Lost in the World

I have never thought about Japan as my dream destination, mainly because my knowledge of Japanese culture and the country was limited to Pokemon and sushi. However Asia always appealed me as an exotic land, with its history as old as time, beautiful temples and unusual but delicious food. Once I started to learn Japanese at school, Japan no longer seemed so foreign. Thanks to my teacher and college an exchange trip was organized to take eighteen brave students to the country of the Raising Sun for a whole three weeks. We not only traveled around some of the most famous sites in Japan, but also got to live in a host family and go to Japanese high school, thereby experiencing Japanese culture at its core. I could probably write a novel about all the funny, weird and wonderful things we have encountered while traveling, but I do not wish to bore you. Plus for many of them, well, you just had to be there. But here is what I think were the most memorable moments, from my trip to Japan.

A good traveling tip: When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller could not have been more right. The up side and the down side of a school trip like this, you don’t get to stay in one place. None of us were exactly sure as to what we were in for: train rides in trains so cramped we could barely move, never mind trying to fit in with bags; lugging our suitcases through rain and shine from one accommodation to the next: across roads, up and down stairs, into elevators, buses and wherever else the trip took us. I sure wish my one was a kg lighter. But it was all worth it.

We started our journey with Tokyo. The first thing that struck me was the first time I came from underground after catching the train from the airport. Ueno at night. Growing up in Russia and currently living in New Zealand, I never thought the world can contain so many neon lights. It was quite overwhelming at first. We got thrown right in the middle of the actions. There were people everywhere, rushing to places whether it is casinos, pubs or simply home.

Our first hotel was a traditional Japanese Inn. It is here that I had my first encounter with an amazing Japanese technological creation......toilet seat! Don’t get me wrong, it is not something that usually excites me. But man, this thing did everything you would want from a toilet, heating, shower. It even wished you a nice day after flushing! Overall we stayed in traditional ryokans half of the time. The futon was surprisingly comfortable, like sleeping on a cloud. Only made it that much harder to get up in the mornings. My host family was very nice and made me feel right at home. In fact I think that Japanese people just might be the most polite people in the world!

It only took me couple of days to realize that a European person in Japan is somewhat short of a celebrity, for the way Japanese treated us: having random people acknowledge us at their school or simply when we were out and about. The staring was endless. We stayed in total of one week in Tokyo and saw a great number of famous destinations and landmarks, from the market Asakusa, to the fashion center of Giza, the busiest intersection of Shinjuku, the zoo and emperors palace, bird view of Tokyo from the Tokyo Tower and of course the happiest place in the world- Disneyland (and the fact that it was pouring down rain actually helped, no lines!). Every day was filled with new discoveries, not just sightseeing but food and drinks and customs. Some of which I’m still puzzled by. (What is wrong with drinking coke and walking at the same time?) The vending machines, 自動販売機were pretty awesome, they sold everything from books to hot and cold drinks, snacks, and I swear I saw one selling underwear.

After Tokyo we traveled to the great Mt Fuji at Kawaguchiko by shinkansen. After being in a mega-city, Fuji seemed quiet and peaceful. Kawaguchiko was very beautiful with all the cherry blossoms around the lake. Perfect place to enjoy the scenery. However for an adventure like me Fujiyama ride at FujiQ theme park was far more exciting. As the highest ride in the world (in 2008 anyways) it was te-rri-fy-ing but defiantly worth the voice I lost from screaming.

Next city on our list was Hiroshima. If I was still missing Tokyo when we left, I was not missing it once we arrived to Hiroshima. It is here that the true cultural journey had begun. Seeing the memorial for the atomic bomb victims, walking in the peace park and visiting the museum, you could feel the respect and devotion coming through. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki promote themselves as peace cities. It is incorporated into everything, their souvenirs, their memorials but more importantly through people that live there. I remember standing at the memorial in Hiroshima when this old Japanese man biking past just came to a sudden halt to jump of the bike and bow to the monument before continuing his journey.

The cultural and historical journey came to its peak in Kyoto. Once a capital of Japan, it has countless numbers of beautiful shrines and temples as old as time. We got to visit as many as we could manage, Golden Pavilion, Silver Pavilion. You name it. My favourite one however was Kiyomizudera. I must say that out of the whole group only my friend and I decided to see this one. I honestly think that others have missed something truly magical.

Last but not least was Osaka. It did not impress me as much as the other cities but to tell the truth I was pretty tired. Not so much physically but mentally, I got tired of getting excited because it happened ALL the time. So my stay in Osaka I mostly remember for another wonderful home stay and also Hannah High School which I got to be a proud student of. We did calligraphy and judo and kendo and taiko drumming. Plus we got to sit on actual school lessons. Well that was boring, 99% of students were sleeping. My host sister brought a pillow once, just to get told of by a teacher but continue to sleep. I couldn’t blame them; the rhythm of their lives is truly hectic. School, scram school, then sports practice. Travelling to and from home alone took an hour and a half one way. Luckily there is star bucks on every corner to keep you going. I would defiantly not survive like that.

Although I may not pick Japan as my place to live, I would always love to travel back, because there is just so much more to see. I hope I will come back there one day. In the main time日本、どうもありがとう！！！

P.S Sorry if I bored you, I have never blogged before. To find out if anyone is actually reading this I thought I would do a little survey at the end of every post. If you have been to Japan, what was the most memorable to you? And if you haven't, would you like to go? Please leave your answer in the comments

I love traveling. What more is there to say?
I have never been much of a writer and certainty do not have the commitment required to keep a journal during my travels. But I wish I did, because over the last 5 years I have been on the most amazing journeys and saw places I could never have dreamed of seeing. When traveling, you would take thousands of photos, you think you'll remember. But while a picture can tell a thousand words, it only captures a fraction of your memories.Long after the suitcases are returned to the attic, this blog will enable me to relive the moments of my journeys in a way that photos cant capture.
I want this blog to be the ultimate diary of my travels, so it wouldn't be fair to disregard those places I already visited. Bare with me as I go back in time and revisit my holidays before 2011. I shall try to remember as best as I can what happened on each of the past trips and promise that nothing will be left out of the future ones.
Wish me luck!