Japan

JAPAN – For a lot of different factors not directly relating to Japan this was probably one of the toughest stops on the trip. First, the factor of travel exhaustion started to set in and motivation to plan things was at an all-time low. Japan is ridiculously expensive and with it being the last stop that made things hard. Finally, the weather didn’t cooperate too much as it rained for two of the four days that I had there. That being said this will probably be the shortest entry on a port.

            This past week was a great time to be in Japan because it was peak time to view the Cherry Blossom trees. My first day in Kobe I had a trip for one of my classes to the American Consulate in Osaka. We spent the afternoon there learning about the foreign service, how consulates work, and U.S.-Japan relations. The American relationship with Japan is critical as they are our major Asian ally in the region. The best part of the day however, was dinner in the evening in Kobe as I went out to get a Kobe steak dinner. While quite expensive it was the best steak I have ever had. The meat pretty much melts in your mouth.

            The second day I took a day trip to Kyoto from Kobe. The rail system in Japan is one of the best on the world so it’s easy to travel places on them. It took about an hour to get there from the ship. Kyoto is seen as the cultural hub of Japan as it was the former capital city and wasn’t destroyed during World War II. My lunch here was pretty interesting as we ate noodle bowls Japanese style with Green Tea meaning that you sit on the floor to eat and take your shoes off when you enter. This was one of those days where it rained a lot especially in the afternoon. While braving the weather for a while it’s still hard to enjoy places when majority of the stuff you want to see is outside. We walked up the Philosopher’s Path, which is a prime spot to see the Cherry Blossoms, and stopped at a temple. The path is a small canal lined with Cherry Blossoms next to the mountains. Soaked to the bone after 4 hours in drenching rain, that was enough for me. It was disappointing not getting a chance to see more of Kyoto but I think we did well braving through the weather as much as we did. Also, we have become spoiled seeing a bunch of different historical sites and after a while you do get sick of seeing some of them and they seem to mix in with one another. I spent the rest of the afternoon eating sushi before heading back to Kobe on the train. Day three was spent on the ship transiting up to Yokohama. The day at sea was well needed catching up on some rest and work that needed to get done. It was also nice to have the ship pretty much to yourself as manypeople opted travel overland as I did in China.

            The fourth day I went into Tokyo from Yokohama. It took about an hour commute on the train as well. The first stop in Tokyo was to see the Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest seafood market in the world. The best time to go there is in the early morning when auctions are occurring but it wasn’t possible for us to arrive that early. We got there around 11 a.m. and even though it was starting to close down we were still able to see different fish. Because it wasn’t as busy, it was easier to walk around and get a feel for how big the market is. The best part was seeing the huge tuna on display or being cut at the stalls. Of course, I had sushi for lunch in the area. For a little bit in the afternoon, we walked around the Ginza area of Tokyo. My small amount of time in Tokyo was prettyunderwhelming. It was mostly high end shopping and really not too exciting. Back in Yokohama, there was a baseball game starting at 6 p.m. that we wanted tosee. This was an interesting experience as there are bands, cheerleaders, and the fans get really into the game. I’m pretty sure they brought the pitcher in on a car when they made a pitching change too. Unfortunately, it started torain in the 4^th inning and it wasn’t too fun to watch the game in the rain much longer after that.

            The last day I stayed in Yokohama because it was pouring rain, windy, and quite chilly. So the best place to go was to find somewhere to be inside and that was an indoor shopping complex. My main objective of the day was to have more sushi for lunch. I braved a walk through the Chinatown part of town in the afternoon but that didn’t last long. The price of things in Japan after a while just gets comical and it makes it hard to do things if your not prepared for the prices. Just doing things like going on the subway for two stops costs a few dollars. And I found it nearly impossible to find a cheap meal. It’s clear that Japan is a very rich country. The way people serve you and the attention to detail in Japan is amazing too as service is to be expected. For example, you are notsupposed to tip in restaurants because the service is expected. But overall, I liked Japan a lot more than China because I found the people a lot more respectful and orderly. They were also extremely nice and helpful even if they didn’t know much English at all. The order of the people is amazing as people are pretty much silent on the subway and then line up to get on it. At times its quite bizarre yet amazing how orderly it is, something you would expect in a communist country that we were in the last three stops.

           

Food ~ Kobe Beef, Chicken Noodle Bowl, Lots of sushi.

 

Drinks ~ Sake, Green Tea

 

Next stop: U.S.A.! Last night, the ship pulled out of chilly and rainy Yokohama and we said good-bye to Asia for the final time. Now it’s 10 days until we see land again in Hawaii and 17 days until we are in San Diego. Perhaps over the next couple weeks I will post some reflective pictures or essays but now it’s time to get down to business with classes and reflection of the past three months. It’s pretty sad; I’m not ready for this to be over!