Meet n' Greet; 楽寿園 (Rakujyuen)

I figure since it's Sunday, and I'm not doing much other than studying for my quiz, I'll try to write another post! YAY!

So day #3, we met Dean Sato and some faculty members after lunch. I believe he is the Dean of the College of International Relations in Nihon University. We also met a few other faculties of Nihon University. It was quite scary. But they were all very nice people. They set up different things that we can do around Mishima. They are going to bring in a few Geisha to perform for us, and also set up different trips for us!

Here's what I had for lunch:

天婦羅うどん! (Tempura Udon) - The tempura in the udon is not the kind of tempura you think of. Not the crunchy, light, crispy tempura. The tempura in udon are usually more soggy, and it's made of vegetables like carrots and cucumbers and such. Nonetheless, it was delicious!

Ice cream you squeeze out of a tube! It was really good actually.

Krystal-san with her lunch!

After lunch, we were off to meet with Dean Sato!

The class waiting to meet Dean Sato! In the meantime, let me introduce to you some of my classmates! From L to R: Fanny, Louis, Ryan, Mukid, Tina, and Sam. Sam will be the class representative in this event. Since he's so nicely dressed, he will be presenting Dean Sato with a gift from us!

Here are some more classmates! L to R: Anya, Nina, Chris, Dan, Will, and Becky. I didn't take a picture of the rest of my classmates because the faculties came in soon after. Not to worry, they'll be making cameos in my posts~

Sam presenting the gift to Dean Sato!

Staff-sans on the phone. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes. They are all really nice to us, made us feel very welcome.

Here we are at the entrace to 楽寿園 (Rakujyuen). Rakujyuen is located 5 minutes away from the Mishima train station. It is called Rakujyuen Municipal Park. The park was a villa made for Prince Akihito Komatsunomiya. His house is located in the park.

His house isn't the only thing to see in the park. Inside the park, there are over 160 kinds of trees and over 30 different kinds of birds that are observed. There is also the Kohama pond that is next to Prince Akihito's house. The spring water in the pond is dried up, and water is seen maybe every 5 years. Unfortunately, pictures are strictly prohibited inside Prince Akihito's house. I was only able to take a few pictures outside of the house.

There are also many activities that are created to entertain kids. There is a small animal park, and a giant chalkboard that you can draw on! Of course our class took full advantage of that.

There is also a musem located inside the park. It is called the Mishima City Museum of Local History. Pictures will come in a little bit!

Water is not for drinking!

Entrace of the park.

Some pictures of Prince Akihito's house.

Some of the guys: F to B: Brad, Rob, KP, and Louis.

I think crossing the bridge would be more scary if it was filled with water.

Prince Akihito's house. In front of it would be pond Kohama. It was a beautifully made house. I apologize for the lack of pictures.

After the visit to Prince Akhito's home, we walked to the Mishima City Museum of Local History.

Sitting at the interactive corner, playing daruma otoshi! Hours and hours of fun!

The goal is to knock the pieces out from under the Daruma head without knocking the head down. You must start with the bottom piece.

All of us gave it a try. Sensei was really good at it!

We also had fun playing other toys. Can any one tell me what this is called?

Jenna having lots of fun!

The cute little boy outside of the museum that wanted to play with us. かわいい!

Onto the animal park!

There were cute little prairie dogs...
little tiny さる (monkey),

Kanga and Roo...I mean wallaby and baby...

Silly うさぎ (rabbits),

やぎ(goats)...

and RED PANDA!!!!!!! (aka Lesser Panda) He's so cute isn't he??

We also had some fun with the giant chalkboard I told you guys about....
hehe..I was bored...

:D

Ended my day watching Naruto! Everyday there's something new to see, and so far it's just in Mishima! Don't worry, there are many more adventures coming! Our class will be heading to Tokyo on 6/19, and will be staying there for the weekend! I can't wait!

Maggie out~