Category Archives: Tommy Stone ’14, Japan

Read posts from Tommy Stone ’14 from Japan (Spring 2013)

Northward, ho! Arriving in Hokkaido, Japan’s final frontier

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Having graduated from my spring term at Kanda University, I met up with my parents in their downtown Tokyo hotel before embarking on our two-week long trip throughout northern Japan, stopping at holy mountains, secluded hot springs and ancient samurai … Continue reading

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Mount Takao: Hiking, humidity and house abandonment

Awaking to the chipper, automated voice of a Japanese woman as she announced my train’s arrival at Takao Station, I sleepily looked out the nearest window to find a large stone tengu head, staring defiantly down the platform to my left. Primarily … Continue reading

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An afternoon in the ancient city

Before I started taking Japanese culture classes at Puget Sound, it was hard for me to imagine Kamakura without calling to mind scenes from the samurai revenge tales I used to read as a young teen, many of which were … Continue reading

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Running a 10km marathon in Japan

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Back in March, during the first weekend that I started living with my host family in the small suburban town of Isobe, my host mom barraged me with a volley of questions concerning my diet, my exercise habits and my … Continue reading

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Giant robots, fortune-telling video games and Mexican food in Odaiba

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Originally designed to prevent Commodore Perry’s trade fleet from entering Tokyo in 1853, Odaiba now offers dozens of attractions to beckon visitors from across Tokyo Bay with experimental video game experiences and posh fashion boutiques. Strange, that an island bearing … Continue reading

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From the drawing board to the stage: Princess Mononoke

After weeks of pent-up excitement, I had the pleasure of watching Whole Hog Theater, a London theater troupe, perform their stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s Shinto-inspired fantasy epic this afternoon: Princess Mononoke. True to the film, the play had a distinctively … Continue reading

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Day one in Kyoto: sniffing out the fox god at Fushimi-Inari

Assuming the worst for the tail end of Japan’s busiest vacation period, Golden Week, some friends and I booked a house in downtown Kyoto where we would be staying for four days.   We acquired the house from an Osaka blues … Continue reading

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The riveting realm of Japanese cinema

On the first night of Golden Week, Japan’s period of celebration at the end of every April, I decided to remedy the fact that, regardless of all the other sorts of fun I’d been having, I was neglecting one of … Continue reading

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Drunks, punks and debauchery in Kisarazu

Shambling out of the rain into the cramped but cozy confines of Pig Bar, my friend Tony and I were welcomed by a barrage of familiar sounds: primarily, we recognized a song by Rage Against the Machine playing on the … Continue reading

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Arriving at Otaku Central

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As I stepped off of the train, it was immediately clear to me that Akihabara does not appeal to the general taste of Tokyo’s homogenous culture; it caters toward a highly specific niche. There was a bout of heavy rain … Continue reading

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