Symbol of Waseda - Okuma Auditorium

I stayed in Sunroute Hotel at Takadanobaba for the week before the presentation. It was a good hotel, except that the room was freaking small! For the price, it really isn't really worth it. 狭過ぎ！

My hotel room. That small walkway is the only place I can walk.

During my stay, I actually went to watch Kabuki! I have always wanted to watch Kabuki live, at least once in my life. Yuri, the Waseda girl that I worked with for the presentation, knew that I am interested in Kabuki and managed to get tickets! So coincidentally, one of the plays that were showing was a play I studied about in this semester!

The 歌舞伎座that I went to watch the plays. Managed to sneak a shot when the curtain was down during one of the breaks!

Waseda's mascot.

One of the stalls was promoting ceramic stuffs. Best thing was that they let people get first hand experience in pottery! After much persuading from Yuri, I decided to try it.

The guy that taught me is so good! After knowing that I am from Singapore, he started speaking English, Mandarin and Cantonese to me! I was like....wow!

My masterpiece! Not bad, huh? The guy said that I was a natural. HAHA...

For one of my dinners, Yuri brought me to this special restaurant. The restaurant is decorated with old posters and all that, with old music playing in the background. The food that they serve is all food that were eaten in the past. They even had like school packed lunch menu! It was very interesting trying out the different food that the Japanese ate in the past or when they were kids. Some of the stuffs, Yuri also didn't know! But one ironic thing was that two of the chefs cooking for Yakitori stuffs are Indian. Talk about foreign labour...

During another dinner, I drank this cocktail called Cassis Grapefruit. I love it!

The pink liquid in the glass is the alcohol and then you have to squeeze out the grapefruit yourself.

Then pour it into the glass and mix! Yummy!

Since some of my friends are in Tokyo too, we met up for dinner. Carol 先輩 treated us all at an 居酒屋!

(On the banner) Japan and Asia in the 21 Century [Asian Students Forum]

Only I wore white! And without a jacket! Shucks... From left, マイさん(Thailand), いくみさん(Japan)、ユミさん(Korea), べえさん(Japan)、Me(Singapore), ゆり(Japan)、テゥさん(Vietnam), 田中さん(Japan)、阿部さん(Japan)、王田さん(China)、Julius (Philippines), 牧岡さん(Japan).

A super blur picture of me and ゆり presenting our topic 「文化交流を通じた関係構築」

The discussion session where China, Korea and Singapore were grouped together to answer and ask questions.

It was seriously nerve-racking. I mean minus the fact that there are hundreds of people looking at you, I had to answer in Japanese. I think that was the killer! The auditorium was not full, so maybe about a hundred of less were watching. But in another auditorium, the symposium was screened live, and there were about 200 people watching in there. -_-''' With my broken Japanese, I seriously wonder whether they understood my answers...*sigh*

We all heaved a sigh of relief after the symposium.

So after the symposium, it was time to party!! We had a party with the Social Sciences Faculty students and lectures, then after that, we headed off to our own party. Haha...

Celebrating at an 居酒屋

Celebrating at an 居酒屋

Finally we had time to enjoy!

この一週間疲れた！でも本当にとてもいい経験だった。先生たちがこの機会にくれて、本当に感謝します。そんなに多い人の前で、日本語で発表して、質問を答えて、本当に難しくて、緊張した。でも、この機会のおかげで、とてもいい経験と思い出をできた。今の私は多分少し成長したかもしれない。それに、このフォーラムのおかげで、いろいろな人に会って、本当に良かった。皆いろいろな国から、日本のことを興味があって、日本語で話して、友達ができて、驚嘆なことじゃない？いつか、どこか、分からないけど、また会うのを楽しみにしています！