Japan page 2 of 4
Liesel just called from Japan again. She was back in Nagasaki after having gone to Yamamoto. She is traveling with Laura from the Bay Area and three other girls -- no names. They stayed with a Japanese family who essentially were using their home as a hotel. Several other SAS kids were there too. She said many of the younger Japanese people speak English, but older ones don't. She and her friends spend a lot of time looking confused because they are trying to figure out the Japanese characters for places like Mt. Oso. People are very friendly and very helpful. When they were trying to figure out where buses went a gentleman asked what they wanted then went and found a station agent, brought him to the girls and explained to him exactly where they girls wanted to go. She is very impressed with the helpfulness of strangers.
She said Nagasaki looks a lot like San Francisco and this is the first time they've been so free to walk around any place they want. It's good to be on dry land and see green trees, grass, etc. Humorously, she called from Chinatown in Nagasaki. She sounds great and very happy. They are enjoying being on their own and figuring things out instead of being on a "tour".
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Tara C item [10]
I received a call this morning from Tara from a train station. She and two friends had just missed the last train of the day to Nagasaki and they decided to spend the night in the train station in order to not miss the first train out in the morning. Tara said that they are having difficulty ordering foods they like. They never know what they are going to get. Last night they ordered dinner at a restaurant but did not like their food and couldn't eat it. They paid the bill and left the restaurant somewhat frustrated and hungry. As they left the restaurant, what do you think was across the street beaconing to them?!! It was a beautiful, welcoming sight to three very weary and hungry travelers. It was McDonalds!!!! That was probably the best fries and Big Mac.
Sounds like she is having a great time in Japan. Went hiking and visited hot springs.
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Kate K item [11]
Mom and Dad,
Well, we didn't climb the volcano. We got there and it was raining and plus there was poisonous gas coming out of it, so no one could go up there. It has been quite the adventure in Japan. It seems like nothing has gone our way, everything we tried to plan, fell through. But I had so much fun.
I really love the people I have met on this trip. We had so much fun just talking about life, hanging out, and eating great Japanese food. I did see a cool garden, a castle, and I went on a short cruise to see a bunch of islands. I know this doesn�t make much sense, sorry, I am just kind of in a hurry. Things are going great. I love this trip! I can�t wait to tell you guys more. Well, I will try calling you guys again soon. I have plans to go to Seoul in South Korea, so I can�t wait. Talk to you soon! I miss and love you guys soooooo much!!!! Take care!
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Mikey item [12]
�Sup everyone....we just departed from Japan yesterday and O MAN it was awesome. It�s the coolest country we�ve been to so far.
So anyway....JAPAN
We got there 5 days ago and arrived in Nagasaki (where they dropped the 2nd atomic bomb during WWII). As soon as we got there, a group of 10 and I jumped on a bullet train and hit up the major city in south Japan called Kagoshima. It�s crazy how much you could miss McDonalds and clean hotels. You don�t realize it until you�ve been in third world countries for weeks and weeks. We were so happy to get a cheeseburger again! Kagoshima was a lot like cities in the states, however it was extremely clean and everyone was very quiet and to themselves. No one bothered us as tourists and they didn't stare or anything like all the other countries. When you would walk down the streets, no one would talk really and there weren't many smiles, however everyone was very nice once you talked to them and polite. We rented a hotel room and you should see these rooms. I guess in Japan EVERYTHING is small. The doorways are small, the toilets are small, and the beds are midget status. Some nights we had to fit 8 people in a room for 4, and when I say room for 4, it�s like an 8 by 6 room with 2 beds.
So, the first night we went to a karaoke bar, which is what Japan is known for. You think of Japan and you picture all rocking out to Guns N Roses or something and man was this the case. The only difference is these karaoke bars don�t have one mic, you get your own private booth with your own TV, table, 5 mics, food, everything. So we walked in and these 5 Japanese guys invited the 10 of us in and we partied with these guys like no other. For like 2 hours or more, we chilled with them and drank beers and just sang and went crazy. These dudes were so comedy, you have no idea, thinking they were Eminiem and Aerosmith. We played some Nirvana and people were jumping on tables, jumping into walls, moshing, haha.
The next day, was my 21st birthday :). We got on another train and went east. We got on a ferry and checked out this enormous volcano that was so gorgeous. The clouds rolled off the top so smoothly and there were amazing exotic Japanese trees all around the landscape. Since the volcano heats up the ground so much, they have all these natural spas near it. So we went to one of these hot springs and just chilled. You have to take off all your clothes and they give you this white robe that you have to wear in the water. The spa is outdoors and the water temp is about 85 degrees. There are protruding rocks in the water and there was a Buddhist shrine in one corner that was underneath an ancient tree that you had to climb through the roots in order to get to. The water was so calm and the view was right on the harbor. I have never, ever been so relaxed. My body was tingly all over I couldn�t even explain it. So anyway we chilled there for a little and that night we went to another hotel and went out for my birthday. We got this really nice dinner and an authentic Japanese restaurant. We all sat on the floor Indian style and ate sushi. The coolest thing that happened though was late night. Most of my friends went back to hotel, so I went by myself to another Japanese restaurant/bar. I met these 2 Japanese girls who couldn�t speak a word of English and for over an hour I sat with them and I ordered food and had a couple drinks. It was real interesting though because I could only communicate with them with symbols and my hands. They let me use their cell phone and answer with Mushi Mushi and stuff. It was hysterical.
Anyways, back to Japan...the next 2 days i hopped back on a train and went back to Nagasaki and did the whole cultural thing. We went to the site and the museum where the bomb was dropped and it was incredible. There was so much emotion there; it was overwhelming. It was weird being in the museum at the same time with Japanese people because I didn't know how they felt with us being there. All in all though, it was very depressing and eye opening to see just how much destruction we caused just 50 years ago. We also did some shopping in Nagasaki and it was so nice to see nice malls again. We hit up Chinatown and had some great lunch and also had dinner on the waterfront where you cook your own food. Later that night we went clubbing and chilled with some Japanese businessmen. We got some late night Udon noodles at a little place and I stayed up by myself and watched the sunrise.
I guess that�s all for now, but I'll see you all soon enough. I hope everything is well and I can�t wait to hear all the stories. Please email me and let me know what you have all been up to! Miss everybody
-mikey
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Eric K item [13]
I have just recently left Nagasaki, Japan, and it was probably one of the most incredible ports that I have visited in the way of hospitality and politeness. Some interesting generic things about Kyushu island of Japan:
1) You can't eat in public, except ice cream
2) Buses are on time within 15 seconds of the minute they are expected to arrive.
3) The buses stay at bus stations for less then 3 minutes.
4) Everyone has the most advanced cell phones
5) Photo booths are really popular
6) Hello Kitty is the most popular thing for kids
7) Japanese people speak very quietly
8) Sake is really hard to find
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Tara W item [14]
Hi Everyone,
Since I am going to Japan twice, I will split the emails up so it won�t be one HUGE email. Not knowing we were going Nagasaki until about a week ago, we didn�t have much time to plan anything solid�which ended up being a great thing here. Unlike the rest of the countries, Japan was very clean and pretty easy to navigate. There is a main tramline down the center of Nagasaki that acted as a path for us to follow and refer to if we got lost. We were able to basically do every sightseeing area in Nagasaki, go to another small city, Sasebo, and shop a lot. I have some pictures to give you this time, but they aren�t mine. Someone who was with me the whole time took only digital pictures, so I took all of them off their camera to give to you, so I can explain things easier
4/1
This was the first time I decided to sleep in a little because we always take forever to get off and with my luck, it happened to be the first time we got off of the ship before 10am �so, I got ready super quick. Erin, Alyssa, Eric and I took off towards the direction no one was going in because we were ambitious to discover something no one else did. Well, there was nothing the way we went, so we had to follow the rest of Semester at Sea to downtown. One of the first things we noticed was all of the vending machines full of soda and beer. Basically, if you needed something, you could find it in vending machines that were (at the most), two blocks away from wherever you were. It was raining and cold which was a really nice change from the last five countries. For all you who don�t know, I love the rain and cold!
We didn�t have any plans for Nagasaki, so we just walked around looking for stuff to do. We figured that the tourist office would be able to help us plan something, but it was hard because not many people there spoke English. Trying to find something else to do in the late afternoon brought us into the local mall next to the train station where we were greeted by �The GAP�(Other stores in the states I saw in Japan: 7-eleven, Kinko�s, Starbucks, McDonalds, am-pm mini-market, Seattle best coffee and tower records). Even though I�m not much of a shopper at home, shockingly, this felt like a little of home was brought to me. It was a much-needed feeling, since I was homesick at that time. Being on the ship for so long (12 days), left me ready to go home right before Nagasaki. Fortunately, Nagasaki was a refresher for me. The stores in the mall don�t really have doors in the front; they are all open and bright with lights. Everything was about the same price as in the U.S., maybe a little more expensive for some things. This was the negative difference between the rest of the countries and Japan the expenses where high. I am having music withdrawals, so I wanted to find a place that sold guitar music so I could learn something new, and in the mall I did! I thought it would be really easy to find some music since it�s a universal language, but I couldn�t find any titles not in Japanese and didn�t have the time to look through everyone, so I didn�t get any new music. It�s ok though; there are many people on the ship with talents that I can learn from J. Right next to the music store was �United Cinemas� movie theatre with the newest movie being �Catch Me if You Can� and �Lord of the Rings�. We all wanted to see Chicago, since it won and all, but it didn�t come out until April 19th, so I ended up not seeing anything. Instead, we went back to the ship for dinner (to save a little money) and then vowed not to do that again while in Japan�
Our goal tonight was to find somewhere to do karaoke; that was a challenge. We actually never found a place even though we walked around for about 2 hours looking. Right when we started looking we had a group of Japanese men, who looked in their late 40�s, came up to us and were asking us where we were from and everything. They invited us to karaoke with them, but that was going to be kinda weird since they were our parent�s age. We had a vision of meeting some local college kids and doing karaoke with them where there were going to be a lot of people, but soon found out that people just rent a little room and sing by themselves (with a few friends), not with a crowd watching so it didn�t appeal to us as much then. So, we ended up at a pool hall and played for an hour because by that time it was about one o�clock in the morning and we were tired from the day.
4/2
We took off towards the Peace Park early in the morning to start off our jam-packed day. We heard that the park was about two times as far as the train station we went to the day before, so we decided to take the tram there and walk back. On the tram there was this family (mom and two sons-about 16 years old) who were so extravagant in the way they dressed. The mom had a furry pink purse and bright pink jacket on with the same color lipstick; her kids had their pants down to their knees, hot pink shirts on as well, crazy hair and thick earrings. I found it pretty funny because they seemed so out of the uniformity of the homogeneous Japanese culture; even more so because they were the only ones talking on the tram besides us (it�s so quiet otherwise).
The Peace Park is a memorial for those who died because of the Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The pose of the peace statue depicts the threat of the atomic bomb with his right hand and with his left he symbolizes world peace. His eyes are also closed, expressing his consolation for the dead. At the hypocenter of the bomb, there is a monument and then ripples out like a stone in a pond with rings (its hard to explain, so I will attach a picture). Also, when a visitor comes to the park, it is a sign of world peace if they bring an origami crane, so semester at sea made a few strands of cranes. The main thing I noticed about the museum in comparison to memorial museums in the states is that it was more focused on �world peace�, not what happened to them because of the war and the U.S. (like most museums are in the states). I had never seen pictures of the damage this one bomb had the capability to cause.
I wasn�t expecting to be so affected by the park, but I was. When you are seeing first hand what your country did to the charred victim�s bodies on the ground, it�s hard to imagine you are allowed in their memory. I felt so guilty seeing how we affected so many people�s lives to this day. The amount of detail in the images and stories gives you a sense of the reality to the damage of actual people, not just another part of history you learn at school. There was a lunchbox full of rice that was burned to ashes, and the most famous was the clock that stopped at 11:02am (the time of the bombing on August 9, 1945), showing how the damage was instantaneous. Being in the presence of the ancestors and even those who went through the bombing, made the experience highly emotional. I definitely came out of this museum with a different perspective on the use of atomic bombs.
Not knowing any Japanese, we tried asking where the best place to eat close to us was; they showed us to Sunday�s Sun (basically, a Denny�s). The menu had a few western meal (hamburgers, pizza and spaghetti), but mostly Japanese food. We were all pretty hungry, so we went for the stuff we recognized. There was also a dink bar with soda, tea, coffee and hot chocolate that was all you can drink. It was pretty good, since we had no idea what some of the drink were, it was trial and error.
Our next goal was to talk with a tourist agent in order to figure out what we were doing the rest of the time in this beautiful town. We were successful in talking with someone and finding out where to go, but when we called the hotels, no one spoke English so they hung up on us multiple times. Luckily, we found someone to call and found somewhere to stay if needed. As soon as we were done with that we made our way over to the 100-yen store (the Japanese version of the dollar store J). There were so many cool things in there, and everything was 100 yen, not like in the U.S. where some things may be more than others (they stayed true to the name). Coming out with a full load we went back to the train station to meet some friends for dinner, who never showed up but we did find a great place to eat. We knew it was going to be a great place because they had an English menu with a picture of everything you could order! We ended up splitting a bunch of different dishes, but the best was their sushi J Since we planned on getting up at 5am the next morning to catch the bus, we went back to the ship and fell asleep as early as we could�1:00am.
4/3
My alarm went off, and it felt like I had just closed my eyes, but I was really excited to go to catch the bus at 6:50am to Sasebo. The trams weren�t running yet, so we had to walk to the station in the rain, but it was so peaceful being out before most things got started up, especially in a city like Nagasaki. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 6:50, but we were getting worried because it was 6:49am and no bus yet. Well, what we didn�t know was that when they say it leaves at 6:50am, they mean it gets there, loads and leaves at 6:50am. We literally got on the bus as soon as it pulled in and it left before we even sat down. We thought it was pretty funny how punctual everything was. Arriving at Sasebo, we had 20min to get to the famous morning market before it closed at 9am�so, we basically ran over there. Most everything was cleaned up and packed away except for some strawberries we bought that had to have been the best strawberries I have had in my life (and I�m not exaggerating). Every time we saw strawberries we got at least one basket to share because they were so irresistible.
To see a small pottery (china) village, we took another bus out to Mikawachi, which was about 20min from the middle of Sasebo. Not knowing where to go, we stumbled in to a historical museum of the tiny village, where we cam across Chohachi Higuchi. Since we can�t pronounce his name right, we came up with the nick name �gramps�. He was 76 years old and so cute in his purple plaid pants and yellow jacket!
He took us to see some of his friend�s kilns (where the pottery is made), and ended up buying a bowl for Erin. He then took us to a store where he helped us pick out some good china and there we were also given a gift of a few items from the owner. Everyone was so helpful and welcoming in Japan, especially Chohachi J. Since we didn�t have a place to stay in town, he invited us to stay at his house for free that night, but we opted not to since we wouldn�t know what to do with ourselves from 2pm till we went to sleep. Leaving him was really difficult too. He really wanted to follow us around everywhere and then bring us to place after place. After a while, thinking we may miss our train, we had to tell him to take us to the bus station (which, through broken English, took about 30min to explain). He seemed so happy showing us around, like that is what his day was meant for. Unfortunately, we did have to catch a bus back to Sasebo that night, so we shook hands, gave him postcards and said our goodbyes.
We were so hungry, since the lunch we had was so small at Chohachi�s house, after walking through the shopping center for an hour; we went to the first place where they had an English menu. Finally, we ended up at a very traditional restaurant where we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor on small mats next to the table. Full and tired we hopped on the first train back to Nagasaki to fall asleep in our nice warm beds.
4/4
One of the main things of Nagasaki we had yet to see was �temple row�. Finding it was an adventure in itself and exploring them were even better. It was very difficult to know whether or not we were wondering around someone�s house or if we were actually in a real temple. There were only two organized temples where you had to pay to get in�so, we skipped those since they were too touristy anyways. Another interesting thing about the temples is that they were also grave sights, hills and hills of graves. They seemed never-ending, and were so extravagant. Not sure about how to respect them, we didn�t take too many pictures or loiter around them for too long.
We ran into ZiZi (my extended family mom, who I haven�t written about for a while) and she told us to search for a temple with a HUGE lady on top of a turtle�so, that�s what we did while stopping at various temples along the way. About three hours later, we found the lady (she was huge) standing on top of a building in the shape of a scary looking turtle. I never did find out what turtles meant to the Japanese culture since they were around so much, but when we go to Osaka; maybe I will find out.
We headed back to the ship, looking for anything interesting to do trying to get lost. The Nagasaki Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) caught our eye because it was something familiar I guess�NBC (we picked up a few brochures for souvenirs). Even though we were experiencing the culture of Japan, we stopped at a McDonalds for lunch�its amazing how good chicken nuggets are when you miss American food. We then ran into a non-touristy shopping area that was relatively cheap, so we stopped in at the stationary store where we found so many intelligent ideas. Everything they had in there as so cute and so useful. It started to rain and was getting kinda late so we found a place to use the Internet for pretty cheap that came with a free coffee drink too. We wondered into another mall that was supposed to be cheaper where we found some amazing massage chairs and sat there for about an hour. That pretty much wrapped up our day after getting something to eat.
4/5
The last place in Nagasaki we had to hit before we left was Glover Gardens, which didn�t turn out to be what I expected it to be. I was hoping to see some beautiful peaceful gardens but it ended up being a bunch of colonial type houses that were owned by a Scottish man named Glover. They were interesting to see but reminded me of something we could see in the states. But, it was worth it for the incredible view of the city it gave us. We were able to see our ship and some of the sights we had visited up to that point. There was one small garden area where it looked like what we were expecting, but it was only a small area. After taking many �scenic� (which I know I�m going to regret not taking pictures of more people when I get home), we went out to a buffet lunch. I chose to get the buffet so I could see what I was getting to eat, instead of hoping for the best�it was interesting. Because our �on-ship� time was so early, we went back to the ship after our late lunch and prepared ourselves to listen to everyone�s stories.
One of the main things people had a problem with was the toilet. If you were able to find a western style toilets, they came with many buttons explained it Japanese, so it was the system of trial and error. Personally, I was a victim to this too�testing out one of the buttons; I was soaked from the water shooting straight out at me from the toilet. That was an interesting experience and now I know that next time I will stand to the side of it if I want to try out all the buttons. Anyways, I didn�t feel as bad because so many people were talking about their stories of coming out of the bathrooms soaked.
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Christina item [15]
Well, after just two short days at sea after Korea (not nearly enough time to recover, considering we had classes both days), we found ourselves back in Japan again, this time on the main island, Honshu, in the city of Osaka. It took nearly until noon to clear the ship, so I had lunch on the ship rather than trying to go out and find a place to eat. Then I set off with a few other girls in search of a bank to exchange money. This proved to be harder than we thought, as we all had traveler�s checks and most places would only exchange cash. An hour or two and quite a few subway stops (and one transfer) later, I walked out of the bank with my Japanese Yen safely in my bag. I happened to be next to a huge department store, so I went in and played with some of the high-tech gadgets like binoculars and digital cameras. Later, I heard from a friend why Japan is so advanced and has better and cheaper technology than the U.S.- they are living in the future! That�s right, folks, they are a whole thirteen hours ahead of us! That is why everything technological happens there first. J
Anyway, I bought some film, since I was starting to run low, and then just wandered around the city for a while. One week every year, depending on when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, there is a festival in Osaka. This year it just happened to coincide with the time we were in Osaka. I knew which subway stop it was at, so I decided to try and find it. Well, after exiting the subway, it was nearly impossible to find the stupid festival. I wandered in the wrong direction in three different ways, walking all the way to a completely different stop in each direction. The last direction I tried was no better, and after crossing bridges over two different rivers, I found myself at a subway stop that was even farther off-course than any of the others had been. I decided to take the subway back to the ship and have dinner there. After dinner I explored the port area but came back early to take a shower and go to bed because I was still feeling a bit sick from the cold I left Korea with, and I had an early morning the next day.
On day two I woke up a little bit before five in order to get ready and be outside at my bus by quarter after. I spent the morning on the bus on the way to Hiroshima. The �countryside� of Japan that passed by outside my window was beautiful. We had boxed breakfasts and lunches from the ship, and we arrived at Hiroshima at about 10 a.m. The first thing we did was walk through the peace park. We saw the bridge that had been the original target on the day the bomb was dropped; it had hit its mark almost exactly; it was only a few hundred meters off. We also saw the �a-bomb dome,� a building that was previously the Industrial Promotion Hall. It was the only building that survived the blast, although it was left almost completely in ruins. We saw the peace flame, which is a flame that will burn until the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed, and then be extinguished. We also saw the children�s memorial, which was built in memory of Sadako (remember the children�s book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes?). The memorial was surrounded with cases containing thousands of paper cranes. We had all folded a crane on the bus ride up, and we placed our cranes into one of the little shelters.
When we went into the actual museum we received headsets so that we could hear everything in English, and we almost went to a short half-hour movie. The first thing we saw when we walked into the museum was a sign stating, �We are opposed to the war on Iraq.� This museum was much more graphic than the one in Nagasaki, and also much larger. It was even more anti-war, had a lot more personal stories, and although it showed more on how a nuclear bomb works, it showed less on the status of nuclear weapons today. I was touched by a display that showed that all of the successive mayors of Hiroshima have sent telegrams protesting every single nuclear weapons test since the 1960s to the country responsible for the test. Here is a scary fact for all of you: some of the hydrogen bombs that we have today are over 1000 times more powerful than the one that was dropped on Hiroshima. That is like 15,000 tons of TNT!
The most chilling part of the whole day, however, was not anything that I actually saw in the museum. When I turned in my headset and started to walk out of the museum, I stopped when I saw a display containing newspaper articles with pictures of President Bush that were discussing the war with Iraq. There were letters on the board from children around the world who had visited the museum and felt that the war was a horrible thing. Then I looked in the comment books that were next to the display. One of the books was for people to write their names and countries and any brief comments about the museum, and another was solely for comments. I felt a chill go through me as I flipped through the comment book and saw many comments that were anti-American, such as one stating that the museum just �proved how evil Americans are.� Many of the comments adamantly stated that the U.S. needed to stop the war against Iraq. Not all of the comments were like that, of course; the majority of them weren�t. But it was still a weird thing to see. I think that although I had realized that Americans are hated in many other countries, the peace museum was not where I had expected to run into such solid proof, and I had been unprepared for it to happen in Japan, of all the countries we had visited. It was the first time that I was able to see clearly how some other people view Americans, and I am still not quite sure what to think about it all.
When we left the museum we went outside to have our boxed lunches in the park and walk around a little bit. It was a beautiful day, the nicest since we had arrived in Japan the first time a few weeks earlier. There were lots of Japanese school children on field trips to the park, and many of them stopped us to ask us questions. After we left the museum and park we took a trip to a traditional garden. However, the garden was Chinese, not Japanese, but it was still beautiful. It was nice to walk around in after being cooped up on the bus and in the museum all day. After the garden we loaded back into the buses and started the five-hour trip back home, stopping en route for dinner. When we returned to the ship I met a few friends who were headed out to the Ferris wheel. Our ship was docked right next to the largest Ferris wheel in the world. We only went around once, but it still took fifteen minutes, although it WAS going pretty slow. We had a nice view of the city from above. After the Ferris wheel, it was pretty late and I was tired from my long day of traveling, so I headed back to the ship.
The third day I decided to try to find the cherry blossom festival again. Some people had told me it was right along the river. I had passed over two rivers and not seen it, but I figured it was worth trying to go back to find again. This time when I exited the subway and still didn�t know which way to go, I decided to walk back to the rivers I had crossed. Then I would just walk along one river up in the direction of the subway stop it was near, and I would be bound to find it. Well, I hadn�t realized how far I had walked before getting to the rivers, and it took me almost 40 minutes to get back to them. The walk up along the river was really pretty, and so I took my time on it. Eventually I got to a point where I could see an overpass up ahead with mass amounts of people on it. I walked a few more minutes in that direction, and then joined the mob of people, figuring that they must be going to the festival. I was right!
The festival turned out to be great. I couldn�t believe how many people were there. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of people at the festival, all walking down this narrow little walkway and taking pictures of the blossoms. It was so amusing. I started taking pictures of the people taking pictures. There were so many people you could barely move. Along another strip, next to the one with the blossoms, there were vendors with all kinds of food and games. I walked up and down the street looking at them all, and finally ended up buying chicken on a stick for lunch and sitting down to watch the people as they passed. Then I had ice cream and walked around a little more. I met a Japanese guy who was studying photography (he came up to me because he thought that I might be too, because of my camera) and I walked around with him for a little while and we talked about all the places that each of us had been.
After the festival I walked around that part of the city, stopping by at Osaka castle on the way. I went back to the ship for dinner, and then headed back downtown with Katie, Diana, Jessica, and Caitlin. It was a typical big city with neon lights and lots of people. We walked around, looking in a few stores but mostly at the people and the atmosphere. We went to a place that had a smaller replica of the Statue of Liberty and was supposed to be like America. The shops were all vintage clothes shops and since it was late and everything was closed, it was a bit creepy. I laughed with my friends when I realized that the place I had felt most unsafe in Japan was in the part that mimics America. We walked around a bit longer, but everything was closed, and after finding ourselves in the �bad� part of town (i.e. we were trying to figure out why every store had stylish young Japanese men in suits out front with earpieces in their ears. We eventually realized the shops were �selling� women�) we decided to head back to the ship.
The last subway runs at 11:30 and we didn�t want to get caught. I had been planning to go to Kyoto or Nara on my fourth day in Japan (both two places everyone said we must visit; very culturally rich with temples, shrines, museums, etc. Nara also has a deer park that is a huge tourist attraction). On the way back to the ship, however, I saw my friend Gabe and started talking with him. He was on his way back from visiting some missionary friends he had met online who live in Japan. They had told him about a place called Koyasan up in the mountains and told him that it was somewhere he had to visit. We talked about it for while and it sounded really interesting and beautiful and when he invited me along I didn�t hesitate to change my plans.
So, on the fourth day I set off in the morning for Koyasan with Gabe, Johnathan, and Joel. Koyasan is located southeast of Osaka, on Mount Koya, and is the home of the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism. According to �A Guide to Koyasan,� a pamphlet that I received while there, �There are more than two thousand temples, shrines, towers, stupas, and assembly buildings inside the mountain.� The practice of Esoteric Buddhism is described as �a way of discovering the mysterious kingdom within our human structures and creating the harmony between man and nature.�
We did not arrive in Koyasan until about one-thirty in the afternoon The train ride took a long time and we had lots of transfers, but it was absolutely beautiful. After we got off the last train we had to take a cable car up the mountain, after which we ate lunch and found a place to stay for the night. The temple, or Shukubo, where we decided to spend the night was called Muryokoin, and was run by Buddhist monks. It was a traditional place to stay, and we had to take off our shoes and wear slippers that they provided. You took the slippers off outside your room. They served our meals to us on a little table in our room, around which we sat on the floor on pillows. We ate Shojin-ryori, which were vegetarian food - no meat, fish, onions, or garlic. At the end of the day, they moved the table to the side and brought in big fluffy futon mattresses for us to sleep on and warm, soft blankets (it got cold during the night!) The walls were paper-thin and you could hear everything around you, and our doors and windows did not lock, just slid open and shut.
After we had gotten situated in our room, we set out to explore the small town. Unfortunately, the English-speaking monk who lived in the Shukubo was busy that day and was not able to show us around or give us any background. First we went to Kongobuji, the central monastery and walked around there for a little while. This was also where the big bell was located that was rung with a log hanging from the ceiling.
Next, we walked to the opposite end of the town to Okunoin, which is the cemetery. The cemetery contained thousands of tombstones and monuments, and the light was mostly blocked from the tall, thick-trunked trees that enveloped the cemetery. We walked through the cemetery for about two hours, and I was overcome with a dreamlike, unreal feeling. The cemetery was beautiful, with moss-covered monuments and statues. It was interesting to see how the dead are memorialized. We saw lots of small statues that were dressed in clothes and aprons and hats, mostly red. Candles and incense burned in holders that were built into the monuments, there were small, shallow wishing-well type pools with water running into them, and every once in awhile, a side path would lead up to a small temple.
After leaving the cemetery, we returned to the Shukubo, where we had dinner. It was served to us in our room by the monks, who carefully arranged everything to the precise location it needed to be on the small serving tray, etc. They were very kind, and before entering or leaving the rooms they would kneel down outside the doors to open or shut them. After dinner we went back out, in the dark, to three more temples. Since we had been invited to Oinori, the morning service the following morning, we went out for hot chocolate at the cutest little coffee shop ever, with a really sweet lady running it, and then called it an early night.
Back at the Shukubo, my friend Gabe decided to use the public baths before bed (they are very common in Japan. They are segregated baths, kind of like hot tubs. You sit on a stool and wash your body before going into the baths. I never actually went while in Japan because the idea of walking around naked and seeing everyone else walking around naked was not very appealing to me). The baths were available for guests only until nine o�clock, at which time the monks and nuns were able to use them also. When Gabe went to the baths, it was full of monks and he said the funniest thing was that they were all shaving their heads with Bic razors, Gillette Sensor Excel, etc. In this quiet little town in the mountains, we felt like we had been transported back through time, and it was funny to see this.
The next morning we were awakened at 5:30 to get ready for the 6:00 a.m. services. We went in and sat down along the side of the room. A sort of gong or bell was rung outside a few times, and the monks began to come in and kneel down. The room was dimly lit, as the morning sun was still weak. A few lights were turned down low and the only other light came from the candles that were lit around the room in order for the monks to have enough light to read from their prayer books. Incense filled the room; by the middle of the services, my eyes burned and it was so thick that the air was cloudy and I was afraid that if there was any more I might have trouble breathing. The monks chanted in three different languages: first Sanskrit, then Japanese, and finally Chinese. They had mantras for the four noble truths, wisdom, power, and a few other things. After the service, when a monk explained a few of the things to us in English, I had nothing to write with and, unfortunately, by the time I got my hands on a pen and paper I was having trouble remembering all that he had told us.
One monk off on the other side of sort of a partition was by himself in front of a fire with lots of little bowls of things in front of him. He was chanting and throwing things into the fire. Later we learned that he had put in 108 pieces of wood (although I can�t remember what he said the number was for. I think it may have had to do with illusions), and sesame. At one point in the ceremony, we got up and followed a monk towards the back of the small room. He poured a cup of tea and handed it to me, and I put it in a small �holder� for it, then bowed to it, and walked on. He proceeded to dump the tea out into a bowl and pour fresh tea for the next person. Then another monk had me take a pinch of something out of one bowl and drop it into another bowl, to which I also bowed, and then I went back to sit down. I am not sure what it was all for, and I was unable to ask anyone after the ceremony.
After the ceremony, one of the monks talked to us for a few minutes about some of the things we had seen in the ceremony. He explained his prayer beads to us, and how they were able to count their prayers and chants up to 10,000 on them (there were 100 main beads and then ten beads on one end to count each set of 100 and ten on the other end to count each set of 1000). He also told us how in esoteric Buddhism one must learn to follow the flow of their thoughts without becoming distracted by them. You have to not control them, but just watch where they go, but not lose your concentration.
I very much wanted to stay and ask questions and learn more about everything, but unfortunately we had to leave in order to get back to the ship, because it was departing that day. Koyasan was an amazing place. It was wonderful to get out of the city and away from people, which I feel like I have not been able to do since this voyage started. It was relaxing and beautiful. My only regret is that I could not spend more time there. I have so many questions that are left unanswered and so many more things there that I would like to see and experience. I suppose that someday I will just have to return, hopefully after I have had more time to study this religion so that I can better understand the things that I see.
Anyway, after breakfast we took the trip back to the ship and got back in time for lunch. I spent a short while stocking up on a few things from the convenience stores for the long trip across the Pacific, and then headed back to the ship (on-ship time was in the early afternoon), and then we set off for Alaska.
And now, here we are, on our way back to the States and nearing the end of our journey around the world. I hope everyone is well, I probably won�t be emailing after Alaska and Canada until after I am home. Good luck to everyone for the end of the semester, and I�ll see you in a couple of weeks!
Christina
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Erin F item [16]
As soon as we were docked in Osaka, I left for the airport with Jackie, Meredith and Meghan to catch a flight to Tokyo. Our first hour in Japan at the airport proved how incredibly welcoming and accommodating the Japanese are. We hadn�t yet purchased tickets and we got to the Japan Airlines counter about 25 minutes before the flight we wanted took off. They use automated ticket machines at the airport so we needed an attendant�s help to read us the Japanese characters on the buttons we needed to push. When we got to the part where we had to enter our ages, she realized that we were students and told us that we would get a discount if we bought a JAL Student Card. So with 20 minutes until our flight, we went to get our photo taken and buy the student card. The woman booked the flight for us and then in her high heels, sprinted us across the airport to our terminal as the flight was being held for us. We were so grateful and her help saved us $120!!
Our hotel in Tokyo was gorgeous. Jackie�s Mom had booked a room for us ahead of time and it was in prime location in the center of Tokyo and was complete with upscale shops, gardens and a waterfall. Our toilet was cool, too � it had all those fun buttons that you press that squirts water at you at all different angles, and a heated seat. Lol, toilets excite me these days, now that I expect just a hole in the ground everywhere I go.
That night we went out in Roppongi, the entertainment district of Tokyo and met up with Meredith and Meghan. The bars were a lot of fun even though they weren�t busy since it was a Monday night. I had a great conversation with the bartender at the first hotel, who was from Vancouver, B.C. and who told us all the cool things to do in both Japan and Canada. The second bar we went to, the bartender was this adorable older man who spoke broken English. He was so sweet and thought we were just the greatest things. He was completely fascinated by the idea of SAS and asked for my e-mail before I left. When I got back on the ship he had already e-mailed me! Later on that night we went to this place to sing karaoke, where we got our own room for an hour. It was soo much fun!! I seriously think we should have more karaoke in the States. At 4 am when we went back to our hotel, there were still crowds of people on the streets and we still had to wait in a line at McDonald�s.
The next day we went to Disneyland Tokyo!! It was a great time and pretty much the same as the Magic Kingdom park in the U.S. We got on every ride that we wanted to because the park wasn�t that busy. But, did I ever mention how much the Japanese LOVE umbrellas?! I am lucky to still have both my eyes after that day in the park. It was sprinkling on and off at the park and everyone carries umbrellas, even when it�s not raining�even the kids! The best ride was Winnie the Pooh�s Hunny Hunt. You�re seated in a two person �Hunny pot� which is trackless and goes in a pattern with the other cars, so that sometimes you are in front and sometimes you are in back of the other cars. It was really different.
Our third day in Japan we went to see a Japanese theater performance, called Kabuki. I had to go see a music production for my Music of Southeast Asia class but I�m glad that I had to go because it was really interesting. It was a play about a legendary Japanese warrior and I enjoyed it because I actually did have a greater appreciation of the music after having studied it. Since we bought the discount tickets the day of the show, we weren�t able to get the English dubbed headphones, but following along in my program I could figure out what was going on.
That afternoon we walked around the Asakusa and Ginza districts of Tokyo. We walked around the Sony tower which had all the latest and greatest electronics on display. Also, we happened upon a shrine in the middle of the city and spent some time walking around the scenic grounds.
hat night we were supposed to go to the airport whenever we wanted to fly back to Osaka because with the JAL student card we weren�t allowed to purchase return tickets ahead of time. We returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and had the craziest subway experience ever! It was rush hour and the subway was absolutely PACKED. Well, both Jackie and I were wearing our 3 foot wide backpacks, were carrying purses, and these 3� x 3� Metallic Disney bags that we had bought to help get our stuff off the ship in Seattle. So we barely squeeze on the subway, taking up enough room for 3 people each, with our back in everyone�s faces. The Japanese are a much quieter people than Americans are and even during rush hour the train was relatively quiet. Well, Jackie and I both think it�s hysterical that we are on one of the busiest subways in the world during rush hour with all of our luggage and she just starts laughing. It was really funny but I guess it�s one of those things where you have to be there to understand.
So we get to the airport to find out that the last flight to the airport we wanted to go to had left 25 minutes earlier. The airline workers were so incredibly nice and booked us a flight to the other airport and we had about 6 different workers trying to find us a subway and train route that would get us back to the ship before midnight, which is when the subway stops running. They would go online and get the info and other people would have to translate it into English for us and it was just so awesome how they bent over backwards and practically did backflips for us. They were the best and even figured out the kilometers between train stops and times to the second that we would arrive at the different stations. I think it is very rare that anyone in the US would care as much - they would probably be too busy and say, �I�m sorry, you�ll have to get a flight tomorrow or switch to a different airline.� Maybe I�m wrong, I really have never bought my own plane tickets before but it was a really great experience.
We took the subway on our fourth day to the colonial capitol of Kyoto. We visited the Golden Pavilion and a Zen Rock Garden at Ryoanji Temple. They are both World Heritage Sites that are extremely pretty. We were lucky enough to be in Osaka when the cherry blossoms were out, and the pink flowered trees were in bloom everywhere, making for great pictures. I still don�t quite understand the zen rock garden. All the tours and information signs about it were in Japanese. It was interesting to wonder how they raked the garden without leaving footprints. But, from reading the English pamphlet I guess I was supposed to be deep in thought while looking at the garden and it was supposed to cause me to become peaceful and provide different ways of thinking about things. I was just excited because in the garden right in front of where I sat there was a 3 inch sliver of wood that had fallen on top of the gravel that probably wasn�t supposed to be there. I wondered what would happen if I went down to pick it up or if I made a footprint in the garden. Maybe I would have been arrested or something.
Have any of you ever read Memoirs of a Geisha? Well, if you have then this will be very interesting for you. Kyoto is the city in which the story takes place. At dusk, we went to Gion, the section of town where the geisha come out at night and scurry past on their way to the tea houses. It was really exciting to find one and they were all dressed up in the traditional costumes with their hair all done up and their faces powdered white. I don�t know all that much about them but it was exciting just seeing one after all the talk I heard about them on SAS, so I picked up the book to read on my journey back to Seattle.
Our last day in Osaka wasn�t the greatest. I would have loved to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival downtown, but on-ship time was 2:00 p.m. The problem was that we were six minutes late getting back on the ship in Korea due to a huge traffic jam, so we got �dock time� and had to be on the ship two hours earlier in Osaka, by noon. We wanted to find a 100 Yen store, which is the equivalent to a dollar store in the US price wise, but they are very widespread in Japan and you can get tons of different things there. We wanted to stock up on chopsticks, but there wasn�t one in the area. We had a little problem because the shops didn�t open until eleven so we just wandered around until they opened and I spent my last Yen.
I had a great time in Japan and the time definitely went by too fast. Besides the fact that they have a totally different �alphabet� and language, moving to Japan wouldn�t be a hard adjustment at all for someone from the U.S�unless of course you don�t like chopsticks.
I�m so excited to see my Dad in Alaska and my Mom and Seattle� and of course to share all my pictures and stories with everyone. And I do think we have a few 21st birthdays to celebrate when I get home� Have an awesome Spring Weekend everyone! Don�t do anything I wouldn�t do.. twice.
Love ya, Erin
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Liesel item [17]
April 14, 2003
Everything in Nagasaki had been quick and efficient. Naturally I expected the same from Osaka, so I thought we would have cleared customs and been off the ship before 10am. I was wrong about that one. We didn�t get cleared until and noon and weren�t off until 12:30. SO day one started off a little slow. Laura, Melody and I had planned out our whole stay before hand so we headed straight for the subway station. The subway and train system in Japan is amazing. It�s so easy to figure out where you are and where you need to go. We decided that our first day and night would be spent on Mount Koya � the home to many Buddhist temples. It was absolutely gorgeous. The train ride to Koyasan (the city) went through the countryside that was filled with tons of bright green fields and blooming cherry trees � it was beautiful. It was nice to get away from the big city and all the people. To get to the top of the mountain you have to take a cable car and this thing went straight up! It was misty when we got there and the forest reminded me of a mixture of the redwoods and Truckee. We got to the top and were surrounded by trees and silence, it was so nice.
We took a bus to a temple and got off. We took our shoes off and left them outside and wore slippers until we left the next morning. They took us right in and we were shown our room. It was much like the house we stayed in at Kumamoto. It was a big room with mats on the floor and a little table. The little table was amazing. An amazing little table? What in the world is she talking about? We looked at the table and found it a bit odd that there was a blanket sandwiched in the table. We sat down and soon discovered why � it was to keep the heat in. The bottom of the table was heated and the blanket was to keep the heat in � it was great. Some monk brought tea and a little bean paste ball in for a snack before dinner. It had taken about 3 hours to get to Mount Koya, plus our wandering time in Osaka before we left so we arrived around 5pm � just before dinner. We were sitting at our little heated table, playing cards when there was a knock on our door. It slid open and one of the monks peeked his head in. He rambled off a few sentences in Japanese and then looked at us. We just stared right back at him. He caught on quick and then said �dinner!� We understood that one and headed down the hall to dinner.
Dinner was served, while sitting on pillows on the floor. I don�t know what all I ate, it was vegetarian though. There was some rice, as there always is, tempura (fried veggies), Miso soup, and some tofu something or other. Whatever it was it was really good. While we were eating the lady who runs the �sleepover� part of this temple came in and explained some of the history of Koyasan. She was 83 years old and do you know what she did? She walked right into that room and plopped down on the floor and sat there, in the same position, for nearly 20 minutes while she talked to us. Then she popped right back up again and left us. The elderly people of Japan are in such good shape, I just don�t see how they do it.
After dinner we headed back to our room and played a couple more card games before going to bed. We were tired and knew we would get up early the next day, so we went to bed really early � 8:30! I don�t think I�ve done that since I was in elementary school. We had to make a potty stop before this and we got a new adventure here too. There are slippers that you wear around the halls and then there are slippers that you wear in the bathroom, plus you don�t wear your slippers into any of the rooms � this leads to much changing of the shoes. Now Koyasan is in the mountains so it�s very chilly. The toilets were well equipped for this � the seat was heated! These new inventions are just great, they are so exciting. I�m sorry if you don�t like hearing about my bathroom adventures, but let me tell ya you would be excited too if you had witnessed all of the contraptions that I have in these countries. Of course you have to be the lucky one that gets the actual toilet and not just the bowl in the ground to get the heated seat.
April 15, 2003
Today we woke up at 5:30 to watch the morning monk ceremony. It was very relaxing and surprisingly did not put me to sleep. The ceremony was about 30 minutes long (and we were kneeling this whole time, I guess you have to get used to that) and was very relaxing. There were 7 monks � 3 chanting, two reading (quietly) and two meditating. The lights were dimmed, there was incense burning and the floor were heated (I just love that). The three monks that were chanting held the same tone for the full 30 minutes and never once were off from one another. It was all very peaceful and a great way to start off the day � I just don�t think I could start every day off that early.
Breakfast was pretty much the same as dinner. Yep, that�s right friends, there were no eggs, no pancakes and certainly no French toast � but it was good food. Even though the food was good I am not going to change what I have for breakfast � I found this food a little more suitable for lunch or dinner.
The next half of the day was spent wandering around Koyasan. We went to the Buddhist cemetery, which was surrounded by forest. The previous day we had been told that no one knew the exact number of people buried in the cemetery, we all found this odd but soon discovered why. There were some areas that were very well kept up and then there were other areas that just had plots everywhere. It is believed that there are over 500,000 graves there. We walked around Koyasan until early afternoon, stopping in at many different temples, before heading back to Osaka.
That night we went to a baseball game and it was soooooooo much fun. I missed over half of the game because we were cheering the whole time. It was the Osaka Buffaloes against the Lions (I don�t know where they are from, the ticket says it but that�s in Japanese, so I�ll have to figure that one out later). We bought the cheap tickets and I�m so glad we did. We headed out to our bleacher seats and were soon welcomed by 25 or 30 Buffalo fans. The three of us were looking around trying to figure out where to sit (there were seats saved all over the stadium) when these women waved to us and motioned for us to sit with the. So we did. It was a blast. Every time the Buffaloes were up every one of those fans would be on their feet cheering and slapping their noise makers together. There was a guy with drums and a couple of guys with trumpets. One guy, with a horn would announce the next cheer that was to be done and then they would just start up cheering again. At the end of the 6th inning everyone in the stadium began to blow up these long balloons. As soon as the middle of the 7th inning came everyone let their balloons go. There were security people on the field who picked up the balloon remains and the game went on, it was very well planned out � they must do it every game. I can�t even tell you how much fun we had. They have so much spirit � I absolutely loved it. The Buffaloes ended up winning the game 2-0, so the night ended well.
April 16, 2003
Today was another early day for us. Laura, Melody and I went with the SAS trip to Hiroshima and the buses left at 5:30 am for our 5 hour drive. We were so exhausted from the past couple of days that most of the drive was spent sleeping, so it flew by. We got into Hiroshima and our guide began to tell us about some �historic� sites that we drove by. It was truly sad because she had to follow each explanation with the phrase �well, this is not the original Hiroshima Castle (for example) because that was destroyed by the bomb.� That really shocked me. I never even thought about the fact that not only were the buildings of the city destroyed but so was the history of the city. To put it into perspective I thought about how I would feel if I went back to Washington DC and was told something along the lines of �here is the Lincoln Memorial, well it�s not the original Lincoln Memorial because that one was destroyed by a bomb.� Or �here is the White House; well it�s not the original White House because that was blown to pieces by a bomb.� It was really hard to imagine that all of Hiroshima�s history was lost to that bomb. Our tour guide told us why Hiroshima had been bombed over Kyoto � she said that the US felt there was too much history in Kyoto and it would be too difficult to get Japans cooperation if we destroyed a city with so much history. I guess the US was trying to be as considerate as possible when it destroyed cities and killed innocent people.
When we arrived we walked through the Hiroshima Peace Park. We started at the A-bomb dome. This was a building very close to the hypocenter of the bomb and it was one of the few left standing (it was in pretty bad shape though). The dome has been worked on a few times to keep it standing so people can see a reminder of what went on there. Hiroshima was the US�s first test site. They chose it for two main reasons. The size and the shape of the city was suited to the destructive power of the bomb, it hadn�t been bombed yet, so asserting the effects of the bomb would be easy and there was a high concentration of troops, and military facilities that hadn�t yet been subject to significant damage. The morning of August 6th was somewhat a morning of hope for the people of Hiroshima. For the first time in days the air raid sirens had been silenced. No one was in a bomb shelter; everyone thought it was safe to be outside again. Many children of Hiroshima were saved because they were sent to rural villages � most of these children ended up family-less after August 6th.
The story of the paper cranes was told at the Hiroshima museum. There was also a statue built in remembrance of Sadako Sasaki. The funding for the statue came from fundraisers done by elementary school children who wanted Sadako to be remembered. She is the one that the book �1000 paper cranes� was written about. At a young age she contracted leukemia because of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It is an old Japanese tradition to fold paper cranes for those who are sick in hopes that it will cure them. She felt that if she folded 1000 paper cranes she would be cured of her leukemia. Oragami paper was much too expensive so she made tiny cranes out of the wrappers her medicine came in. She folded all of those cranes but at the age of 12 she died. This is one of the main reasons that paper crane chains are left at the Peace Parks � in hopes that the wounds will some day heal. The Peace Park and museum in Hiroshima were very similar to Nagasaki and were therefore more of reinforcement as to what happened rather than a shock to me. The second time around just left me with more unanswered questions.
After the Peace Park and museum we went to Shukkeren Gardens in Hiroshima. This too had to be rebuilt after the bombing. Japanese gardens are more natural. They are not filled with many different kinds of colorful flowers. Rather they are full of ponds and different kinds of trees. It was first built in 1620 and was given its name Shukkeren which means �shrink-scenery garden� in hopes that it would collect and miniaturize many scenic views. In 1945 it was destroyed by the bomb but by 1951 it was reopened to the public and was fully restored by 1974. The garden was absolutely beautiful and very peaceful. There were little stone benches along the paths and many trails leading off into wooded areas. It was a nice change from the shock of the atomic bomb museum. After the garden it was another long ride home on the bus.
When we arrived back at the ship the three of us decided that it was time to ride the world�s largest Ferris wheel. It takes about 15 minutes to get around the wheel once and it gives you a great view of the city. There are light bars on the rungs of the wheel that tell the weather for the next day (fair is in red, cloudy is in green, and rain is in blue).
April 17, 2003
Today was spent in Kyoto. We got an early start and headed off to the subway station and then the train station. Japan�s subway and train system are amazing. It was so easy to figure out which subway line and which train to take. However, when we arrived in Kyoto we soon discovered that the Japanese bus system isn�t so easy to use. We figured it out quickly though and slowly made our way through Kyoto. Kyoto was one of the Japanese cities that was not bombed to destruction in the war and I could really tell that the architecture and the feel of the city went back further than the other places I had been to. We spent a good amount of time at the Rokuon-Ji Temple (also known as the Golden Pavilion). It was a beautiful temple, but there was a little too much gold for me. The top two floors are literally all painted gold � very beautiful and very bright. The temple was surrounded by a wooded area and was very relaxing � except for the shrieks of all the young school children there on a field trip. Every day that we went out there were multiple field trips. I guess the kids in Japan go on field trips a lot; we were surrounded by little kids half of the time we were in Kyoto.
After that we wandered around and looked at random parts of Kyoto. We ended our Kyoto day by going to the Nijo Castle. It was a much better experience than Kumamoto castle (I visited that one while in Nagasaki). This castle was still intact and had not been made into a museum. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden and had a great view of the surrounded city area as well as the tops of many cherry trees � it was gorgeous. Construction began in 1603 and was finished in 1626. The walls still had their paintings on them and had been kept in great shape. The paintings were beautiful. My favorite part about the castle was the floors. They were not just your average wooden floors � these floors squeaked. It was a good squeak though, something like a swing makes, yet it wasn�t annoying. They were called Nightingale floors and would squeak slightly when someone was walking on them so that the people in the castle would know if there was an intruder in the castle. I�m telling you, these people are really quite inventive!
Fun fact time for ya! Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan and it simply means �capital.� Tokyo is now the capital, but Tokyo is not the full name. It�s really Tokyoto, but it�s shortened for pronunciation reasons � and it�s a good thing it is.
We headed back to Osaka after this an arrived for the last 3 hours of the Cherry Blossom festival. This too was beautiful. I had seen many cherry blossoms during my Japan stay but never so many trees just full of pink and white blossoms � they were gorgeous. This was the first time in a really, really long time that we were not the only one�s taking pictures. There were hundreds of people at the festival and everyone had their cell phones and were snapping pictures of the trees. I should explain the whole cell phone thing. I think I saw commercials for them in the states before I left, but I�m not sure. Anyway, everyone in Japan has the same cell phone (pretty much everyone) and these cell phones take pictures. It�s quite a shocker the first time you see it. I was watching a guy while I was in Nagasaki and I really felt for the poor guy. He was holding up his cell phone and pressing buttons and staring at it and I really felt I knew what he was going through. I totally misinterpreted this whole ordeal. He had looked somewhat like me trying to find service on the USD campus, however he was taking a picture � oh well. The Cherry Blossom festival was a blast. It only goes on for one week a year, so we were extremely lucky to be there while it was going on. We all ate way too much food, but it was delicious. Once again I don�t know what all I ate, but the three of us are pretty adventurous and we decided we had to try most of it. We had some great names for some of the food we tried; we really had to keep a good sense of humor about it. We had tried the octopus balls in Nagasaki and knew we were not fans � so we steered clear of those. The first thing we tried looked somewhat like a shish kabob (no clue how to spell that one!) � We ended up calling these �Fat sticks� because they just tasted like fat, yeah we threw those away quick. We had a Japanese pancake thing that had some squid and veggies on it and it was pretty good. We played it safe with a hot dog and ended the night with chocolate covered pineapple and crepes. We hung around there for a while and then sat down by the river staring at Japan. Right now most of us are having the same feelings about leaving. We keep going back and forth about whether or not we want to go. We want to go home and then we don�t want our adventures to end � it�s pretty tough. We just sat by the river for about 30 minutes and took in our last night of a foreign country.
April 18, 2003
My last day in Japan! It was so sad; I really did not want it to end. We had really early on ship time (2pm, come on now that�s barely half a day!) so I had to get up early to get in a full day. Laura and Melody went to the aquarium this morning, but it was a little pricey and I didn�t want to spend my last Japan time somewhere that I could find an equivalent to in the states. So I decided to go downtown and just wander around for the morning. Nothing too exciting happened; I just took Japan in for the last time before heading back to the ship. Laura and I found a sushi restaurant and ended our time in Japan with some great sushi and then followed that up with a Haggen Dazs ice cream sundae (we�re going to be on the ship for a long time without good ice cream, you�ve got to get it while you can). We had about an hour before on ship time so we wandered around the mall. While in Nagasaki I had realized that I was going to freeze in Alaska. All I had brought with me, in the way of warm clothes, was one long sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt � Alaska was going to have to be all about layers. I told myself I would not waste money on a jacket because I had a million at home and I figured I could just suffer for 2 days. Laura and I were heading out of the mall when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted jackets. I figured I might as well check them out, I have been known to find a pretty good bargain. The two jackets they had both had fur on the, this I found hilarious, but figured I fit in with the Eskimos if I bought it. The one I really liked had removable fur, a definite plus. I looked at the price tag and noted the thing was about $95. So I began to walk away. I looked back at the red tag above the jacket and saw that they were on sale � they were on sale for 1900 yen. That was wonderful news to me, so I bought it. That�s right, I found a 95 dollar jacket on sale for 16 dollars! I was very excited that I would no longer have to freeze in Alaska.
Well, Osaka was my last foreign/never before visited port and it�s kinda sad. I�m definitely still going back and forth every day � some days I really want to be home and others I don�t want this voyage to end. It�s been a blast though and I still have a couple days in Seward and a couple days in Victoria � I�ll definitely make the most of those.
Take care, I�m not sure when you�ll hear from me next. Most likely after I�m home. We�ve got pretty rocky seas today and they�re just supposed to get worse! No fun. Plus I think I�m getting a cold (no, not SARS Kelly), and we have finals � my goodness it�s just going to be a very busy couple of weeks. Talk to ya later! Oh yeah, and HAPPY EASTER because apparently that�s tomorrow!
Love Always,
Liesel
