I'm BIG in Japan

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 10^th

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 11^th

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 12^th

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 13^th

Friday the 13^th 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 14^th

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 ;)