Gakusei Travels

I’ve been a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. since spring 2022. One of the best parts about being in the organization is all the lovely and amazing women I get to meet who honestly take care of me like I’m their own child. When I went to California last summer, I connected with the chapter in Los Angeles, and the Soror who took care of me for the summer became like a second mother. Our organization recently chartered a new chapter in Tokyo, Japan in October of 2023, so I was very excited to meet some of the women in Japan. I learned that the Tokyo chapter is actually spread out all over Japan, but I was luckily able to get connected with two wonderful women, a mother and a daughter, who lived closest to me. They invited me out to Showa Kinen Park.

Tokyo gets a bit of a reputation, in my opinion, as being this big city with all the infrastructure and hustle and bustle. I had no idea that such beautiful nature was located about a half an hour from my campus. I lowkey got a little lost at the train station. I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize I had to change to a different line. It was easy to back track and get on the right train. On top of that though, my right shoe broke! T^T The sole began splitting from the rest of the shoe.

I met my Sorors, Shoushawna and Sienna, outside the park. I wore my letters and colors to make sure I was easily identifiable lol. The park was massive with many bike paths and separate trails. We first got something to eat at the concession stand. My sorors actually don’t speak Japanese, so I had to do a lot of the translating. As we walked around the park, I just snapped so many photos of all the different greenery. A lot of people were out with professional cameras, and I should have bought my nice camera. I don’t know what I was thinking when I forgot to grab it. I still managed to take some nice shots with my phone.

The park had a BBQ area where many people set up camp to cook out. There were bike paths that wound around the park. We walked past a children’s grove where kids could run around and do various activities. We then later saw a giant playground with different jungle gyms, swings, and splash pads. If I had grown up in Japan, I could probably imagine my mom taking my brother and I to this park, setting up camp, and letting us run around all day. This little boy actually ran up to Sienna and I at one point and just shouted, “hi” in English. When we said hi back, he had the biggest smile on his face and ran back to his parents excitedly. I think we made his day. lol.

I wish I had come to Japan earlier or I at least hope I’ll be able to come back after this trip. Sienna said in early spring when the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom the park is absolutely gorgeous. She said tulips also bloom in the park’s tulip garden. We did still manage to see some beautiful flowers in the flower field, but I can imagine how different it must’ve looked in late March as compared to May.

My favorite part of the park, however, had to be the Japanese garden by the lake. It was this gorgeous pond with both sides connected by a bridge. There were little houses (idk the proper term for them) that you could rest at and get an overview of the water. There was quite a bit of wildlife as well such as birds and turtles. It was at this point I tripped over the rocky pathway and broke my other shoe T^T. My shoe went from a flip flop to a slide. It was just a rough day for footwear….

We left so I could go buy a new pair of shoes. The park is so big that different exits take you to different stations. So we arrived at Nishi-Tachikawa Station, but one exit could take you to Tachikawa for example. We went to Tachikawa and I bought a new pair of sandals from Gu. They’re comfortable, but I really liked those other shoes….Shoushawna said I could find a shoe repair place where I can probably get them fixed.

Shoushawna has this vibe to her that reminds me of my own mom. Maybe it’s just a universal mother thing lol. That, or I just miss my mom. She treated us to McDonald’s and introduced me to these things called cheese tarts. They were like cheese cake but not exactly cheese cake? Either way, they were so good and I’m gonna go back and buy more. And then Sienna is around my age, so we just clicked and quickly bonded over anime. Today was a nice change of pace. I mean, I still clocked in 14,080 steps, but it was nice to explore a different side of Japan and meet some amazing women from my amazing sorority. They’ve already invited me out again and told me to call if I need anything, and I can’t wait to continue to get to know them.