Thunder dolphin and last day at Chou universtity :'( entry 19

Today was a very said but still fun day in Tokyo Japan. I woke up like normal and got some breakfast then it was off to my last day at Chou university. We had an exam after a short lecture from Dr.V, After taking our test we were free for  little while before we had to go to the fair well party at the school. We grabbed a bite for lunch and headed back to the hostel. On the way back we decided we wanted to ride the thunder dolphin at Tokyo dome, which is a Roller coaster in the middle of the city. This ride was really fun! it started out with a huge vertical drop into a series of twists and turns over crazy hills one of the best coasters I have ridden here. After that we went back to the hostel and weighted for a little while to go to the party. It was a pretty fun thing but also sad because we all knew that this was our last time seeing our buddies. we exchanged gifts, ate some food and did some dancing. After that we all shared our favorite memory from the trip and called it a night. I am really going to miss my routine of going to that school every morning and seeing my buddies on the weekends, but i guess all fun things must come to an end.

T

Return of the day of the chill Entry 18

Today was yet another day of playing catch up after being out of town for the past 2 day. I woke up got breakfast went to class by myself and returned to the hostel ready to get stuff done. I immediately started blogging and blogged until I was able to right about all the things I did like Disney sea the day before and some other stuff as well. After some catchup I went to go get food. later that night i was able to hang out with some friends and talk, I was able to knock out a lot of stuff I was behind on today not to bad of a day. I did manage to win a huge bottle of Pocari sweat at the 7-11 which was pretty cool.

Japan Advertising

This magazine is an example of pioneer advertising because it is promoting the idea of being active in life not just with a specific brand.

This is an example of institutional advertising because it is promoting a cetain thing which is disney sea.

This is an example of comparative advertising because it is comparing two different products.

This is an example of a product add because it is presented on a product.

This is a example of a competitive add because many brands are listed but one is preferred to the others.

Dr. Kadzys

 

We had a gentlemen by the name of Dr. Kudzys come talk to our class, I learned many things from him about Japanese culture. A big thing he hit on was the way that Japanese peoples life usually go, it was very interesting to find the many types of ways this usually goes, he said that most Japanese people are born Buddhist, merry like a Christian and die Shinto. This was a very interesting perspective on Japanese culture that I had never heard of before.

     Another interesting thing I learned about Japanese culture was the many gods that Japanese people have; I think he said something like they believe in over 3000 gods. This is just so much different from in America where there is only one God for the most part.

One thing that the Doctor mentioned that I had herd before was that people would pretend not to speak English if they don’t want to talk to you; the shyness of the Japanese people is a huge thing that surprised me when I came here. In America people are a lot more loud and outgoing then the Japanese people. Another interesting cultural point of Japanese culture would be the diversity of religion in families. In the US the children usually follow the example of what religion they are in but in Japan you can have a Buddhist, a museum and a Christian all living in the same house hold and the and no one would argue because the Japanese people believes that everyone has there old opinion and that they are entitled to it. The Japanese believe that everyone has a good opinion on what they worship.

     All in all this was a very informative and interesting brief history lesion on how Japanese people behave, I was very glad I got the opportunity to here more about the awesome animal that is Japanese culture.

An American's Japanese Dream XIX

May 28, 2015

      Today after class, a few students decide with some instructors to visit the old city of Kamakura. Kamakura is a small villages primary known for its shrines, but there is one more feature that it has that makes it stand out from the neighboring cities. Kamakura is home to one of the Sitting Buddha. There are many Buddha statues all over the world and each one has slight differences from the others. This statue was for one, about two and a half stories tall.
      We were also able to walk inside the giant Buddha and see some information about how it was made and all the certain stitching that went into the crafting of the Giant Buddha. They say that if you rub the Buddha's belly, you will be blessed with great fortune and luck.
      Not much more was done that do due to the rapid approach of the end of our study abroad program. I sacrifice any free time that I has to finishing up any work that I have not started or close to finishing.

An American's Japanese Life XIII

May 27, 2015

      Today started off like a normal day. There were no early excursions like we had in the past few days. It was our first day going back to class after about four days of solid traveling around Japan. I was kind of glad to get back to the regular schedule because I was truly tired of running around, Train riding, and walking what seemed to be like a thousand miles resulting it sore feet and complaining. I felt happy just sitting in a room or an hour and a half rather than the endless walking I had to endure the past week.
      During class, we went over the different types of advertisement and how it is used. So for our homework, we had to go out into the world and find any examples that would the specific type of ad that we were looking for. On our quest for the ad examples, a few friends and I came across this building that specializes in wood block print. I did not actually know what wood block print was, but my friend seemed pretty excited about it. We decided to take a break from the assignment and take a look at the place. It just so happened that this place was the famous Mukuhankan owned by the print master David.
      We walked into his shop and he greeted us with open arms. It was that warm type of invitation that you need once in a while to justify that there are still nice people in this world. He took us around the shop explaining what he does and how long he has been doing it. He has been working there since I was born back in 1993. Along with the tour, we were given the opportunity to actually watch how to art was done by one of his students. At the end, my friend bought a piece that resembled the characters for the famous Nintendo game "Star Fox".
      We left the shop and carried on with our previous task of finding the ads. Some of the group decided to split and leave for the hostel. We roamed several shopping areas before deciding that the best thing to do was to go to the local 7-eleven and check the magazines rack. There we found most of our assignment.
       For dinner, we decided to go a sushi place. Dr.V gave me the challenge to eat over 14 plates of sushi. I happily took on that challenge, gather a crew and headed to the sushi place. At the end of the end, I summed up a total of 15 plates while me friend exceeded and got 18 plates. Challenge accept
and exceeded.

Kamakura, and the Giant Buddha

What you're looking at is the giant Buddha nested in Kamakura. Kamakura is a small town located about an hour outside of Tokyo. Hidden away in Kamakura is this statue of Buddha which stands 3 or 4 stories tall in the middle of a courtyard. Our journey there way pretty relaxing, it was just a train ride away and about a 5 minute walk from the station. Kamakura is nothing like Tokyo or Kyoto. It resembles more of a rural area than anything. However, it still remains beautiful regardless of all the tourists that shuffle their way in and out just to catch a glimpse of this statue.

Japan Advertisement

Japanese Advertisement

Japanese Ads that can not be shown in America:
The availability of such magazine is prohibit in America because it advertises what America deems "lude" actions to and public and is placed in a place where children could wonder upon them.

Product Ad:
This advertises a single specific product. In this case,the are advertising a certain type of headphones.

Pioneer Ad:
This ad does not sell a product or a service, but it promotes a change of life. Its promoting just going outside and enjoy the outdoors

Competitive Ad:
The show a list of several brands of cigarettes but in the medium advertisement there are suggested brands. It is saying you can buy some brands but we prefer these brand.

 Comparative Ad:
The Ad shows multiple items that provide that same service, but it does not tell you which to buy. Instead, it provides its stats compared to another.

Institional Ad:
This Ad shows that by buying this product you're not only helping yourself, but you're helping the world. Buying Hybrid allows you to help save the world just by driving

Mokuhankan Woodblock Print

The highlight of my day has to be this purchase. This is an original Ukiyoe Heroes Woodblock print made right here in Asakusa. Mr David Bull and his partners are the ones who started this entire line and have ben doing these prints for over 30 years. Mr Bull just opened this location up 6 months ago and has been doing well when it comes to business. I am absolutely thrilled that I just so happened to stumble into his store and discover such greatness.

Japan Day 19, the highest I've been in Tokyo (Tokyo Skytree)

Today was started off with an amazing presentation from a Lithuanian ambassador. His name was Dr. Kudyz, and he gave us an interesting look on the life of Japanese people. After class Tom and I decided to finally visit the Tokyo Tower. This was literally the highest point I have been in Japan. It was around $28 to see this point, but it was an absolute breath taking view. We spotted the Tokyo Dome, Sensoji Temple, and many other points of interest. This would defiantly be a place worth vising for anyone wanting to tour Japan.

Japnese advertising that would not fly in the US

This is a common sports drink found in japan. Most people see this and don't think anything of it because it is an English word Sweat. However if you tried to sell this product in America the chances of it being popular would be slim because you are literally labeling something as sweat, no one wants to drink sweat so this product would not do to well with that name in America.

I See Disney Sea entry 17

 

Today was a heck of an awesome day we woke up and went to class. After we went to class I went down to the cafeteria where I hade some lunch after that I was kind of nerves because I wanted to go to Disney Sea but the people I was trying to go with already headed back to the hostel. With no one going back anytime soon I was by myself to navigate Tokyo in order to go. I successfully made it back to the hostel by myself for the first time with no problems. When I got back I had a little while before I was going to the park so I picked up a pork bun and had a little snack before I left. After about 30 minutes I met with Carter, Alyshia, Katie and Gabby and we set off to the place where dreams come true in Japan, AKA Disney Sea.

When we got to the front gate we ran into some trouble. It turns out getting the point across that you can run debit as credit did not get across to the people of Disney Sea, we tried for like 30 minutes to get them to run it as credit but it was not happening, after that we tried to get money out of the ATM inside the park with someone following us in but it turns out the machine did not accept our cards either. Finally Alyshia was nice enough to pay for us with her credit card, we immediately paid here back in American money. After that adventure it was off to the wonder that was Disney Sea. It was a huge themed park with about 5 rides and several attractions. When we first got in we just walked around a little bit and took some pictures. First we went into the little mermaid themed area, which looked really cool. It completely simulated what it would be like to be under water. In there the group got a bite to eat and then we hit the rides.

First up we road the raging spirits ride. This was a traditional rollercoaster that had one loop in it as well as some drops and downward spiral tracks. This coaster was fun but not my favorite. After the raging spirit ride we went to the Indiana Jones ride, which was an adventure ride that you went around and experienced the crystal skull adventure first hand. My favorite part was where at the end a figure shot a huge steam ball at us made to look like a fireball it was so cool. After Indiana Jones we went on the tower of terror, this was probably one of my more favorite rides at the park. It was very similar to the one in America except that this one had a different story line. It was hard to know what exactly was going on but from what I gathered from watching it was that there was a guy who stole an ancient artifact from some tribe in Africa that cursed him. When he got back to his hotel in America the curse caused the elevator to drop from the top floor all the way to the bottom killing him instantly. Other then that the ride was completely identical to the one in America. After riding the tower of terror we got on the journey to the center of the earth, which was truly an awesome ride. It started out slow but then near the end accelerated to a very fast speed to the top of the volcano and spit you out down a hill at the end of the ride. After the journey to the center of the earth we road kind of a childish ride based off of the Sinbad movie It was pretty much the same as it’s a small world after all but more updated and themed. After this on the way back we figured up that we walked about 12 miles that day, truly a fun filled awesome day!!!

Advertising in Japan

Pioneer Advertising

 

This magazine represents Pioneer Advertising. They suggest the idea of taking more time off for vacations. They don't promote a specific location, just that humans need more relaxation time.

 

Institutional Advertising

 



This product poster is promoting Coca-Cola as a way of life. They are also promoting the green aspect of Coke, which is recycling.

 

Product Advertising

The ad for this Panasonic robot is promoting the cleaning ability of this one specific item, and claims that it is the best of its kind!

 

 

Competitive Advertisement

 









 This ad is showing a comparison of backpacks on the left side, then on the right they show the one that they suggest. This is an example of Competitive Advertising.

 

Comparative Advertisement

Here they show a list of potential cellphone options, and give you details about each one. In no way are they trying to sway your decision, they are just providing facts.

 

Advertisement that wouldn't pass in America

This ad is a perfect example. Cigs are not allowed to be colorful, nor offer packaging or promoting that would tempt children into trying them.

 

Japan Day 18- Abnormal amounts of conveyer belt sushi

Three words describe how amazing today was. Those words are conveyer belt sushi. This was quite possibly the best food experience I have had so far. My friend Tom had 18 plates of sushi, followed by Steven with 14 plates, then Justin with 8 plates, and Tyler and myself having 4 plates. This food was absolutely amazing, and quite possibly the best sushi I've ever had. The other portion of my day was spent in the classroom, so cbs is definitely worth noting!

Hiroshima, A Somber Place

This is the Hiroshima Memorial. This houses a museum and gardens all dedicates to the events that took place. Walking through these ground will be eye opening to any individual no matter how stoic or callous they may be. As you can see the grounds are well taken care of and it is very clean. If you are ever in Japan. This needs to be one o your stops. My camera is filled with pictures of the exhibits.

Kyoto, and the Shinkansen Hikari

On our way to Kyoto, we took this magnificent piece of machinery there. This is the Shinkansen Hikari Super Express. This is the 3rd fastest train in the world clocking in at about 230 Km/h. It was a very smooth ride and I was really happy to get some pictures of it for my friend Brad back home. 

This is the entrance to one of the temples we go to see within our first few hours in Kyoto. It was fantastic. We hiked a good while to the peak of a hill where there was a temple that was absolutely stunning.

Harajuku and Karaoke

Harajuku is a jam packed shopping paradise for anyone, you can find all of your retailers there and you'll spend all of your money too. We went there today, specifically I wanted to go so I could find a hat that my friend had purchased the previous week. I eventually found it with actually little to no effort thanks to Jason. By chance we jsut ran into a store and he said "you can probably find it in there". Crazily enough it was on display right outside the door. At any rate, most of our day was spent in Harajuku shopping for ourselves and for our loved ones back in the United States.

International Student Party!

 

 

Today was all about the International Students Event that Yusuke had planned out for us.

At around 7pm we all met at the Bunkyo Civic center right above the Chuo station. 

It was a great opportunity for us to integrate with Japanese students and them with us. It was a tremendous amount of fun meeting up with other students and sharing stories and getting to know their interests. I really hope that I will be able to maintain contact with everyone I met.

An American's Japanese Life XII

May 26, 2015

        It seems that I am no longer able to sleep past 8 am. Every time I try, I get some news or announcement saying that I have to be somewhere at a certain time early in the morning. Truly I am not mad at that. Rather be doing something in Japan because I can always get me sleep later. Time is the most valuable resource I have and I can't afford to waste it on something such as sleep. The reason for today's early morning call was because we were going on a trip to the historical site in Japan known as Hiroshima.
      In order to get to Hiroshima, we had to once again catch a train. This time we were on the train for about ninety minutes. Once we got to the city, we went right to exploring. The first place we went was to "Ground Zero". That was the very spot (Hypo center) that the A-bomb blow up over. At that very spot was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial which stood in that place prior to the explosion. The building was just in ruins with only the infrastructure left barely intact. Hiroshima left the building in that condition to serve as a memorial to what happened on that day.
      We walked across the street to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum had a large array of artifacts from the day that bomb drop spanning to several weeks afterwards. Each artifact had a story that was written underneath it and a lot of these stories were really sadden to read. One story that really hit me was this story of a boy who, after getting exposed to the bomb, was so thirsty that he drank the puss from his wombs. There were stories like this all over the walls of the museum. Another one was a step that had a shadow actually burnt into the stone. In the middle, they had this model that showed the blast radius of the bomb and it showed everything that was engulfed in explosion.
      The museum had such an impact on the group that we had a debate over the logistics of war and who was in the wrong. Eventually, our debate came to an end and we went off to explore more of Hiroshima and get some food before we get back to the train station. We met up with the rest of the group that stayed in Kyoto and headed back to Tokyo. Today was a day not of amusement, but of reflect and understanding.

An American's Japanese Life XI

May 25, 2015

          Today started of very early in the morning, and by early I mean 7 am. It was earlier than I wanted to get up. The reason behind it was because it was a travel day. Where are we travelling you may ask, to the city of Kyoto. Getting there was no walk in the park through. It took about three hours of riding on a train to get there. This was not a normal train that we were riding. It was the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, which is the third fastest train in a world.

      After taking enough pictures from the train window, I decided to get reacquainted with an old friend named sleep. After waking up and discovering that I am still on the train I realized just how long of an island Japan is. I use to think that since it scales small in comparison with other counties that travelling across it would be not as hard. I was so wrong. I felt like I was on the train for an eternity. For us to be travelling that fast for that long and still not have made it yet, changed my views of the size of this once "thought to be small" island.

    Upon arrival to Kyoto, the first thing we did was walk to a Shogun Castle known as Nijo Castle (Nijo-jo). It is this huge castle built back in 1603 and served as the first home for the Tokugawa Shogun. This place was huge with three buildings and many gardens inside. We were allowed access inside the shogun's living quarters. The design was nothing less than beautiful. Totally expected for a shogun. The most interesting thing was that the floors of the place were to produce a noise similar to a bird chirping. They are called the "Nighting Gale" floor.

       The next stop on trip was to the new Hostel, or the place that we will be spending that night in. It was an okay little place. It reminded me of being back in class with the community’s showers and everything. A few of us from the group went on a hike after moving in. At first I was hesitate to go, but in the end I am happy I went. The hike lead us up a huge hill and past a giant graveyard to approach this shine/ temple area. The temple overlooked the city of Kyoto with somewhat of a protective type of feel. The area was so tranquil that it actually caused me to fall asleep while I was sitting down. That also might be because I was tired from the whole day of travel. We left just moments before closing time. So far, it’s a good day in Kyoto.

Eccoed horrors of the past entry 16

Today we went took an adventure to a very dark part of Americas past, it was one of the hardest places I have ever gone to. We woke up this morning met Dr.V and went to Hiroshima where exactly 70 years ago 150,000 lives vanished in less then 10 seconds with after effects of 350,000 total lives gone from the long term effects of radiation left by the terrible A-bomb. We started out at the A-bomb dome where the A-bomb exploded over, it is kept in the exact same conditions that it was found after the massive explosion. This building was physical proof of the terror that happened that day, it was chard and crumbling with the skeleton of the dome still present. It was almost frightening being in the presence of this building to see the horror of it in person. I felt like I could see the whole thing happen right before my eyes, how much panic I would be feeling right before my body was disintegrated by the molten blast of the bomb. After this experience the flood of emotion was not even close to being quelled. After we were done at the A-bomb dome we went into the museum that exhibited even more of the horrors that this day brought on, as soon as I passed through the entry way which was designed to simulate what it might look like to see Hiroshima after the explosion from the A-bomb dome, I was in a mood of sorrow for all the lives that our military brought to an end that day. There were figures made to look like children with their skin literally melting off their bodies from the heat of the explosion, there was a chard tricycle and helmet from a child who was just enjoying his or her life and one of the most grizzly things was the ashes of a human being that settled on the steps after there body was disintegrated by the fire of the bomb, a complete human living their life was reduced to nothing more then a pile of ash. It is so ugly what human beings are capable of, we can be the most dangerous living organisms on the face of this planet. All in all It was a terrible thing what we did to the Japanese people but something had to be done to end the war, however i'm not sure if an a-bomb was the best choice. life is such a precious thing, to take it away in such a magnitude is a very ugly thing, I just can't get over the thought of there had to be a better way of doing it but I cant give an answer to what that could have been. all I know is that 70 years ago 150,000 innocent lives were taken away in a matter of seconds, God rest the souls of all who perished on that horrifying day.

temples and palaces entry 15

 

Today was a very new kind of day. Most of it consisted of riding a train to Kyoto, which was actually pretty cool. We woke up at 7:00 got some food and then met with Dr.V in front of the hostel we followed him to the correct train station and got on the 3^rd fastest commercial train in the world. We started out and got up to 180 miles per hour. This acceleration was very smooth, so smooth you didn’t even really feel it. The train ride out to Kyoto was truly beautiful, there were mountains everywhere all covered in greenery it was like driving through a dream, and then we drove by the one the only Mt. Fuji. This was truly a sight to behold it was like a towering giant among the plains of Japan. I can’t recall ever seeing a mountain quite that high before. Truly a once in a lifetime sight, pictures can’t really capture the sheer majesty of the wonder that is Mt. Fuji.

After a very pretty scenic train rides we finally arrived in Kyoto. This is a city that I was most excited about seeing because of all the traditional wonders as well as the new form of the city. We walked around a bit and found ourselves a palace, which was way cool. There were so many beautiful gardens and rivers running around it and various statues commemorating certain things about the palaces history. The inside of the palace was huge and was equipped with nightingale floors, which were designed to prevent ninjas from killing people after sneaking up on them. Every step I took the floor would make I high-pitched squeaking sound, it was a really cool thing to see.

After the palace we went to our hostel and got settled in, after we got everything squared away we went to a huge shrine area at the top of a mountain, after walking through a crazy graveyard. We could see pretty much the entire city of Kyoto. After that we went back to the hostel and grabbed a bite in the café. After that we did something that will probably be one of my favorite memories of this trip, a few friends and I went up on the roof and stared at the moon a sky for a while, we had a lot of good conversations and just had a really good time it is something that I have wanted to do for a while now. All in all one of the best days in Japan so far.

The Process of Progress: Chapter Fourteen

Bonding Time

A Day in Harajuku

Since being in Tokyo, Sundays have taken the form of being a day of relaxation, perhaps an opportunity to get away from the work side of the trip. This is time to take care of personal issues and find a sense of serenity. This Sunday, I began my day by being notified that we had to move to a different room once again. So in the rush of things, we moved our belongings to the girls’ room whose was located only one floor below us. After doing so, I decided to catch up on laundry as my clothes began to pile up and I was starting to room out of clothes for the upcoming week. My roommates chose to be patient and wait for me to finish my laundry before we started our day. We had a very busy day planned, so as soon as my laundry was finished, we rallied up the troops and headed out. Today, we wanted to do some more shopping in Harajuku. On our visit to Harajuku, we had not nearly enough time to explore all that we wanted to explore. Our first stop was the Nike store. I absolutely had to go to the Nike store to see if they had gotten some Air Jordans that were released on the previous day. As it turns out, they had sold out just hours before I got there. That kind of dampened my mood, but I remained optimistic. As we walked around Harajuku, we took so many pictures and made so many memories that we will never forget. Justin saw a hat online, and he was determined on finding it in Harajuku. After searching for several hours, we found the hat in a very small store for a very inexpensive price. All in all, Harajuku was an extreme success and turned out to be quality bonding time for my roommates and me. After Harajuku, we met up with my buddy in the Tokyo Dome Center Food Court to grab a bite to eat for dinner. Tonight was the night I fell in love with Japanese food! I had udon for the first time, and I can honestly say this is my absolute favorite(I seem to say that about something different every day).

The Process of Progress: Chapter Thirteen

Let's Party!!

 

Today is the big day that we’ve been planning for a while. My buddy Yusuke and I had been coordinating an International Party which would be a fellowship amongst Chuo students and TnCIS students. The purpose of the mixer was for both sides of students to gain a greater understanding for each other’s native customs and cultures. The mixer was to be held at the Civic Center that we had previously visited to observe the overlook of all of Tokyo. I was extremely happy to be able to converse with so many Japanese students. I had no idea that these students were from all over Japan and not just Tokyo. In fact, I met one student who was from China and she spoke both fluent English and fluent Japanese. I found that to be extremely amazing because mastering not only one but two languages is extremely challenging. At our tables, we were tasked to design a Japanese style fan which was supposed to enter a contest. The contest idea fell through but it was still very cool being able to come up with ideas for the fans. Tom was in my group, and he is a free-lance artist, so of course, in my opinion we won the competition.