Day Eight

Tokyo- Day Eight

GO BEARS!

For me, today was going to be a fun day regardless of how it progressed, because we were supposed to watch a soccer game between Waseda and Keio University. And to be honest, the day was far better than my expectations. The metro ride to the open air stadium was short and we were all ready and stocked up on snacks and drinks to keep our energy levels high for the game. What we didn’t expect was that we would actually require all the energy we could gather to cheer for Waseda.

Waseda crowd

I have never seen such enthusiastic and cheerful young bunch of students in my life. The synchronised cheering, shouting and jeering that I observed really made me feel a part of the team, not just the one playing on the field but also the one rooting for it. I have never screamed so much in excitement as I did for that soccer game, all because of the students of Waseda.  They made sure that we felt right at home and were part of Waseda University as much as the rest of them. Such depths of camaraderie and inclusiveness can only be shared by the Japanese, which is one of the reasons why I love the Japanese people.

The Group

Yes, we lost the soccer game. Yes, we were disappointed. But no, we did not lose hope. After the game got over, the whole Waseda side of the spectator stand stood in respect of the defeated players with a silent but prominent face, saying “we are proud of you.” That’s true sportsmanship. It’s easy to say that the team did not work hard enough, or that the opponents were tougher, but what we never realise nor respect is the fact that we did our best and that’s all that counts. At a time like this, a proverb comes to mind: we learn the most from our failures and our defeats than from our successes.

Respect for the defeated

- Shubhankar Shah

Day Seven

Yokohama- Day Seven

Pond

Today we were very excited as we were to have lunch at Prof. Sadoshima’s house in Yokohama. This was by far the most personal interaction that we had in Japan. We started off my taking the Metro and changed trains a couple of times which took us about an hour or two to reach her house. She had made an elaborately detailed “map” which was more like a puzzle with clues, albeit easy ones. After figuring out the details, we only had to walk a short distance to get to her house. While walking, we saw a small pond attached to a children’s park along with many anglers trying to get lucky with a big fish. This scene instantly reminded me of Goa and I thought of Rachol, which I frequent, and of Goans of all ages trying their luck in the river, hoping to take home some fish for lunch.

Shapes and Symmetry

The houses there, in the suburbs of Yokohama were pretty compact and squared off- as if they were taken out of boxes and placed right in their spots. As I had mentioned in earlier posts, there is a lot of symmetry and organisation in the way the Japanese build things. The same goes for their houses.

Dange-san and Chowgule students with Prof. Sadoshima 

Somehow this place seemed idyllic if you ever wanted to settle down and have a family in Japan, similar to what we see in Television serials about America and their suburban lifestyle. This similarity of American and Japanese cultural integration is quite prevalent in Japanese youth and modern Japanese ideas of economic development.  

Group Photo!

Vaishnavi greeting the dog

As we entered Prof. Sadoshima’s house, we were greeted by her mother who was quite warm and welcoming and did not hesitate to wake their dog up so that he could play with us. Naturally as dog lovers’, all of us surrounded the cute fellow and took turns petting him. Then we headed to the living room where we were served Japanese tea, as is customary. After a short introduction session, we dived head first into the kitchen as we were all hungry and Prof. Sadoshima graciously accepted to teach us how to make Sushi. Making Sushi was certainly a fun experience for me as I have never indulged in cooking and also because it was so easy that I could do it on my first try! I scrumptiously ate the Sushi I made, partly because I made it and partly because I loved it. Then we sat down for lunch and tried our hands at eating with chopsticks, which we pulled off successfully, well most of the times. After a delicious desert of cheese cake with kiwi and strawberry, our hunger was finally satiated.

Sushi_1

Sushi_2

The next event on our itinerary was Bingo! Prof. Sadoshima had prepared questions on Japan, which we were to answer if we got Bingo and numerous gifts were lined up as prizes. We thoroughly enjoyed the Bingo session and everyone was happy as all won something or the other. After such a fun game of Bingo, we settled down and had meaningful conversations with Prof. Sadoshima along with our other hosts.

After Lunch

Our Gracious Host

We were a bit disappointed as we had to start our journey back to the Hostel but we certainly enjoyed this trip and took back memories of kindness and compassion that we will never forget. This visit has been one of the most memorable experiences we have had in Japan and I think everyone else in our group would also agree.

- Shubhankar Shah

Day nine..........Education and Waseda university ...........

We started our day as always. Coincidentally, we all had the same breakfast that is bread and toast with coffee. Then we went to Waseda. Today we attended a lecture by professor Masahiko Gemmae. The lecture was based on the topic Japan in Asia and Global food security. It was a nice and interesting lecture. It was very interactive lecture. Alas the lecture was over by 11.30. We then had our lunch at a restaurant named Naan and Curry. At 1pm we took a Waseda university bus to the waseda campus of engineering and science where we had a campus tour and which was about 20minutes far from the main Waseda university. There we were welcomed by two staffs and three students. It was a wide and clean campus. It had tall buildings which consisted of mainoffices,classrooms,laboratories,libraries,cafeteria etc. The science and engineering campus of waseda has the most modest, skilled and technical education and educational facilities. The students accompanied us to each part of the university describing each and every thing that we saw or whatever questions we asked for. they took us to nuclear physics laboratory which had the modest technological apparatus and instruments to carry out nuclear experiments. Then we went to environmental safety laboratory in which the students who perform research oriented experiments. Next we went to chemistry and microbiology laboratories which also had the latest technological apparatus as well instruments to perform the regular as well as research oriented experiments. The students told us that after every experiment they have to write a report on the experiment which they have done on that particular day and they are accessed based on the report they have submitted. We saw the first robot models of the world named WABOT (WAseda roBOT )which were invented in waseda university. 

                                                               WABOT-1

                                                         WABOT-2

It was amazing trip around the campus. The campus had two large libraries which had 
varieties books in english as well as Japanese language. Waseda university is a technologically advanced university with all the new forms and systems used for education.

Sushi.....anyone???

Prof. Saori Sadoshima’s, who Dange Sir refers to as our local guardian had invited us to her house, as part of an experience of getting to know all things Japanese! Prof.Sadoshima lives outside Tokyo in a small picturesque village of sort and it took us 70 minutes and 3 trains to reach there! We passed by a beautiful lake on the way where we saw middle-aged Japanese men fishing as means of pleasure!

En-route....!

Saori madam’s house is very simple and beautiful in a way as it is not pretentious, and it made me feel cozy and like I was at home! She had also invited two of her students as I assume she thought it would be great for us to interact with them. We even met her dog, who was optically impaired but was very cute and sadly whose name I have seemed to have forgotten!

Okay so after we got comfortable in the Sensei’s house, now it was time to get down to the food, as always! She told us she was going to teach us to make sushi, and I was a little skeptical about the whole “sushi” thing at first, I mean I had never tasted it before and if I didn’t like it, I might come off as disrespectful! But anyway, she took out a seaweed wrap, placed the “specially” cooked rice on it and then put salmon and cucumber as the filling, and then rolled it with the help of a bamboo mat and taaaddaa…….the sushi was ready! I mean that looked so simple and easy, I thought I could do it with my eyes closed , well I was so wrong, and when it came to me making the sushi , my product did not look a lot like sushi but hey….it was my first time and in my defense it tasted pretty good! And so I ate the sushi like I hadn’t eaten for days and the hot wasabi sauce only made it better, though I am not too sure about my fellow mates’ opinions about the dish! Saori mam also prepared some other variations of sushi for us in advance, which I must say was very good!

After lunch we all played “Bingo” and I must say I have never enjoyed playing bingo before as much as I have as Saori mam’s house, which I admit was mainly because there were presents involved! All of us won something, and kudos to Saori mam for putting so much thought in the gifts!

And finally for dessert we had Castella which a traditional Japanese sponge cake, and trust me when I say this it literally melts in your mouth and it is possibly the yummiest cake I have ever laid on my tongue!

Well as the events succeeded our time at Saori Sensei’s house came to an end and from all the things we took back I think the vibe and warmth of a Japanese home will remain our fondest memory!

Sushiiiiiii!!!

Heaven on a plate........!!!