Konichiwa!

Ohio! Konichiwa! Arigato gozai mashi ta! “Good morning,” “hello,” and “thank you” were a few of many phrases I have been saying the past week! I spent January 24th-28th in Japan, as our ship was ported in Kobe. Japan is such a culturally and historically rich country, which I left feeling so full of discovery, yet wanting so much more. I sure hope I have the opportunity to come back to Japan someday.

My first day off the ship, I went to a field class in Osaka for my macroeconomics class. We got onto a bus and our translator told us about the economy of Japan, the Isolationist period, decrease in population, the effects of a high elderly population and low youth population imbalance, and Japan’s incredible economic come back from World War 2 destruction. Japan currently has so much infrastructure and job openings that there would still be unfilled jobs if every unemployed person had 1.5 jobs (less than 3% unemployed). For our class trip, we got to visit the Security Exchange of Osaka, The Bank of Japan, and of course, the shopping district. We also got to have our sushi and udon-noodle lunch with a man who works for the U.S. Consulate General of Economic and Political Affairs, and ask him questions about his day-to-day life working abroad. This day was full of learning about Japan’s economy and historical influences. My favorite part was learning how to tell the difference between real and fake currency on ¥1000 (Japanese yen, about $9.16 USD) by looking at watermarks, small printing, and colors that turn gold in black light.

On the bus ride to our field program, I met a girl who had the same goal as me for the night, to make it to Tokyo. So after our field class we got back onto the ship, packed our bags and grabbed a bite to eat before joining another one of her friends for the three of us to catch an evening bullet train to Tokyo. Navigating the system was such an adventure! Japan’s rail system is used by millions of people a day, and the average  daily amount is greater than the number of people who use Europe’s rail system in a year. You can YouTube search “push man on Japan trains” if you want a visual of how busy the train system can get. The bullet train we got on was not too busy, and we ate snacks until arriving in the city around 11pm, where I left them to I met my five friends at our airbnb apartment at 11:30pm.

My second day, the six of us explored Tokyo. We went to the shopping district, candy district, 43rd floor of the government building for a city view. We tried lots of food from 7-elevens and vending machines, including coffee in juice box-like containers, sushi, ramen, and various breads with mochi inside. In the evening we went to the Digital Art Museum which was my favorite part of Tokyo, where we took lots of pictures. We ended the night going to Disney Sea! We rode a couple rides but had no idea when drops on rides where coming, or what the storylines illustrated, as everything was announced in Japanese – it made it all more fun and surprising!

On the third day at 3:30am, I woke up to Uber from our apartment to the Tokyo-Haneda airport. My friends stayed in Tokyo and then spent their last few days in Kyoto, but I had programs booked through Semester at Sea that I wanted to make it back for early to ensure I wouldn’t miss them. My flight left at 6:20 and arrived in Kobe at 7:40, where I walked outside of the airport, hopped onto a metro and got off 8 stops later. I arrived on the ship at 8am, 3 hours before my program had to meet. After a day in Tokyo, I felt like a pro with the metro/subway/train navigation 🙂

My first field program was to Mount Koyasan for a Buddhist Temple retreat. I got to wear a Yukata (similar to a Kimono) for a traditional Buddhist dinner, and we got Q&A time with one of the four monks and the temple we stayed at. I asked him about the basic changes in his lifestyle, challenges he had faced in a growing society, and how social attitudes towards marriage, family, leisure time and education were different before and after he became a monk. After this conversation, I figured my early morning wake up for this once in a lifetime opportunity was 100% worth it!

I spent the rest of the evening playing Japanese children’s games with some students and our trip liaison, John Tomecsek. He taught English abroad through the JET program and was my go-to person for any questions on Japanese culture and travel before we arrived in Kobe. After the games, myself and other students tried out the traditional Japanese baths; a very different form of socializing and staying clean than in the US! I was excited to try this out and enjoyed it, as well as using Japan’s bathrooms with heated toilet seats, bidets, and soothing music. 

Waking up, now my fourth day in Japan, we got to attend the Buddhist prayer. This was another highlight of the trip, experiencing the rituals of a culture I had never encountered before much further outside of a textbook or the internet. We also attended a fire ceremony, where loud vocalizing/singing and drumming occurred. The prayer and ceremony together lasted about an hour. We then visited a cemetery, with over 200,000 memorials, and built in 835 when Kukai began his deep meditation. If you would like to know more about Buddhist culture, I encourage you to research the history of Mount Koyasan!

We bussed back, and I relaxed in my ship cabin before getting dinner and visiting a karaoke bar with friends I met on the mountain retreat. The Japan drinking age is 20, so we ordered a few drinks but all made sure to try sake. Sake is a Japanese drink similar to wine but made with rice and starch rather than grapes with natural sugar. I really enjoyed it and would now call it one of my favorite drinks! Our selection of english songs was a fair size, as we sang Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Hannah Montana, and of course Justin Bieber.

My fifth and final day, I got to visit Kyoto. We saw the golden temple, had an origami lesson, walked through private streets, and I grabbed dumplings and udon soup for lunch with some friends. We also made sure to try Starbucks before getting back onto the bus and back to the ship. My caramel macchiato tasted similar to what I’m used to in the US, with only a noticeable amount of less sugar and caramel (which I preferred). I wish I had more time in Kyoto, as well as Tokyo, and I wish I made trips to Hiroshima, Nara, Okinawa, the countryside and mountains…but all the more reason to come back in the future! As you may have heard or suspected, we are not going to China due to the spreading of Coronavirus. Instead, we have 12 days ported in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are arriving on February 4th. A lot of people on the ship were bummed out, losing money from non-refundable bookings and missing out on some bucket list items. I am praying for those who are affected by the virus and hope the US is steering clear from such a contagious illness! My visa doesn’t expire for 10 years so I’m hoping my friends and I may get to do a reunion within that time and visit Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai (and Shanghai Disney of course), hoping each of those cities will soon be safe! I am very blessed to be healthy and on this trip and I have been encouraging my friends to look at the bright side 🙂

Along with my health and safety, I am also grateful to now have the ability to explore more cities in Vietnam I wouldn’t have been able to travel to previously with only three days scheduled in Vietnam and three in Cambodia. I am now currently planning my to-do list for eight days in Vietnam, before I volunteer for three days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

Thank you for the emails, messages and prayers! I hope everyone has been healthy in the US. I have been watching Marvel movies that cause me to miss friends and family at home… not many people watch tv then get encouraged to do homework or workout, but it has been so in my case. Only 3 more days until I am back on land adventuring! 

Don’t forget if you want to chat, my seamail is ellie.potts.sp20@semesteratsea.org – Thanks for reading!!