6/2/2023- 12/2/2023 / Week 5
Trinity Wong Ka Yi / 0348778
Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Japan Study Trip Reflection
Fig 1.1 The itinerary of the trip
Ok so we got our itinerary and I was super excited because this would be my first time going to Japan. To prepare for the trip, we started planning the places we needed to go for a site visit in relation to our topic.
(story of us losing our beloved leader Qiao Yin)
It was a very memorable and fun experience going on a study trip with classmates. Personally, it felt liberating because I did not need to worry about home for a week. I learned a lot about Japan's many cultures and etiquette which heavily varied from Malaysia. For the first time, I also got to feel independent, especially on the last day as I got to walk around alone for the first time while feeling safe and confident.
Trinity Wong Ka Yi / 0348778
Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Japan Study Trip Reflection
BEFORE THE TRIP
Fig 1.1 The itinerary of the trip
Ok so we got our itinerary and I was super excited because this would be my first time going to Japan. To prepare for the trip, we started planning the places we needed to go for a site visit in relation to our topic.
Since our topic was based on samurai helmets (kabutos), we tried looking for places that had samurai artifacts on display or for sale. Our range was limited as we were supposedly not allowed to leave Tokyo, and we noticed that the majority of samurai-related places were out of Tokyo, leaving us with almost nothing to go on. Hence, we just listed down the possible places we could go that wouldn't be too far from our accommodation.
Unrelated to the assignment, this was my first time packing for a winter trip so I actually had to buy some Heattech innerwear to make sure I don't freeze to death there.
Unrelated to the assignment, this was my first time packing for a winter trip so I actually had to buy some Heattech innerwear to make sure I don't freeze to death there.
DURING THE TRIP
First day, time to sit in a 7-hour flight with little to no entertainment. Actually, I had a lot of fun on the plane, excluding the terrible neck pain. We ended up playing cards on the plane with people sitting in front of us, and sorry to the other passengers (we might've been the primary cause of noise).
After reaching our hostel, we ended up taking a midnight walk around the streets of Asakusa in a group of 12 of us? It was 2am so it was very peaceful and quiet, and we actually ended up scouting possible places for data collection.
On day two, we managed to keep up with Mr Asrizal and Ms Anis on our way to Sensoji Temple. After receiving a short briefing, we dispersed with our group and we walked through the streets of Sensoji really quick because we planned to go to Odawara Castle after Sensoji. We took the shinkansen which was more expensive than we thought (5600 yen/person for 2-way trip). Fortunately, we made it to Odawara, Kanagawa safely but got lost the moment we tried to exit the train station because they were so many exits and GMaps was not helping at all.
(story of us losing our beloved leader Qiao Yin)
With less than an hour to spare, we finally made our way to Odawara Castle after running around and asking people for help. When we got there at 4:20pm after climbing 193486954 steps, they told us that the last entrance would be 4:30pm but we needed to visit both the Samurai Museum and Odawara Castle. So we split 3 per location: Qiao Yin, Sheryl and I went in the castle, Shannon, Jia Hsuan and Michelle went to look for the Samurai Museum.
However, we ended up losing Qiao Yin because she went ahead of me and Sheryl when we were on the 3rd floor. We thought we might find her upstairs at the 4th and 5th floor but we didn't see her anywhere. Jia Hsuan called us to tell us they couldn't find the Samurai Museum either and I asked whether she has seen Qiao Yin.
"I thought she was with you guys?!"
Ok we all panicked because she was the only one whose phone's SIM card wasn't working either so we could not contact her at all. Sheryl and I quickly took pictures of the rest of the artifact displays before heading down to look for the other group. Fortunately, when we were walking down the stairs of the castle, we saw Qiao Yin in the middle of the compound, walking right behind Jia Hsuan's group. What a day. We then made our way back
However, we ended up losing Qiao Yin because she went ahead of me and Sheryl when we were on the 3rd floor. We thought we might find her upstairs at the 4th and 5th floor but we didn't see her anywhere. Jia Hsuan called us to tell us they couldn't find the Samurai Museum either and I asked whether she has seen Qiao Yin.
"I thought she was with you guys?!"
Ok we all panicked because she was the only one whose phone's SIM card wasn't working either so we could not contact her at all. Sheryl and I quickly took pictures of the rest of the artifact displays before heading down to look for the other group. Fortunately, when we were walking down the stairs of the castle, we saw Qiao Yin in the middle of the compound, walking right behind Jia Hsuan's group. What a day. We then made our way back
Since we settled our data collection on the second day, we were pretty much free for the rest of the trip.
Day three was TeamLabs Planets! It was a really cool and interactive experience, wish I could've stayed there longer because we somewhat rushed through a lot of the installations. My favorite has to be the one with fishes and flowers in the air banjir HAHAHA, it was fun trying to catch the fish. After regrouping, we got ice cream and took some Vogue photos of Kim cuz it was funny HAHAHA. For lunch, we were allowed to go on our own or follow Ms Anis and Mr Asrizal to DiverCity which was the place with the Unicorn Gundam in front so of course we followed them there!
I RAN TO THE STATUE BECAUSE I WAS SO EXCITED TO FINALLY SEE IT IN PERSON. IT WAS SO HUGE AND THE DETAILING WAS INSANE. I then went to the Gundam Base alone and bought more things than I planned. We stayed there until night and when we leaving to the station, another family asked us to help them take a photo so we did. We also saw the replica of the Statue of Liberty and it was SO WINDY. So we used Javin as a human windshield while walking to the station (thank you Javin).
Day four, we visited the 2121 Design Sight and the Mori Art Museum. 2121 Design Sight was holding an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work, focusing on their installation: L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped. There were images and videos from behind the scenes of how their project came to life. Mori Art Museum had an exhibition of works gathered from many local artists, my favourite one being "I will scream my name that I have adopted for myself loudly until my voice dies" as it was very insightful and touching to know the story of Yuzuma.
Day five was a free day as our group already finished our data collection so we decided to visit Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku. The best part, IT STARTED SNOWING. It was my first time seeing snow and man it was so cool. Anyway, excitement died down really quick because it ended up raining the whole day so we didn't get to explore much because of the rain. We made it to Parco Mall, which had the Nintendo and Pokemon center, the culprit of stealing my money. For dinner, we tried Japan's Ikea meatballs though and it was better than Malaysia's Ikea meatballs.
Day six, our final day here. Honestly, I was so tired from the previous days that I just decided to chill. Had taiyaki as late breakfast and headed over to Sensoji Temple again because we didn't really enjoy our time last time we went. Had street food and strawberry daifuku. Chilled at the Sumida Park for an hour. Finally, we went back to our hotel and left for the airport. Not forgetting to gacha at the airport before boarding the plane.
AFTER THE TRIP
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