By Bradley Wargo in Brad In Japan — Dec 18, 2022

Brad In Japan: A National Park

In which Brad has another new video, reached a language milestone, and visits Shinjuku Gyoen Park

Hello My Friends!

This letter is JAM packed, so I hope you enjoy :)

In my head, this last week was going to be a chill one. Cold weather, some hot coco, and lots of language learning. Instead, it went from zero to "Oh god, I hope the breaks work" with two major presentations, two big meetings, and a language achievement reached!

On top of all the chaos, they got rid of my favorite drink (in under a week!?!?!). At least you get another video out of it haha.

The Chaotic Week's Results

Even though it was a mess, both of the presentations I had to give went really well with the professors having good comments. Final grades should be out around Christmas so hopefully it makes the tree full with more "gifts".

I think that's a palace in the middle? But I'm a peasant so I wouldn't know.

One of the two meetings was with a life insurance company and this was the view from their office. No, I'm not dying, just meeting for internship possibilities.

And before we get to the real fun, I wanted to share this lesson milestone! I am learning Japanese through an app called NativShark which has 4 Phases. On Friday I finished Phase 1, whoop! Doesn't mean I'm suddenly fluent, but it is cool to recognize.

Current phase? More like last week's phase!

A Park(ed) Brad!

Okay, the real fun begins. Having had the crazy week, I though a park would be fun to relax at. And funny enough, I was right.

The Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, a grand entrance

Like an normal person eager to go in, I went to the bathroom first. As a result, I got some "insider" information.

By Insider, I only mean that I was insde the building

Finally I was ready, and then. I saw a tree.

0:00

After all that, I finally got a ticket and got in. Phew. It's hard work visiting a park!

Look at the entrance though, definitely worth it.

There's so many fun sections within the park. I chose to walk through the traditional Japanese garden first.

Funny Story

After walking awhile and making it to the "western" section, I sat down to rest. I happened to look over at this kid who was trying to climb a hill, and his father. The boy noticed me and was scared for a second hugging his dad, but then mustered up courage and came over saying "hi".

I said hello back and asked how he was. His dad smiled and we both looked at the boy who proceeded to just stare into the distance. A few seconds later, he looked back at me and goes "I'm five." It was so awkward and funny 🤣. I love my life.

From there though, I found the French garden and took a nice nap.

I took the nap by the trees on the nice field. They were friendly trees cause they didn't throw shade.

Sick of France, I headed back towards Japan and found they had a greenhouse! It was significantly warmer inside and way more green.

I love the reindeer pots for the Christmas season haha.

Like all fun things though, they must come to an end. As I made my way back to the front, I crossed one more fun tree and took a photo with it. I realized that I got all 4 seasons captured in this trip.

Spring is really just me being "springy" and full of energy

Wrap Up

All-in-all, another fun week in Japan. Classes will finish this week, but the language lessons never stop! I have some fun plans for the break that I hope come through and I can share :) Until then though, enjoy this last week of Advent because the next time I write, Christmas will be here!! Whoop! And as always,

Thanks for Reading