Out and About...

... in Yotsuya.

We had some free time today after our Japanese placement tests, which were awful by the way, and before the welcome party for all international/exchange students. We met up with Teresa who is living at a homestay instead of DK House and got lunch at one of the cafeterias on campus. We were able to eat on this wonderful roof terrace with a view of the surrounding area.The cafeteria is pretty interesting; like the restaurant we went to yesterday you order your meal via a computerized system. There are a lot of different options and you select which one you want. The apparatus, if you will, then spits out this coupon and you take it to the ordering station. It's pretty neat. I was ridiculously hungry by this time so I ordered katsudon from the machine and yakitori from the a la cart.

After lunch we decided to explore the area around Sophia. Teresa had already done this when she first arrived so she was our tour guide. Our ultimate destination was a garden near the end of the street but we took a lot of stops along the way. Our first detour was this temple off the main road.Apparently, there are a bunch of them off of main streets like this. There was a bit of a barricade blocking the entrance but we stepped past it. I'm not sure if we were supposed to though because not too long after a Japanese man came up to the same barricade, read the sign there (note it there in the bottom of the picture) and turned around. Hmm.

Our second stop was an Office Depot. We were pretty surprised to see it but Greg and Natalie thought it was great luck that we stumbled upon it. They've been searching for mechanical pencils and so far have only found wooden ones. They did find some at the home depot but none in bulk packs like in the U.S.

After some time moseying down the street in the afternoon sunshine we reached Chidoriga-fuchi Park/千鳥ケ淵. The park was full of four different kinds of cherry blossoms. It seemed like a pretty popular place. Many Japanese were enjoying the weather, the cherry blossoms and having hanami. Hanami／はなみ is a term that describes cherry blossom viewing and the partaking of food and sake/さけ, which you could smell a little bit in the air.

There were also a couple of ladies dressed in kimonos. We haven't seen too many of them so far but they looked very pretty, especially the details in the back.


Here are a few more pictures from the trip to Chidoriga-fuchi Park. The tree that looks like a weeping willow was my ultimate favorite, mostly because I have a soft spot for willows. If you want to see even more pics of the park, check out Natalie's blog.

After the trip to the park we headed back to Sophia and the welcome party, which was great. We got to meet more exchange students and Japanese Sophia students. To Teresa's chagrin, most of the students we've met so far have been girls. Akiko, my monitor says it's because there's a bit of a gender division in majors. A lot girls major in English, while the boys tend to major in math and science. It's a gender divide that's not wholly uncommon in the states either it just seems a little more apparent at Sophia.

All in all a terrific day and tomorrow should be even better.