several months away from home made me realize the things I didn’t know I love about Japan. Thank you for the wonderful winter break.
An is a freshman from Japan who is thankful that Minneapolis has a direct flight from Tokyo. She loves animals, both stuffed and alive, and one of the hardest parts of packing for college for her was choosing which plushie to bring to Carleton or, sadly, leave at home. She is currently undecided about her major and is excited to explore new subjects.