Japan page 1 of 4
Hey Mom andDad,
I do not know if I will be able to call but I will try my best. I have only stayed in one real hotel since I have been here. the first night we went to Hiroshima and could not find a hotel except for this sex hotel aka whore house. It is a long story where we spent the night. The second night it was really late and we stayed at some random house near the train station and last night we stayed at a karaoke bar - another long story. I will see if I can call you tonight but I will be on the ship tonight.
Love always, Ryan
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Ryan D item [2]
Hey all,
So, for our first day we walked around Nagasaki and got a train for Hiroshima. There are vending machines everywhere in Japan and sell all kinds of things like coffee, candy, beer, cigarettes, underwear, and tee shirts. I exchanged about $500 into Japanese Yen. There are no international ATM�s in Nagasaki so any money that I took out for the trip is all that I was going to get, plus credit cards aren�t used that often either. We went to a Shinto shrine in Nagasaki before our departure for Hiroshima. After the shrine we had lunch at a local restaurant. The menu was in Japanese but they had pictures of the food they served, so we just pointed to pictures of the food we wanted. We had no idea what we were ordering but that was part of the adventure. I used the bathroom at the restaurant, which was quite an experience. The toilet was all high-tech; it was a toilet and bidet (you know that thing that squirts water and cleans your bum) in one. The toilet had many functions, like it had a seat warmer, you could change the temperature and intensity of the water shooting at you from the bidet, and choose which part of your body you wanted to get cleaned. It even had soapy water that it would squirt at you. Some other toilets that I heard about played music while you went to the bathroom so no one could here what you were doing. I myself was not brave enough to use any of the functions of the high tech toilets besides the flush option (I haven�t had very good luck with foreign toilets).
The first night we took the bullet train to Hiroshima. We bought all of our train tickets in advance and spent $230 for all the destinations we went to. Trains and taxis are ridiculously expensive, much more expensive than Amtrak. The train system is equivalent to our airline system. The bullet train was out of this world. It had all electronic doors to get from car to car. Inside the train was leather interior and hard wood floors with track lighting. The bullet train goes so fast and is so efficient. The transportation system there in general is very efficient. That�s the great thing about Japan as that it is relatively easy to get around. It is rather difficult to get around though if you don�t speak Japanese and don�t understand the system. When we first got to Hiroshima, we were supposed to get on a tram; instead we accidentally got on a train. We asked a girl where to go, and she didn�t speak any English. We thought traveling in Japan would be easy because we thought everyone would speak English; sadly that wasn�t the case. She got off the train with us and she showed us which tram to get on. She almost missed her own train to show us where to go. The Japanese people were by far the friendliest people I have ever met, and the most honest.
For our first night we wanted to stay at this Hiroshima peace non-profit organization run by an American couple. They provide lodging and give you a tour guide, plus they will also introduce you to bomb victims. We were really excited to get to this place, but it was in the outskirts of Hiroshima. We went on the tram to find this place. We got off the tram in search of this peace non-profit place. After a half hour of searching and asking people how to get there we decided to give up looking for this place and stay at any random hotel we could find.
We saw this one hotel that was called Moonlight. It looked pretty unassuming from the outside; it just looked like a normal hotel with blinking lights. We get inside the lobby and all the rooms that are available are lit up on a screen. We thought it was pretty cool that you get to pick the theme of your room. There was a hotel manager standing behind a black tinted window so you couldn�t see his face. This is when I noticed that things were pretty shady at this hotel. Then we saw a poster of all these women wearing provocative clothing with numbers next to them. That�s when I realized that we weren�t just at any hotel, we were at a whore house. The prices of the rooms were all listed by the hour and you can pick which prostitute you want by their number. The hotel manager approached us and asked if we wanted a room. Well, by this point we just wanted a place to stay, even though we were a little sketched out by this hotel. We explained to him that we wanted one room for all four of us, me, Melinda, Constantine, and Amy, but that we didn�t want a prostitute. We negotiated a price and got one room for the four of us, it ended up being only $18 a person and it included breakfast plus four snacks that night. We picked a Mickey Mouse themed room.
The hotel itself was kind of amusing. The gift shop was selling all kinds of sex toys. You know how I told you that they sold all kinds of things in vending machines? You can only imagine the things they sold in the vending machines at this hotel (I�d go into more detail except I know my grandparents read these emails). Our room had a king sized bed with mood lighting, tv and radio controls right by the bed. We also had a karoke machine in our hotel room. The bathroom was the size of our room; it was huge. It had an in-ground bathtub and a huge shower area that could fit all four of us. We wanted to go out to a karaoke bar that night but since we were in the outskirts of Hiroshima we couldn�t find one close to us. So, we just ended up buying a lot of alcohol and doing karoke in our room after eating dinner at a local restaurant. It was all rather amusing, we got kind of loud and the hotel manager told us to keep it down.
The next day we went to the Hiroshima peace park where we saw the site of the first atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan. The peace park had an eternal flame for those that lost their lives from the bomb as well as a small tomb that contained the remains of all the deceased that that were found. They also had a children�s monument where people donate paper cranes, which stands for peace and longevity. After the park we went to the peace museum. The museum wasn�t anti-American, it was anti war and anti bombs. The museum gave the history behind WWII as well as the factors that lead up to the dropping of the bomb and the effects of it. There are still people living with radiation effects from the bomb. The bomb affected all things within a 2 km radius and at the hypocenter temperatures reached over 2000 degrees Celcius. Because of the extreme hot temperatures, people�s skin and bones literally melted off their bodies. The people who survived had intense third degree burns all over their body. Their finger nails had burned off, exposing some of their blood vessels, so when new fingernails would grow in they would appear to be black because blood would be under them. Approximately 350,000 people were injured from the bomb and more than 140,000 lost their life. What was sad is that the American government gave no warning to Japan that they were going to drop the bomb. The bomb cost $2 billion to create and it was estimated that it cost twice that off the national budget of Japan at the time. The peace museum did not stop with the dropping of the atomic bomb but continues to educate people on current countries that are making nuclear weapons and the effects it will have on the Earth.
The US was the first one to create the Hydrogen bomb in the 1950�s and it is a 1000 times stronger than the atomic bomb, pretty scary. At the height of the cold war the US and USSR had enough nuclear weapons to destroy all of humanity. The US has had the most nuclear weapons of any country including USSR. In fact, we had over 200 nuclear weapons, nearly a 100 more than USSR. Germany, France, and England over time also developed and have tested nuclear weapons. There are seven countries that have nuclear weapons capabilities which include the US, Russia, Germany, France, England and now Pakistan and India.
After the peace museum we went to a local restaurant where you pick out all sorts of raw fruits and vegetables that are on a stick. You coat the food with a batter and then deep fry it, it was the first time I had ever eaten at a restaurant like that so I thought it was pretty cool. After the restaurant we went to Hiroshima castle that was reconstructed after the atomic bomb. Everything was in Japanese so I don�t really know the history behind the castle. After the castle we went to a park and folded paper cranes to reflect on everything we had seen. After the park we found a cyber caf� and got to email some of my friends and family. We had a hard time finding an internet caf� so we walked into a bank and asked a guy where we could find one. The man working in the bank was so nice that he left the bank and walked with us for about five minutes and found us an internet caf�. What�s perpetuating my love for the Japanese people is that they are so friendly. That night we left one a train for Fukuoka. I really don�t know anything about Fukuoka but that was part of the adventure.
That night we arrived in Fukuoka. We had to look for a hotel again. We asked a guy on the street where we could find a hotel and he pointed to a place with a bunch of neon lights. We headed over there and guess what, we ended up in the red light district. I don�t know how this keeps happening to us but we are surrounded by a bunch of sex hotels again. This time, they were just one right after the other with well dressed pimps waiting outside. We couldn�t get into a whore house because there were four of us and we wanted one room. So we decided to stay at a traditional Ryokan, which is where you take off your shoes at the front entrance and sleep on top of a mat and they serve you green tea. Well, after walking for a good hour we went to all of the traditional Ryokans and they were all full. So we found a cheap hotel near the train station which only cost $45 a night per person.
After unloading all of our gear at the hotel we went out to dinner. Once again we went to a restaurant we had no idea what we were ordering because it was all in Japanese, but this one woman sitting down next to us did speak English so she helped us out order food. After dinner we went to a karaoke bar. The karaoke bar was fun but we were so exhausted that we decided to leave early. After leaving the karaoke bar we ran into some Canadians, Americans, and English people who were in Japan teaching English. They told us not to waste our money on a hotel room but that you can rent out a room at a karaoke bar because they are open until 5 in the morning and afterwards you can go to Starbucks and sleep. Well we were already at a hotel and didn�t feel like changing.
The next day everyone decided to put me in charge of figuring out how to get to the cave park. Bad idea. At the cave park we were supposed to go on a boat ride and explore caves. I asked the hotel manager how to get to cave park using the train. He wrote down everything in Japanese to show the people at the train station where we were going. We got to the train station, I handed the piece of paper to the ticket teller, and he told us which train to take. We got off at our stop that we were supposed to, only to realize that we weren�t at the cave park. The cave park is north of Fukuoka and we somehow we ended up going south of Fukuoka. When we got to the tourist information counter we asked the tourist agent where we were on our tourist map. We were so far south that she couldn�t tell us where we were on the map because we weren�t on the map anymore. The whole situation kind of reminded me of the time when I was sixteen and accidentally drove to Chicago from Whitewater when I was suppose to be going to Brookfield.
So, we were in this random small town called Fukukashi. It was actually kind of nice because we were the only tourists there. Fukukashi is kind of a small town and it�s known for its spas and bathhouses. We decided to go to a bathhouse, called an onsen, because there�s literally nothing to do in this town. They had different kinds of bathhouses; some of them had waterfalls and bubble baths, or you could go to a traditional bathhouse that uses water from a natural spring. To really experience part of the local culture we decided to go to a traditional onsen.
Now remember we thought this was going to be like a spa, a place you go to relax. We go in and they separate the men from the women. We were hoping to all go as a group but it wasn�t a big deal that we got separated. We weren�t planning on going to a bathhouse so we don�t have a towel, soap, or anything. The dressing room is all open, and the windows are open so everyone passing by on the street can see you naked. In the dressing room we realized we were the only ones under the age of 75 at this bathhouse. We got a lot of strange looks from the Japanese men because we didn�t have soap or anything. They asked us if we were Americans and we said yes. They got so excited and gave us their soap and talked to us the entire time. After the dressing room we went to the bathhouse.
The bathhouse consists of three small pools and is filled with natural spring water that smells like sulfur and hot water on the floor. Now remember, we came to relax because we thought it was like a spa. At this bathhouse people actually come here to bathe. All the old men soak in the first pool, then they get out soap up and wash themselves in the second pool and rinse off in the last pool. A lot of the men were shaving too. We had already showered before we got there so we didn�t end up bathing. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The old Japanese men loved us. Our friends Melinda and Amy were in the female section and all the old women helped them bathe. They scrubbed their backs with soap and poured hot water on top of them. I don�t think they understood that we weren�t there to bathe. The whole experience was just rather amusing.
After the onsen we went to a resort to get a massage. It was the first time I had ever gotten a massage from a masseuse before. It was awesome and so relaxing. We realized that we needed to get our train tickets changed because we had only planned out four days in Japan and we were staying for five, another bonehead move on our part. We asked the manager at the resort if he could write down in Japanese that we want to change our train tickets. He was so friendly that he actually stopped what he was doing and drove us to the train station. He used to live in San Francisco so he could pick up English to enhance his career in the tourism industry. It was such a relief to find someone who speaks English. He drove us to the train station and he talked to the ticket teller about our situation. He took off work for an entire hour to help us out. Getting our train tickets changed was quite the fiasco. The man then gave us his address and phone number and told us that if we didn�t have a place to stay that we could stay at his house with his family. Honestly, the Japanese people are unreal. I�ve heard the expression "city of angels" before but I would call Japan the "country of angels". Everyone is so hospitable and extraordinarily friendly.
In the afternoon the resort manager told us to go to Komoyozaji Shinto temple, because it�s the largest and the best in Japan. We went there and the temple was so beautiful and it was surrounded by Japanese gardens. We stayed at the temple for a little over an hour and took the train back to Fukuako. We had already checked out of our hotel but left our bags in the lockers; we hadn�t planned on spending another night there so we took all of our bags and put them in a locker at the train station. That night we went out to Tenji, which is where all the bars, clubs and restaurants are located. We got dinner and decided to go a club afterwards. Remember, though, that we did not have a hotel room for that night. Our train the next morning was at 7 so we didn�t think it was a good idea to get a hotel room for just of a couple of hours, since we were leaving so early the next morning. We decided to stay at a karaoke bar for the night. We went out to a club called the Voodoo lounge and stayed there until 1:30 in the morning. After the club we found a karaoke bar nearby and rented a room. It ended up only being $6 a person so we fell asleep on the couches.
We got about three hours of sleep and woke up at 5 to head over to the train station. At the train station we went to Mister Donut to get breakfast and sleep for another hour before we got on our train. We hadn�t showered because we stayed at a karaoke bar and we were planning to go to Aso which has natural hot springs and the world�s largest active volcanic crater. So, we were just going to bathe in the hot springs since we hadn�t taken a shower. It sounded like a great idea but when we got to Aso, it was pouring rain outside and really cold. We took a cable car to get to the top of the volcano. We got soaking wet when we took a short hike around the volcano and took the cable car back down for lunch. We were the only ones who actually went on a hike; everyone else once they saw the crater, went back on the cable car and left. We had lunch and at lunch we decided to skip the hot springs since it was still raining and really cold. We had to transfer trains at this city called Kumamoto. We decided to hop on an early train and explore Kumamoto since we already had a train ticket. We just made the train from Aso to Kumamoto by a minute and were literally running to get on the train. I had to go to the bathroom at the train station too and they only had the traditional hole in the ground toilets. I had been trying to avoid the hole in the toilet bathrooms but this time I had to go so bad that I couldn�t escape it. In Japan there is no normal toilet, it�s either too high-tech or like for me, it�s a hole in the ground. Why they can�t have a normal flush toilet I will never know.
We got to Kumamoto and went to the modern art museum there. The modern art museum was really cool and afterwards we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. The restaurant served Italian food but with a Japanese twist. We then went back to the train station and headed back to Nagasaki. We got back at around 11 o�clock at night and I went straight to bed.
The next day we went to the Nyokodo museum. Nyokodo is a Japanese medical doctor who treated children in Nagasaki who were hurt by the bomb and was a peace activist. After the Nyokodo museum we went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. I was even more pissed off at the American actions after I visited this museum. Did you know that after the war America filled out a report called the US Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report, saying that we didn�t need to drop the bomb because the Japanese had so badly been beaten that they most likely would have surrendered?
The report went on to say that Gen. Eisenhower (who later became president) told President Truman not to drop the bomb because it was unnecessary and would cause too many civilian casualties. We dropped the bomb on Nagasaki just three days after we dropped it on Hiroshima. Germany had surrendered a month prior and it was pretty clear that Japan was going to surrender soon. The report also went on to say that the dropping of the bomb would not have prevented anymore American casualties than if we hadn�t dropped it. The reasoning for dropping the bombs is because we were bombed at Pearl Harbor when we weren�t at war. Well, at the time when we were bombed at Pearl Harbor we were providing England with steel to build weapons and blockaded Japan from importing steel or material that could be used in building weapons. Now, even though we hadn�t declared war, it sure looked as is we were at war with them. For me, it is sad to think that we killed/injured 750,000 civilians and they had killed fewer than 2000 American soldiers.
I�m not excusing Japan for what they did at Pearl Harbor because we dropped two atomic bombs on them; both countries were at fault. I just think that it was sad that we dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima without warning, and we dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, killing more innocent people. I�m even more disgusted that our government came out with a report saying that the dropping of the bomb was unnecessary and that even our own General told us not to do it, and we went ahead and did it anyways. There are different reasons why we dropped the bomb. One reason is that the bomb cost $2 billion to create,which was twice that of the national budget of Japan. We wouldn�t build something that costs so much if we weren�t going to use it (even at the expense of human life), plus, as I said earlier, it was a political move to show our strength against the USSR at the start of the cold war. I also learned at the museum that America was the first country to go against the Weapons Non-Proliferation Act, which was ratified and signed by all countries with nuclear weapons capabilities. We signed a treaty that we would stop the testing of nuclear weapons, but we have since broken that treaty by doing computerized testing. Because we have broken the treaty, India and Pakistan have since developed and tested nuclear weapons. Albert Einstein, as well as thousands of other scientists world-wide, signed a petition after the dropping of the bombs, to stop and put an end to the development of nuclear weapons because it would lead to the destruction of mankind.
I have two grandfathers that have fought in WWII and I am not taking the Japanese side, but I am against the use of nuclear weapons. It was unnecessary for us to use them; our government has even admitted that in a report. I�m not trying to change anyone�s mind about the atomic bomb, whether you thought it was a good thing or a bad thing, I�m just simply trying to make you think and challenge your beliefs about the dropping of the atomic bomb. After the museum we went to the Peace Park. At the Peace Park, countries from all over the world have donated statues for world peace. Sadly though, the US has not donated a statue.
After the peace park we were on a hunt for sushi. We asked a bunch of people where we could find sushi; we finally found sushi at a cafeteria in a mall. The sushi comes down on a conveyor belt and you just pick out what you want. After lunch we went to a computer store to see the technology at the store. It�s crazy; all of their cell phones have digital video cameras on them with color screens for about $150. They were selling digital cameras that were the size of credit cards that were just a little thick. We think we got the hookup on the latest technology; we don�t even compare to Japan. They were selling 256mb cards for digital cameras for $100 and that�s how much my parents spent on mine for a 128mb card. On ship time was 4 o�clock so that concluded my trip to Japan. It was one of the best ports I�ve been to. There were so many adventures and great times. I have so many memories and the best part is I got to spend it with people I love. I�m going to end with a quote that my friend Constantine wrote in his journal:
"On April 1, 2003, four friends set foot in Nagasaki, Japan, not knowing what lie ahead of them. Shinto shrines, atomic bomb museums, the red light district, and bathhouses were just some of the adventures that they partook in. While these sites have left a lasting impression in their minds, the friendship that grew within this beautiful country will forever remain in their hearts for eternity."
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Erin F item [2]
Re: Hot springs: "It was the weirdest thing ever! We had this tiny towel we tried to cover ourselves with when we walked. They are just so free and open, it is sooo weird. Oh well, it is their culture and it sure was an experience. It is very hard to order at restaurants because it is all in Japanese characters! And eating with chopsticks is quite interesting but I am getting pretty good at it. Nobody here speaks English."
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Jamie item [3]
Greetings from Japan
We finally got to land. After 13 days at sea and lots of confusion we finally made it to Japan.
The first day I walked around a little, Glover Gardens, and the Monument for 26 Martyrs. I was with Jill and Lexie, and we saw this large statue of Buddha and went in search of it. That was our first mistake. We wound up getting lost for 3 hours. We all thought the ship was in a different direction. We finally stopped and asked for directions. Luckily we had a map so I could point to where I wanted to go. It also was lucky that we were on a street that would take us directly to the ship. The language barrier is great, but it is kind of fun. The Japanese are so kind that they are more than willing to help. We finally got back to the ship. You may be wondering how we got so lost, well there are no street signs in Japan. Directions are based on buildings and landmarks. It's pretty crazy.
The second day we slept in a little and then went to the A-bomb center. We saw the exact spot where it was dropped, the museum and Peace Park. The pictures and stories of survivors are incredible. I can't begin to describe the horrors that were shown. I would recommend to anyone that they visit this site and the Museum if they are ever in Japan. There is a replica of the actual bomb that was dropped - it was huge. It was about 4 feet high, and about 3-4 feet around. The damage it did was indescribable. The entire area around the drop zone was destroyed. There was nothing left. I wish I could have stayed in the museum longer but because we were in such a large a group we had to move on.
Yesterday we went to a town called Unsen. They have hot springs and a volcano, etc there. We got on the early bus, and got there around 10. It was very foggy when we drove in. We toured the hot springs right away. The first thing that got me was the smell. It smelled like rotten eggs. Apparently there is a large amount of sulphur in the ground which makes the hot springs, so when the steam rises there is a large amount of sulphuric acid in the air. Some of the group went up the volcano, but I chose to get a massage instead. I am glad I did that, because it was so foggy they could hardly see 5 feet in front of them. I came back early and walked around Nagasaki a little.
I really like Japan, and am glad that I get to come back in a week to Osaka.
That's about all I have right now. I have yet to try sushi but it is on my list.
Love, Jamie
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Phillip V item [4]
In the past couple of days I have seen a volcano, hiked for a while, bought origami, and just loved the city here. It is so modern and clean and efficient (and expensive!).
I love traveling. I love to look something up in a tourist map and then somehow get there (walk, tram, trolley, bus, etc). Its like magic! This makes me want to explore my own city more and to help other tourists around Santa Barbara. Because helpful people around here are like GOLD.
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Kirsten item [5]
Hey guys!
I have amazing news � I am not getting home early! They added Seward, Alaska and Victoria, Canada to the itinerary. I am so jazzed. We all went to the meeting where they announced it expecting to have Korea removed from the itinerary, and instead found out that we not only are still going to Korea and Osaka, but are also getting two new ports. I have already been to both places, but I couldn�t care less right now. It is going to be a blast.
Anyway, let me tell you about Japan. The first day we did the atomic bomb museum and everything that goes with that. But right after we got off the ship we went to a pay phone so Nina and Katie could call home. While we stood there a Japanese woman came up and started trying to talk to us, but it didn�t really work because she didn�t speak English. But she ended up giving us a package of stamps, for free! She said they were a gift. That was our very first of many amazing encounters with the Japanese people.
Anyway that night we went out with some other girls from the ship to a karaoke bar with some middle aged Japanese business men who paid for our drinks and karaoke all night. You would think it might be a little weird, these old guys taking out all of us young American girls, but it was a lot of fun, and they weren�t too skeevy.
So the next day we woke up and took a couple hour bus ride to Fukuoka, which is the biggest city on Kyushu, the island we were on. I thought we were only going to stay there one night, I wanted to go out and see some hot springs or mount Ato (I think that is what it is called), just get outside, but we ended up there for two nights. That night we went out and danced and had a blast � we met a ton of local people all of whom were friendly and wanted to party with us.
The next day I thought we were going to Yanagawa, which the guide book called the Venice of Japan because of its canals throughout the city (actually, it was referred to as a village so I thought it would be a cool place to spend a day before moving on somewhere else). Unfortunately, I misinterpreted what my friends were calling Canal City to be this, when actually Canal City was just the name of a humongous shopping complex in Fukuoka. We ended up spending the day there, and Theresa and I saw the movie Catch Me If You Can that night.
After, we were all so exhausted because we only slept for two hours the night before. But we were starving so we wandered around looking for a place to eat. We got tired of looking so we ended up in a random restaurant, a place that looked from the outside like a hole in the wall place. We had to take our shoes off and were taken to a table on the floor isolated by rice paper (all the tables were, actually). We weren�t given a menu, and couldn�t even order anything because nobody spoke English, but were served Tempura. It was very cool because all the women were wearing kimonos and a group of, again, Japanese business men, bought us Sake. We spent a lot of time attempting to communicate with them and it was a lot of fun. The food itself was a little hard to eat just because I am not the biggest sea-food fan in general, but I ate everything they put in front of me except, ironically, the beef. I actually liked most of it. Seafood is growing on me. Squid is one of the best things I ate, so that is funny. Oh, if there is one thing to remember about non-American Japanese food it is that egg is in absolutely EVERYTHING. Anyway, this meal ended up costing $80. We thought it was pretty funny because for the amount of food we got, there is no way we could see it as worth that much. But all the helpings in Japan are much smaller, further emphasizing for us what pigs Americans are (but hey, I was always still hungry after Japanese sized helpings, haha). Oh, another thing we ate was chicken gizzard. There was other crazy stuff, but that was pretty gross.
Okay, that night we stayed in �love motel� as they say. Apparently because nobody gets any privacy in Japan (small living quarters with large families) they have cheap hotels with themed rooms that you can rent by the hour. However, they are available for nights if you check in late, and they are still cheaper than other rooms. The desk where you check in was hidden completely by blinds except for a little bit of space to drop the money. For the longest time we couldn�t understand why they didn�t pull the blinds up because we were having all kinds of trouble communicating. But finally we realized it was for privacy. Then, for some reason we were locked in our room, and the only way we could leave was to call the front desk and have them unlock it. That experience was pretty funny. The pictures are good.
The next day, Theresa and I headed on to Yanagawa, the place I thought we were going the night before. It turned out to be just another city with, unbelievably, fewer English speakers. It was cold and rainy with really nothing to do except a boat ride so we just headed back to Nagasaki. I am glad we went though, because we had a few more encounters with some very cool Japanese and we got to take a train.
When we got back we wandered around a mall by the station, ate dinner (I didn�t eat on the ship once the whole time we were in Japan. I learned a lot about Japanese food), and saw Red Dragon. Our last day we ran around Nagasaki and saw a shrine for 26 Christian martyrs killed during Japan�s isolation because Christianity was out-lawed, a Confucius shrine and museum, a very cool cemetery, and a museum for an island where Portuguese were isolated to during the isolation. We also did some shopping and other things.
I also have some very beautiful scenery shots of the island. It was definitely an outdoorsy place. I wish I had done more outdoorsy things but I had a good time with what I did. It just doesn�t seem to be an easy place to find rural areas (everything is so compact). Anyhoo, I�ll talk to yall soon!
Love Kirsten
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Julia item [6]
Konichiwa!
I'm not sure how word travels back in the States or how many of you know my itinerary, but this e-mail should have been about Vietnam and the first half of Hong Kong/China. Unfortunately, however, that crazy Asian pneumonia, SARS, prevented us from going there. After a grueling 13 (that's seven unplanned extra days) at sea, we docked in Nagasaki, Japan. We'll be in Korea the day after tomorrow (April 7th-11th) and then back to Japan where we will dock in Osaka (April 14th-18th). Now, I know this is old news for many of you so forgive me for reiterating, however, I do have some brand new news that only my parents might, and I emphasize "might" know because they check the website. TWO NEW PORTS! Seward, Alaska, and Victoria Island, British Columbia to put our arrival date in Seattle back to May 6th. Not exactly Vietnam and China, but better than going straight home. However, I now need to purchase some super expensive Japanese winter clothes.
We arrived in Japan on a wet, cold, gray rainy day, which was perfectly fine considering that I would have been almost as excited to get off the boat at a truck stop on the highway. Fortunately, I was in Nagasaki and not exit 26 off on I 81! Since we found out that Nagasaki would be our port of call only three or four days prior to our arrival, no one really had any ideas about what to do or any trips to go on. A perfect situation for exploring with no destinations. It's a relatively small city of about 400,000 people that can be walked with a little effort and expectations for getting lost. It's surrounded by mountains on three sides and can be quite hilly. As expected, everything was as modern as it could be, but in a unique Japanese way. The homes were beautiful and new, but all were of modest size and had the same ornate dark roofs and glass or paneled sliding doors.
After about 45 minutes of walking, one of the most pronounced differences between American and Japanese cultures hit me. All around us we saw people, stores, restaurants, and activity, yet it was as if someone pressed mute. The sounds were scattered and subtle, certainly not matching the scene, giving me an almost eerie feeling. I was told in several classes on the ship that the Japanese value silence to a greater extent than we do, but I had no idea it would be that obvious. In addition to the quietness, Nagasaki is the most clean, neat, precise city I have ever been to. There were many streets set up so perfectly that I had to constantly remind myself that I was outside. Cars were never seen on many streets and when they were seen, the streets were paved so perfectly and the exhausts were so quiet that cars were barely noticeable.
These observations are examples of Japanese culture and the high value it places on quietness and presentation, which can also be seen while watching the actions and behaviors of locals. Not a single person walked across a street before he or she had a green light, let alone avoiding cross walks. Taxi drivers and gas station attendants wore impressive uniforms including white gloves and when I bought postcards they were wrapped up before being gently placed in a flower patterned paper bag. The bathrooms themselves were amazing. Heated toilet seats, devices to make noise so no one else can hear you doing your business, mechanized doors, and, by golly, I think the world would end if a sink had a knob instead of an automatic sensor. When we took a train back to the boat (fondly referred to as the "great white mother" when returning from trips), not a single person spoke and when a girl's cell phone rang, she shyly answered the call with a whisper. My friend, Jonathan, and I had a running joke for when we felt too loud�SHHHHHHH Japanese voices, please!
Although walking around Nagasaki was incredibly enjoyable, we didn't come upon any identifiable landmarks until late afternoon. Although the Japanese people were extremely welcoming and accommodating, the vast majority do not speak English (the fewest "English Speakers" out of all the ports we have been to). Most of the signs, maps, and other ways to identify locations are written with characters (This certainly makes eating out a new experience.). After coming across a lovely little zoo, we ran into the Suwa Shrine, which is a famous Shinto Shrine in Nagasaki. Unfortunately, I'm not too knowledgeable regarding Shinto, but what I know is that it's a traditional Japanese religion, still practiced, that heavily incorporates nature. Shrines are buildings that contain several small shrines where worshippers can mediate and offer their prayers or wishes on slips of white paper or wooden blocks. Suwa Shrine was an incredible peaceful place to be. It was located on top of a hill above the city amongst only trees and plant life. Several of the shrines incorporated small water falls or dripping water, which was set against a back drop of wind moving through the leaves and birds chirping. At one point, we went under approximately fifty red gateways that led to the last shrine, which was a small building with a Japanese style roof and sliding glass doors that revealed a golden statue, flowers and folded paper prayers. As I walked back through on the specified path, passing by devotees who would do a clapping ritual as they approached the shrines, I heard the sound of drums and then flutes. I rushed down to see if I could catch the performance, but I unfortunately missed it.
A few of us decided to walk back to the ship for dinner while the others took the tram (my friend Gabe's birthday was on April 2nd and his Mom ordered him a cake that we need to eat on the ship). Well, we certainly made about 400 wrong turns and walked completely off our map, but we got a much better sense of the city and got to see plenty.
The grocery store/market sold some sort of item from the sea at every stand�many had tentacles. Many kids were walking home from school in their pristine uniforms at around 6:00 PM. Japan is probably the safest country in the world and people and kids walk around the city just like it's a neighborhood (or giant cul de sac as we liked to call it).
That evening, for Jonathan's birthday, we headed out to Shianbashi, or the pleasure district, where we hit up a noodle ship, which is essentially the equivalent of a diner in the U.S. except for the fact that most diners I've been to do not include octopus as a common ingredient in all dishes.
Japan has a very active nightlife as many Japanese enjoy throwing back a few beers whenever they get the chance. Shianbashi was very lit up with decorative gates that had colorful lanterns hanging from them. There were also restaurants, bars, video arcades, and even a few food stands where you get the food and go eat it somewhere secret because it's rude to eat on the streets.
The second day was primarily devoted to the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. The museum was particularly moving and interesting in the way it was set up as a plea for peace and elimination of nuclear weapons. Although it was difficult to see all the images and read the stories of survivors, this set up made it easier to be there as an American amongst many Japanese. There was no mention of whether it was necessary to drop the bomb or not, but rather a central focus on not allowing it to happen again. As we entered, we were confronted with images and literature about what was going on in Nagasaki on August 9th, the day the bomb was dropped. A clock on display was frozen in time at 11:02 a.m., the time the bomb exploded. Remnants of an elementary school, a Christian church and other buildings were set up in an eerie dark room to try and provide a feeling for what it would have been like to be in Nagasaki after the bombing. Another area reiterated the sequence of events on August 9th emphasizing that if it wasn't for a quick break in the clouds, the bomb may not have been dropped as the American plane was almost out of fuel. Melted glass bottles, contorted eye glasses, clumps of fused coins, images of burns and a wall of stories all reinforced the severity of the attack. One in particular that affected me and many other SASers I talked to is told by a young boy who finds his baby sibling trapped under a heavy pole. Several sailors try to free the child, but are unsuccessful. Soon the boy sees a naked purple woman running towards them who turns out to be his mother who was working in the rice field during the explosion. The badly burnt mother frees the baby only to die that evening. The last part of the museum focuses on the damage nuclear testing has inflicted to the landscape and people in different parts of the world. I had no idea that there have been 2,028 nuclear weapons tests since the first in 1945.
Now for a lighter part, the part I'm sure you have all been waiting for�RAW FISH! That evening we went to a traditional Japanese restaurant where we took our shoes off and sat on cushions on the floor (which is actually what we did in restaurants half the time regardless of how nice they are). Luckily, the menu had plenty of pictures on it so I could make sure I wasn't getting something completely inedible. There really aren't too many things that fit into that category for me anymore. I ended up with sushi rolls, sashimi, tempura, miso and a funky fish custard with a mushroom at the bottom. I'm sure many of you already know this, but I had to go to Japan to find out. Sushi is actually only rice and vinegar. When it�s a sushi roll, then it's wrapped in seaweed. Raw fish is sashimi, which to my ultimate surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not positive, but I think I had salmon, squid, tuna, prawn and something else good. Tempura is fried fish or vegetables and miso is a type of soup that tastes like it came straight from the ocean to me.
Day three and four were reserved for adventures! A few friends and I took a combination of trains and buses to Unzen, a small town set right next to the volcano, Mt. Fugen. I just have to mention that the trains and buses we took over the course of the next two days were positively the most immaculate forms of public transportation I've ever seen. Unzen itself is famous for its hot springs and geothermal activity that makes it a perfect spa area. A spa in Japan means an incredible hot bath were everyone gets naked and hangs out. It was incredibly foggy, wet and raining out, so we decided not to hike Mt. Fugen and hang out in the small sulfur smelling resort town of Unzen. There were several little paths around the muddy bubbling hot springs, a small Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple that contained a trail with over a hundred small Buddha statues lining the way. While everyone decided to leave, Jonathan and I decided to stay the night so we could go to the nearby town of Shimabara the next day. After a few failed communication attempts, we stayed in a guest house where we sat and drank green tea and Sake, watched Japanese television, and slept on extraordinarily comfortable mats on the floor. We had our own hot (scaling) baths, which would have been a lot more beneficial if I would have been able to put more than my foot in.
By the time we got to Shimabara, the temperature had dropped and the rain increased, but I knew all was well when I saw the "flee (flea?) Market". For as much as I've learned and changed on this trip, there is one part of me that remains as strong as ever and that is my undying love of thrift stores. Can you imagine how cool a Japanese thrift store is? I'm talking kimonos, nice pianos, beautiful delicate dishware, and furniture and of course more random t-shirts than I would know what to do with. After my hey day at the flea market, J-Thon and I decided to just brave the weather and walk around. Shimabara wasn't exactly the quaintest little city I've ever been to; in fact, it was louder and more abrasive than Nagasaki and uses its castle to bring in tourists. The castle was nice I suppose. It was surrounded by a parking lot and we spent about twenty minutes there. We actually spent most of our day in second hand shops, walking around in the rain (lost, most of the time), trying to talk to an old lady in her noodle shop, and walking out of a restaurant that seemed to only serve raw meat. It was definitely a fun day.
We had to be back on the ship today by 4:00 p.m. so I took the time to walk around by myself, since I knew the city pretty well by now, and add to my extensive tea and CD collections. I bought a lot of tea, but most CDs were thirty dollars. The CD store itself is always an interesting experience. It seems that punk is all the rage in Japan as in the United State (is it still?? It's been awhile.) And, of course, they have an overabundant share of teenage bubblegum pop groups. There was very little music imported from the States, not to say that it doesn�t exist, but to a much lower degree than in the other places we have visited. Anyway, well it's quite late and tomorrow is Korean seminar day (Korean Boot Camp). In closing, I will mention that Japan is expensive, they are richer than us and wear cooler clothes. I'll give a better sum up after Osaka.
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Christina item [7]
Hey everyone! Sorry if this email is shorter than usual. I have to write it quickly because we had Korea Seminar Day all day today. I want to get this sent off before we get to Korea tomorrow so that I don�t have to send a really, really long email later.
We arrived in Nagasaki, Japan on April 1, and you wouldn�t believe what a relief it was to finally make it somewhere. We didn�t want to believe we would actually be somewhere until we actually were there, lest they change the itinerary again. The first day was a busy one. I would like to say right away that somewhere in my unconscious mind I must have certainly known what I was doing when I became friends with Yumika, who is from Japan. I would have struggled quite a bit in this country had it not been for my indispensable friend and her ability to speak Japanese.
The first day we set out in search of a bank to exchange our money (not an easy task� Nagasaki is not a very big tourist city, and Semester at Sea has actually never gone there before. Many of the banks we found would not exchange foreign currency.) We then headed to China Town (hey, we figured if we couldn�t actually GO to China, this was the next best thing, right?). It was fun, but it was a lot smaller than I had been expecting. Actually, Nagasaki itself was smaller than I had been expecting. After China Town we went out to lunch and had Champa noodles (kind of in a soup) and Saraoudon (noodles and vegetables). Yumika�s language abilities came in handy. Without her I would have been randomly pointing at some Chinese characters on the menu and very easily could have ended up with something that I had no idea what it was. It was really good, although it was kind of� interesting� looking. We started talking with a businessman and when he left the restaurant he put 2000 yen on the table - it nearly covered our entire meal
After lunch we jumped on the tram and took it to the outskirts of town to visit the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. We visited the hypocenter of the bomb, and you would never be able to believe today that it has once been a site of such horror. In the hypocenter was a beautiful park in which all the Cherry Blossoms were in bloom. There were statues in memory all around the park. You could tell Nagasaki isn�t a tourist city, as many of the sculptures had placards only in Japanese. Everywhere you went there were chains full of paper cranes. At the base of every memorial stood flowers and bottles of water for the victims, who had all complained of an enormous thirst directly after the bomb exploded. In fact, the quest to quench the thirst was often what kept these people alive, and as soon as they drank water many of them died.
The bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki was actually more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima (the Nagasaki bomb was a plutonium bomb, while the Hiroshima bomb was uranium). However, due to the fact that Nagasaki has so many hills and the bomb was almost three miles off target, fewer people died in Nagasaki than in Hiroshima. However, the immediate death toll in Nagasaki (only from the explosion, not counting those who died in later days, weeks, months and years from radiation, cancer, etc.) was 50,000.
We then went into the museum, which was wonderfully put together. I was struck and deeply moved while walking through the museum that it was strictly a memorial; no blame was placed on any country and no lingering grudges seemed to exist. After the museum we walked to the HUGE statue that was built in memory. It is a man sitting on a chair looking straight ahead, left foot on the floor and right foot cross-legged. The left arm was straight out to the left side with a flat palm, and the right hand pointed straight up towards the sky with one finger pointing. I wasn�t sure exactly what the pose was for, but it was a moving statue, sitting in a reflecting pool.
After Peace Park we went to an Internet caf� (buy something to eat or drink and you can have free internet for as long as you want!) and then went back to the ship. For dinner we decided to do one of Yumika�s favorite things from when she was in high school - convenience stores. Convenience stores are much better in Japan, you get a bad connotation when you hear that word, but we actually got a big selection of different things that were all really good. We sat outside the ship and ate. (It was actually quite cool the whole time, and cloudy and rainy also.)
The second day we decided to leave Nagasaki and go to Fukuoka. Japan is composed of several islands (I hope you all knew that). The main island is called Honshu and it�s where Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, etc. are. The smaller island to the south that Nagasaki is located on is called Kyushu, and the largest city on Kyushu is Fukuoka. Anyway, we went to the train station in the morning and bought tickets to Fukuoka. (Japan is expensive! Even more so than the U.S.!) The train ride was just over two hours. I went with my friends Yumika, Jon, Victoria, Helen, and Martha.
When we got there, we went out to lunch at a Ramen noodles place because Fukuoka is famous for its Ramen noodles. The place we went to was a lot of fun. It totally catered to the solitary, business culture of Japan. There were two long rows of tables with stools in front of them. Each stool was partitioned off so that you were in your own little compartment. The first thing you did before you even went in to the restaurant was to buy the tickets saying what food you wanted from a vending machine type thing out front. Then you stood in line and when you got to the front, there was a board with a light for every stool. When one of the lights lit up, it meant that stool was open, so the next person in line would go to it. Then you gave them your ticket along with a sheet on which you specified how you wanted the soup (i.e. noodle firmness, how much garlic, do you want pork in it, etc.). Then you get your soup and eat pretty quickly so that the next person can come in. It was really good, and although eating with chopsticks is pretty hard, by this point I was starting to get the hang of it.
The rest of the day we spent just walking around the city, doing shopping, etc. We went to a shrine and it was one of the most peaceful places I have been in my entire life. We also tried to go to the Fukuoka Tower, but it was a failure� and a very cold one at that. We made it to Fukuoka Tower, but it wasn�t the building that we had thought it was going to be, and it was probably in the low 50�s or high 40�s at this time. And we were walking around at about 6:00 p.m. trying to figure out how to get back to the subway station. Anyway, we finally figured it out and went back to the main part of Fukuoka and had dinner and drinks in one of Yumika�s favorite restaurants. We caught the late train back to Nagasaki (hotels are expensive!) and arrived a little after midnight.
The third day our water was unexpectedly turned off, and since Yumika hadn�t showered yet, she didn�t want to go out (I don�t mind, she said. It is Japan. I have seen it. She wasn�t too happy that we ended up going to Japan twice, and I can�t say I blame her. I don�t know how happy I would have been if two ports on SAS were in the States. Wait, I guess now there are two ports in the States� hmmm� I guess it�s different, though, when one is Alaska and the other is just where you fly home from.). Anyway, since I was Yumika-less for the day and didn�t have any major plans anyway, I spent the morning wandering around Nagasaki. I made some phone calls home and talked to some local people on the street and went into some shops, but mostly I just walked around and observed Japan.
It was nice that I was able to do that; I think that Japan is the safest country that we have visited yet. I never thought twice about walking around by myself or about carrying a purse rather than using a money belt. I went back to the ship to pick Yumika up later in the afternoon, and we walked downtown to the post office. Then we went to a bookstore and then back to the ship to pick up some friends. We were supposed to go out for Brian�s birthday and my birthday together. But I didn�t feel like going out with them because it was mainly for Brian�s birthday and it was all his friends. I didn�t feel like it was right for me to go out with them for my birthday also.
So, I had dinner on the ship with Diana and Kate (the other two girls who go to Mizzou) and then we walked into town to go see a movie. We ended up seeing Catch Me If You Can (in English with Japanese subtitles). I wanted to see Lord of the Rings since I couldn�t get anyone in the U.S. to go see it with me when it came out. But since they had both already seen it a couple of times I was overruled.
The next day was my birthday. Yumika had plans with a friend who was from Nagasaki that night, but we spent the day doing some things we had wanted to get done. We did some shopping (yay for the 100 yen store), and went out for lunch. Then we went to Glover Gardens, a Buddhist temple, and a Confucian temple. We went back to the ship for dinner and then Yumika went out with her friend and I wrote all my postcards home.
I decided I didn�t want to spend my twentieth birthday on the ship, so although I had no one to go out with, I decided I would go to the movies by myself. I walked downtown and bought my ticket (movies here are funny� they actually have you pick the seat that you want to sit in when you buy the ticket. You can�t just go in and choose a seat, you have an �assigned� one). Two guys from the ship (Gabe and Joel) happened to be at the same movie and they invited me over to sit with them and we watched the movie together. It was nice because they had both also read the Lord of the Rings books and so it was fun to have people to discuss the movie and books with. We were almost back at the ship when they learned it was my birthday, and they offered to take me to Mister Donut or the convenience store down the street (the only two places still open at 1:00 a.m.). So, even though my birthday wasn�t spent at the Great Wall as planned, it turned out okay in the end.
The last day in Nagasaki was a short one. On ship time was earlier than usual because Nagasaki is a daylight port and so we had to leave while it was still light. Yumika and I went to an Internet caf� in the morning and had lunch. Then we met her friend Kaori who is from Nagasaki. We went to Mister Donut and sat and talked for awhile, then went and had our pictures taken (you know those machines that take instant pictures of you and print them out on a little strip of paper? Those are HUGE in Japan. We went to a place that had tons of them, all with different backgrounds and things. You put the money in and it takes about eight pictures of you, and the camera slides around so you can get different angles. Then you go to the other side and pick the four best pictures. Then you �draw� on them on a computer screen. There are different stamps and colors and things you can add, and then the pictures get printed out). Then we went and bought some comics (�Manga�) because Yumika needed them for one of her classes. Then we walked back to the ship and it was time to leave Nagasaki.
I really liked Japan a lot. Aside from the fact that it was so expensive, I am not at all disappointed that I am going to be back in Japan in about a week. Of all the ports we�ve been to, I think Japan was a good one to end up in twice. If Japan weren�t expensive, it would be so great - the Japanese are the most fashionable people ever. I could have spent so much money! They especially had lots of cute jackets and shoes (all made for little feet, though). Anyway, I will be in Korea tomorrow, so I guess you can expect another update in a little less than a week. Hope you are all well!
Christina
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Emily R [item 8]
I had a long phone conversation with Emily this morning. She loves Japan -says that the people are so helpful and kind. She did say that communication could be difficult, but since people were so willing to help they finally get to where they want to go. The people that she has met in Nagasaki are not familiar with SAS and are very curious about it. She also mentioned the contrast between Japan to all of the other countries visited.
Her next destination is the Kirishima National Park with friends and then wasn't sure what was next, but has several choices in mind.
She too is very relieved to be on land for a few days. She sounded very up beat and excited. I could hear her smiling!! I think anything new is exciting. As with every stop they have been to so far, she wants to return to Nagasaki one day.
Korea is next and she is very excited to try to get to the orphanage where she spent the first few months of her life. She seems to have several friends that want to go with her.
