The day started with a little chaos. The subway line we needed was completely shut down for maintenance, so we had to walk to a different station that was already slammed with everyone else who got rerouted onto the same line. We shoved our way onto the train and were packed in like sardines the whole ride. Not the best start but honestly kind of funny looking back on it.
Once we got to the kendo lesson we changed into the gi and met on the mats. Kendo goes back centuries in Japan, rooted in the swordsmanship of the samurai, and you can feel that history a little when you are actually doing it. The instructors walked us through the basic strikes and footwork first and we got to practice on them and the other kendo students there. After drilling the basics for a while we got suited up in full armor. It is bulkier than it looks and moving around takes some getting used to, but once you figured it out it was a lot of fun.
They finished the lesson by tying two balloons to each of us, one on the wrist and one on the head, and we just went at each other for fun. First to pop two balloons won, they got replaced after each pop. I beat Ryan in my first one 2-1 then lost to Dalton 1-2 in the second. After that Ryan and I got asked if we wanted to go against one of the instructors together, so we did a 2v1. I got one of his balloons but he was just way better than us and won pretty easily. Still one of the more unique things I have done on this trip.
Lunch after was at a sushi place with a conveyor belt where you could also just order and have it come straight to your table. I tried sushi for the first time, not the biggest fan honestly.
From there we went to the Samurai and Ninja Museum. Got a walkthrough of the history of both and saw actual armor and weapons up close. The two are pretty different when you learn about them side by side, samurai were built around honor and open combat while ninjas operated completely in the shadows and were typically farmers or merchants. They ended the tour by letting us throw plastic ninja stars into a foam target which was a pretty fun way to close it out.
Had some free time after and then headed to dinner with the group to wrap up the night. It was the last dinner of the trip and you could feel it a little. We went around talking about favorite moments and the funniest memories from the past few weeks, and pretty much everyone ended on the same note, that we could not wait to see each other again back at Syracuse next semester. Good way to close out the trip.
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