Seems like we arrived so long ago yet it feels like just yesterday. I didn’t really have anything planned for the time that I was in Japan so I just kind of winged it, and I got to see and experience everything that I wanted to. We arrived in Japan on Monday, April 6th and departed today, Friday. We went to Kobe for two days and then Yokohama for two days. Just like China, you had the option to stay off the ship for the day in between or you could stay on the ship. I opted for staying on the ship this time just because I was so exhausted from China and kind of felt like I was getting a cold.
So the first day I had signed up for a tea ceremony for one of my classes. We arrived in Kobe around 8 or 9 am. But customs and immigration in Japan is CRAZY! The night before we arrived in port, we all had to get an immigration card. Then the next morning at around 8 am, they called everybody up by their sea and we had to turn in our immigration forms and walk in front of a heat sensor so it could read our body temperature. Then the ship wasn’t technically cleared until everybody (all 800 and some of us) went through immigration and customs. This took about an hour for me to get through everything and finally got off the ship. It was about 1230 by the time everything was said and done and my trip left at 1245, so I went straight from customs to the bus.
Tea ceremonies are a very huge thing in Japan. People have them for all sorts of occasions, formal, non formal, friends, family, and I was really excited to see what it was all about. The tea ceremony was in Kyoto, which was about a two hour drive from Kobe. And in Kyoto, it was cherry blossom season, so we got to see all the beautiful cherry blossom on the drive; they were everywhere. I couldn’t get over the fact that Japan was very similar to the United States, from the weather to the cherry blossoms, even to the people. Once we finally arrived in Kyoto, they took us to a temple where the tea ceremony would be. It all looked so beautiful and I couldn’t get over how peaceful it all seemed.
We walked around the temple for about an hour or so and saw all of the different rooms and meditation rooms and everything. Then we went into a larger room where the tea ceremony would be taking place. The room was a good size and had small mats for us to sit on. Up front in the room was the large kettle, I’m guessing with tea and then a bunch of tools for the tea ceremony. We began by greeting our host by bowing to her and saying “Arrigato” which means thank you in Japanese. Then we began the ceremony. We were given a little snack, which kind of tasted like Fig Newtons and we bowed once again to show our appreciation. Then came the tea which was a little more intricate on how we drank it. They came by and put a bowl next to each one of us and we bowed to each other in thanks. Then you had to pick the tea bowl up with your right hand and hold your left hand underneath. You then bowed again in thanks and rotated the bowl clockwise two times and then you were allowed to drink it. You were supposed to slurp on the last sip also because that meant that the tea was good and you were satisfied. So we all drank our tea and slurped. I was surprised by how different the tea tasted. It was really bitter, I didn’t really enjoy it, but I was glad that I tried it.
After the tea ceremony we sat and talked with one of the priests for a little while and then we headed back to the ship in Kobe. It was about another 2 hour drive back to the ship, and we stopped at a rest stop for a few minutes for people to use the bathroom and get a snack. Two things. Japan is like living in the future. Their toilets have heated seated, music to play while you are using them, and a nice flushing sound, one where you actually have the flushing sound with no flushing or you get the flushing sound with flushing. But I was only in there for a few seconds so I didn’t master the toilet. Second thing. Japan has the most insane vending machines. You can get everything and anything in a vending machine. They have coffee, beer, wine, soda, food, and everything looks so different than in the U.S. It’s all packaged so efficiently.
When we got back to the ship, Anders and I decided that we were going to go out in Osaka which was about a 30 minute subway ride. So we ate dinner on the ship and then grabbed our stuff to head out. We left the ship around 9 pm and got to the train station at about 915. The trains were pretty self explanatory and it was just like taking the subway at home, minus the fact that everything was in Japanese. So we got on the train to Osaka and it was about 20 minutes. And so we got off the train and had absolutely no idea where to go. We were supposed to meet a lot of people at this club called Pure, and we thought we could just ask around, but either 1. they didn’t speak English or 2. they had no idea what Pure was. So we must have walked around Osaka for about 2 hours and gotten like 4 different maps, and we came to our last hotel to ask the guy, and thank goodness! He knew where it was. So we got in a cab and he told the driver where we wanted to go and we finally got there. The subway in Japan, much like the Metro at home, closes at like 11 or 12 and re-opens at 5 am. So since the club was open until 5 am, most everybody stayed there until the train station re-opened.
At about 430, we took a cab back to the subway station. We finally got back to Kobe at around 530 or 6ish and then we took a cab back to the ship and got there around 630. We slept for a little bit and then went out to explore Kobe for a few hours before they ship left for Yokohama. We had one day in between Kobe and Yokohama. It was a nice relaxing day, no classes and not really much else to do. They played the Bourne series in the Union and did a few other things, but nothing too special. I think everybody just caught up on sleep and schoolwork. I have a bunch of papers and tests coming up, so I used the day to sleep AND catch up on schoolwork. It was nice and relaxing.
Then the next day we arrived in Yokohama at around 830 and Anders and I cleared the ship at about 9 and headed into Tokyo. We stopped at the information desk to find out how exactly we should get to Tokyo. Thank goodness we stopped there otherwise I would have been lost! It was like 4 different train transfers to get where we needed to be. But we made it to Tokyo at about 10ish and we decided to just walk around. We stopped at the information desk again and asked about good shopping and food. He pointed us in the right direction and we were off. We stopped at the apple store because I needed new headphones, but the headphones were 3400 Yen, which is equivalent to $34. No thank you. But I did decide to use their free internet on the Macs and pretended to be interested in purchasing one. After about 10 minutes of mooching off the internet, we headed to a mall to maybe do some shopping. Well, we got to the mall and they had beautiful clothes and everything, but the cheapest things I saw were like $150 for a shirt. So after pretending for about 10 minutes that I was interested in these clothes, we continued to walk around. We found a nice little restaurant that had some interesting Japanese food, but I wanted to try it. I got fried squid and some other rice bowl thing. They were both good in their own way.
After lunch, Anders wanted to go to a market, so we asked around and found a market in Ueno. So we took another train to Ueno and got Starbuck’s when we got there. Then we headed into market. They had a lot of cool stuff, but not so cool prices. Things were even more expensive there than they would have been in the U.S. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything. We looked around for a little while longer, Anders was really interested, and finally decided to just go back to Yokohama. There was a baseball game at 6 and we were going to see if we could get tickets.
After about a 45 minute train ride back to Yokohama, we found the stadium and got in line for tickets. They were only $18 for tickets so we got our ticket and then decided to grab something to eat and a drink at a local café. As we were sitting outside this café, my friends Grant and Mike walked by and they decided to join us. So we were all sitting, drinking, having a good time. And this cute little Japanese man walked up to us and asked us if he could join us. We were more than delighted to talk to him. He told us about his life and the things and places that he had been. Then he asked us to guess his age. I guessed about 60ish, as did everyone else. This little man was 75 years old! I was amazed! He was so lively and really wanted to take us around Yokohama and show us all the fun spots. So around 6 o clock, Anders and I decided to go and check out the game for a little and meet back up with them.
The stadium was really similar to the stadiums at home, and I was a little disappointed it wasn’t more futuristic-like. We got to our seats, at least I think they were our seats, and we cheered on the team for a little bit. Then after about an hour, we decided to go and meet back up with Mike, Grant, and Yoko (that was really his name, well at least what he told us to call him). Anyways, we met up with them and Yoko really wanted to take us to a karaoke bar. Which was awesome because I hadn’t karaoked yet in Japan. So we went to this place called Big Echo. It was so much fun. We got our own room and sang for about 2 hours and we sang some good songs. I’m becoming really good at karaoke now. So after our singing charades, we headed back downstairs to say goodbye to Yoko because he had to get home to his wife (so cute).
After we said goodbye, we saw a McDonald’s across the street, and we decided to go and grab something to eat. It was crazy! There were people in McDonald’s with nice suits and everything and they were sleeping in the booths. We ate our McDonald’s and then headed to a local bar. It was a really cute local bar decorated with Hawaiian things (strange) and it had the Manchester game on, so everybody was happy. We had a few more drinks and then sat and talked for a little while and ending up seeing a few more friends from Semester at Sea. We headed back to ship a little later and there were literally 30 people, including myself, freaking out, trying to get back on the ship. The entrance was hidden and not the same as earlier in the day so we were all pretty confused. It took us about a half an hour to get inside and when we finally did I was so exhausted that I fell right asleep.
Wow is all I can say in response to the last month. We covered four different countries in Asia in one month. We had 6 actual days of classes and the rest of the days were travel days. My body is 100% exhausted but for good reasons. We have 9 days until we get to Hawaii, and I am very excited to have some relaxation time. Except for the fact that finals are rapidly approaching and I have 4 papers and a test in these 9 days, but I guess sometimes I do forget that we are here for school. Less than one month left too! Man, just Hawaii and Guatemala and then back to the good old U.S.
Tomorrow is Easter, well the first Easter. We get two Easters on the ship due to the International Date Line. So being that we are 14 hours ahead of you all right now, we essentially gain all of those hours back and in return get an extra day, that just so happens to be Easter. So it's like I'm living the same day, two days in a row. De Ja Vu anyone? I hope that everybody is doing well at home and has a happy Easter! See you all sooner than we know!
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