Tour of Japan | Cary Academy Goes to Japan 2019 – FAQ Part 2

Jul 31 | Evan | No Comments |

Sometimes when you’ve visited a place a few times, it can be easy to forget all the little things that you noticed when you first visited. Traveling with someone who has never visited a place helps you to remember what you first noticed and to notice new things as well! Teenagers are especially fun to travel with because they’re not afraid to ask questions. The next couple of blog posts will focus on the “frequently asked questions” that this year’s group asked. Perhaps you’ll have some of the same questions when we visit Japan!

“Why do they do that?”

For example, why do they stay so quiet on the train? Since most Japanese cities are very densely populated, travelers are often surprised at how quiet it is. The trains/subways are particularly quiet, especially when one is accustomed to travel on trains in the United States. Our students this year actually downloaded a decibel meter on one of their phones to help them judge their volume compared to those around us. We talked with students about cultural differences and how in the United States we typically have a “individual first” mentality whereas group comfort is typically more important in Japan. You may have heard that the new Japanese era is “reiwa” – the character that is pronounced “wa” means harmony, but not musical harmony. It specifically relates to harmony within the social group.

Another common question is why the Japanese remove their shoes when indoors. Most people know that the Japanese generally don’t wear shoes inside their homes, but we make sure that students are prepared to remove their shoes in some restaurants, temples/shrines, and even in the fitting rooms in clothing stores. We also have to be careful not to step with our clean socks on the dirty outside floor or step on the clean inside floor with our dirty shoes while taking them off. I’ve been to Japan five times, and I still don’t get it right all of the time! This is also related to “wa”, the concept of harmony within the social group. In this case, it’s a matter of taking special care to keep shared areas clean. Our tea ceremony gave us a great opportunity to learn about and practice “wa.” We also learned about “kei”- respect; “sei”- purity; and “jaku” -tranquility. Our host taught us how we can consider these four concepts as we participate in a tea ceremony. It was amazing how calm and focused we were during the calligraphy lesson after the ceremony!

“What is this?”

This question came up pretty much every day, usually at least once during every meal! Students fell in love with conveyor belt sushi and wanted to try everything, but wanted to know what they were trying! This was also a common question in convenience stores, which we visited most days. This year’s group loved trying new snacks and drinks. “Straight Tea” and chocolate were both especially popular this time around. Another favorite was momiji manju, maple-leaf cakes filled with soft fillings in various flavors. It was fun to discover different flavors and compare the different bakeries’ styles. Students were also curious about pretty much everything at shrines and temples. “What is this gate? What are those little wooden thingies? What is this cow?”

How the sushi comes if you order off the menu (iPad)

How the staff calculates your bill

This summer, Japan Photo Guide by Evan Pike was once again able to offer a spectacular trip to Japan just for Cary Academy students. Katie Taylor, 6th grade Language Arts teacher and Japan enthusiast, co-led the group with Evan. We began our trip in Tokyo, then traveled to Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Kyoto before returning home from Osaka. This post is written by Katie Taylor, a 6^th grade teacher at Cary Academy and Japan enthusiast. Read about our 2016 trip to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto or see all reports from the 2018 tour of Japan or 2019 tour of Japan.

Tour of Japan | Cary Academy Goes to Japan 2019 – FAQ Part 1

Jun 17 | Evan | No Comments |

“What is this for?”

For example, what is this plate for? A traditional Japanese place-setting includes many small plates and bowls, each for a separate dish or topping. Settings usually have a unifying theme or motif, but are often different shapes and patterns. Simple pottery pieces or lacquered wood with subdued colors are common. Our host and cooking teacher in Tokyo, Kyoko, showed us which plate to use for her delicious gyoza, katsu chicken, radish and carrot salad, etc. The gyoza was our students’ favorite. Kyoko uses a technique to both steam and fry the gyoza using the same pan. In Kyoto, our guides told us about the various plates used to serve our udon, tonkatsu, and other dishes. A few restaurants we visited even had a guide about what each container on the table contained. Ramen is one exception to the multiple-plates rule. It typically comes out in a huge bowl. Eating soup with chopsticks was a new experience for students, but luckily we had Frank from the blog 5 AM Ramen to tell us the ins-and-outs of eating ramen!

There were many versions of this question when we visited shrines and temples as well. Students were especially curious about the troughs of water with bamboo ladles near the entrance of most shrines and temples; these are used for ritual ablutions before prayers and offerings. Students learned to perform ablutions like the Japanese do, as well as how these rituals influenced the general cleanliness of Japan’s cities. Since cleanliness is seen as “holy” and ritualized cleanliness was a part of what was once daily religious practice, even secular parts of Japanese society value cleanliness and prioritize cleaning in public spaces. Subway stations, platforms, and trains are conspicuously clean, even in the busiest areas of Tokyo!

“How do we do this?”

Our students are excited to participate in many different activities (what we call “experiences”) while we’re in Japan. Many require a bit of coaching, and we’d often hear the question, “how do I do this?” Our guide in Nagoya, Machiko, showed students how to pull a fortune at a temple or shrine and what to do with a less-than-lucky fortune. She also showed them how to make an offering at the shrine by clapping, bowing, and, of course, depositing a coin and ringing the bell! During our day with Machiko, students also rode antique bicycles and learned how to walk on stilts at Meiji Mura, a unique park filled with Meiji Era (1868-1912) buildings that have been moved from all over Japan.

We visited a few different arcades during our trip, and students really enjoyed the classic drum game “Taiko Master”. Once Evan showed them the basics, they were off. This prepped them for our lesson with real taiko drums in Kyoto. The Taiko Center is housed in a fairly non-descript building in Kyoto, but it’s really interesting inside! There are several sound-proofed rooms within the narrow building, making the best use of the space to create rooms that feel large and open. It’s hard to believe how quickly students picked up the basics of taiko drumming; maybe all the “Taiko Master” practice helped!

It was interesting to see how video games and physical activity often go hand-in-hand in Japan. There’s the drum game I already mentioned, dance games, musical games that require you to stand and tap different lights, and tons of VR games! On this trip, “Ninja VR Kyoto” taught us how to “be a ninja.” It was silly and so much fun! We tried a few different activities, including two virtual reality “tests” using a VR headset and dart competitions to test our aim and focus.

Tour of Japan | Cary Academy Goes to Japan 2018 – Experiences

Nov 26 | Evan | No Comments |

Read about our 2016 trip to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto or see all reports from the 2018 tour of Japan.

We call our trip for CA students “Experience Japan” for good reason: we don’t just ride a tour bus from location to location looking at things, but we include a wide variety of hands-on experiences that allow students to connect with the people and culture of Japan in authentic ways. I’ve already mentioned the cooking lesson at Yuca’s home and the origami lesson at Origami Kaikan, both of which were amazing experiences.

One of our first experiences on this year’s trip was a visit to a VR arcade in Tokyo, VR Zone Shinjuku. “Arcade” doesn’t seem like the right word since it conjures up images of American shopping malls and Pac-Man; this was more like an indoor amusement park. We played MarioKart and other games or just watched. The arcade is set up with viewing screens, so your friends can see what you’re seeing on the VR headset.

Probably the most unique experience we had was visiting a brand new avant-garde art installation in Odaiba, one of the newest areas of Tokyo. “Team Lab Borderless” is a totally unique museum experience in which the user interacts with the art. There are huge displays of moving flowers that are projected on the walls and your body. There are rooms full of inflated shapes that you can walk through. There’s a slide, things to climb, a “forest” to walk through, a room full of lights that makes it feel like you’re underwater, and even two different rooms in which you can design your own flower, fish, or animal using a coloring page and then see your design literally move across the floors and walls of the exhibit.

While in Kyoto, we had the chance to participate in some classic Japanese experiences that everyone should do at least once. We learned traditional calligraphy from a calligraphy artist, participated in a tea ceremony, learned the basics of kendo (swordmanship), and played taiko (drums).

Of course some of the most memorable experiences happen with the least planning. For example, one day in Kyoto we visited a temple and found an unexpected art show! A mother and her daughter were showcasing their designs. The mother’s art was made using dried flowers that she finds on her walks and the daughter did playful calligraphy. We were so enthralled we ended up buying a few pieces!

Any animals we saw were a big hit for our group too. We enjoyed visiting the Grand Ise Shrine, but the local cats we found afterwards were probably as memorable as our visit to the ancient pilgrimage site. We saw fish, fed deer, and even found a Shiba Inu hanging out at a restaurant waiting for his owner! I think we may have some future Shiba owners in our group.

Tour of Japan | Cary Academy Goes to Japan 2018 – Food

Oct 26 | Evan | No Comments |

Read about our 2016 trip to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto or see all reports from the 2018 tour of Japan.

When I tell people about traveling to Japan, they inevitably ask about the food. Along with swords and anime, sushi is probably the most famous Japanese “stereotype” for people in the U.S. Of course, there’s so much more to Japanese food than sushi, but the sushi is pretty amazing! Our students particularly enjoyed conveyor belt sushi restaurants. Two of them had competitions as to who could leave the tallest stack of plates… and the highest bill. Evan knows a good conveyor-belt sushi place in pretty much every corner of Tokyo.

Ramen and udon were also favorites of our students. We learned how to make ramen at a cooking class with Yuca, an Insta-famous home chef in Tokyo. We ate at several ramen restaurants during our trip. Each student had his/her favorites, but most of us agreed that ramen and udon are better than soba.

We had a lot of fun dining at izakaya, which are like laid-back small plates restaurants. One of our favorites in Kyoto specializes in “yakitori”, grilled chicken on a stick. I think a couple of our students would’ve eaten there every day if there was one at home!

One of my favorite foods in Japan is the soft-serve ice cream. This usually surprises people, but the ice cream in Japan is amazing! You can get all the typical flavors (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry), but there are so many unique flavors too. One soft-serve spot in Hiroshima had blue “ramune” flavored soft-serve; we went there twice! My personal favorite was in Miyajima. After a long hike down Mount Misen, we enjoyed lightly coffee flavored ice cream. Delicious! I didn’t get a photo of it, but one stall in Kyoto sold cod-roe flavored soft serve. I thought it was strawberry from afar, but luckily I read the sign before anyone ordered it!