Kawagoe, a Town Reminiscent of Old Edo

Yesterday I took a half-hour train ride to Kawagoe, which is a small town that retains much of the architecture and aura of the 17th century Edo period. The buildings are very interesting - nearly all are built out of a dark, almost burned-looking, wood and have sloping roofs. The main street is lined with dozens of shops selling mostly food and dessert-items, like taiyaki and mochi. 

The main street in Kawagoe.

Taiyaki is a delicious dessert item that I hadn't known about before coming to Japan. It's a pasty baked into the shape of a fish with different kinds of filling. Some have chocolate filling, others have the Japan-favorite red bean filling, and another popular taiyaki is the cheese-filled one. I've had the chocolate taiyaki and the cheese taiyaki, and both are very good. 

Cheese taiyaki - warm and delicious!

A narrow street in Kawagoe is called Candy Alley. It's a small alley lined with about a dozen candy and sweets shops. It was fun walking around and seeing the different kinds of Japanese candy. There was a field trip there, and a bunch of kids were waiting for their "candy craft" at a small stand. The candy crafts were sort of like hardened gummy candy that the purveyor would mold into a unicorn, Pikachu, or other character shape and then cool it down and paint it. I assume it was sweet and edible! It was interesting to watch him make them. 

Kids waiting for their candy craft.

I really liked walking around Kawagoe and seeing what Edo-period Japan may have looked like. The only thing that I found frustrating was that cars were allowed on the main street, so it was hard to take good photos. But overall it was a very interesting little piece of Japan.

The old bell tower.

The main street in Kawagoe.

Done with School!

I have finished my autumn term at ICU. I had two finals this week and a paper due. It feels good to be done with school for this term (and to begin the longest winter break I've ever had). I was sad when my last class was over, though. It was a fun and unique experience to go to school in Japan, even though all of my classes were in English. I learned a lot about Japanese students' lives in my classes, especially in my Sociology of the Family class, in which we often compared life in the US and in Japan. I'll miss my Eastern Art History professor repeating things in Japanese that he had said in English so some of the Japanese students could better understand important points. I just thought that was cool. I'll miss having all of my classes in the same building, and the small class sizes. It was easier to know my fellow students when there were only 30-40 people in my class instead of 70-150. I got to know some of the students I sat next to very well, as nearly everyone sat at the same desk every class (a practice that's also common in US schools, for some reason). 

I now have 12 (12!!!) days until I return to San Francisco. I'm going to South Korea next week from Monday-Friday, which means I only have seven full days (including today) left in Japan. I've made a list of the things I still want to do and see, and I'm trying to decide what to do on each day I have left. The list includes seeing Mt. Fuji, which I think I'll do tomorrow because it's going to be a clear day, going to an ukiyo-e art exhibit (we learned about ukiyo-e, which is like pop culture art from the Edo period, in my Eastern Art History class), visiting the nearby city of Yokohama, going to the Tsukiji fish market early in the morning, and visiting the Edo-style town of Kawagoe. These next 12 days are going to be very busy. 

I am going to miss my campus. I like its small size and its simplicity. I like to walk all the way around campus (1 mile per loop) to get some exercise during days I have class. I often see cats roaming around campus. I've seen a black cat, and black and white cat, two orange cats, a gray striped cat, a calico cat, and some kittens. I also love all of the autumn colors that have recently sprung up in November. 

Beautiful yellow leaves.

Red, orange, yellow, green.

Reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and light and dark greens surround campus. It's beautiful. I especially like the leaves that have turned yellow - their yellow is like the yellow of a golden apple, and it's a color I've never really seen before. They look particularly beautiful when the sun shines through them. California doesn't have many deciduous trees, or trees that change with the seasons. It was nice to experience a real autumn here in Japan. I'm going to be sad to leave.

A real autumn.

Halloween (A Week Late)

This past week has been the last full week of classes, and as such, I've been very busy writing two papers and preparing a presentation. Now that that's done with, I finally have time to write about my Halloween in Japan!

Halloween in Japan!

Me and a few girls from my floor went to an anime cosplay convention in Ikebukuro, which is near central Tokyo. I was very surprised when we arrived. There was a red carpet laid down and several people in cosplay were posing for pictures. For those who don't know, "cosplay" is like an intense form of costume. It's usually for people who are hardcore fans of a certain genre. There are different types of cosplay, but it's usually based on characters from anime, video games, or comic books. I had never been to an anime cosplay event before, so I wasn't expecting the high level of detail the costumes had.

A couple of Sailor Moon characters.

First of all, there were so many people dressed up. As we walked around the five-block radius the event was in, I saw hundreds of people dressed in cosplay, in all levels of intricacy. Many people went all out with colored wigs and eye contacts to match their character. A lot of costumers also had fake weapon replicas that their characters usually carried.

Naruto characters.

It was so fun to walk around and see all of the different costumes. Everything was so colorful. I asked many people if I could take a photo of them, and they were all happy to pose for me. Halloween in Japan seems like a day that anyone can be a celebrity.

Characters from the video game "Metal Gear."

In the main red carpet area, there was a sort of runway show. People who I guess had signed up beforehand lined up on the red carpet and waited for their turn to stand on a small circular platform to have their photo taken by press photographers. I managed to get a spot a few feet away from them and took lots of photos.

Participants in the runway show wait for their turn on the platform.

Even though I didn't recognize most of the characters (most of them were anime characters), it was still really fun to see everyone's costumes. I had no idea Japan was so into Halloween. It was a really fun way to spend Halloween and to experience a different country's take on the holiday.

I loved these girls' costumes!