Checking In!

Hey gang!

Japan's been fantastic. It's hard to believe we've only been here three days! We've done so much in such a short amount of time...it's been so much fun. Here are some of the highlights thus far:

Hakuhikan Observatory: Remember the two buildings with the satellite-looking things on them from the third season of Digimon? That building. We went up to the 45th floor and looked out over the city, which is huge! It doesn't feel that big when you're in it, but it's massive. Got some awesome pictures. 


Meji Shrine: Beautiful. It's in a forest, smack dab in the middle of Tokyo. It's truly wonderful to behold. We even to see two traditional Japanese weddings being held!

Harajuku: One of the big shopping districts in the area. We visited the Evangelion Store (epic!) and grabbed crepes for lunch before perusing the rest of the district.

Akihabara: Oh lordy. Talk about a geek's paradise. Anything and everything game/electronic can be found here: retro games, consoles, computers, arcades...It was fantastic to see, but so overwhelming in just the sheer number of shops and advertisements. I got some really fantastic stuff though, and will be going back to visit some more shops and have dinner or lunch at the Gundam Cafe. 


Fish Market: We were up at 4am for this one, but it was so worth it. We got to see the fish market in action, which was awesome. :D


Ghibli Museum: Probably my favorite part of the trip thus far. The museum is centered around everything the studio has done thus far, including things released this year. I got to see original cells from some of the films, storyboards, life-size renditions of settings, got to sit in a life-size Cat Bus, got to see a mock-up of some studio spaces... The museum itself was so quaint and beautiful, feeling a bit like a hobbit hole in atmosphere, but sporting some beautiful/quirky architecture and some lovely stained glass windows that depicted characters from the studio's works. I spent way too much money in the gift shop/book store, but it was so worth it.

From Software: Our first game studio. We got to sit down with the director of Demon Souls and Dark Souls in a Q&A session. It was really educational, and so cool to speak to someone with experience in the field and in touch with the current industry. It was also nice to learn about what some of these companies look for in employees.

Square Enix Showcase: We found it! It's smaller than anticipated, but really fantastic. I'll be returning later this week to make actual purchases.

I know these are just short synopses, but there's too much to put into one blog. If you want to know the whole story, you'll just have to ask me. ;) It's been a brilliant trip thus far, and I'm excited for the rest too! Toei and Telecom tomorrow!

I'm Alive!

AKA I've made it in one piece to Japan! The treck started this morning with an early trip to O'Hare, catching our flight that departed at 10:20am on November 25th. We then traveled to the future and landed around 2:30pm on the 26th, after 13 hours or so of flight time. The flight was a little bumpy, but pretty smooth overal. The food was impressive, considering American in-flight food standards (ahem, not very good), and time was split between napping, reading, writing, and watching Cars 2. We landed smoothly, managed to get through customs without too much of a hassle (they had these finger print things that none of us could figure out. You had to place your index fingers on the pads, press down, and hold until it took your picture), and then withdrew/exchanged dollars for yen. I have decided that Japanese yen are much more pretty than American dollars. Anywho...from there, it was onto the bus to the hotel! The ride was relatively uneventful, but involved a lot of picture taking and a beautiful sunset.
We arrived at the hotel, which is pretty classy, considering the fact that we're a group of college kids. The lobby is beautiful, all decorated for the holidays. We felt extremely underdressed in our comfy travel clothes, watching men in suits and women in dresses wandering about. Our instructors gave us 20 minutes to get situated in our rooms before we met up again, when they showed us the convenience store and took us out into the district. From there, they set us off on our own. The group I was with went off for dinner, going into a noodle place. I was baffled by the ordering system: you look at the images outside, pick one, and pay for it at a vending machine-esque station. It gives you a ticket, which you take to the counter. They then make your order, and call it out when it's ready. Which would be fine, if I knew any Japanese. It was a lot of guessing on our part, in terms of picking up the orders. In the end, we all got our food and it was delicious. I got soba noodles and some sort of sweet, fried fish (at least, I think it was fish). I'm so excited for more Japanese cuisine: I forgot how much I enjoyed the flavor base of good, authentic asian food.
Laura and I retired early, returning to the hotel to get settled and prep for the week ahead. I'll be uploading photos from the day to Facebook this evening, so feel free to check those out. Anywho, Day 1 is complete! The real adventure starts tomorrow!

Welcome!

Hey gang!

This is where I'll be keeping record of my adventures in Japan! For those of you who don't know, I am traveling to Japan through DePaul's Study Abroad Program: specifically the CDM Japan program. We will be staying in Tokyo and Kyoto, visiting a plethora of animation and game companies. The goal is to see how the animation/game industry in Japan is similar and/or different to the North American industry, and what facets of each appeals to the other. It's going to be an awesome trip!

So, if you're interested in hearing about my exploits over the two weeks I am there, stay tuned!