Japan

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I wasn’t even ready for Japan when it came. But I mean really, have I been ready for any of this? For some people Japan was their most anticipated port. Not for me really, I was actually kind of dreading it given the amount of money I was told I would have to spend. None of my preconceived notions turned out to be true, and I should have known that from the start, give what this whole trip has taught me.

On the first day immigrations took quite some time so we weren’t allowed to get off the ship until at least noon. I had a trip leaving at 2:30, and I knew I would have to take a train to get anywhere, so I decided to just stay put until then. At 2:30 Lauren and I went out to the terminal to meet the rest of the group that would be going to the Bunkaru Puppet Theater. We were all confused as to why the trip was so long, from 2:30 until 11:30 that night, and we didn’t even get dinner with it. Instead we all carted around the less than desirable box dinners provided by the ship. Soon it became apparent why the trip would last so long. We had to take no less than 4 trains to get to the theater and the performance was no less than 4 hours long. It was fun though, and I felt like I was really experiencing Japan. We had to wear earphones for the English translation of what the narrator was saying/ singing. Three puppeteers, who wore black robes and masks, except for the master puppeteers, who wore colorful kimonos and showed their faces, controlled the puppets. Even with the English guide the story was still difficult to follow, and many of us fell asleep. We weren’t alone though, because many of the Japanese people around us did too. Apparently this was actually the second act in the play, the first had been performed that morning. Every once and awhile the English speaker would announce that some scenes would not be performed. All in all it was very confusing, but a good experience none the less. Lauren and I agreed it was the kind of thing you only need to do once in a lifetime.

The next morning Lauren and I took the train in to Kobe in search of an Internet café. Much to our dismay, Japan proved to be the most difficult country to communicate with people in. Eventually we found a place, spent some time there, walked around a bit and then headed back to the ship too meet Bailey and Nicole, who were recovering from a late night of Karaoke. We had heard from someone that there were franchises of the New Orleans hot spot, Café du Monde in Japan. Having both been and fallen in love with their yummy little French doughnuts, called Beignets; we were on a mission to find one. Off handedly, I had mentioned our quest to Dean Beverly at the pre-port. I was sure at the time she thought we were crazy to try and find such a place, and to waste our time in Japan trying to find New Orleans French pastries. Low and behold, that morning we saw her at breakfast and she shared the most wonderful news that she had found a location of Café du Monde at the train station in Kyoto. It was decided then and there that was what we would be doing on our second day in Japan. So when we finally woke Nicole and Bailey up we then embarked on the hour and a half train ride to Kyoto. We found Café du Monde and enjoyed our purchases, especially the warm coffee, as the temperatures in Japan were by far the lowest I have encountered all semester. We then did some shopping and took a bus downtown to find a movie theater. After walking around the pedestrian streets of Kyoto we went to see “In Her Shoes.” We didn’t get back to the ship until around midnight, but that was just fine. It had been a productive day.

The final half of my stay in Japan was my most nerve wracking, yet most memorable. I was one of the lucky 50 people who had gotten the Japanese homestay. After my homestay in India I was excited to do the experience again and see how they compared. I was nervous however because I had been told so much about the Japanese home and I was frightened I might screw something up. The fact that it was unlikely that my family spoke fluent English also worried me a bit. My fears quickly floated away when I met them though. All of the families are a part of a group called the Hippo Club, which is a family group that meets and practices speaking other languages. We had a nice little reception on the ship and then we departed for my 36-hour Japanese home adventure. The mom and dad were a young couple with three kids, a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a 9 year old. They were the cutest family ever. On the first day we did some sightseeing and then went back to their beautiful home where I helped make rice balls to take to the Hippo meeting we went to that night. The mom and dad spoke a fair amount of English, which was nice, but the kids spoke none, except for the colors and numbers they had learned at Hippo. That was ok though, and we had fun playing games that required little speaking at all. It was the first time I had ever played a game of uno where at least three languages were being spoken though! The hippo meeting was fun, we had a nice dinner, I was dressed up in a kimono and we played more hippo games. That night I got to stay in the traditional Japanese room in their home, which was awesome. The next morning I had what I think was the best breakfast of my life. I won’t even try to describe it, just know it was good, and the Japanese are so inventive. Then I went for a walk with dad and the kids. The eldest daughter rode her unicycle around, apparently practicing for a race she was going to be in. Later we went to her school and went to some cultural activities. (It was some sort of Japanese holiday, so the kids had the day off, which was nice.) Then we came back to the house, practiced Japanese calligraphy and ate traditional Japanese pizza cake things. It was such a fun and relaxing time. I felt like I really was a part of their family, and that made it hard for me to leave. On the way back to the ship that afternoon we stopped at the Shinto shrine where we performed some traditional rituals. There were tears in my eyes as I said goodbye to them and set foot on the gangway. Not only was I sad to leave them, but being with a regular family was making me miss mine too. And as I had mentioned before Japan was the coolest port we had been to, and the fall colors and brisk winds also reminded me of home. As the ship left the harbor at the silhouettes in the terminal windows waved goodbye I hummed Christmas carols to myself and thought about going home.

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