A weekend full of Japan moments 😊

Unfortunately, since my last post, I caught a bit of a cold that is still lingering today. That's why I spent the weekend before last and the following week relatively quietly. The only special thing I did during this time was watch a Yokohama BayStars baseball game at a kind of sports bar. More precisely, it was more of a sports bar with live broadcast and commentary.

Not much exciting happened at the university either, but I was able to admire Mount Fuji a few times and generally observe beautiful color displays in the sky when the sun sets in the evening (which happens quite early here, around 5:00 PM).

I then experienced really interesting things this weekend. It all started on Friday when I spontaneously decided to go to Tokyo to check out a ceramics shop I had saved before my trip to Japan. So I took off and arrived there around 2 PM. I was welcomed by a relatively large number of customers admiring the very beautiful ceramics. I also lost some time browsing and found a couple of nice souvenirs (I think I’ll come back again 😅).

After browsing the shop, I wanted to go have a matcha and had already picked out a nice spot for that. However, on my way there, I discovered a shrine that I had wanted to check out earlier. Additionally, I collected another artistically designed stamp for my stamp book. After that, I had my best Hōjicha so far (a roasted tea similar to matcha).

After this little refreshment, I visited the Sensō-ji Temple in Asakusa, which was bathed in beautiful light from the evening sun upon my arrival. To end the outing, I took a small walk through the streets to the next larger station and checked out some sweet shops along the way.

On Saturday, there was a very special event, as the university organized a Culture Day for all international students, where we could try out various traditional Japanese activities. There were four different activities planned, which we were able to experience in smaller groups together.

First, my group tried Tsumami art, where one can create different artworks from paper and a starch-based glue. We attempted to create a maple leaf, which we then attached to a pendant that was already prepared for us and that we could take home. I was actually surprised at how much fun I had with it, as I’m not the greatest artist – especially when it comes to folding. 😱

After the craft, we moved on to dressing in kimonos. For this, we were divided into women and men and each dressed by one person, as this traditional garment cannot be put on alone. It is tied relatively tightly and closed with a large bow at the back, which can only be tied by another person. For me, everything went relatively quickly, and soon I was dressed and could put on the assigned slippers, which were really not very comfortable. 😅 But aside from the shoes, it was truly a very cool experience to slip into a kimono and partake in this part of Japanese tradition.

Now in full attire, we continued to the traditional tea ceremony. For this, we were led into a sparsely furnished but very beautiful room. A woman in a kimono first prepared us a matcha in the traditional way. Afterwards, we were allowed to try preparing it ourselves. Throughout the entire ceremony, everything was precisely planned, and each individual step was part of a fixed process. This made the whole experience very calming and created a wonderful atmosphere.

Finally, we got to paint a kanji character on a cardboard board with ink and brush. A calligraphy artist presented us with various symbols, pre-drew them, and numbered the individual strokes so we could really bring the character we wanted to the board, and not just anything else. I chose the kanji for