believe how fast time has gone, I still feel like we just got to
Brazil. And now, we're on our way back home!
DAY ONE
Our first stop in Japan was Kobe. I had an FDP today, but it wasn't
until noon so my friend Lexi and I went into downtown to explore for a
little bit (she had an FDP too). Downtown was very busy, with lots of
shops, restaurants and people going to the train station. Lexi had
studied in Japan in high school, and it was a very pleasant surprise
to learn she spoke Japanese! This came in very helpful when we tried
to get lunch, coffee, ATMs, etc! The Japanese people always got
pretty excited when she spoke Japanese too. We got coffee at a cute
little coffee shop, and Lexi pointed out a major faux pas by some
other SAS kids - apparently, in Japan, it's very rude to eat and walk
at the same time. Meals are meant to be enjoyed, not rushed through.
I stocked up on snacks in case my FDP didn't stop for lunch, and then
we headed back to the port terminal.
My FDP today was to the zen gardens at Daitoku-Ji, in Kyoto, for my
art history class. I had wanted to go to Kyoto anyways, so that
worked out! Kyoto seems like a very cute city, and the zen gardens
were beautiful. The first one we went to was a rock garden, and a
monk gave us a guided tour. That was cool, but I liked the second zen
garden better - it was so green, just filled with plants, and it
bordered a bamboo forest. It was very peaceful! After that, our tour
guide let us stop at the Cherry Blossom Festival. We were lucky
enough to get to Japan during cherry blossom season - it only lasts
for a couple of weeks, and Kyoto in particular is famous for its
cherry blossoms. We could only stop at the festival for five minutes,
but it was incredible. There were so many cherry blossom trees, and
the blossoms were in full bloom. When you looked up, you saw a
ceiling of cherry blossoms!
After the FDP, I grabbed a quick dinner on the ship and then went with
some friends to a Japanese baseball game! We arrived a bit late, but
we were in time to see a big balloon cheer: Everyone had these long,
skinny balloons and they all cheered and released them at the same
time. It took us a long time to figure out which team we were
supporting. We were on the losing team's side, but you never would
have guessed it from how enthusiastic the fans were! There was
definitely more enthusiasm at this game than at most American baseball
games I've been to, and I'm pretty sure we were at a minor league
game. It was a lot of fun!
DAY TWO
Today, I met up with my friends Sara and Grace bright and early to go
to an internet cafe. We ended up going to an internet cafe/comic
shop. They didn't have wifi, but little cubbies with computers. Some
cubbies even had beds! The place also had a shower, and there was a
free drink vending machine, so you could pretty much live there if you
wanted. We had a lot of fun with the vending machine! They had all
sorts of drinks, hot and cold, and we definitely abused the free drink
privileges. After we had enough drinks, we went to a nearby crepe
place where I unknowingly ordered the daily special and got a cheaper
crepe! It was very exciting, but I'm pretty sure the cashier thought
I was kind of stupid for not realizing I'd ordered the special.
After crepes, we went to Mosaic, a little amusement and shopping area
in Kobe. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so we didn't get to
enjoy the amusement park. However, there were lots of cute shops - my
favorite was one dedicated to Snoopy! We found a delicious spot to
have lunch. The menu was in Japanese, and there were no pictures, so
we had fun picking random things to point at and order. Luckily, we
didn't get anything too strange! After lunch, we headed to the sake
brewery district. The rain was still pouring down, and we
unfortunately headed in the wrong direction out of the metro station.
Once we finally made it to our first sake brewery, we were quite
damp! The brewery was fun though - we watched a video (in English)
about the sake making process. This particular brewery makes sake the
old-fashioned way, without automated machines, and they're very proud
about that. Then we had tasting. I'd never tried sake before - I
can't say it's my favorite! We braved the downpour to go to a second
brewery, which had a museum and free tasting again. It was pretty fun!
We went back to downtown Kobe for dinner. We stumbled upon an eight-
story building with a different restaurant on each floor. We went to
each floor to judge each restaurant, then decided on the fifth floor.
It was a good decision! After that, we went to a nearby Baskin-
Robbins for dessert, and then headed back to the ship.
DAY THREE
Like in China, we had an option to travel overland or on the ship as
the MV Explorer went from Kobe and Yokohama. This time, to save money
I decided to stay in transit. It was a good, relaxing day and I
managed to get some work done. I'm definitely glad I stayed in
transit - I saved a lot of money!
DAY FOUR
Now, in Yokohama! This morning I wanted to find wifi to call home.
My friend Sara and I went out to find a coffee shop with wifi. We
thought, in such a technologically advanced country like Japan, this
would be an easy mission. Not the case! The first coffee shop we
found had a wifi sticker on the door. I went in and confidently
bought a drink, but when we asked about the wifi they shook their
heads no. This happened at the next couple coffee shops. Finally, at
Starbucks we figured it out: Wifi in Japan is a paid service. Coffee
shops only provide wifi through different providers, you need to sign
up for wifi service through these providers to access it. Not very
traveler-friendly! We were about to go across town to a hotel we'd
heard had wifi, until we ran into another SAS kid, who informed us
that there was wifi in the port terminal. So, back to where we
started! That wifi worked great, but I'm glad we got the chance to
walk around Yokohama.
I had another FDP at noon today - my last FDP! This time, it was "Zen
Meditation with Monks," for my World Prayer class. It started with a
presentation on the ship about the history of Japan, Buddhism, and tea
ceremonies. Then we went to Kamakura, a smaller town. It was a very
cute place! Our first stop was a tour of a large zen garden, which
was very beautiful. Then we walked through Kamakura to go to a
smaller zen garden, where we would participate in a tea ceremony and
meditation. The tea ceremony was very different from the tea
ceremonies I had in China! Instead of sampling different teas, we had
a bigger cup of one tea, and a small pastry to go with it. We learned
about the proper etiquette to drink tea. I liked the pastry, but the
bright green tea was a little strange! Then we went to the
meditation, which was lead by the garden's head monk. It was very
peaceful, but then the monk started smacking people's backs with a
plank of wood! This is a traditional practice, and is supposed to
help with posture. You didn't have to participate in that part, which
was good - it sounded painful! After meditation, the FDP was over. I
thought it was a very good FDP!
Once I was back on the ship I met up with Sara again to head to
Tokyo. Tokyo and Yokohama are pretty close to each other, so we had
planned to spend the night in Tokyo tonight. We already had a hostel
booked in Asakusa, but it took us a long time to get there! It was
raining again when we got to Tokyo, and we did not have the best
directions! We finally found it though, and it was a very cute
hostel. There were lots of people there! We got a late dinner at a
nearby noodle shop, and it was very tasty.
DAY FIVE
Our big day in Tokyo! I was hoping for sunshine, but we woke up to
another rainy day! Oh, well. We checked out of the hostel and went
out to find a coffee shop for breakfast. We went into the first cute
place we saw, only to discover that it was outrageously expensive:
Coffee - just plain coffee - cost more than a Starbucks latte, and
toast cost $8. Just plain toast! Needless to say, our next stop was
Denny's! Here, I had delicious and reasonably priced french toast.
It wasn't exactly like our Denny's though - they served rice dishes
for breakfast! Since it was raining pretty hard, and we didn't feel
like aimlessly wandering around Asakusa in the rain, we decided to
head over to the famous Harajuku district. This place was a lot of
fun! We went to another coffee shop, where we had a delicious latte.
There were tons of stores - unfortunately most were out of our price
range, but they were fun to look at. I also had fun looking at
everyone's outfits! People here have a lot of style, I definitely
felt pretty shabby in comparison. We found a cheap noodle shop to
have lunch, and it was delicious. One of my favorite meals in Japan.
It was when we were leaving the noodle shop that I noticed something:
I didn't have my backpack, and couldn't remember the last time I'd had
it! Panicking slightly, I tried to retrace my steps. Luckily all my
important valuables - my passport, medicine, money, iPod - were in my
purse, but I still didn't want to lose my backpack (technically my
sister's backpack!) with all my other stuff in it. I was fairly
certain I hadn't left it on the subway, so we ran to the coffee shop -
it had been several hours since we'd been there though. However, as
soon as I told the waitress I was missing my backpack, her face lit
up, and she reached behind the counter for my backpack! I was SO
relieved. I don't think that would have happened in all of the
countries I've been to on this trip! After we rescued my backpack, we
walked around a little more, and then made the journey back to the ship.
I really liked Japan - I definitely want to come back here with more
time and money! And now, next stop: United States of America!
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