meegs-in-tokyo

[meegs-in-tokyo]

[9/21/2019] カリフォルニアなう (California Now)

(Sry I got really lazy and skipped a bunch of days. I might go back and fill stuff in but I kinda feel like deleting the blog altogether. Anyway, I’m back home for a bit.)

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[7/27/2019] The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are Coming!!

日本橋 (Nihonbashi)

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[7/25/2019] 夜の渋谷 (Shibuya at Night)

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[7/19/2019] 最後の最後の学校のある日 (Last Last Day of School)

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[7/17/2019] チームディナー (Team Dinner!)

アークヒルズサウスタワー、六本木 (Ark Hills South Tower, Roppongi)

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[7/16/2019] みたま祭り (Mitama Festival)

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[7/12/2019] 早慶戦：サッカー！ (Keio vs. Waseda: Soccer!)

Apparently the singer dude in the second pic is rly famous but was recently caught having an affair (不倫) lol.

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[7/10/2019] 東京駅は素晴らしい (Tokyo Station is Amazing)

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2019年7月6日（土）：留学生の送別会！ July 6th, 2019 (Sat): Exchange Student Farewell Party!

As the end of the spring term (and my study abroad) was coming to an end, a circle/club that I’m in (PLURIO) held a farewell party for all the exchange students in it. It was a fun time just eating dinn and having drinks and chatting with the peeps I met over the term (some of which I became really good friends with and hope to see again soon!!). 

Towards the end of the party, we took a bunch of group photos as in the first pic above. I don’t rly like pictures so I hid in most of them, resulting in only my hand being shown in the photo (pls refer to the white arrow I drew in pointing to my hand lol). 

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2019年7月4日（木）：プルリオとの七夕準備！ July 4th, 2019 (Thurs): Tanabata Prep with PLURIO!

Today I went to Keio University’s Hiyoshi campus (towards Yokohama) to hang out with some of my circle’s (PLURIO) members! They were making paper trees for Tanabata, a celebration every July 7th in Japan. For those interested in the story behind the celebration, pls see the links below:

For visual learners/ppl too lazy to read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9_9MM85z6I

For those who want a quick read: http://www.japan-suite.com/blog/2014/7/6/tanabata-story-of-two-star-crossed-lovers

I don’t really understand why, but everyone writes wishes on pieces of paper and then hangs them on tree-like plants (real or fake). Once the trees are complete, they are hung outside on the night of the 7th. 

On another note, I rly liked Keio’s Hiyoshi campus!! The Mita campus (the one I went to) is quite small by comparison as it’s in the middle of Tokyo. Idk why but apparently Keio students go to the Hiyoshi campus for their first two years of undergrad, and then go to the Mita one for the remaining two...there are a couple other campuses as well but they’re so far away and idk anyone who goes there so honestly not sure what goes on there lol.

[meegs-in-tokyo]

[6/30/2019] 早慶戦：水球！ (Keio vs. Waseda: Waterpolo!)

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2019年6月29日（土）：ゆうちゃん、素敵な大人になってください！ June 29th, 2019 (Sat): Yu-chan, please become a lovely adult!*

*Sry for this direct translation. I swear it doesn’t sound this strange in Japanese lol

Today I made the trip to Chiba for a good friend’s 20th birthday party! She was actually my home-stay sister from my study abroad at the end of my freshman year...it was great to see her and everyone else again. Also, two of my drill students from Dartmouth were homestaying there at the time, so I was able to see them too! The last time I met up with my home stay family (about 2 years ago), I was like rly chub and couldn’t rly speak Japanese. Fortunately, I can (somewhat) say that I have changed for the better since then...they told me they thought so too so thank the jesus!

Anyway, we chatted and had a yummy sushi platter for dinn. I then found this very interesting magnet on the pantry door (actually, now that I think about it, how tf is their wooden pantry door magnetic??)...once I brought it up, Yu-chan told me that she bought it in Hawaii as a kid while on family vacation bc she thought it was cute. She obv didn’t understand the meaning back then, but she def does now! I found the whole thing hilarious. 

Lastly, for those that didn’t know, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 so it was a big day for her! おめでとう、ゆうちゃん！

[meegs-in-tokyo]

2019年6月28日（金）：エルパソ！　パート ？ June 28th, 2019 (Fri): El Paso! Part ? 

Today after school I went to El Paso for another dinner shift! The 店長 (tencho, or branch owner) asked me to work that night since a bunch of foreigners were coming that night.

Instead of doing stuff in the kitchen like I did the past times I worked there (cutting onions, washing dishes, etc.), I was asked to work the floor  (take orders, greet customers, deliver dishes, etc.). Let me tell you--I was rly freaking bad at it! I kind of spilled the first dish I brought to the foreigner table (it was fried pork rinds and in my defense, they were much lighter than I expected), but OH WELL. I was trying my best ok! Oh, and there were also some British ppl there who made fun of me the whole night--gotta love that British humor. 

Anyway, towards the end of the night, these two ladies at the same table I was serving got a lil drunk off of margaritas and asked me to take a pic with them so I did lol. G’ memz! At the end of my shift, the lovely head chef made me a quesadilla and the branch owner gave me a beer. While dining (on my first meal of the day lol) I had a chat with one of the new chefs--a dude named Pablo from Mexico. All in all, a good night! 

[meegs-in-tokyo]

[6/27/2019] 学校から帰り中 (On the Way Home From School)

Rando but I rly like these flowers and the color of them so I stopped to take a pic!! I forgot what they were called tho so if anyone knows lmk lol :(

[meegs-in-tokyo]

2019年6月22日（土）：蘭ちゃんとのばん！ June 22nd, 2019 (Sat): Ban* with Ran-chan!

*I tried to make a pun with the title of this post. “Ban” was the name of the restaurant we went to for dinner, but it also means “night” in Japanese (晩). So the title could technically be read as “Ban with Ran-chan” (as above) or “(My) Night with Ran-chan.” Thank u i will be here all night lol

OK so me and my good friend Ran-chan went out for dinner at a yummy chicken skewer (焼き鳥, “yakitori”) place in Sangenjaya. The place is notorious for it’s サワー (“sours,” or alcoholic bevs with Japanese alc as a base and mixed with some kinda fruity component and carbonated water), as there are so many different flavors and its all DIY (i.e. they give you a glass with the Japanese alc base and carbonated water and the fruit that you order. after juicing the fruit with the juicer provided, you pour it into the drink and BAM). Anyway, the food was good and I had a great time!!

After saying bye, I headed to the station to go home. During my transfer to another subway line, I decided that I RLY wanted an ice cream from a nearby vending machine and headed towards it. So there I was just casually buying an ice cream from the vending machine. Right when I pushed the button for the flavor I wanted, however, some working Japanese dudes (i.e. salarymen) who were violently fist-fighting came over to where I was. In the flurry of their fight, they knocked me over and I hit my head on the station floor. The two assholes casually got up and continued fighting--they didn’t even apologize or acknowledge by existence despite having very blatantly knocked me over and falling on top of me. After hitting my head on the floor, I was quite dazed and confused and just kind of sat on the floor a bit in shock. A nice lady nearby (a 優しいおばさん）came over to ask me if i was OK and then was like, “did you get your ice cream OK??” I was jokingly thinking to myself like excuse me MAM is that what you’re worried about????? I was, however, rly thankful for her checking up on me. 

This event was either the jesus telling me to stop being a fat-ass and eating ice cream from vending machines, or that I should have less faith in Japanese ppl. Anyway, I had a large bump on my head for like over a week since that happened. My boss kept telling me to go to the hospital but I knew I didn’t have a concussion so I was like “no, im gucci lol.” Fin. 

[meegs-in-tokyo]

2019年6月20日（木）：マヤちゃんとの楽しい日！ June 20th, 2019 (Thurs): A Fun Day With Maya-chan!

Today my friend Maya-chan came over to my apartment with snacks to hang out. Shortly after her arrival, we went to a famous たい焼き屋さん [“taiyaki ya san,” or taiyaki (a yummy Japanese fish-shaped pastry filled w/ red-bean paste) shop] rly near my house (tbh kinda dangerous but I only go like once a month I swear!!). Once we returned to my apartment we watched a rom-com on Netflix together! Well, it was actually a rom-com making fun of rom-coms starring Rebel Wilson...I think it was called “Isn’t it Romantic.” Nonetheless, it was pretty funny so if you’re ever feeling down in the dumps, I would recommend you watch this movie!

After going out for dinn at a nearby restaurant, we said our goodbyes. Her flight to China was approaching and I didn’t get the chance to see her again after that. I had a great time meeting up with her from time to time while she was in Japan...I’m really glad we had the opportunity to meet up again after all these years, and I wish her all the best in her future endeavors, wherever she ends up!!

[meegs-in-tokyo]

2019年6月19日（水）：ストップオーバーで友達が東京にいた！ June 19th, 2019 (Wed): My Friend was in Tokyo on a Layover!

One of my good friends from college/swim had a layover in Japan on his way to Hong Kong! (Can you guess what his name is from the first pic???) We couldn’t do much since his next flight was departing that night, but I was glad see him again. After my classes for the day were over, he met me at my school.

After we met up, we ventured to Shinjuku and we spotted these two dudes impersonating Trump and Kim Jong Un who were just casually trekking the streets of Shinjuku. I mean I obviously knew they weren’t the real deal, but my friend was CONVINCED that he had just laid eyes on Trump. I even found out later that he had googled “where is Trump right now.” Honestly smh but I got a good laugh out of it. Anyway, when I turned on the news the next day, the two impersonator dudes popped up! I sent the pic to my friend and he was like “see I TOLD U Trump was there!!!!!” Again, obv not them. smh.