EIL Intercultural Learning

Thinking back on my time in Japan, visiting the capital city, Tokyo, was one of the most fascinating experiences of the whole trip - and that is saying something.

Tokyo, as I'm sure you all know, is a massive city, with a population greater that that of Ireland, and , obviously, I was only able to explore a tiny fraction of what it has to offer. Nevertheless, I was completely blow away by the multitude of sights, sounds, and even smells! Suwa - the town in which I stayed - is a quiet place, about the size of Cork, so it was certainly interesting to get a snapshot of city life for those living in Japan. The contrast between the two was quite shocking - it was nothing like the Japan I had come to know. It was jam-packed with people, roads were four or five lanes wide, big screens flashed ads in luminescent colours, and the fashion was... well.... different, to say the least.

My day began at around half-five in the morning - I had to catch an early train in order to be in Tokyo for ten, as it it about three hours away from Suwa . I rode the train all the way to Shibuya - a shopping district in Tokyo very popular amongst teenagers, especially girls. There I met up with three of my friends from school, who were spending a week in Tokyo visiting prospective colleges. We passed a good three hours exploring the many department stores and shops, some of which were ten stories or higher. While I myself am not a huge fan of department stores, i couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer quantity of goods on offer. In one shop you could by bicycles, clothing, mobile-phones, computers, cutlery, paint, toys, and everything in between. It certainly changed my definition of the phrase 'consumer choice'. We also wandered into some individual vintage clothing boutiques, which were delightfully quirky and fun.

After a hard morning's shopping, we went to my friend's favorite 'viking' (Buffet in Japanese) restaurant for lunch. Apparently, there was a very famous movie in Japan about vikings, and in one scene they eat an unbelievable amount of food, thus all-you-can-eat buffets in Japan are now known as viking restaurants. This particular establishment was called 'Dessert' and, as you can guess from the name, it is absolutely detrimental to one's health! The deal was simple; a fixed price entitles you to eat all you can for an hour and a half, but you're not allowed go back for more until you finish everything on your plate. We stuffed ourselves with chicken salad, pasta, curry, rice, and, of course, desserts. The concept of dessert in Japan is slightly different from ours here in Ireland. Where as we tend to go for one big slice of cake or bowl of ice-cream, the Japanese seem to prefer a plateful of tiny bite-sized treats, meaning greater variety. Needless to say, I had trouble fitting into my jeans the next day.

The final place we visited in Tokyo was also my favorite. I was lucky enough to get tickets to go to the Studio Ghibli museum! Studio Ghibli is a very popular animation company in Japan and, thought technically its films are produced for children, it is loved by people of all ages. It can be likened to Disney, but in Japanese. I have been a huge fan of the films for a long time, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I heard I was going. Tickets are very hard to come by, so I was incredibly lucky. The title 'museum' is a bit misleading, as it is more like an art gallery with a quirky layout. The walls of the building were covered with original sketches and paintings from the films, and were absolutely breathtaking. The level of detail was almost photographic, and you could tell at a glance that hours upon hours of work had gone into each one. I could, literally, have spent three full days in there without getting bored.

Alas, three days I did not have, and about three hours after entering we had to say goodbye. We made a quick stop-over in the Japanese Time-Square building, before running to catch the train home.