Arrival to Japan + First Few Weeks

I flew to Japan during the middle of March to start my next study abroad semester! I will be studying at Waseda University, located in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo. I came to Japan a few weeks before the spring semester started in order to settle in and travel around a bit.

I flew into Narita Airport with a couple other UH students studying at Waseda. We booked an AirBnb to stay at for the first week before we moved into the dorms. It was actually located really close to Waseda so we got to know the area a bit before school started. There were some nice sakura blossoms in the neighborhood and we passed them every day. During this time we did a lot of sightseeing around Tokyo. I've been to Tokyo once before, but I got to see a lot of new areas this time around as well. We went to Shin-Okubo, which is the Koreatown of Tokyo. There were a lot of Kpop, cosmetics, and Korean food stores in this area; it honestly did remind me of Korea.

I also got to see the Meguro River for the first time, which was lined with many cherry trees. We visited in the evening and got to see the lighted lanterns along the river as well. Another great sakura location was Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This is a huge garden that has many cherry trees and a Japanese garden as well. Since it was prime blossom viewing season, there were many people at the park picnicking under the trees and walking around.

I also traveled outside of Tokyo a couple of times too. I went to Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma Prefecture with my friend, which was a 4.5 hour bus ride. We stayed overnight and went to our hotel onsen as well as the open-air bath at Sainokawara Park. Besides soaking in the onsen, we watched a Yumomi performance, which is a traditional method used to cool down the hot spring water. At the town center was the Yubatake, hot water field, which was surrounded by many shops and restaurants.