The ship departed Japan the day before yesterday (February 13th for me), and we will be in China in a few hours! However, that’s not what I am blogging about at the moment. I believe you all want to read about my adventures in Japan so here goes…
On the first day in Yokohama, I went on an SAS day trip to tour Tokyo. This may sound weird, but I actually kept forgetting that I was in Japan. While we were on the bus, it just felt like another big city to me. It wasn’t until we got off the bus and were surrounded by Japanese signs and people that I remembered I was on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, I was miserable the whole time because I had a major headache and my stomach was hurting. While in Tokyo, I tried hot Milk Tea from a vending machine (which was a huge surprise to me that it came out of the vending machine hot..not just warm, but actually hot!), I saw a Toyota showcase where there was a new Lexus on display which had recliner seats in the back (insane!), and I went to Tokyo Tower at night – you are supposed to be able to see Mt Fuji from there during the day.
The second day in Yokohama, I went on an FDP for one of my classes. We met with Virginia Anami after finding our way to a suburb of Tokyo by way of subways and JR trains. She took us to her house, and we ate rice balls and other amazing Japanese foods. The house was beautiful and very open. The next day I was on the ship in transit to Kobe; some of us that stayed watched movies all day in the Piano Lounge, which was awesome! That night we had a “sit-down dinner,” which means they served us a five course mean like on regular cruises because there were only 200 (out of almost 600) of us that were actually on the ship from Yokohama to Kobe.
In Kobe, I went on an SAS trip to Nara; we saw Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines. At one of our stops there was a group of kids on a field trip that took pictures with us...so cute! At another stop, I saw some kids trying to find someone to take their picture, and although I couldn’t remember how to say “take a photo” in Japanese, I kind of motioned to the camera and to myself and to them. They were very enthusiastic and excited when they realized I was offering to help them! When I got back to the ship, I met up with some friends and we went to walk around Kobe to find a place to eat. Three of us got Shabu-Shabu, which was fun and delicious. Basically, they give you a bunch of raw meat and a pot of boiling water and oil, and you cook the meat and vegetables yourself. After dinner, we were walking around again and stumbled upon an underground Jazz bar. When we walked in, the bartender made space for us at the bar – by the way he didn’t speak any English, but he was a very nice older man. Come to find out, we ended up sitting by his daughter who tells us that her aunt is the owner. We also found out that the young woman lives in Ohio and was in China visiting her family! It was fun.
On the second day in Kobe, Scott (my fellow Drake person) and I took a train (well several trains with all the transfers) to Osaka to go to the aquarium…once again – Amazing! They had two whale sharks and a TIGER SHARK!! The aquarium was just plain awesome, and that’s just about all I can say about it! However, there is more to be said about the journey there. There were two times when I was on a train or subway and an elderly woman walked on. Every seat was full, so I did the polite thing and gave up my seat. Man, were they shocked! Both times, the women thanked me over and over again…it made me feel great!
A few other things I noticed while in Japan...
1. There were no trashcans; there are recycling bins next to most of the vending machines, but that’s about it.
2. There were no postcards; I spent a while trying to find some and gave up. I finally found some in the port terminal right before On-Ship time. I guess that even though I was warned that I wouldn’t be able to find a lot of things as easily as I find them in the States, I just didn’t think about postcards as being one of those things.
3. Everyone dresses very fashionably…though I already expected this.
4. The streets were very clean, as were the subways.
5. There were a lot of arcades and porn shops…
6. Lots of other things that I just can’t think of at the moment.
Well, that’s about it for Japan. If I think of anything else, I will write about it. As for now, I’m going to bed so that I can wake up refreshed for China!
-KW-
