Japannn!!!!

I’m writing this Monday night, the 15th just after our pre-port lecture for China. Sorry this is coming so late, but not only did Japan take a lot out of everyone, we had to come right back on the ship and get back into school, tests and papers!! Not complaining though because Japan was totally unforgettable. It was quite an odd place to visit--and I never quite got used to it! It is custom to travel as quietly as possible in Japan, something American teenagers are incapable of. This means the trains, subways, buses and even the streets are impressively quite and we had trouble remembering this much of the time. Also the Japanese travel around with their own trash-bags and disposable ashtrays in their bags, so finding garbage cans were near impossible! My purse ended up as a makeshift trash for most of our group. The people were impressively friendly and helpful. A number of times, when we were lost or unsure of which train to get on, Japanese citizens would come up to us, knowing we were english speaking and utterly confused by all the Japanese scripture, and would offer us help in english. I was really pleased to see how interested the people were with us, how eager they were to practice their english and how helpful they were. I heard from more then one person that sometimes when they asked for directions, people would ride the subways to their stops, get out and bring them to their destination, going completely out of the way for them. It was a very nice change from America and made me want to bring random acts of kindness like that to the states. Those are my reflective thoughts on Japan, now for the dirty details :)
To get off the boat we had to go through customs, sign paper work and even have our temperature taken via our pointer finger. Once we got off the boat, around 1 pm (we were extremely because of rough seas) Yudai, Matt, Mac, Sam, Mason, Brittney, Brooke, I all headed straight for the train to Tokyo. Our group’s members had some things to get done on the way to Tokyo so Mac, Sam, Matt Mason and I were left to hang out while they got their Indian visas figured out at the Japanese Indian Consulate. We found a 7-Eleven, surprisingly, and had our first dose of crazy Japanese snacks. They had these delicious sour gummy snacks (which by the end of the trip Matt had tried all 10 flavors) and hot rice cakes full of beer which became a favorite of mine. They looked like balls of uncooked dough, and had a similar texture, but inside there was a crazy mixture of beef which resembled pulled pork and was colored orange. We also all had our first taste of authentic Japanese beer!! Sapporo becaues a favorite of mine, along with Suntory. They were nice and cheap in the convenient stores like that so we opted to buy them there instead of going to bars where they were 600 or 700 Yen a glass--(a little over $6-$8) After everyones visas were straightened out we headed to our hotel which we had books a few weeks ago, the Star Hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. It was very modern and to our surprise had an english speaking floor (the 5th floor) which we stayed on. Matt, Mason, Andrea and I all stayed in one and Mac, Sam and Yudai in the other. It was VERY entertaining watching Matt try and shower and walk around this hotel, he had to duck in every doorway ahahah. By this time the sun was about to set and we were to meet Andrea after her SAS trip at the Tokyo Tower at seven. We all grabbed a quick shower and went to Yudai’s favorite ramen noodle restaurant, a tiny whole in the wall which indeed did have amazing food, with funny english translations. Matt and Mason order the “Painful Ramen” and I ordered the “Salty Ramen” and pork dumplings. After satisfying our appetites we hopped on the subway to Tokyo Tower to go rescue Andrea :) It was a beautiful sight--a recreation of the Eiffel Tower up on the top there was a 360 degree view and you could see all of Tokyo at night. The city is massive, 10 Manhattans and the it looks just as exciting as Vegas. On the highest level there were computers which duplicated a picture of the view and labeled the buildings. Another computer showed an arial view of Tokyo and you could change the dynasty and time to see the modernization of the city. It started with family names and the land they owned, all the way to its current picture. After Tokyo tower, we rushed back to the hotel to get ready for our first dose of karaoke! We all went to a popular spot around town that Yudai frequents--it was $40 from 11 pm to 5 am and all you can drink. Your group rents our their own room which has strobe and laser lights and a collection of percussion to use. This place had more english songs then Japanese. Everything from Brittney Spears and Backstreet Boys, to the Beach Boys, Almond Brothers Band, Matisyahu, Led Zeplin and Limp Bizcuit. Andrea and I rocked them all and we left at 4:45.
The next morning, half of the group went to the fish market in town to get sushi. The other half woke up with no voice and starving!! Without Yudai we were quite lost so we went back to the same place he took us for ramen and ordered the same delicious meals again, only ate it twice as fast. Most of us had run out of cash by this point and only very few places in Japan take American credit cards so we walked around for an hour or so trying to find a place. Eventually, a few banks later and a lot of help from the locals we found a Citi Bank that took our Mastercards. The group then all met back up, adding two (Tom and Justin) to go to Yudai’s house 30 minutes away. I was surprised to see a very modern looking American two floor house with an impeccable garden. But once you looked inside it was a different story. The house was very Japanese and had many Buddhist sculptures and even a shrine where Yudai taught us all how to pray. His mother made us all treats and brewed us all tea and we sat down and talked while Yudai translated. They let us all use their phone to call our families but it was early in the morning and almost no one picked up. Both his parents were very gracious and tooks lots of pictures of us. They were so proud to have their son home. Yudai goes to school in Texas and only comes home for the summers so I’m sure he was excited as well. There were pictures and trophies of him for all kinds of sports and certificates of school completion. After a few hours we all left and headed for a shamisen store Matt had in mind. There, he bought one for a nice bargain price and hasn’t stopped playing since. Along with the shamisen he got a music book and a CD to get him into the mood. He plans to blow you all away with it come this May hahaha. On the way back to the train to the hotel we found another hole in the wall to eat at. This wasn’t just any other hole in the wall however, there were autographs all over the wall of famous visitors, actors, rulers and scholars. Yudai was totally impressed to be eating where they all ate-he said it was the second best ramen he had ever had! That night was karaoke round two, same place, same time, even more music and a bigger room.
The third day in Tokyo we decided to visit Harajuku street which was hysterical. It was about half a mile long and had tons of vendors and some great shopping. It was a great place to hang out and we saw a lot of fellow SASers. There was a store that was actually in the Frommers guide called Condomania--an entire store dedicated to condoms and safe sex. There was also a Nike store, three floors high that was decorated entirely with Nike shoes. On the ceilings, hanging from shoe strings were all the models of Nike sneakers they have had and on the walls all different designs with the different parts of the shoes--the tongues, the soles, the laces etc. It was really funky but we were not allowed to take pictures. Just near I had the best strawberry belgian waffles I have ever had, it was nice to have some American food even though I told myself I wouldn’t. :) Down the road we visited our first temple, the Meiji Jingu Temple. The actual entrance was a long driveway lined with some gorgeous art work done in barrels of Saki, and some interesting plant life. Before entering the temple we had to cleanse our mouths and hands with natural spring water running into a trench. There were bamboo cups and the water was freeeezing!! It had already been sprinkling so we were all pretty cold. Inside was really moving, a scene I could crucify explaining and a feeling I wouldn’t even attempt. I was able to buy a wooden prayer which I could write on and hang on the gates of the temple to come true. I wished everyone home health while I was away and the ability to take in everything this trip has to offer and let it change be for the better.
That night we were to catch an over night bus to Kyoto at 11 pm to see more temples. To make it short and sweet, the seats were smaller than airplane seets, we had to blankets or pillows and we were soaking wet from walking around all day. It was a double decker and we were on top so it felt like we were back on the ship we were rocking so bad. Needless to say none of us got sleep and it was hilarious. We were woken up by a recording or birds and blinking lights at 7 am. We put our bags in bus lockers and purchased all day bus passes...by we I mean we handed Yudai the money and he did everything because no one spoke english hahaha. Our first temple was an hour away, it took us an hour and a half because we missed the stop we were supposed to get off at because we all fell asleep on the bus due to lack of sleep. The town was very traditional and entirely on a mountain. Our first temple we saw was at the Old Imperial Palace Sohanzan Ninna-Ji. It served as the residence of the ex-emperor Uda and is now the Omuro School of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism. There were two tea houses and many sculptures, paintings, calligraphy, lacquered works and ceramic artifacts. There was also a huge cherry blossom field which would have been much more impressive in the spring. The second temple we visited was the Kinkaku-Ji Temple, more commonly known as the Golden Temple. In the center of the land is a pond, Mirror Pond, with an island where a building made out of gold lays radiating light throughout the compound. Throughout the area were bowls carved out of stone which you threw in Yen and made a wish. I lost about 300 Yen trying. By this time we were all entirely too exhausted to go an inch further so we went back to the bus station, grabbed our bags and hopped on a train to meet the ship in Kobe. Once we got back to the ship, around 3 pm we all slept until dinner at 7 and then went out for our last night of karaoke of course!!! It was a great way to end the trip and it was nice to hang out with girls after two days straight with boys hahaha. The next day we tried to find internet (apparently non existent in Japan) but it was nice to see the city and to finally come back to the ship and unpack and let my feet recover.
Japan was hectic, exhausting and gave me 5 blisters on my feet, but I learned a lot about traveling and a lot about a new culture and new way of life.
Next stop is China!! We had a tiny Valentines Day party on the ship and celebrated by playing catch phrase. There were ship Valentines cards sent out and I recieved a few, but nothing more then that. I hope you all had a great V-day and a good Presidents day off to all you teachers!! I’ll skype while in Shanghai and Hong Kong!! I love you all bigger than the sky xooxxo B