Japan!

Japan is one of my top favorite ports of ALL. Japan and Thailand tie as my favorite countries. Coincidentally my favorite types of food are Japanese and Thai. I’m glad that Kayuga and Brown Sugar are both within a block from my apartment at home because I have an even deeper appreciation for them. So if I start permanently shopping at Super88 and only eating Japanese/Thai food, it’s because I loved these countries so much. Not only was the food a major highlight, but we were lucky enough to be in Japan during Cherry Blossom Season.

I went to Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo, Yokohama in 5 days, and I spent the first night in Osaka, the second night in Kyoto and two nights in Tokyo. This was all made possible by the efficient train system and bullet train in Japan—the U.S. cannot afford this type of luxury yet. But it was one of the most impressive systems. And very easy to navigate through, but in general the Japanese are pretty good with their English. Better than the Chinese.

Day one in Japan, I went to a town called Osaka to check into the hotel. Then Jason and I went to a town called Nara. To-dai Ji is the main attraction in Nara. It’s a huge temple and inside sits the largest Buddha in the world. There’s a hole carved out into one of the temple pillars. The hole is supposed to be the size of the Buddha’s nostril….sooooo I crawled through it. I had no problem fitting through, but when Jason tried, he got stuck cuz his shoulders were wider than the gap, some Japanese people gathered around and laughed, and I stood there taking pictures, laughing hysterically, but I finally pulled him out. The temple is also the largest wooden structure in the world. One of the most unique things in this park and anywhere I’ve ever been are the deer that populate the streets. They come right up to you—expecting to be fed—but they live among the people in Nara, and they are approachable too but I didn’t want to touch the stinky wild animals. Nara Park also had the most beautiful Cherry Blossom fields I’ve EVERRRR SEEEN. Blows away D.C…even though I’ve never been to the Cherry Blossom row in D.C. I cannot imagine a more beautiful sight. I am surprised that more of our friends didn’t visit Nara—my favorite pictures are from the day at this park. That night, we met up with our friends in downtown Osaka at an underground club. It was cool because it was like a cave bar and Semester at Sea friends dominated the scene.

The next day we went to the Osaka castle and peaced out to Kyoto. Kyoto is known for their abundance of temples, gardens, castles, and palaces so we spent the day walking through these. I also visited the  most famous cherry blossom tree in the world—yea the cherry blossoms were inescapable. I prayed at a Buddha, ate local foods from vendors. Japan is so clean that it was actually the only country other than the U.S. in Hawaii that we could drink the water and could safely eat the street-vendor food. But we were on a mission to find sushi in this town. Everyone I asked said that there is no sushi in Kyoto, but when there’s a will there’s a way. I actually ate sushi every single day in Japan, because it’s so FRESH and DELISH.
Kyoto has one of the largest train stations in the world. Inside the train station is a mall and TONS of great restaurants.

One of my other favorite things about Japan are the toilets. I know that sounds weird, but they are just as advanced as their transportation system. They have heated seats, an on command sprinkler/bidet with water temperature controls, vibrating seats, a fake flushing sound, a dryer…they were extremely fun to mess around with, and each one has a different feature from the next.

Day three. On the way to Tokyo we ran into Cecily and Karen who were trying to go see Mt. Fuji from an onsen. An onsen is a hot-spring bath. So we stopped in Hakone, went to an onsen, Mt. Fuji was way too far away, so we found one next to the train station. I was absolutely not into this hot onsen. There were about a dozen old naked Japanese ladies in there, sooooo I didn’t want to go in, but at least I can say I saw one and put my foot in.

When we got to Tokyo, we went to the baseball game. Fighters vs. Mariners. This was a fun event, the crowds are rowdier than American fans believe-it-or-not. Their chants were intense. The snack vendors also wore bright neon colors. Genvieve, Tanya, Jess and Brittany met up with us, and behind us were a bunch of other SAS friends. I didn’t spend much time actually watching the game, but it was fun. The rules are really similar to American baseball too. The couple in front of our row spoke English so we talked to them. That night we went to Roppongi—the bar district. There were lots of different clubs/bars to go into and promoters all over the street. I think we went on the wrong night because it wasn’t busy whatsoever. The next day we went to the busiest intersection in the world with the diagonal crossing paths. We also went on a scavenger hunt to find the Chrome hearts store—wasn’t labeled or anything, but we finally made it there. We also went to the Sony flagship—more like a sony museum. That same day we also went to the technology district—it was so nerdy and cool, and I even played some video games…guitar hero drums. I also went to a Kabuki theater show. I am glad I saw it, but it was incredibly boring. I can appreciate it for being a very traditional and prestigious art form that is still popular in Japan. The focus is supposed to be on the actor’s skill, so the actors are the most famous in Japan. That night for dinner I tried Kobe beef at a hibachi-style restaurant. Kobe beef is like butter. It’s so delicious. They also made shrimps right in front of us, however they were still alive when they hit the grill, and they sizzled and convulsed right before my eyes.

The next morning we woke up at 4am to go to the Tsukiji fish market. We missed the fish auction part because we got on the wrong train, but when we got there we saw a bunch of our friends and got in line with them for sushi breakfast at 5:30/6 am. This is the freshest fish you could possibly eat—off the ships for about 30 minutes, onto my plate, and into my mouth. The best was the fatty toro. This sushi was absolutely the most unbelievable tasting sushi anyone could ever have. Before going to Yokohama we went to the Harajuku district—supposedly this is where Gwen Stefani was inspired to incorporate the harajuku dancers into her performances. I was thoroughly angry at the Tamagachi store for not having Tamagachi’s in English. Yea, remember that childhood obsession??? One of the first things I want to do when I get back home is buy a Tamagachi as my Japan souvenir…really badly. And attach the key chain to my cellphone.

Then it was time to leave Japan. I really didn’t want to leave and I even considered missing the on-ship time. I’ll go back though. We had 9 days between Japan and Hawaii…I was swamped with work because the Professors assigned everything to be due at the end of this week, after having virtually nothing due before that week. I can't believe this is almost over!!!


xoxo