Japan: The Not So Easy Country After All

So we arrived in Japan on November 20th, in Yokohama. I had made travel plans with the sisters from Minnesota, Kelly Rose, and Liz. We started off the day walking around Yokohama and found a nice coffee shop to sit and relax and people watch for a bit. After some coffee we decided to make our way to Yokohama Tower to get a view of the city from the tallest building in the city with a full circle walk about. We headed up there and enjoyed the view for a bit and then headed out to get some lunch, after trying to find a place to eat Japanese food we figured since it was so expensive to just eat at Wendy’s where A) we knew we would like it and B) it was cheaper…except still seven bucks. After lunch we walked over to the little carnival area since we had been eyeing the ferris wheel all day. We found out how much it was and then proceeded to walk around Yokohama looking for the 100 Yen stores. Never finding it we ended up at some shopping area where I found a sweet jacket that I love so much! And it came with a t shirt and it was 22 bucks for both, I thought it was a steal for Japan. Haha. I could have bought all of the jackets but I refrained. We headed back towards the ship and eventually we made our way to the ferris wheel and rode it for 15 minutes then Kelly Rose and I decided to ride the rollercoaster as well, where I got in trouble for using my iPhone to video tape our adventure and they stopped us as we were slanted back going up the hill… that was fun. Once we finished all of that we headed back to the ship for dinner and then met with a larger group of people to go to karaoke. The night was real, and it was good but it wasn’t exactly real good. But hey karaoke was involved so you can’t complain too much. I don’t really remember what time we were out till but I know it was late.

Then we woke up the next morning and Laura and Becca had decided to leave at like 5:30AM so they could get to the fish market in Tokyo and then I woke up and met up with the other girls. They didn’t want to leave till much later so I just left with some other friends who were heading that way. One of my friends had actually been stranded in Shanghai as we traveled to Japan because she lost her Hong Kong mainlanders card while on my china trip and so she wasn’t allowed to leave China until she replaced it. Anyway we both had hostels in the same area so we left at around 10 and we didn’t end up getting to where wanted until about 1pm because of the long process. They made Japan transportation sound like it was the easiest and fastest thing…LIES. So by the time we got out of the station I called the hostel I was supposed to meet the girls at to figure out how to get there. Well I had a little surprise when I called the and the guy told me that we weren’t staying there because the confirmation didn’t go through and the girls had left…uhh WHAT?!?! So I panicked but knew that they would still be there at 1pm like we had planned so I went there anyway and sure enough they were there and Laura walks out and says “we have no where to sleep tonight!!!” and I was like “So I’ve heard” Anyway we waited around for the other girls to get there and they never showed and by three we definitely just didn’t want to spend our time in the lobby of the hostel we weren’t staying at. So we finally made our way towards the SAS hotel in another part of Tokyo after numerous calls to get a hold of Chris Battin for help and other hotels. We left the girls a note and made our way to the hotel to meet him since we had to be there for his birthday celebration anyway! We get there and the girls are there and we are there and happily reunited, we found some girls that agreed to let us crash in their room and then proceeded to freshen up and get ready for dinner and the Ice Bar. So we did that whole shebang, and I was really excited for the icebar and had the pleasure of arranging that for B-Payne’s 21st birthday..it was really cold and really fun. The night ended with barely catching the last train, me trying to figure out how to get back since I didn’t pay attention on the way over, and moving a large group of drunk people…great. Oh and how about me trying to communicate with the local to get me home…and in the end we managed to get lost and walk for two hours back to the hotel. WOO! Lol. Basically it was a rough night and I was exhausted and had along day ahead of me as I was traveling to Hiroshima by myself and was going to meet the girls back in Kobe the next day.

So I woke up later than I ahd planned and went to the concierege desk and they helped me figure out all the trains I need to take to get to Hiroshima, I ended up getting to Hiroshima around 1pm and staying until about 4pm when I caught my train to Kobe. Hiroshima was something else, it makes the Pearl Harbor Museum look like nothing. The memorial is really all about Peace. They make us out to seem real terrible and we were I agree but it was very hard for me to be there and be a believe of the fact that what we did was the only way to end the war quickly and without losing more and more people that woujld have exceeded the amount that did with the dropping of the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, I seemed to bet he only American at the memorial that day…and when you go by yourself you really feel like you are the only one. So I walked through the museum section pretty quickly but enjoyed the outside a lot. I couldn’t really believe I was there, it was amazing, I finally got to see something that I had studied so much in high school. I left Hiroshima and got to Kobe around 6:15 and somehow the girls had just gotten there too by the time I walked out to get the bus to the hotel, so I didn’t have to run around and search for them. We went to the hotel left to get food and hit up the 100Yen store and bought ridiculous stuff. Then went back to the hotel where we just relaxed since none of us had gotten any decient sleep the night before without beds or blankets. Man that was the best sleep ever.

The next day Kelly Rose and I headed back to the ship since we both had homestay/university visits. Unfortunately Kelly Rose was really sick and couldn’t make hers and then I left off to my university visit in Kyoto. The student that picked us up was named Yu and she was awesome. Just by the way she dressed I knew she was a rebel to Japanese society and I was totally right. We got to the university after losing someone along the way and I ate the weirdest lunch of my life, there were big fish little tiny fish that looked like noodles, it was weird. Seriously you would all be amazed at the stuff I’ve eaten on this damn trip. We ate, got into our groups and headed out to temples in Kyoto and walked around of course getting lost because even the students didn’t know where to go. We headed back for dinner which consisted of mass amounts of sushi, and other Japanese spring rolls and food. Had good conversation and a gift exchange. We then spent the night in a building that we couldn’t leave, now just imagine college students confined in a space…it’s not pretty, we even tried to escape. Haha. In the end it was ar ealy interesting day getting to know these Japanese students

The next day we headed out in our groups again and we went downtown and did some shopping, took some pictures in photo booths nad decorated them, it was hilarious!! Then I proceeded to try this dish that I can’t type out but it was dumpling based with a piece of octopus in the middle…yea like I said you would be really impressed the things I’ve eaten. Then I bought my favorite little “puff balls” as I call them they were just the meat dumpling but they were big puffs of dough mmm so good, and they sold them at gas stations it was awesome. We finally headed towards the area where the Geisha’s were supposed to be  but unfortunately didn’t get to see any, so we started to make our way back towards Kobe. We hung out and said bye and two of the students got on the train with us back towards their home and we went back to Kobe. The university visit was awesome, I am really glad I did it because I got to know a lot more about Japanese students and had a lot of fun with people from the ship as well. Well that’s Japan…sorry it’s late…and I’ll do Hawaii too…


HAWAII WAS AWESOME…I GOT TO SEE RANDY…THE END!

A-Ram