Hello! My name is Jen Wu '19 and I am this year's DA (Director's Asssistant) for this year's Japan LSA+ in Chiba, Japan. For more information about the program, please visit the LSA's about page or navigate around this website. This will be a rather long, catch-up post on what has happened so far.
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People trickled into Japan from 06/20 to 06/21, but everybody arrived safely and made their way to the APA hotel in Makuhari! We stayed there for three nights and tried out the big public baths in the hotel. We wore the yukata supplied by the hotel, and some of us used the sauna as well! On the first night (06/20), those who arrived already went to take pictures for student IDs for Kanda University of International Studies (神田外語大学, KUIS). Here is a picture of us in front of a photo booth, posing "candid."
That evening, we ate at a French buffet for dinner, and Yukari-san, Dorsey-sensei's wife, introduced herself and helped us practice our introductions! She is also the one who helps organize events and set up this website.
The next day (06/21), we went to see Japan's famous Asakusa. There were many people, but we tried our best to take a photo in front of Kaminari gate. We then went through Nakamise-dori to see Sensoji. There, everybody tried their luck with omikuji. Afterwards, we went to look at the smaller Asakusa shrine.
That day, we also went to Ueno and explored Ameyoko. I went to pick up Sydney from Narita after going to Ueno, making our group whole. The rest of the students and Dorsey-sensei went to Akihabara. Some of the students even went to a maid cafe!
On 06/22, we went to Meiji Jingu in the morning, followed by Harajuku. Some of us bought omamori at Meiji Jingu. After Harajuku, we went to Shibuya. There we saw the famous Hachiko statue, as well as walked the scramble crossing. We also shopped around Shibuya's many stores, such as Shibuya 109, Uni-qlo, and a Book-off.
If you have gotten this far, and are curious what I look like, here is a picture of me and Dorsey-sensei with some plushies in a store on Omotesando!
It was a long day with lots of walking, and many people went to the public baths again. On 06/23, we went to a reception to meet our homestay families. The event made the KUIS website! Susie got even higher placement than Dorsey-sensei on the post! Afterwards, everyone went back with their homestay families, and spent the weekend with them. My homestay family took me to Boso no Mura (房総のむら) and it was a lot of fun! Chiba-kun happened to be there on the same day, so we took many photos with him.
The Dartmouth students started class on 06/25. Since then, we have met people from CALYX (who also gave us a wonderful tour of the school the first day) and from our joint class with Sekiya-sensei on Thursday. KUIS8, the newly built building that houses SALC (self-access learning center), is a popular hang-out place for many students, including Dartmouth students. We often go there to hang out with friends we already made or to meet new people! A couple of us go to KUIS's gym as well, and although there is no AC, there are many fans. Unlike Dartmouth's gym, we have to take off our shoes (or change into clean shoes) before going into the gym. On Friday 06/29, we went to karaoke with three KUIS students, and then got dinner with four KUIS students. It was a lot of fun!
The Dartmouth students are taking Friday off from class, as we are going to Nihonmatsu 07/06-08. Look out for an update afterwards!