Today was a pretty relaxed day. Our day began in Matsumoto. Most people, myself included, got breakfast at the hotel in the morning. We were on our own for the first part of the day. Our only requirement was to be at the hotel in Tokyo by 3:00 because they had plans for us after that. It took just one train ride that was just under three hours.
Fast forward through the 3 hour train ride and we arrived in Tokyo at Hotel Gracery. We stayed at this hotel last time we were in Tokyo and it’s a very nice hotel. In my opinion, the best part of the hotel is the free drink coupon they give out upon arrival (don’t worry it’s for non-alcoholic drinks). I utilize the coupon for a cappuccino which is enjoyed on the 8th floor restaurant of the hotel next to Godzilla. I also make an effort to snag other people’s coupons that they don’t want. Now that I got sidetracked talking about my coffee addiction let me get back to Tokyo.
Most people got to the hotel around one o’clock so we had a little bit of time to kill. I arrived at the same time as Matt so once we checked in we went and wasted time playing dance revolution at an arcade. After that intense exercise we refueled with some cheap ramen. Then we went back to the hotel and got ready to go. We all met in the lobby at 4 and left for the big event tonight.
The event was a get together with the Purdue Club of Japan. This includes Purdue alumni that live in Japan and brand new students attending Purdue next year. We rented out a whole restaurant for the get together. The two incoming freshman I talked to are both going into aerospace engineering. It was interesting to hear about their experiences in Japan and how they decided to study abroad in America. I also talked with a few prestigious alumni, some of who are professors and others who are major business leaders. They all had a lot of wisdom to offer. Specifically, I learned a lot from Kenji Ikeuchi who’s a senior officer at The Nippon Foundation. We talked a lot about investing, and I gained some interesting perspective about investing in foreign markets. It was super cool getting to talk to people of many different ages about their experiences in America at Purdue and in Japan. I found a clear consensus that Indiana is flat and boring. Also, the overwhelming verdict is that the food is not nearly as good as the food in Japan. I agreed 100%. The food, the views, the places, and the things to do in Japan just do not compare to the corn fields of Indiana. I’ll throw in a positive thing that people said since I just trash talked Indiana a lot. Everyone says they like the freedom and many of the American values and ideals. Also, the new students I talked with said they were most excited for the gym at Purdue because they don’t have many gyms here in Japan. In summary, Japan is amazing in many aspects and Indiana just has gyms, freedom, and Purdue.. Go Boilermakers!
Thanks for reading!
Kyle Zachmann: Finance and Business Mathematics Major
Japan Lived Experience 2019 