Well the first big difference between Tokyo and Kyoto is of course size. Tokyo is the biggest city in Japan. And the feelings between the two cities is completely different. Kyoto is where you can get quintessential Japanese culture. It is the oldest city in Japan with a lot of temples in the city and the surrounding area. And Kyoto also has the Gion district where people can see geisha and experience an older side of Japan.
Tokyo is a city full of youth and innovation. You can still experience Japanese culture there, but there are so many international influences in Tokyo, which makes the city so unique and a tourist destination. In my mind Kyoto and Tokyo are like Washington, D.C., and New York City. New York City is new, with a lot of cultural influences, and Washington, D.C., is more “American,” with all of the museums and monuments.
Making the sushi was very fun. But I was pretty down that morning though because I was feeling pretty emotionally drained. Overall it was still a good time even though I was quieter than usual. I thought it was great to be involved in the culture in that type of way because when people hear Japan they think of sushi.
It has become such a common food here in America that I forgot there is an art to making sushi. It takes a lot of time and hard work to learn how to make it properly. So taking that sushi class helped me appreciate that more. And I also learned some new things too, like how to properly eat sushi. I know now that you eat it all in one bite because before I would take bites out of it, which made it harder to eat.
The picture at left is one that I took in Akihabara. I chose to share this picture because it was actually a place that I didn’t exactly enjoy that much. I mostly went because a lot of other people in the group wanted to go and Akihabara is a famous area to go to in Japan, so I figured that I had to check ot out. I didn’t have a horrible time but I also didn’t have tons of fun. I think that’s mostly because I’m not into video games, arcades, anime, and manga that much. I enjoy watching it and playing video games sometimes, but it’s not a hobby or passion of mine. India and I did go to one of the photo booths there and that was a lot of fun. The pictures were funny too.