Am I dreaming or am I actually blogging about Japan? I
honestly don’t know
where the time has gone as it seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to
Mom and Dad in the Bahamas how on earth can I be writing about Japan ;/ ;/ ;/
Japan is a phenomenal country to end with because it is so
easy to travel on your own, thus my best friends and I traveled for our one
last hoorah (of this semester… don’t you worry once travelers always
travelers, therefore there will be multiple trips to come with this bunch).
Although we only had 2 days in between China and Japan, we had done our
homework throughout our traveling in China and were therefore ready to take
Japan by storm (or perhaps it would storm on us a little… darn rain!)
Tuesday
April 10th
The plan for day 1 was that Katie, Hannah and I would make
the trek from Kobe (where the boat was docked) to Hiroshima (about a 3 hour
train ride). We would then meet up with our friends in Osaka…However, during our pre-port
logistical meeting, the Dean informed us that Japanese immigration is a lengthy
process, thus we shouldn’t expect
to get through until 12:00 PM. That being said, we decided to bag going to
Hiroshima--- fyi Hiroshima is South of Kobe and then Osaka is North of Kobe ---
so we would have spent far too much time traveling to be worth the sights. Out
of the 3 of us, I was the one who wanted to go to Hiroshima the most, so I was
disappointed when we decided to nix this portion of our journey, however to me
it was worth it to be traveling with my friends, thus I decided to just go with
the flow. (FYI: sign of CK maturing as a result of SAS!)
The Dean wasn’t lying when he said the immigration process would
take FOREVER… the weird
part is that it wasn’t even
like they actually took that long with each individual person when clearing them
through immigration, but rather there were ONLY 8 tellers for 1000+ people so
it seemed like an eternity!
When we finally managed to get through the terminal, we
decided to explore Kobe for the afternoon and then make our way up to Osaka. We
walked around the streets of Kobe and were immediately in awe of Japan… did you know that in Japan you
can find just about anything and everything in Vending Machines? The 3 of us
became HUGE fans of a drink called Strong, the Japanese version of a Fort Loco
(hopefully not as bad for you)…
After taking full advantage of the open container law, we
decided to grab a bite to eat--- our first taste at REAL Japanese Sushi! Yum,
Yum, Yum! We went to this tiny restaurant where we sat up at the sushi bar and
ordered a bunch of sushi, per usual we left the ordering to Hannah, as she is
the “foody.” Additionally, we ordered green tea, it was different from the
way I have been served in American Japanese Restaurants because I was given
green tea flakes to shake into my mug and then added hot water, but the water
didn’t come in
a tea pot, instead there were little instant hot water fountains located along
the bar so you could serve yourself! How cool!
By the time we were through with lunch, we decided to head
on up to Osaka… mind you,
we had our backpacks which were filled to the brim with our things for the next
4 days, thus we were sick and tired of carrying them around. You would think
that after having traveled to all of these countries we would know how to pack
lightly, but guess again! We took one of the local trains to Osaka and I have
to say, I’m
impressed with our abilities to understand the train system (please note that
like China, Japan also has an entirely different alphabet, however the Japanese
railway map was marked in both Japanese and English, so this made things
easier, but still there is always the uncertainty—am I taking this train in the correct direction?)
We arrived in Osaka around 4:00 PM and went straight to our
hostel (needed to get rid of our bags ASAP). Unfortunately the hostel was
closed from 10:00 AM- 5:00 PM, however the 3 of us worked our magic and were
able to convince the receptionist to allow us to leave our bags inside ;) THANK
GOODNESS!
Next, we were on a hunt to find Hannah a pair of shoes,
because per usual Hannah forgot to pack shoes. Little did we know how difficult
it would be to find a pair of LARGE sized shoes, and let me explain that by
large size shoes, I simply mean a 9 ½ or a 10! Since many Japanese women are so
tiny, stores don’t have a
need to stock bigger sizes… at first Hannah
was being picky about what style shoes she wanted, but when we finally found
her a pair, she was forced to put looks aside…these were legitimately the ONLY pair we could find! After
successfully completing our mission, we headed back to the hostel to officially
check-in and then meet up with the rest of our friends.
For those of you who didn’t hear from my mother about the hostel that I stayed
in, prepared to be amazed! The hostel was called a Capsule “Hotel” (although it was most certainly a
hostel.) This is how it worked: upon check-in each person is given a number
this number correlates to your bed assignment and also to a small and large
locker. When you arrive on the floor of your assigned bed, unlike a normal
hostel where there are bunk beds, instead there are “capsules” (much like caskets) except that
they open at the front square instead of on the top… there is a bottom layer and stacked
above is a top layer of capsules! At the opening of each capsule is a little
bamboo blind to keep out the light and give you privacy when it is bedtime.
Once inside your capsule, there is a TV and also you can turn on an inside
light … the size of the capsule is probably a little
narrower than a twin sized bed. Now for the price, you simply can’t beat it… $8 per night for females and $20
per night for males (I actually have no idea why it is so much more expensive
for males… hmmmm).
The floors are single sex and I believe there were about 4 floors in the
hostel; additionally each floor had a communal bathroom.
Below you will find
pictures from the Capsule Hostel, which will hopefully clear up any confusion:
Needless to say, as soon as I emailed Jilly about my plan
for night 1, I knew she would be SUPER nervous about the clastophobic-ness, and
I will admit, I was scared too, but ended up LOVING the experience! When in
Japan, do as the Japanese ;)
Amanda, Jenna, and Olivia, arrived right on schedule, so we
quickly got dressed and headed over to a local restaurant for dinner.
Unfortunately the food at this restaurant was sub-par, but our proceeding meals
made up for the bad dinner from night 1, so don’t feel too sorry for us ;) Here is a picture of all
of us at dinner with some of our new friends:
Wednesday
April 11th
By 10:00 AM we had to be out of the Capsule Hotel, but
typical SAS style, that didn’t bug
anyone… side
note, there ended up being about 50-60 SAS-ers staying at the Hostel, so it was
even more fun!
We were off to Kyoto for the day and staying the night to
see the LOVELY Cherry Blossoms. However, Wednesday brought rain showers, thus
our motivation to rush to Kyoto was slowed down quite a bit and instead we took
our time getting to Kyoto. Once again we took the train there, sadly this time
it was a bit more crowded so we were forced to stand for the 35 minute
commute--- what’s that old
saying, when it rains it pours?! Hahah
When we finally got to Kyoto, we decided that we had to get
rid of the bags before we could make a plan for the afternoon. This time
however, our hotel was not as easy to find, but in hopes of saving money, we attempted
to walk to the hotel as opposed to taking a cab… I took the lead and tried to navigate us through the
city, however I took us the complete wrong direction and eventually we caved
and hailed a cab (mind you it was rainy so we were all getting soaked).
For night 2 we had made reservations at a Ryokan, a
traditional Japanese Hotel. It is here that you find the beds on the ground, kimonos
in your room, slippers, the low table, etc. Additionally on the bottom floor
there was a communal bathtub, but I think we all felt wet enough by this point
and decided to pass on the bathtub experience.
As soon as we dropped our bags off, we decided to have lunch
and explore… due to
the rain there really wasn’t much
else to do… we
contemplated going to see the Cherry Blossoms, but decided that we would be
miserable looking at them in the rain, so we all did a sun dance in hopes that
Thursday would be a bright sunny day!
I have a hunch that it must rain a lot in Japan because the
Ryokan had umbrellas for all of us to use and then at every store there was a
bucket for us to leave our umbrellas before entering. Additionally, many of the
shopping areas are indoor/ outdoor areas in which the space where one walks
from one store to the next is covered, but the entrances are all open (this is
actually a difficult concept to put into words, so hopefully the picture
clarifies)
We decided to eat lunch at this delicious Japanese
restaurant in which we all ate sushi bowls--- essentially all the sushi
ingredients without the seaweed… YUM YUM
YUM!
After lunch, we were in search of an ATM machine… I was shocked to discover for as industrialized
and high tech of a country, that Japan is, many places didn’t accept our credit cards and therefore
we had to pay in yen. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but it was super
annoying because the ATM machines also wouldn’t accept our cards, so whenever we needed cash we
always had to go on a wild goose chase to find an ATM machine that accepted our
cards!
We shopped around for a little while, just going in and out
of stores… I noticed
that many of the women’s clothing
stores all looked very similar… they had
that Madewell look where all the clothing was in the jean blue, light pink, or khaki
family… not sure
if you know this type of look, but literally all the stores looked like it!
There was a point when my friends actually considered going
to the movies (apparently they show movies in English?!), but I really put my
foot down on this idea and told them that we were in Japan for heavens sake, I
know it was raining, but I still wasn’t willing to sit in a movie theater. Thank goodness, we didn’t end up
seeing a movie… the times didn’t match our
schedule… hip hip horray! I mean… ;)
Eventually, we made our way to yet another restaurant and
decided that when in a country where the food is phenomenal, mind as well EAT,
EAT, EAT (especially when it was raining). This restaurant was an authentic
Japanese restaurant in which we took off our shoes as we entered and were
seated at a low table in which you sit on the ground. The food here was equally
as delicious!
It was about 6:30-7:00 PM by the time we were through with
our meal, and we were all sick and tired of being wet, so we decided to call it
a night… well not
so fast, we decided that we would probably get hungry later, so we should bring
some food back to the hotel. This leads me to another fun fact about Japan,
they have 7-11 and Family Mart Stores (similar to 7-11) which sell FRESH sushi for
cheap! Although it’s not as
good as a sushi restaurant, it was decent, so we of course had to stop here for
our late night sushi hand roll snacks ;) I am fairly confident we ate our way
through Japan trying to take in as much food as possible.
We got back to the Ryokan, hung out for a while, and then
called it a night early… but not
before we snapped a precious picture of all of us in our Kimonos!
Thursday,
April 12th
We woke to SUNSHINE on Thursday and boy were we all excited!
Our sun dance certainly did pay off ;) Wahooo, we went out to breakfast and
then decided that it would be best to bring our bags to the Philosopher’s Path
(the area where you view the Cherry Blossoms). It was a major bummer that we
had to carry our bags, but it saved us the hassle of having to go back to the
Ryokan and then to the train station…
The Cherry Blossoms were absolutely beautiful, I know that
we have Cherry Blossoms in DC, but I think there is something unique about
viewing them in Japan. We spent a good hour walking along the pathway, taking
in the area with all 5 senses… seeing
hundreds of people walk the path, smelling the fresh Cherry Blossoms in full
bloom, tasting the wonderful natural flavor of the air, hearing birds chirping
and quiet chatter amongst visitors (might I add that I noticed how loud
Americans are compared to people in other countries… we certainly need to work on our
volume control), and finally feeling internally at peace with myself.
The Philosopher’s Path is situated along a narrow
stream/ river so we followed the path along… there are many restaurants and gift shops nestled
into the path, it’s a really
quaint area.
After wandering along the path, we all weren’t sure how much longer to spend in
this area because we wanted to be in Tokyo by 5:00ish. It just so happened that
we ran into a SAS Professor who is knowledgeable on Japan as her husband is
Japanese and she lived in the country for 10 years. She advised us to visit one
of the temples, the Ginkakuji Temple (within walking distance) and then continue
onto the train station. She agreed that due to our tight schedule this would
give us a good sense of the palaces in the area.
When I say a brief walking tour of the palace, I mean brief… we were probably inside for a
total of 20 minutes and although it was magnificence, we were all getting tired
of carrying our bags, thus we did a VERY abbreviated tour. Just for the history
buffs, this temple was established in 1482 and combines the Higashiyama and Zen
cultures.
By 2:00 PM we were situated and on the train headed for
Tokyo… before I
continue on, I would like to give you a little background on the train system
in Japan, specifically the train which I took from Kyoto to Tokyo, as this is
called the Bullet Train--- it took us about 2 hours to get to Tokyo. This is an
excerpt from a paper I wrote:
The
Japanese were the first to invent the Shinkansen also known as the Bullet Train, which
transports passengers at a high speed of around 149-186 miles per hour. The
busiest route takes approximately 151 million passengers between the cities of
Tokyo and Osaka per year. On an average day, this route will run up to thirteen
trains per hour with sixteen cars each. The main distinction between the
Japanese Railway system and a system such as Amtrak, Washington DC’s Metro, or Marta in Atlanta is its
punctuality and reliability.
 |
| Here is a picture of Katie as we are boarding the Bullet Train--- better get on quick, might drive away! |
Once we arrived to Tokyo, we were immediately overwhelmed… how on earth were we supposed to
find our hotel? Additionally, I failed to mention that we wanted to go to a
Tokyo Giants Baseball Game and thought it would be best to first purchase our
tickets and then go to the hotel (we had heard that many SAS-ers were going to
the game, so we were concerned all the cheap tickets would be sold out). We
managed to make friends with a man on the train who was originally from
Michigan, but now lives in Japan… what a sweet man, he ended up traveling with us from
one train to the next as we were in search of the Tokyo Dome (the name of the
stadium). After pointing us in the correct direction, we somehow still managed
to get lost, but yet again another angel was there to direct us… this woman spoke little to no
English, but for some reason understood us when we were telling her we were
trying to get to the baseball stadium… A las, we found the stadium! Quickly, we purchased
our tickets and then fetched 2 cabs to get us to our hotel.
The hotel we stayed at in Tokyo was nothing unique like our
past 2 nights, just a boring Westernized Hotel… although the hotel itself was HUGE! I believe it was
originally 2 hotels that then joint together… We got to the hotel around 6:30 ish and by the time
we put our things away, freshened up, it was time to head to the baseball game!
The baseball game was awesome… of course
we were all nervous that we would be cold at the game, but didn’t think it
all the way through… HELLO, we were going to the Tokyo
Dome, therefore it was INDOORS! Oy vey, and to think we were all stressing over
what to wear! Typical. In terms of comparing the atmosphere of the baseball
game in Tokyo to the soccer game in Rio, I would have to say that the Rio fans
were much more animated and full of life… regardless,
I am grateful to have attended both games, as I feel that sport events really
give a handling on a country’s culture
(that’s for all
those men out there who have for years been trying to convince their wives to
enjoy sporting events… try
persuading your wife to go because it is a cultural experience, it is sure to
get her every time!) The best part about the game was that the Tokyo Giants won
;)
 |
| Please note, we were beginning to dress in our Harajuku attire, but that comes out fully the next night and an explanation to come |
Now for the fun fact: did you know that the Seattle Mariners
had their 2012 season opener at this stadium?
After the game, a lot of SAS-ers were headed over to this
one area to all hang out at a bar… the bar
was located about 1 street off of the beaten track, so the road leading up to
the bar was really quiet. I guess because the bar wouldn’t let
people in if they had their own drinks, everyone ended up hanging out together
in the street and forming our own little street party! Gotta love SAS-ers.
Friday,
April 13th
Friday the 13th began EARLY for me… why was
that? Well, my friends and I like I said, did our research well in advance and
learned that the place to go when in Tokyo is the Tsukiji Fish Market… this fish market is one of the largest fish markets in the world as
it handles over 2000 tons of marine products per day. Fish from all around the
world are brought into this market, the most impressive of all the products
carried at the market is the tuna (they are HUGE).
So what were we doing at this
market you might be wondering? Ahh, well of course…
the market floor begins operations at 5:20 AM and they allow EXACTLY 120 people
to view the business transactions! They permit the first 60 people to watch
from 5:25-5:50 AM and then the second 60 people watch from 5:50-6:15 AM, by 7:00
AM all the tunas are either sold out or else the auction market is closed.
Please keep in mind that although they start taking people at 5:20 AM, the line
begins to start way in advance, so it is imperative to arrive early… in
fact, my friends and I left the hotel at 3:15 AM, got to the market at 3:30 AM
and ended up being in the second group of 60 people!
 |
| We took a power nap prior to making the journey to the fish market, this picture shows us gathering up the troops as we make our way to the market |
As far as waiting around for
2 and a half hours… I know, I know, it sounds absolutely miserable, but let me just
tell you it was well worth it, way more worth it than waiting in NYC for the
Broadway show, Spamalot (cough thanks a lot Grace Polan). I’m
fairly confident that we were all half asleep while waiting in line so
everything seemed so much funnier and honestly the time whizzed by and before
we knew it they were bringing us inside to wait for our turn to view the
auction floor.
The way the market works is
that licensed buyers come to this market to get their products…
most of the time these people are distributors for a particular region so they
are essentially buying all the tuna for the tuna sushi in their area--- yum yum
yum!
 |
| The tuna are lined up row by row throughout the warehouse |
Once it was our turn, we made
the trek to the market, which let me clarify is not some pretty market, but
instead is a warehouse full of frozen tuna fish. In the middle of the warehouse
is a sectioned off pathway for all the spectators to view the auction. We were
told that we had to remain quiet so as not to distract the auctioneers. The
tuna are numbered and placed in nice neat rows so that the buyers can maze
through to evaluate each and every tuna… additionally, the
buyers have long sticks that they use to poke/ prod at the fish to make sure it
is up to their standard. One by one the tuna are auctioned off…
now for the juicy stuff, make a guess for the price of one tuna! If you guessed
in the range of $40,000- $50,000 US dollars then you are correct (can you
believe it?!) I’m still shocked!
 |
| The buyers huddle around the auctioneer in hopes of purchasing a delicious tuna |
By the time we got back to
the hotel it was around 8:30 AM… we were hungry, tired, and getting cranky. We ate a quick breakfast
and all decided that if we wanted to continue to remain friends it would be in
our best interest to nap for a few hours (like I said, we were starting to get
cranky!)
We woke up around 11:30 in an
ideal world, we all would have liked to sleep longer, but knew better than to
waste away the day. Quickly we threw on some clothes and were off to explore
Tokyo. If you have figured out the pattern of my Japan adventures then you
should know where we went first… drum roll please--- of course to lunch! Once again, Hannah led the
way to a well-known Raman Noodle restaurant… although I am not a
fan of Raman Noodles, I felt like I had to eat them here because this was the
real deal! And let me just say, it was delicious ;)
Our next stop was to Harajuku
Street… this is a popular shopping street for people my age, it is full of “trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and
fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens.
(japan.guide.com)” For those of you who don’t know, the
Harajuku style combines a lot of different fashion trends together to form a
unique look--- it’s a mix of gothic, punk, school girl, and anemia esque
characters… I know I know, that’s a pretty
broad explanation, but once you see it, you will certainly know what I am
talking about (my best advice is to google it!) Apparently if you come to this
area on a Sunday, you experience the teenage culture as many young people are
engaged in cosplay or costume play in which they are all dressed up in their
crazy costumes--- ahhh I wish we had been in Tokyo on a Sunday!
My friend Amanda is in LOVE
with the Harajuku style and insisted upon all of us dressing in Harajuku when
we went out at night. We decided to divide and conquer the area agreeing to
meet back up around 5:00 PM. Katie and I went around together and made it our
mission to find ourselves Harajuku outfits for the night…
naturally, I refused to spend a lot of money because I knew this was going to
be a one time outfit, so why spend a fortune? We went in and out of every
store, my common responses being either “it’s
too expensive for just one night” or “ehhh
nothing that I like that much.” Quickly, Katie was losing her patience with me so I realized ahhh I
gotta just pick something and be done with it. To make a long story short Katie
only needed knee high socks as she had brought clothes that put together could
make the perfect Harajuku outfit, I on the other hand bought this HILARIOUS red
plaid dress and some knee high socks… As soon as we reunited
with our friends we immediately told them how we just purchased the best
outfits and ask to see theirs… all of them looked at us and replied, “ooo
we didn’t find anything!” Katie and I were in complete shock (especially me), I then whip out
my plaid dress and everyone is hysterical… Of course, I loved the
dress, but refused to wear such a ridiculous outfit alone, so I forced them all
to go buy an outfit… just wait to see what they find.
By the time we got back to
the hotel it was around 6:00, perfect amount of time for us to relax before our
9:30 PM dinner reservation at the Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant. In
honor of our last port, we planned a final hoorah dinner with “the
Latino Girls”… (Not sure if I have
mentioned them before, but I have made friends with a bunch of girls from
Mexico, Guatemala, and Columbia--- everyone on the ship refer to them as “the
Latino Girls”)
Now for the real oy vey--- getting to the restaurant.
First, it was pouring rain, so that complicates everything. Next, although we
had sooo much time to get ready, we still managed to be running late. And
finally, Hannah, Katie and I went in a separate cab (too many of us for 1 cab)
and ended up getting super lost. I thought I was prepared with my directions
from the concierge, but I guess someone failed to mention that the restaurant
was upstairs and would not be clearly marked from the outside of the building!
Alright, so now picture 3
REDICIOUSLY dressed American girls roaming the streets of Tokyo in the pouring
rain… I’m sure we were quite the sight! Immediately, 3 Japanese businessmen
approached us, offering their umbrellas and then pointing us in the right
direction of the restaurant. We thanked them immensely and attempted to give
them back their umbrellas, but they refused… the 3 of us were so
touched by this gesture as we were complete strangers to these men!
 |
| How do you like these outfits? Evidentially Jenna wasn’t clear on how to dress in Harajuku style, as the overalls were a total fashion foe, nevertheless, they make for hilarious pictures and stories! |
Unfortunately, we didn’t
realize that the restaurant was upstairs, so we once again we walked in circles
looking for the place… eventually we ran into this adorable couple who spent a good 10
minutes navigating the streets to locate the restaurant for us. I am beyond
grateful for the way in which the Japanese people took us under their wing
during our stay in Japan. Throughout my travels I always felt that complete
strangers went out of their way to help my friends and me. As I begin to make
my journey back home, I carry this lesson of how it feels to be so lost in a
foreign country and how touching it is for a stranger to offer assistance!
Dinner was a lot of fun and
the decorations were amazing. Would I recommend the place to a future traveler?
No, it was one of those tourist traps where prices are far too high and
although the décor was amazing, I felt the restaurant could have been anywhere
in the world, thus I should have spent my last meal eating at a more authentic
Japanese place. That being said, I loved the company and wouldn’t
trade it for the world (now that I have seen a lot of the world), so
nevertheless, I was happy to be there.
We attempted to go out after
dinner, however we took a taxi over to the area where everyone was going and
after walking around soaking wet for a good 10 minutes, we all decided to call
it a night. But wait, it couldn’t actually be time to go to bed without…
drum roll please, a late night food run! I kid you not, we had another
delicious round on sushi!
 |
| Katie and I snap a picture in the rain, reminiscing on how we instantly became friends in the Bahamas the night before we got on the ship… can you believe she put up with me the whole time? |
Saturday, April 14th
By Saturday we were
officially exhausted, as if before we were only tired. We ended up sleeping in
late and by late I mean 10:00 AM.
I was a bit hesitant about our late wake-up, but after opening the blinds I
agreed that we made the correct choice for once again it was raining ;/ Although
originally, I wanted to do “site seeing”, it became apparent that unless I wanted to sight see in
the rain, I would have to give up this dream. Now let’s
see if you can guess what we did instead… here are the
clues: it was raining, on the cold side, and we were tired…
yep, you guessed it: go out for lunch and then make our way back to the ship (we
had to be back to the ship by 6:00 PM)
We were on the train
by 2:30 PM and made our way to Yokohama. For those fans that are super
observant, you should have noticed that the ship dropped us off in Kobe, yet we
were making our way to Yokohama. I don’t believe I
fully explained this concept in my China blog, but it was a similar situation…
As a passenger, you have the option to either A: take the ship to the next
destination or else B: you are on your own and are responsible for getting
yourself to the next destination--- most people chose to option B!
And that ladies and
gentleman, boys and girls concludes my Japan travels…
what an amazing country, offering top-notch efficiency, remarkable hospitality,
and most of all a vibrant culture. As I have said about almost every country, I
hope to return to Japan, this time making it to Hiroshima, Mt. Fiji (by the
way, it wasn’t worth going to Mt. Fiji this time of year because you
couldn’t hike to the top… too cold!),
and other cities.
Wow, once again…
where has the time gone? Only a few more posts to go until my fan club will
have traveled around the world through CK’s eyes…
hang in there, the next posts should actually be short--- I was only in the
countries for 1 day for heavens sake, there is only so much to write about ;)
