Three Words for Japan:
Safe, Nice, and Clean
I'll come back to those three words in a bit, but first I'll attempt a day by day of my trip.
The first day Mani's (friend on the ship) Japanese friends that did a study abroad at her school last year, showed us around yokohama and kamakura city including temples and a big Bhuddha. That night included a karaoke bar until 6am. The next morning aka like three hours later, was a trip to Honkomagome where our groups AirBnB was located for the night. We woke up late of course because we didn't sleep until 6am, so after a few hours on trains and struggling we finally made it to the area where our AirBnb was. We were walking around literally half a block from the place for at least 20min until we gave up with directions and messaged the Air Bnb guy and he came running out in the street to find us. The space was pretty nice for the 12 of us. One big room, 8 beds, very little heat (or we just couldn't figure out how to work it), one toilet, one shower. Seems small but from what other people talked about this place was a palace for the amount of people we had. For those who don't know and I just figured out less than a week ago, Japan is the size of Cali with 4x the population or something like that. Living spaces are tiny and cramped. Anyways, because only 6 of us went to the Air Bnb to start with, we had to wait on the rest of the rest of the group because they had field labs (field trips) for their classes. We decided to go to a Starbucks in Shibuya (kinda in/near Tokyo) to view the busiest crosswalk in the world. If any of you have ever witness a commercial with what looked like a million people and cars flying by, it was most likely shot at this cross walk. About an hour after we got there we ended up having to head back because the second group was headed to the Air BnB and there was only one key, so we were gonna go back to meet them, go to dinner, then go out. We got there, they got there, there was alcohol everywhere and we started the going out process a little early. We conversed about our first days and the very long trip getting to the Air BnB in Honkogome. Eventually we made the move back to the Shibuya area for our late night excursions and ended up in a hole-in-the-wall bar. We then walked around to find another Karaoke bar which was a lot more fun the first night and a couple of us dozing off, some of us decided to head to the famous fish market. But first food! There was a McDonalds across the street which had an amazing chicken sandwhich, but right after we decided to head to the fish market. Keep in mind its just before 4am and you're supposed to be in the fish market before 4am to see the good part. We ask a cop outside the McDonalds and after some brief sign-language and bad translations, we figured out where we needed to go and got a taxi to the fish market. We didn't get there until 4:25 and it was freezing outside. We walk around aimlessly for 20 minutes through open buildings and everywhere until we get the background area of the fish markets. Little trucks speeding around corners, not really caring if they ran into our small little group of 4 or not. We almost got ran over a couple times, first by the little trucks, then a scooter. We got pretty far behind the restricted area until an officer came up to us and pulled out a sign that said "restricted area please leave" So that was the end of that, but we walked around a bit more, outside of the restricted area, and happened upon a temple thing and finally decided it was time to get back to the Air Bnb for a few hours of sleep. We got a taxi, got back and passed out by around 6am. The group who stayed at the karaoke bar had got back 30min before us, so they were sound asleep. I, being exhausted from two days of 5 hours of sleep total, slept until like 1pm, which i deeply regret, but there were 5 of us still there at 1. So we all started to get ready and headed out to the city for some shopping. We stopped at KFC on our way out. If you're thinking we only ate at American food places...you're wrong, I just remember the names of those. We had plenty of traditional Japanese food, along with the occasional Chinese food. Anyways, the 5 of us went to the bus station, which was a long story, but in the end 8 of us grabbed our bus tickets and then went to one of the biggest malls in Shinjuku. Our same group of 4 that went to the fish market the previous night, decided that the mall wasnt for us, so we went exploring through Shinjuku which was so beautiful. We walked around for a couple of hours, before having to head back to AirBnB because we had to catch our 2230 overnight bus to Kobe. We planned to meet at 2030 at the AirBnB and our group of four (we had the key) were about 20min late. BUT we would have been on time if the train had come on time. It was 20 minutes late and apparently there was an accident on the rails. But we finally made it to the Air BnB and of course tensions were high between everyone. We had about 15 minutes to pack up every thing from the AirBnB and head back to Shinjuku to catch our bus. So everyone packed up in exactly 15minutes and we were on the move. BUT our train from Hokomagome to Shinjuku was delayed because of something and the emergency breaks were applied. By now its 2000 and we have an apparent 10-20minutes wait on this train + our 15 minute walk to the bus station from the Shinjuku train line. People are really starting to get anxious because most of us have already paid 5000 yen (~$42) for this bus and I have a field program early the next morning at the ship. Our bus happened to be the last bus that would get us to Kobe at 755 and I had to be at the ship by 810. So the train had stopped between stations. But pulled up to the next station and opened the doors and announcements on the train started happening in Japanese. We started to frantically shout out "ego" meaning english to any one on the train. 4 people jumped off the train as soon as the doors opened and decided it was best to take a taxi instead of train. One of the Japanese people told us that we would be leaving soon, so we tried to call to the other people back on the train. We didn't find out that they had made it to the train station until we all got there and saw them come up the stairs 5 minutes after we got there. Its about 2215 and we book it to the bus station. We ended up being 10 minutes early but tensions were still high between a couple of people haha. We made it, what an adventure.
My field lab was filled with a bullet train to Hiroshima, a trip Miyajima island, which was very moving. We had a tour guide that explained a lot to us. We ended that day with a trip to the Hiroshima museum around 1700 and then we headed to our hotel. We ended up going out again in a city near Hiroshima and it was a crazy night. I met a guy that used to play at Ohio State University but decided to play in Japan professionally and got invited back when I'm near Osaka or Tokyo. In other news, a girl almost lost her passport and everything because she left in a taxi and I rode around with her all night trying to find it at the bars we went to. Turns out, she left it in the taxi and the taxi driver turned it into the front desk of our hotel. Another long night and just 2 hours of sleep for me, but the next day we had a bullet train to Kyoto where we saw 3 big temples and got to go shopping near one of the temples. I got plenty of key chains and post cards and things, but after that we were to the ship and off to China.
I slept the whole next day besides one of my classes and most of today as well (1/30).
On a side note to it all, the first day was awesome. I want to give a huge shoutout to Mai'i(Mani's friend)! She was the best tour guide of them all for our first day and dinner was amazing. We were also on Japanese TV because there was a journalists standing outside the Big Buddha place we went to go see. So he asked if he could video us while we were walking around the area and interviewed us after as well.
Oh yea! Japan was one of the safest places! Idk if you caught it, but a cab driver returned a passport, a phone, wallet and everything. Everything in Japan was super clean. There are not that many trash cans at all, and if there are, there are recycling bins separated into paper, glass, and plastic next to it. And the people were sooo nice. Some people would take time out of their days to walk us to our destinations that were 30 minutes away.
All I can say is that I am excited to be able to a have a few new friends in Japan to show me around again when I visit! It feels like the people I met, both in country and the people I met during the journey that are a part of SAS, have been my friends for life and I can't wait to travel with them in the rest our destinations.
We're already in China which is scary because I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this journey all over again. But we'll be docking in about 8 hours and my China adventure will begin.
Honestly don't think I could have pick a better Study abroad program.
Quote of the Day:
"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them our eyes open"
"YATAAAAA"
Safe, Nice, and Clean
I'll come back to those three words in a bit, but first I'll attempt a day by day of my trip.
The first day Mani's (friend on the ship) Japanese friends that did a study abroad at her school last year, showed us around yokohama and kamakura city including temples and a big Bhuddha. That night included a karaoke bar until 6am. The next morning aka like three hours later, was a trip to Honkomagome where our groups AirBnB was located for the night. We woke up late of course because we didn't sleep until 6am, so after a few hours on trains and struggling we finally made it to the area where our AirBnb was. We were walking around literally half a block from the place for at least 20min until we gave up with directions and messaged the Air Bnb guy and he came running out in the street to find us. The space was pretty nice for the 12 of us. One big room, 8 beds, very little heat (or we just couldn't figure out how to work it), one toilet, one shower. Seems small but from what other people talked about this place was a palace for the amount of people we had. For those who don't know and I just figured out less than a week ago, Japan is the size of Cali with 4x the population or something like that. Living spaces are tiny and cramped. Anyways, because only 6 of us went to the Air Bnb to start with, we had to wait on the rest of the rest of the group because they had field labs (field trips) for their classes. We decided to go to a Starbucks in Shibuya (kinda in/near Tokyo) to view the busiest crosswalk in the world. If any of you have ever witness a commercial with what looked like a million people and cars flying by, it was most likely shot at this cross walk. About an hour after we got there we ended up having to head back because the second group was headed to the Air BnB and there was only one key, so we were gonna go back to meet them, go to dinner, then go out. We got there, they got there, there was alcohol everywhere and we started the going out process a little early. We conversed about our first days and the very long trip getting to the Air BnB in Honkogome. Eventually we made the move back to the Shibuya area for our late night excursions and ended up in a hole-in-the-wall bar. We then walked around to find another Karaoke bar which was a lot more fun the first night and a couple of us dozing off, some of us decided to head to the famous fish market. But first food! There was a McDonalds across the street which had an amazing chicken sandwhich, but right after we decided to head to the fish market. Keep in mind its just before 4am and you're supposed to be in the fish market before 4am to see the good part. We ask a cop outside the McDonalds and after some brief sign-language and bad translations, we figured out where we needed to go and got a taxi to the fish market. We didn't get there until 4:25 and it was freezing outside. We walk around aimlessly for 20 minutes through open buildings and everywhere until we get the background area of the fish markets. Little trucks speeding around corners, not really caring if they ran into our small little group of 4 or not. We almost got ran over a couple times, first by the little trucks, then a scooter. We got pretty far behind the restricted area until an officer came up to us and pulled out a sign that said "restricted area please leave" So that was the end of that, but we walked around a bit more, outside of the restricted area, and happened upon a temple thing and finally decided it was time to get back to the Air Bnb for a few hours of sleep. We got a taxi, got back and passed out by around 6am. The group who stayed at the karaoke bar had got back 30min before us, so they were sound asleep. I, being exhausted from two days of 5 hours of sleep total, slept until like 1pm, which i deeply regret, but there were 5 of us still there at 1. So we all started to get ready and headed out to the city for some shopping. We stopped at KFC on our way out. If you're thinking we only ate at American food places...you're wrong, I just remember the names of those. We had plenty of traditional Japanese food, along with the occasional Chinese food. Anyways, the 5 of us went to the bus station, which was a long story, but in the end 8 of us grabbed our bus tickets and then went to one of the biggest malls in Shinjuku. Our same group of 4 that went to the fish market the previous night, decided that the mall wasnt for us, so we went exploring through Shinjuku which was so beautiful. We walked around for a couple of hours, before having to head back to AirBnB because we had to catch our 2230 overnight bus to Kobe. We planned to meet at 2030 at the AirBnB and our group of four (we had the key) were about 20min late. BUT we would have been on time if the train had come on time. It was 20 minutes late and apparently there was an accident on the rails. But we finally made it to the Air BnB and of course tensions were high between everyone. We had about 15 minutes to pack up every thing from the AirBnB and head back to Shinjuku to catch our bus. So everyone packed up in exactly 15minutes and we were on the move. BUT our train from Hokomagome to Shinjuku was delayed because of something and the emergency breaks were applied. By now its 2000 and we have an apparent 10-20minutes wait on this train + our 15 minute walk to the bus station from the Shinjuku train line. People are really starting to get anxious because most of us have already paid 5000 yen (~$42) for this bus and I have a field program early the next morning at the ship. Our bus happened to be the last bus that would get us to Kobe at 755 and I had to be at the ship by 810. So the train had stopped between stations. But pulled up to the next station and opened the doors and announcements on the train started happening in Japanese. We started to frantically shout out "ego" meaning english to any one on the train. 4 people jumped off the train as soon as the doors opened and decided it was best to take a taxi instead of train. One of the Japanese people told us that we would be leaving soon, so we tried to call to the other people back on the train. We didn't find out that they had made it to the train station until we all got there and saw them come up the stairs 5 minutes after we got there. Its about 2215 and we book it to the bus station. We ended up being 10 minutes early but tensions were still high between a couple of people haha. We made it, what an adventure.
My field lab was filled with a bullet train to Hiroshima, a trip Miyajima island, which was very moving. We had a tour guide that explained a lot to us. We ended that day with a trip to the Hiroshima museum around 1700 and then we headed to our hotel. We ended up going out again in a city near Hiroshima and it was a crazy night. I met a guy that used to play at Ohio State University but decided to play in Japan professionally and got invited back when I'm near Osaka or Tokyo. In other news, a girl almost lost her passport and everything because she left in a taxi and I rode around with her all night trying to find it at the bars we went to. Turns out, she left it in the taxi and the taxi driver turned it into the front desk of our hotel. Another long night and just 2 hours of sleep for me, but the next day we had a bullet train to Kyoto where we saw 3 big temples and got to go shopping near one of the temples. I got plenty of key chains and post cards and things, but after that we were to the ship and off to China.
I slept the whole next day besides one of my classes and most of today as well (1/30).
On a side note to it all, the first day was awesome. I want to give a huge shoutout to Mai'i(Mani's friend)! She was the best tour guide of them all for our first day and dinner was amazing. We were also on Japanese TV because there was a journalists standing outside the Big Buddha place we went to go see. So he asked if he could video us while we were walking around the area and interviewed us after as well.
Oh yea! Japan was one of the safest places! Idk if you caught it, but a cab driver returned a passport, a phone, wallet and everything. Everything in Japan was super clean. There are not that many trash cans at all, and if there are, there are recycling bins separated into paper, glass, and plastic next to it. And the people were sooo nice. Some people would take time out of their days to walk us to our destinations that were 30 minutes away.
All I can say is that I am excited to be able to a have a few new friends in Japan to show me around again when I visit! It feels like the people I met, both in country and the people I met during the journey that are a part of SAS, have been my friends for life and I can't wait to travel with them in the rest our destinations.
We're already in China which is scary because I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this journey all over again. But we'll be docking in about 8 hours and my China adventure will begin.
Honestly don't think I could have pick a better Study abroad program.
Quote of the Day:
"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them our eyes open"
"YATAAAAA"
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