I mentioned at the beginning of the trip that I was looking for a rock. This afternoon I had my last onigiri (tuna mayo as always) and took out money one last time. I went to Sakae to walk around so I didn’t spend all day at the center in my room. I bought some snacks for my brothers (which they will eat in five minutes), and decided to go to Yagoto, so I hopped on the Meijo line. I am very confident in my subway skills at this point but I clearly got ahead of myself because I missed a transfer and the Meijo line turned into the Meiko line and I ended up getting lost. I made my way back to the Meijo line and got off at Yagoto because I wanted to go to the temple one last time. It was nice because there was nobody else there. When I turned to leave I found my rock! It’s red and heart shaped and it’s perfect. After that a group of us went to Spice Time for dinner but it was CLOSED. We ended up going to a Korean resturant and I got kimchi with pork and rice which was delicious. After that Ady and I went to the Sento but it was ALSO CLOSED. We ended up at a different one a short walk away in Gokiso and it really cool and definitely much older (it seems like it’s from the 50s or 60s). I really enjoyed getting to know everyone and the culture on this trip. Thank you all!

This final week I did a lot of work on my final paper and presentation. We finished up with class and I was able to go on some solo trips. I also got my first tattoo, which I’d been wanting to get for a long time, and Monday was my 19th birthday.

As I’m writing this it’s late Thursday night and I leave in the morning. I know I’m going to miss Nagoya a lot, and the many freedoms I have here. I’m very very grateful to have stayed in Nagoya, and to spend time learning at Nanzan. I’m not sure whether I’ll be here or in Akita in a year and half, however I’ll definitely be back in Japan.

This week was mostly dedicated to finishing up the class, my presentation and paper; but I was able to have some fun moments! Both of the things I made reservations for happened this week, Collab karaoke, and the Ghibli themed cafe! It was very rewarding to plan out the date and secure the reservation then go to the place and see it followed through on.

Karaoke was fun, I wish we knew how to use the machine better though, it had a lot of kanji we didn’t recognize so it took us a bit to figure it out;; but the theming was fun and I liked getting goods for Hanako-kun at the end cause I haven’t found any nice-looking keychains and stuff for that series this whole trip! The room was themed after a different anime/manga though, Iruma-kun which my childhood friend likes, so I made sure to send her a bunch of pictures and get her some badges. We sang some banger songs, including but not limited to: California Girls and Not Like Us; needless to say, we killed it.

Then there was the Ghibli cafe for lunch, and oh my god it was so cute! We all had to get drinks and desserts to accompany our main dishes. Their menu was so cute too, it had drawings of the food and themed descriptions!

Below are the drinks we got they are themed after (left to right): Arrietty, From up on Poppy Hill, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo!

I also had to get the Spirited Away food as it is one of my favorite films ever! The spring roll had a clean crunch to it, the braised pork and bao buns were nice and savory, and the cheesecake was light and delightful!

Obligatory Miku of the week:

Went back to my favorite Surugaya to make sure they didn’t restock a gem. They didn’t… it was a shame, but they do restock pretty quickly–there were two new Miku Nendoroids, I just had one and the other one was one I didn’t want, which was also 15000 yen.

So I got the Snowbell Snow Miku that was there last time! I do really like her lily of the valley theming

With this the trip draws to a close, it was really fun and I hope to go again with some close friends in the future. This is the most money I have ever spent in my life.

At the end of last week we went to Ghibli Park, which was pretty exciting. Admittedly it’s been a few years since I’ve seen a lot of the Ghibli movies, so I had to do a lot of piecing stuff together while we were there. Even still, it was really cool seeing Satsuki and Mei’s house from Totoro in person, it was insane how much attention to detail there was throughout. Even all the drawers were filled with what you’d expect the characters to put there.

The main warehouse was definitely the best part of the park, there was so much packed inside that it would be hard to describe it all. I really liked the dioramas in the main exhibit. I didn’t go up any of them but it was really cool to see scenes from those films brought to life (and somewhat to scale too). The special exhibit about food was also really good. A lot of the food on display looked like you could take a bite right out of it, and there was even a little (fake) izakaya you could hop into for a bit. No photos there though :(.

Today is the last day and I cannot believe it. Throughout all of Nagoya, one thing remains to be seen… the Nagoya Castle. I did not go with the group the day it was raining so I still have not seen the castle as of this morning. So I decided, “today is going to be the day I go to the castle”. So I grabbed my umbrella and purse and went to the train station to leave with Mariana to head towards JR towers. The towers were bustling with the shops and I picked up sweets for my family. And after window shopping for a while, I bought myself a dress! For lunch I found a pastry shop and had a matcha filled cone thing and some other thing that was delicious. These pastries fueled me to get ready to walk to the castle. I navigated my way to the castle and got to the point where it was finally in range to see! It was underwhelming so I decided not to enter and left.

The End ✨

In the last week, we all went to torikizoku and then to the all you can eat korean bbq place. We went to torikizoku for Paxton’s birthday, Torikizoku is awesome because everything is 390 yen so we ate endless amounts of skewers and had a great time. We went to the Korean BBQ place again, but this time Westin came with so the whole team was there and our goal was to crush a rice PR. On top of exorbitant amounts of meat, we ordered what was essentially 123 servings of rice and ate all of it in basically an hour and a half. We racked up 20 thousand yen charges both nights it was pretty incredible.

It was super hot this week, and earlier I spent a long time tracking down a shop in osu kannon to buy a specific t-shirt and it felt like I was undergoing a test of will. I had to carry trash for 2/3rds of the walk because there were no bins and at one point it started leaking (an oat milk yoghurt drink) and it was mortifying. It all worked out in the end, I found a trash bin and also found the exact shirt I wanted. I could have spent like a million dollars in that store, though. I want to go out and get some more art supplies today but I’m not sure I will have time as I also have to pack and figure flights out.

I had a lot of fun exploring Ghibli Park, Sebastian and I went to every single area and they were all cool, but there was definitely some highlights. The area surrounding the recreation of the bakery that Kiki stayed at was really nice, there was a carousel and flying machines, and you could actually get bread from the bakery. There was a little notebook open on the top floor next to Kiki’s bed and everyone was drawing cats in it. I bought art books for Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa, I haven’t seen Nausicaa but after hearing about it more this trip I’m definitely going to watch it. The warehouse area was really cool, I enjoyed seeing the big dioramas they had set up, and the room with all of the release covers was awesome. I almost purchased a jiji plush and I still kind of regret not getting it, it was super cute and reminded me of a beanie baby. I did get some cool folders. Another of my favorite places in the park was the area where you could see the drawings of characters eating, and the immense work and care that went into them.

We also got to see an animation exclusive to the park and I shed a tear.

We went to Fushimi Inari shrine area and got food at a nice spot run by a bunch of old ladies! the food was really good and afterwards I climbed up to the top! Along the way we found a tori gate which was put up the year I was born so I took a picture under it! i tried some ramune ice cream which was interesting! I made a wish at the shrine at the top as well. by the time i started on the way down my legs were so tired they were quaking!

once we got back home to the air bnb I was so tired but a group of us decided to go visit the nintendo store and the kyoto pokemon center which was a lot of fun! i enjoyed trying to find all of my favorite pokemon among the piles and i ended up only getting a sticker for myself of one of my favorites. We got food quickly and I had a lot of fun hanging out and talking with everyone!

This was a really fun day! the train ride was nice and peaceful we started out in magome, but we had to take a super cramped ride up to the top where the town was, we were packed in tight and it was quite the experience

after a nice group meal we started moving down the nakasendo! it was a beautiful area with huge mountains. at one of the rest spots along the way i tried horse sashimi! it wasnt the best, but it was very interesting and I had a nice conversation with the women who ran the shop.

we were invited in for another rest stop and at this one there was free tea and candies! the man there was very sweet and it was a very cool old style barn.

the whole trip was absolutely gorgeous and the path was incredible with huge trees and small shrines set up along the way. we passed by some lovely waterfalls as well!

It was a really hot day when we went to the zoo, so lots of the animals were either sleeping or enjoying the shade and water! one of my favorite parts of the day was right when we walked in, a rhino was playing in a sprinkler to get a nice gulp of water and cool down in the heat.

the main highlight for me though was near the end! one of my favorite animals is the japanese serow, which I wasnt particularly expecting to be at the zoo. However as we were wandering through the japanese animal segment, I saw a small graphic for the japanese serow! I rushed to the section, but they were resting in the shade away from the viewing area so I couldn’t see them. I was a little disappointed but I figured I would try to see them one more time before we left the park. I enjoyed walking around and seeing all sorts of animals, especially as the kids all called out the animals names!

I checked one more time before we left and lo and behold! a Japanese serow right by the fence! it was the first time I had ever seen one in person and i was absolutely delighted! I took a lot of pictures with “goro” and then said goodbye and left the zoo.

It was so cool to be able to see an incredible animal like that in person! i am so glad I was able to see them!