OHIO! Japan

I’m moving to Japan!! Kidding (sorta) but I did fall in love. The culture in Japan is so unlike anything I’ve seen before. Everyone is so kind, thankful, and respectful. I was truly amazed. Everywhere was so clean, the food was so good, it was so safe, ah so amazing! Ohio means good morning in Japanese, so I was obviously the annoying Ohioan saying it 24/7. I have so much to say that I don’t even know where to start.

Yokohama was our first city, but we didn’t stay long. It was beautiful and clean and felt very similar to an American city. Our first stop off the ship was obviously an infamous 7-11. We considered hitting up one of the thousands of vending machines that lined the streets, but the lack of letters made it hard to determine what we may be buying. The convenience store was as awesome as everyone had explained; they had everything from corndogs and groceries to clothing and toiletries. We picked up some snacks and headed on the train to Tokyo.

As the 2nd largest city in the world, I expected Tokyo to resemble something like New York City – wrong. Tokyo was so much cleaner, safer, and quieter than NYC. Our first challenge was to navigate 7 hungry Americans through the Japanese metro system. Surprisingly, it was not as difficult as we had expected. Everyone in Japan is so unbelievably welcoming and friendly that anyone was willing to help, even with limited English. Luckily though, we were able to navigate it without too much trouble (thanks Randy for forcing me to learn how to read subway maps! It’s paying off!). We got off at our metro stop and were unable to travel any longer without food. This was our second challenge. We picked a random restaurant (reminder we are 7 Americans with backpacking packs…) and just sat down. This was one of the most “authentic” experiences I’ve had as a traveller. We ordered by just pointing at the menu and were pleasantly surprised by how delicious our meal was. This was the first of many times we order by just pointing at pictures and crossing our fingers. After dinner we headed to our hostel. It’s called a “capsule hotel” meaning everyone gets their own “capsule” (aka a little hole in the wall) to sleep in. I have attached a picture of Meryl and I in her’s. Very interesting- but fun! That night we went out to dinner in a “traditional” restaurant where you sit on the floor. I successfully ate my weight in fresh tuna before we went out to a nearby bar. It was so much fun. We met a bunch of amazing people and pretended we were famous, although no-one was very amused.

Semester At Sea stresses how important it is to situate ourselves as travelers instead of tourists, so for my second day in Tokyo, I did just that. My friend and I picked a random stop on the metro route and just explored. This was one of the most candid moments I’ve had in my life. We wandered without a destination just trying to absorb as much of the culture as possible, and it was truly amazing. We unknowningly came across an area called Akihabara aka anime capital of the world. Not actually, but it definitely felt like it. There were an overwhelming number of flashing lights and arcades- SEGA everything. It was very fascinating. During this time I realized that sometimes the best destination is not one at all.

The next day we woke up early and headed to the famous Tsukiji fish market. This was an experience and a half. The market was very busy and enthralling. Each little stand had a wide variety of raw, dried, and live fish. We immediately walked into the very first sushi restaurant we saw and ordered the largest dish. This was THE MOST delicious fish I have ever eaten in my life. I tried a variety of things, and I’m still not sure what all of it was, but that’s part of the fun, right? After the market we stopped into a nearby temple and headed to the train station. We took the bullet train to Kyoto which was so awesome! It was so quick and easy. On the way to Kyoto we passed Mt. Fuji and napped. Transportation in Japan is SILENT. No-one talks anywhere so we definitely fulfilled our stereotype as the obnoxious Americans as we snacked on our pocky (chocolate covered sticks offered everywhere- don’t worry Jenna and Erica, I bought you some) and tried to plan for our next stop.

Kyoto was my favorite of all our stops. It was full of culture and just so comfortable. I’m fumbling trying to find the words to describe how amazing of a little city it was. We stayed in traditional Japanese inn called a Ryok

an. It was so cute and fun! Meryl and I had our own little room with a table and seats on the floor. They provided tea for everyone and gave us traditional kimono’s to sleep in. In the closet there were all the things needed to transform the room into a bedroom. It was a Japanese sleepover! By the time we got settled it was time for dinner, so we headed to a “traditional” ramen restaurant. It wasn’t until after we consumed a million grams of sodium that we realized it was a chain restaurant with a location in NYC. Nevertheless, it was delicious.

The next morning we had breakfast in our Kimonos. It was the cutest most fun little hotel I’ve ever been too. Our Ryokan was situated at the top of Maruyama Park so the atmosphere was awesome. We left in the early morning to walk down into the park and explore the shrines that existed in it. The architecture of the religious sites in Japan are unbelievably gorgeous. Once reaching the bottom of the hill and the busy more city-like part of Kyoto, we took a taxi to Arashiyama Park. This is on several lists of places to see before you die, and I definitely understand why. It is most famous for it’s cherry blossom trees that were unfortunately all out of season but the beautiful park was home to a MONKEY PARK!!! Yes, a park full of monkeys. We hiked up what felt like Mount Everest and were greeted at the top by hundreds of domesticated monkeys. They ran all around us without any fear (except I accidentally looked one in the eyes and it yelled at me). We were able to feed them and AH it was so fun. THERE WERE EVEN BABIES!! Sorry, I’m getting worked up. Anyway, in addition to the monkey park, this area of Kyoto is the home of the famous and beautiful Bamboo Forest. We explored the park, ate lunch at a local restaurant, and explored the dessert options. My friends all got green tea and tofu swirled ice cream that was delicious. Meryl got a dessert that looked like it was covered in caramel but it was actually teriyaki sauce- language barrier problems at their finest. This little city was so interesting that it felt pretend. It was very obviously a site for tourists (we ran into like 25 other kids from SAS), but it was definitely worth our time. Our last stop in Kyoto was the Golden Kinkaku-ji Temple. This beautiful temple was located on an island surrounded by bonsai trees. Here we also saw a beautiful shrine and people praying. We then left on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kobe.

Kobe resembled much more what I expected Tokyo to be like. Although still culturally rich and beautiful, the city of Kobe was much louder and dirtier (still cleaner than anywhere at home). We went back to the ship to drop off our stuff and then went on a MISSION for real Kobe beef. We decided that since we may only be in Kobe once that we’d splurge for the good stuff. We settled on what felt like Benihana on steroids. It was a hibachi style restaurant that was so unbelievably delicious. They started with soup, salad rice etc. scallops and LIVE shrimp before we got our meat. Words CANNOT describe how delicious this piece of meat was. Sorry Jeff Ruby, but this was the best meat I’ve ever had. After dinner we rolled (literally because I was stuffed) back to the ship for the night.

For our final day we decided last minute to take a bullet train to Nara. Nara is famous for their domesticated deer park. The deer were just as cool, if not cooler, than the monkeys. They live in Nara’s largest park and wander freely. There are even deer crossing signs, for they have the ability to just relax right on the side of the road. Historically killing one of these animals would sentence you to death- that’s how important they are. They approach humans and are completely un-phased by the busy world around them. We thought it would be a good idea to buy cookies to feed them, but that proved to be a mistake considering how they chase after anyone with food… I ended up frisbeeing all my cookies trying to make them run away haha. We ate one last Japanese meal before caving and stopping at McDonalds. I just HAD to know what the menu looked like and then couldn’t resist getting some nuggets. Their menu is different than ours! There are weird burgers and fish, and you can buy individual slices of tomato! Weird. I bought a million different kinds of traditional homemade desserts for the train ride, and we headed back to conclude our trip.

As I’m sure I’ve made clear. I absolutely LOVED Japan. Sorry for how long this post is, but I just had so much to say. I’m sure I’ll come back from every country madly in love, but Japan was definitely a great place to start. Their culture was so much different than ours. There is a sense of honor and tradition instilled in everyone. It was amazing feeling like I could travel and explore the world essentially on my own- very liberating. Although an amazing country, I found it very interesting how unequal their genders are. Not to get all weird and feminist, but as the 3rd most developed country in the world, I found it strange that they are ranked 101 on gender equality next to Gambia and Tajikistan… Their traditions are still so influential that women either chose to raise their families or work, rarely both. Irrelevant, but interesting.

Anyway, here is my list of interesting observations (as always)

1. You can travel around Japan in little carriages pulled by HUMANS ON FOOT – weird
2. Everyone bows, like a lot… People even bow to nobody when then get off the train like “thanks for the ride train!” I swear I heard the word “arigato” (thank you) a million times
3. THE TOILETS!!!!! the regular toilets have all sorts of different options- a wash, some fragrance, a heated seat. You name it! And if you’re unlucky enough to be somewhere where all the regular toilets are full, you get to pee in a little toilet-hole-in-the-ground YAY! (very very weird)
4. Fish is everywhere. If you don’t like fish, sucks.
5. You name it, and it is served out of a vending machine. Some restaurants even had you order on a vending machine before sitting down.
6. There are no trash cans anywhere… and when there are, it is like 6 different holes for different types of recycling too
7. Nobody actually wanted their pictures with us… sad
8. Every single restaurant has examples of their meals outside like little plastic versions

PS.
I feel like I just went step by step throughout my itinerary. I don’t know if that is even interesting for anyone besides my family- so sorry if I lost you. But I guess if I lost you, you wouldn’t be reading this part so this is stupid. Sorry I’m rambling. I’ll try to get better for later posts. I’m sure I’ll get lazy and stop being so detailed anyway.

LOVE AND MISS EVERYONE!!

Dad: Eating all of this amazing fish and beef really made me miss you. We are coming back here before you die- you would love it.
Jenna: you too. I bought you some chopsticks so we can pretend our Fusian is from Japan all next year
Mom: I ate enough tuna for the both of us, no worries. miss you