Activity Week : Japan

For six days, 33 students and Mr. Kid and Ms. Shereen, traveled around three different parts of Japan, the traditional part, whici is Mt. Fuji, the suburbs, Yokohama, and the city itself, Tokyo. Unlike the Nepal trip where it is more towards the history of the place, which is so deep in its roots that it enhances the culture, the people becoming the life of the place.

Whereas uber- modern-tecnologically-overloaded Japan, in comparison, we are looking at urban cosmopolitan lifestyle that has been infused with its traditional culture. The theme for this trip was fashion and architecture, in which we were to compare and differentiate how fashion has shaped architecture, or how architecture had been created for fashion or how both came together in unity to form an architecture that represented the fashion. To do this, we were asked to analyse buildings that could be found in Omotesando, Tokyo, a high-end fashion district.

Throughout the trip we visited three main areas which are Mt. Fuji, Yokohama, and Tokyo, and within these places we had visited :

Mount Fuji
-Owakudani Valley (The Valley of Hell) Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture.
-Mt. Fuji Visitor's Centre.
-Kawaguchiko 5th Station
-Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanishi Prefecture.

Yokohama.
- Yokohama Landmark Tower

Tokyo.
-Fuji TV Head Office Building
-Asakusa Kannon Temple
-Nakamise Shopping Street
-Shibuya District
-Ginza District
-Omotesando Street.

Mount Fuji

Considered to be a sacred mountain to the Japanese and the Shinto religion, it is located between the Yamanishi and Shizuoka Prefectures. Mount Fuji stands as the highest mountain in Japan, with an elevation of 3776 meters and not to mention, it's also an active volcano. The mountain is surrounded by five lakes, one of which is Lake Kawaguchi.

Upon arriving in Japan, we took a four hour ride to Owakudani Valley (大涌谷). The name ' Owakudani', stands for the Valley of Hell, which is due to the fact that it is a sulphurous geyser valley.The valley is filled with sulphur vents and bubbling pools.

Sulphur, we kid you not, smells.


Seriously.

Despite the 'intoxicating' smell of sulphur, most of us managed to brave ourselves to eat one of the main local attractions, Kura-tamago (黒玉子), the black egg, which had been hard-boiled in the hot springs, their shells having turned black due to the sulphur. Apparently the locals believe that eating one egg will add seven years to your life.

After satisfying our need to capture loads of picturesque shots of the valley, we left Owakudani, and had to have a short briefing on Mt. Fuji at the Visitor's Centre just before going to the Kawaguchiko 5th station.

At the Kawaguchiko 5th Station, we had a clear view of the mountains surrounding Mt. Fuji and a clear shot of Mt. Fuji itself. The station is the highest area that one could travel to before having to climb the rest of the way on foot towards the peak of the mountain. The weather was really cool, and the icy winds were strong.

We spent the night at Lake Kawaguchi, sleeping in the traditional Japanese rooms complete with futons, eating dinner while wearing yukatas( tradi, and bathing at the bathhouse,also known as Onsen. (please Google for more info, we do not wish to elaborate ;) )

Yokohama

Yokohama Landmark Tower (横浜ランドマークタワー)

The Yokohama Landmark Tower, designed by KlingStubbins, stands at a 295.8 m high. It has 70 floors in total, out of which the 49th to 70th floors are occupied by the Yokohama Royal Park Hotel, a five star hotel and the below 48 floors contain shops, offices, restaurants and buildings.The building has the second fastest elevators in the world. A Sky Garden (observation deck) is located on the 69th floor of the building, where one could capture a 360-degree panoramic view of Yokohama City. There are many retail shops, especially in the lowest few levels, selling many middle range to high end items, and also a number of branded goods.

Tokyo

Fuji TV Headquarters

Asakusa Kannon Temple

The temple is one of the oldest temples that could be found in Tokyo. Along the side of the temple is the Nakamise street, a very popular shopping street, which sells many tourist-like items such as small decorations, kimonos, samurai swords and extremely good mochi.

Ginza and Shibuya District

Ginza is a large shopping district which is home to many famous and high end branded goods such as Burberry, Swarovski, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Muji and more.To not spend here was......difficult.

The buildings in Ginza were so different, in the sense that each building had its own certain distinctive features to it, and they are all unlike the ones we could fine back here. Makes one wish that we had buildings like that.

Everywhere the locals go, the main mode of transportation is still - walking. Young and old alike, walking is how they get by to get about. Also, despite the lack of dustbins around, the country is still extremely clean. Their mentality is that no matter who you are, like everyone else you too are expected to be clean.

Tokyo International Forum