Photos by Lucas Hong (Rice University), Student Correspondent for CET Japan, Spring 2025
A Day Trip to Uji, Japan
We recently went on a CET excursion to Uji, Kyoto, which is famous for its tea. Uji has the highest quality green tea, which includes matcha, gyokuro, sencha, houjicha, and genmaicha. Uji has a river flowing down the center of the city lined with cafes and tea shops. Uji’s nature scene was a nice change from Osaka’s modernity.
We started off with a tea ceremony, where we were provided a teacup of gyokuro leaves. We steeped the leaves four times and the flavor got each time. Gyokuro was unlike any other tea I’ve tried, because it had a savory/umami flavor. At the end, we added ponzu (citrus juice, vinegar, and soy sauce mix) and ate the tea leaves.
We went to Byodoin shrine, a Buddhist temple in Uji. The architecture was incredible and the surrounding gardens were beautiful and well maintained. There were also turtles in the pond surrounding the temple. I found these cool blocky hedges outside of Byodoin shrine. They surround the shrine and hide the distractions from outside. I think the trees look really modern this way and complement the sleek museum right next to the shrine.
A lot of the Osaka Gakuin University students had never been to Uji, so they were really excited to tag along. The ones that have been to Uji told us more about the area and gave us recommendations on where else to explore. Here is a selfie we took in front of the shrine!
Going to Class at OGU
Japan has really strict rules about shoes in the house, so this is how I put my shoes on. Most homes have a genkan (an area for shoes) and every morning I sit on the ledge above the genkan and slip my sneakers on. Sometimes I like to look at my housemates’ shoes and see who is home or what they are wearing. Today I’m wearing my silver Onitsuka Tigers, a trendy Japanese brand!
These are kanji, characters in Japanese that are borrowed from the Chinese alphabet. We practice writing kanji on our white board and study their meanings and stroke orders. Kanji can be pretty difficult to learn, but it’s really important because kanji is everywhere in Japan!
Our Go To Bites
My art class is in the city, so we like to take advantage of our time in the area by trying new restaurants after class. This is a roast beef bento restaurant famous for its cheap lunch set, which was about 1800 yen, or 12 USD. It comes with a small salad, stewed beef side, Japanese pickles, and a hot broth (in case you want to cook the beef a little more). The best part of Japanese cuisine in my opinion is the fact that you can eat eggs raw, so you’ll find a lot of dishes have raw egg yolk on top of them to mix into rice.
Osaka is freezing this time of year, but my friends and I still can’t resist the ice cream. Most Japanese ice creams are dipped in a chocolate shell or surrounded by a waffle or sandwich layer, so they’re easy to eat and delicious!
Flea Market Day
I had a really fun time at the flea market, which is under a really cool “Tower of the Sun” statue. I went with my friends Haruna and Hana. Hana and I decided to wear matching jerseys that day, and we bought rare clothes for great prices. I picked up a vintage Ralph Lauren jacket and Adidas track pants for 1300 yen total, or about 9 USD. That was probably the best second hand clothing event I’ve ever been to and I really look forward to returning next month!