Hasaki Beach

This weekend, I went to a gasshuku (dance training camp). It was for one of the dance circles I joined: Sophia Modern Dancers. We went to Hasaki, a town located in Ibaraki Prefecture, and stayed at a hotel called Journey Road. There was honestly nothing around the place we stayed except a beach and a 7-Eleven (which, by the way, is a Japanese company. Am I the only one who didn't know that?). More importantly, though, I was able to experience something I never had before. Throughout college and even back in high school, I was lacking a social life. I was always working and going to school, working and going to school, to the point where I forgot how to interact with people other than customers. So when I came to Japan, I decided to be more social. I'm still working on it, but my first step is going out there and joining circles and clubs. So I joined Sophia Modern Dancers and went to an overnight trip without knowing anybody, without knowing where the place was, without knowing what we were doing. Fortunately, everyone was really nice. The members of the circle were very welcoming and tried their best to include everyone in their plans and activities.
So the first day, we arrived around 3 in the afternoon. We booked three rooms, divided between seniority (I ended up being a 21-year-old freshman haha). We went to the dance hall and divided into three groups based on rock-paper-scissors. From there, we went straight to practice. Each group chose a song and had to copy a segment of the dance from the original artist. It was then that I realized how difficult dancing is! I couldn't keep up at all. D: It was only a one-minute segment, but analyzing the dance and figuring out what exactly the artist was doing alone took about an hour. From there, we put the dance together and kept repeating. We must have gone over it a thousand times, but I still couldn't get it perfect in the end.
The next day, we actually had a mini performance by each group for the dance we practiced the day before. Afterwards, we had a contest! We split into two groups and played many different games, such as volleyball, badminton, Daruma-san ga koronda, jumprope, etc. It was a lot of fun. At night, we went out to the beach and attempted to do fireworks, but the wind was too strong. :(
The last day (today), we went to the beach again and just hung out there. We played some beach volleyball, had a couple of races, and took a ton of pictures.

Departure! 

Hotel Journey Road

The Dance Hall

Freshmen!

with the sophomores!

The whole group!

Jumprope

Discussion

Trip to the convenience store~

Freshmen Group

Late night snacking and games!

To the beach!

Windmill! 

Hasaki Beach
It's actually one of the best beached in Japan (out of 100). It's a shallow beach with clear water and many spots for surfing and body-boarding.

Fish washed ashore! 

Jump!

Good morning!

By the way, did I mention that the meals were included? Three meals per day and they were decent! Unlike other hotel/bed&breakfast foods.

tempura (2 shrimp, 1 crab claw, maguro sashimi, green lasagna chicken, fish ball soup

salmon, shumai, ham&meat omelette, tofu miso soup, orange juice, sesame rice

shrimp, soup, salad 

cooking~

hamburg steak, with potato wedges, carrots, and asparagus

And if you don't know what Daruma-san ga koronda is, it's like statues or red light, green light (123).

One person is "it". Instead of counting to ten, "it" says, "Daruma-san ga koronda."(In fact, there are 10 syllables in the sentence, which means, "The daruma doll fell over.") For the other players, the object of the game is to get close to whoever is "it" without him seeing them move.

How to play

(1)	The person who is "it" faces away from the other players with his eyes shut. "It" says "Daruma-san ga koronda" quickly, and then turns around as quickly as possible, opening his eyes. While "it" is saying the phrase, the other players move closer to him. Just before "it" turns around, the players must freeze.
(2)	If "it" sees a player moving, that player must hold hands with "it."
(3)	If a player successfully reaches "it" without getting caught, he or she slaps "it" on the back, then everyone except "it" runs away. However, if "it" is holding hands with one or more captured players, the attacker tries to break their hands apart with the side of his hand. Then everyone except "it" runs away.
(4)	When "it" shouts "Tomare!"("Stop!"), everybody must freeze.
(5)	If "it" tags one of them by taking no more than three steps, the two switch places. source

snow potato?

I went to Shin-Okubo briefly today, since I had a break between classes. Shin-Okubo is the Korea-town in Japan. And no doubt about it, the neighborhood had a huge Korean atmosphere to it. It really reminded me of some of the local streets in Seoul, filled with shops selling cosmetics, Korean food, and pop culture items, such as K-Pop goodies, CDs, etc. There were also a lot of bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, so one of these days, I will go there to check it out.
As I walked down the streets, there were many small open shops selling street food, such as ddeokbokki, patbingsu, etc. Well, I stopped by a small shop selling "snow" (スノー) items because one of their items caught my eye: snow potato スノーポテト. I had no clue what it was; I just saw a swirly snack on a kebab stick and thought it looked interesting. It was placed under the dessert section, but it was a fried potato, so I couldn't tell if it was sweet or salty. Nevertheless, I bought it anyway and decided to just try it for the heck of it.

And the answer is... salty!
It was pretty good; interesting, at least. It was like potato chips on a stick, except with the texture of french fries. There was sour cream and onion powder sprinkled on top, so it reminded me of sour cream and onion potato chips. But it was served hot, fresh out of the fryer.

The world is a beautiful place.

I always live honestly and seriously, trying not to take things for granted or hold grudges. Today, I was reminded once again of how big the world actually is, how limited time is, and the splendor of nature. 

Surrounded by sugi trees, moss, rocks, and a fast-flowing river with waterfalls, I climbed a six hour hike at Okutama with a couple of friends. Although the hike was long and quite strenuous--very steep at times--it was all worth it, and I learned to appreciate an important thing called perseverance. The path we took was new and opposite to what most people would take. First, we climbed up Kawanori Mountain and then went down a path along the Hyakuhiro Waterfall.

Although the hike was long and quite strenuous--very steep at times--it was all worth it. Pictures cannot compare to what you see with your own eyes.

This, being my first hiking trip ever, left quite an impression. I realized that there are a couple of things you must do when hiking:

1. have a backpack (not a shoulder bag!)
2. comfortable shoes with teeth (preferably waterproof and high-top)
3. layers! (there is no such thing as too much, trust me)
4. gloves
5. water
6. snacks
7. tissues!!!
8. scrunchies (tie up your hair!)
9. extra batteries (for your camera)
10. no make-up!
11. hiking sticks (optional)
12. a man! (I'm not even joking)

These are the things that I failed to do. The shoulder bag will drag you down. It throws you off balance and gives you shoulder pain. In the end, someone had to carry my bag for me in their backpack (thank you, Jason!) Pumas are not the best choice for hiking, but they were the only sneakers I brought with me. Since it is low-top, water and/or mud will easily get in, and having a smooth bottom makes it verrry slippery. If you can, bring extra clothing because the temperature tends to drop as you ascend. There really is no such thing as too many layers. At the beginning of the hike, I was really sweating a lot, but by the time we reached the top of Kawanori, my hands were near frozen. Not to mention, we experienced (freezing) rain, so our clothes were soaked. Coincidentally, there was a temperature drop in Tokyo in general, so with wet clothes, and an annoying persistent wind, I was shivering and I think I might have caught a cold again.
Gloves and a hiking stick will save your life when you go downhill. Fortunately, Jason lent me his pair of gloves and managed to find a tree branch that I used as a stick; otherwise, I probably would have taken twice as long to complete the hike.
Since I was just recovering from a cold (or maybe suffering from allergies), my nose was running nonstop! Not even sudafed helped this time; it was terrible! I brought 4 packs of tissues and finished them all! In the end, I had to use wet tissues to blow my nose.
As for make-up, next time I will definitely NOT wear any makeup at all. The drastic changes of the weather eventually ruins it anyway and you cannot do anything to prevent it. Even my waterproof mascara washed off with the rain/snow and I ended up with raccoon eyes, as if I hadn't slept for ten days. After a while, though I stopped caring. Hiking really helped clear the mind, because you're so focused on the path in front of you (watching where to step, how to walk, which path to take, admiring the scenery, etc.) that you don't think about anything else.

So in deciding which mountain to go to, we had a hard time choosing. Japan has a lot of mountains, and all of them seem so interesting and unique. So in considering all factors, including location, time, length, difficulty, we decided on Okutama, located in western Tokyo, on the border of Saitama. Okutama is a great hiking spot because there are several mountains here: Mount Kumotori, Mount Mito, Mount Odake, Mount Kawanori, and Mount Gozen. There are also two famous rivers: Tama River and Hinohara River; and two lakes: Lake Okutama and Lake Shimomaru.
Well, in the end, we decided to hike Mount Kawanori, since it was a moderate length hike (good for one day). Plus, we get the scenic view of the Hyakuhiro Falls, which is located at the same mountain. The waterfall actually connects to the Nippara River.

The train ride on the way to the mountain. 

I wonder what bridge this is?

The beginning of the hike!

A small track for transporting something (perhaps a handicap?).

There were sooo many different trees and plants. Among them, this was one of the few still in bloom.
Isn't the color so beautiful?

The sugi trees.
There are a LOT of them, all closely packed together. These trees are used for lumber in constructing houses and temples.
Another fun fact: After World War II, a lot of the natural environment in Japan was destroyed, so a couple of decades back, the government planted a bunch of these trees. Unfortunately, they failed to realize that, perhaps, people may be allergic to them. Thats why every year, around this time, allergy season is so severe. Almost everybody in Japan is wearing masks.

Interesting tree: very twisty.

steep! 

Mountain Shrine 

2 hour checkpoint

almost! 

We did it!

Too bad the weather was so cloudy; we couldn't see anything at all. :(
On a clear day, you can oversee Tokyo and beyond from here.

Now, going downhill, along Hyakuhiro Waterfall.

There were manymanymany of these wooden bridges.

Moss

Alas, the first waterfall! 

The flowing river.

A small pond. The water was so clean!

A tiny waterfall flowing from a rock.