Susannah

Post 1

Meeting the Host Family

To start off, I'd like to apologize for not writing anything sooner. And yes, I do have excuses! (Though they may not all be completely justified.) This past week has been an incredible experience for me. I've been so overwhelmed. Every time I sat down to write something to post on this site, I couldn't get anything to come. I couldn't explain why. I think it has something to do with writer's block, how when you sit down to write something you've thought about and planned and cared about so much you just can't get yourself to think. That's how it works for me, anyway. It's also just that there's been so much going on, inside and outside my head, that I'm not entirely aware of it, and I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. So even thinking about writing a blog--something that I would show to both strangers and people I care about--has been overwhelming. And then there are the technical difficulties. After looking through the photos on my camera, I was finally able to write a post in my journal, only to find that I hadn't brought a memory card reader after all. I was never able to get one, so there won't be any pictures on here (maybe I'll post some later). And, since I didn't bring any "devices"--no smartphone, no laptop, no iPad--Internet access has been spotty. This is the first time I've even seen the blog.

Anyway! After that huge block of text, I'm thinking that I'll have to post some of my experiences in reverse. Starting with today. :)

I met my host family yesterday late in the afternoon, when the shinkansen (bullet train) arrived in Niigata. It was only 4:30, but it was already dark. The station was completely empty, which was bizarre compared to what I've seen of the Japanese railroad system so far, and it only added to my nervousness. My mind was swirling with questions, mostly worries: What if they don't like me? What if they don't know I'm a vegetarian? What if the presents I brought are terrible? It helped to be with everyone else, since I've become pretty comfortable with them, but I also knew that soon we'd have to separate. That was pretty scary when you think about a group you've spent the entire day with, literally from the beginning of breakfast to the end of dinner, and who you've relied on as your shelter from the complete alienness (totally a word) of a foreign country.

It turned out that none of my worries came true, though. Rikako and her mother and father are completely nice and welcoming, and after the inevitable awkwardness at the beginning, I feel like I'm beginning to grow comfortable with them. I helped a little with dinner--we had temaki zushi, which is sushi you put together with your hands (there were things like egg and cucumber, along with a few different types of fish)--and afterwards, I brought down gifts. For those of you reading this who may end up taking your own trip to Japan, I would definitely recommend bringing some kind of game. It's fun and it helps to break the ice a little, not to mention giving you a chance to practice explaining things in Japanese.

Speaking of which, I've been communicating almost exclusively in Japanese, though my host family probably knows more English than I do Japanese. The fact is that the language barrier is huge. It makes things awkward, it makes you feel clumsy just by opening your mouth, it makes it hard to connect the way you would if you were all speaking your first language. As someone who has trouble speaking to strangers even in English, it's an especially difficult and meaningful experience for me. Actually, I think that struggling with a communication barrier like this can be applied to way more than just languages. Feeling alien, feeling awkward and incompetent and like you can't understand a single thing about another person, is probably a common fear. It's also something that we all have to deal with at some point. Not to mention the people who go through something like this every day--for example, immigrants, people with learning disabilities, even just those who have trouble communicating their feelings. Being in this kind of situation, outside of my comfort zone, is extremely scary, but I also hope that it's going to prepare me for more experiences like this. The world is a pretty amazing place, and if I want to explore anything beyond what I'm already used to, I'm going to have to put up with some discomfort. (A lot of discomfort, in fact.) Hopefully when I return I'll be more willing to accept challenges and experiences that might be far beyond what I'm familiar with.

I'm slowly learning that for me, keeping a journal when you have overwhelmingly new experiences like this is essential. It helps to have a place to work out your thoughts, to go over the day and remind yourself of everything that's happened and everything you've learned. I did bring a journal, and I have been writing in it, but I can be really resistant to writing about my actual experiences. (I mostly just skip that and write about my thoughts.) However, not writing about the things that I've done and the things that have happened to me can make them pile up in my brain until I can barely understand them. Sorting them out in words, on paper, where no one else has to see, is definitely something I will try to do next time I travel and for the rest of this trip.

Ahh, that was a lot of words, wasn't it? And it was only about yesterday. I'll try posting about today and the other days soon. :)

Post 2
A Day at KJ

This part of the trip feels a little more within my realm of understanding. Since I've hosted KJ students in America twice now, the things I'm doing don't feel quite so incredibly new--it's more like I'm seeing the Japanese students' experience from a different perspective. I have something to compare it to. Let's see, in the morning I woke up at 6:30 to eat breakfast with Rikako and her dad. There were all sorts of things laid out on the table--cereal, fruit, rice, and my favorite, Japanese buns with sweet bean paste. Let me tell you right now, Japanese meals are so much healthier than American meals. And it's not a matter of size. Each individual portion of the meal is much more filling than American food; a single bowl of rice with a few toppings can easily carry you through to lunchtime. They also eat far more fruits, vegetables, and fish than they do red meat, and most of the other things like the soup broth are not only not bad for you--they're very, very healthy. I wouldn't be surprised if even the unhealthy things, like candy and ice cream, are much worse for you in America than they are in Japan.

Anyway, after breakfast Rikako's father drove the two of us to KJ for school. (She says she usually takes the train, though.) We listened to the news, and I got to see Urasa in the daylight for the first time. The way to KJ was beautiful. We drove past rivers, graveyards, even a watermelon field. And of course there were the mountains. No matter where you go, here, there are always mountains somewhere nearby. I wish I could post a picture! The autumn trees are turning patches orange and brown. It's amazing, especially since I've lived basically my whole life in Illinois.

Speaking of which, did you know that Illinois is the second-greatest corn-growing state in America? (Iowa is the first.) I learned that today in Rikako's geography class. They were studying American geography, and I was beginning to get the feeling that they know more about America than we do. It makes me feel kind of bad. Do American students study foreign countries' geography? No--most of us don't even know how to find Asian countries on a map. It's the same when it comes to learning languages. At ETHS, we didn't study languages in school until seventh grade, and even then most of us don't take it seriously. In Japan, though, and in lots of other countries, most students study English from the time they're in elementary school. It makes me kind of sad, how American education can be so ignorant of other countries' cultures.

All day I've been comparing their experience to ours. Before school started, the entire school gathered in the gym to give us a welcoming ceremony. I was crazy enough to volunteer to give the opening speech, which we (the ETHS students) had to write together and was 1-2 minutes long. During the speech I was so nervous, but after it was all over I felt kind of glad. In Japanese class one of the types of tests that we take are speaking/reading tests, where we practice reading a paragraph or two of Japanese relevant to whatever unit that we're studying and then record ourselves reading it. It felt like all of that studying had prepared me for that speech. Pretty exciting--I could see all the things I'd learned become life-size all of a sudden.

That's what this whole trip has been like, actually. Especially in the last few days, where I've had to speak Japanese with little or no English support whatsoever, I've felt like all of my learning has come to life. Even things I've learned in other classes has been useful, like when we studied exponentials in math, or redox reactions in chemistry. I even spotted a bit of American history in the Japanese geography textbook. It's fascinating to see how the same material is taught differently on the other side of the world. Sometimes in school in America, you can go through many, many days learning things academically, but not in any other way--socially, emotionally, culturally, etc.--because we're not really doing unfamiliar things. It's very inspiring to travel to Japan and see many different ways of life in a single day. It really does feel like we're experiencing the "real world". More than that--like we're really taking hold of our own lives.

After school, we all gathered in a classroom and gave our presentations, which we've been working on for several weeks now. There were about 40 KJ students there. The first group gave a slideshow on Evanston trivia (the KJ students were shocked to hear that there are 3000 students at ETHS--at KJ there are only about 400 or so). After that, some ETHS students explained how to play Ultimate Frisbee (but since we were inside, a full-fledged game was basically impossible). The third presentation was ours. Carly, Daniel, Sofia, Danielle, Melody, and I narrated and acted out two American folk tales: John Henry and Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (I was the Headless Horseman. I got to ride around on my loyal steed Danielle and throw a plastic pumpkin at Daniel's head. It was fun.) All of us were worried that the students wouldn't like it, but they seemed to really enjoy it, laughing in all the right places. Then for the last presentation, four boys taught them how to do the Cha Cha Slide. We got all forty students out into the hall and played the song, and all of us tried the dance together. It was very weird and incredibly fun, and (I think) everyone enjoyed it. :)

We had ramen for dinner, and I failed at chopsticks and ended up having to use a fork. It was delicious, though. I think their cat is starting to come around. Did I mention they had a cat? His name is Choco, and he's afraid of me. He let me pet him tonight, though, for just a little bit. Maybe if I ignore him for long enough, he'll start to like me.... Anyway! That's all, and good night.

Post 3
Odaiba

Let's see. Today we took the shinkansen to Tokyo. It was about an hour-long ride. Actually, I was thinking about how even though Japan is small, cities that would be considered close together in America feel very far apart. For example, it's roughly the same distance from Urasa to Tokyo as it is from Chicago to the Indiana border, but while it wouldn't be considered too much of a long haul to go to Indiana from Chicago, people in Urasa don't often travel to Tokyo. I think it was Mitchell (E) who made the point that the mountains in Japan can really obstruct travel. It's virtually impossible to get across the mountains by car--you could only go by shinkansen (or maybe some other type of train), since they use tunnels that go through the mountains. (Also, they go really, really fast.) I'd never really thought about that, about how much mountains might impact culture and cultural sharing. It means that even though a city west of the mountains and a city east of the mountains might be fairly close to each other horizontally, the mountains would have made traveling between the two cities pretty difficult, so their cultures would be relatively diverse. Not to mention how mountains would impact the climate. Even though I'd learned about that in Environmental, being in a place where there actually are mountains kind of put it in perspective. It made it all feel a little more real. :) (hrshtrg LRNING)

When we got to Odaiba, the first thing we did was get on the Ferris wheel. It kind of reminded me of Navy Pier, except it was much nicer. The cars were a little tight, especially since we had six people in ours, but they didn't rock even when all of us were standing up and it went so slowly that it didn't even have to stop at the bottom. You just hopped on. That also meant we had lots of time to admire the view and take pictures.

After that, we headed to the arcade. It was pretty crazy.... So far we haven't really seen the pop culture side of Japan, and the contrast between that side and the older side is insane. On the one hand, we have a place where Buddhism and meditation have influenced almost everything, where everything is carefully considered, where you say "Goyukkuri douzo" (please go slowly) before eating. On the other, we have media full of bright colors, exaggerated emotions, and overwhelming noise. When we stepped into the arcade we were bombarded with the sounds and colors of a hundred games going at once. Even though I'm not a gamer--not even close--I found myself getting sucked in, watching the screens, looking at all the prizes. Eventually some of us escaped and ate lunch together, and then we bought this amazing ice cream in a cone-shaped crepe. It was incredible and gone way too soon. (Not gonna lie--I'm pretty sure I've had ice cream almost every day for the past week. It's just so much better than in America.) After that, we had about an hour and a half to do with as we pleased. There were so many things we wanted to do--visit the science museum, the Fuji TV building, the beach and the Joypolis Arcade--but we all agreed that our first priority had to be shopping, especially since we wanted to bring something back for our host families. All we could find at first were clothing stores and convenience stores, though. There were lots of things we wanted, especially clothes, but it was all so expensive! A cute cartigan/jacket was 4000\, or about $40.

Our host families were all kind of shocked that we only went to Odaiba. It was a lot of fun, but I wish we'd had a little more time. I definitely want to come back someday and explore Japan even more, spend more time in the places we've seen, maybe in college. Maybe afterwards too.

It's just amazing to me how rich the culture is. When I first got interested in Japan, it was because of all the crazy pop culture stuff--Hatsune Miku, anime, you know. I still like that stuff, but all of it seems to pale in comparison to the more complex traditional culture. Japan is just so old. Some of the places we've seen were built a thousand years ago or more, like the shrine I did my site report on (Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine). In the museum, too, we were looking at artifacts that date back to a couple thousand years B.C. What's really amazing to me is that all of it has impacted the modern culture in some way. Everything that we see here, no matter how old, is a piece in the pathway that leads to what Japan is now. Compare that to America for a moment. The America we know has existed for only 250 years! That's so little time you feel you could hold it in the palm of one hand. In APUSH we're only up to about the 1850s, and already so much has happened! If so much could happen in America in less than a hundred years, how much must have happened in Japan in thousands of years? What kinds of things must they know that we don't understand? The past feels so present here, and it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. I want to come back someday. Everything I learn makes me want to learn more.

GOIN BACKWARDS #1!!!! because I was a bad little blogger.
Kurokawa Onsen

Let's see.... This was our last real day before heading to Niigata, wasn't it? It was nice--very relaxed and peaceful, compared to some of our previous days. We headed up to Kurokawa, a beautiful hot spring village tucked away into the mountains. Squeezed between traditional-style shops and bathhouses, the narrow streets wind up and down. Steam rises from the metal grates and the trickling streams on the side of the road. Bridges arch over the gushing rivers, which carry water to and from the many baths, and everywhere wooden staircases and meandering paths beckon. We ate in a noodle shop with the other girls, where they seated us at a low table with cushions on the floor and a place to put your legs. There were also two women from Hokkaido at our table, a mother and a daughter, and we made some conversation with them while we waited for our food. I definitely like splitting off into smaller groups. It's not as loud as the main group and it makes it easier to talk to other people and to do your own thing. Also, being with a few other ETHS students makes talking to people in Japanese much less scary. :)

After lunch, we split up and the others went to the baths. Melody and I did not go to any baths, so we wandered the town instead. We bought ice cream drizzled with maple honey and walked along a road to look at the town from above. It was beautiful against the mountains with their autumn colors. (I wish I'd brought my camera! Kurokawa was one of the most beautiful places we've been.) Then we found a stone torii (Japanese traditional gate) at the top of some stairs, as well as a view of the mountains. We also discovered a few shops, souvenir shops, a clothing store which was beautiful but way too expensive, and we bought a little more ice cream (with all the walking we've been doing, it's probably okay, right?). Around 4:30, we met up with the rest of the group and took the bus back to Kumamoto.

For dinner, we were set loose in the mall near our hotel, and each group was given 10000 yen to spend on the meal. Our group wandered for a while, trying to find a place, but nothing seemed to work--either they didn't have enough room for all six of us, or we couldn't agree on food, or it seemed a little too pricey. Eventually we broke and just ended up at the burger place where another group had gone. It's so interesting how Japanese burger places are different from those in America--the portions are a lot smaller, for one, and also they have way more vegetables and more pescetarian options (:D). After that, we returned to the hotel and worked on our presentations for a few hours, then went to bed.

Post 4
A Day in Urasa

Today it was cold and rainy, and by the early afternoon we could see snow on the mountains. My host family told me it snowed in Chicago today too--is that true? It had better melt before I get back. :)

For most of the day, we split up from our host families and rode a bus around the Urasa area. First we went to a soba restaurant, where we actually got to make soba noodles. It was very interesting, although a bit messy--I think I still have a few dried pieces of dough somewhere on my fingers. Carly said it was like clay. We got to eat the soba we'd made for lunch, along with this big tempura thing that none of us knew how to eat. (We tried to split it with our chopsticks, but as you can probably imagine, none of us are particularly skilled with chopsticks.)

Afterwards, we took the bus to a place called Ryugon Hotel. It was a traditional-style building with tatami flooring and sliding doors that provided a view into a massive garden. The rain made it even more beautiful, though not exactly warmer. We got to try on yukatas for about an hour, and while we wore them, the people who worked at the hotel served us green tea and showed us the onsen.

Next we rode the bus to a shopping center, and some of us met up with our host students. Ryouko, Kanoko, and Rikako took Sofia, Carly, and I to a karaoke place, which was incredibly fun--we sang "Let It Go" and a few Vocaloid songs, and some others. Sofia showed off her secret rapping skills with "Umbrella" and Carly finished it all off with a Rolling Stones track. There were lots of laughter and wrong notes. (At least when I sang.) Afterwards, we headed to the photo booth section of the mall and took a lot of silly pictures. (Japanese photo booths are scary--they make your eyes huge and your limbs slimmer, and your face kind of glows. They also make your skin a good deal paler than reality. We all looked cute, but at the same time us American students were a little freaked out by the way it suddenly forced us into its own standards of beauty.)

I ended up eating dinner out with my host family. The four of us drove to a Japanese-style restaurant and we each ordered a lot of food--mine had rice with slices of some kind of mushroom (there are too many different kinds to keep track), spirally udon noodles in broth, and a tofu dish which I put way too much salt in. For dessert we drove to a nearby 7-11 and each bought a different kind of ice cream. Then we sang along to Frozen soundtracks on the way back home, which, if you're curious, is definitely a sort of bonding experience. We played a few rounds of Spot-It (the game I brought), which is especially fun because the host family tries to name things in English and I try to name things in Japanese. (Ikari means "anchor". Not sure if I'm ever going to use that, but every word I learn here might come in handy.)

I'm definitely beginning to grow more comfortable not only with the host family, but with just being here in general. During the first week, everything was constantly changing and we had our senseis and other group members to rely on. Now I'm finding myself completely immersed in the culture and in the language. Although I still feel nervous using Japanese, and I have just as much trouble reading and explaining things as before, I'm more comfortable with my mistakes. It's easier to talk to the host family, partly since I've been with them for a few days, and partly because I'm realizing it's okay to use mangled grammar and to get stuck on a word or phrase. Even to make totally embarrassing mistakes. I knew that before, but I didn't really have a chance to use that knowledge in major life situations, communicating with people who I hope to establish a deeper connection with. I still feel nervous when communicating in Japanese--I don't know if that'll ever go away entirely--but right now, I feel far more willing to take risks with using the language.

BACKWARDS #2
Nagasaki

What an emotionally charged day. All day I've been thinking about different cultures and how they have clashed. We keep drawing lines between people and people, us and them. Country and country, religion and religion, race and race. Where do the lines start? Is it really so defined, this boundary between us and them, or could it be refined and refined until even individuals are confined to separate boxes? Ah, anyway. Nagasaki.

I was tearing up before we even entered the exhibit. I guess maybe I wanted to cry, to feel empathy for these people who had died long before I was born, but it was more than that. I wanted to experience what it must have been like to have faced such a tragedy. I wanted to be able to put myself in others' shoes. Nagasaki was perfect for that. The first thing I saw upon entering the exhibit was this powerful piece of writing about the dawn of the day of the bomb, and how people had been just going about their regular lives. Then there was a clock that had been shattered by the bomb, frozen at 11:02am. Beyond that there were pieces of rubble from an elementary school. I think it was Yokota-sensei who said, "What if that had been your school?" From then on I kept imagining what it would have been like to have been a child who had lost her family and her home in the bombing. I guess maybe it's a human thing, but imagining any tragedy through the eyes of a child makes it ten times more tragic.

I also kept noticing how the exhibit was geared toward people from multiple countries, how it was designed to reflect the desire for peace. Something about that kept making me tear up. At one point I even wanted to hug some of the people next to me, just because they were different, and I was different, and yet here we were experiencing the same thing. The videos of personal accounts especially hit hard. Afterwards, when we stepped out into the sunlight and visited the Peace Park, I started thinking about other places that had experienced death and destruction at the hands of people who they had labeled "enemies". Then I got to thinking about all the places that would be destroyed. I don't know.... I love places more than anything. I have a habit of thinking of them, their culture and their atmosphere, like people. (You can thank Hetalia for that.) So it's strikingly hard to bear the idea of all of these beautiful places in the world, each with unique cultures, stories, and history, being marred or destroyed. To me, they each represent all of the people who have experienced them on a deeper level, the people who call them home.

The thing is, countries are not huge impossible masses. They can't be grouped into single categories and names; they are not a single entity. Countries are made of individuals. And those individuals may speak different languages, they may have different customs, they may seem to each other weird and scary and completely impossible to connect with. But at the same time, on some level, individuals are all the same. They all feel love, and fear, and when they lose people they love they all cry. When their cities are bombed they all cry. It shouldn't matter to us that the cities that were bombed weren't ours; all that should matter is the same thing that mattered to them. Homes were destroyed. Stories were lost forever. People, who loved and were loved, who felt hope and despair in the midst of their totally normal lives just as we do, were killed. For the sake of war, people and places and stories died in terrible pain. For that, we should all cry.

Well, anyway. After that we went to Dejima, where we all tried on kimonos and walked around for a bit (we attracted quite a lot of attention from the locals), and then we headed to Oura Catholic Church and Glover Garden. That was quite a lot of fun--we sat down and lay on our stomachs on the moving uphill walkway, and spent maybe a little more time than we should watching koi. (I tried to pet one. It didn't work.) The church was beautiful--the history of Christianity in Japan is fascinating--and so were the gardens, though it was surprising to see such a Western-style place in Japan. Oddly enough, it felt reminiscent of my family's trip to Florida back in the spring, especially since some of the exact same flowers were growing there. (Apparently Kyushu is on about the same latitude as some part of Florida.) They had the most amazing ice cream there in the gardens. They also had a Christmas lights display--can you believe they're preparing for Christmas already? (I guess it's because they don't have Thanksgiving as a buffer between holidays.) Anyway--hoping to post pictures sometime soon!
-Sushi

Post 5
Shopping and Sushi

Today was our one and only day that we had entirely with the host families. I slept in till 8:30, which felt absolutely decadent, and then we ate a quick breakfast and were off to the mall. First we went to a place called Cute, which was basically full of photo booths. (Like I said before, those things are scary. They're also slightly addictive. It was fun.) Rikako, her parents, and I all took pictures together, and then the four of us split up and the parents went off to shop while Rikako and I tried on cosplay. I'm not sure how to explain this, since as far as I know there's nothing like it in America--basically, there are racks of costumes, some specific characters and others more general, and you get to rent them out and try them on. Rikako and I chose Attack On Titan jackets and then we went back to the photo booth to take pictures.

After that, we went to the main part of the mall. Japanese shopping malls are basically like American shopping malls, except more intense--the music (American pop songs) was louder, the jewelry was sparklier (shh, that's a word), and yes, the clothes were cuter. They were also more expensive. Around noon, we met up with the parents in the food court and ate lunch: takoyaki and udon. Takoyaki, in case you don't know, means "cooked octopus". I know, that sounds pretty weird, but it was honestly pretty good. For dessert we went to the nearby Baskin Robbins (they call it 31 here) and bought Frozen-themed snowman ice cream, which was basically a smaller scoop on top of a bigger scoop in a cup. We played word games on the way home.

In the middle of the afternoon, Rikako had her piano recital, which I'd heard her practicing for all week. Then to celebrate, we went to an ashiyu (foot onsen). You just walked in, took off your shoes, and rested your feet in the hot water up to your knees. I wish we had something like it in America. Afterwards, for dinner, we went to a sushi place where little plates of sushi moved on a conveyor belt around the kitchen. It goes right past your table and you just take whatever you want. At the end, the waiter counts your empty plates and you pay for that. Another thing that (as far as I know) is nowhere in America.

Backwards #3
Dazaifu

Today must have been one of my favorite days. I was excited to see Tenmangu Shrine, which I had done my site report on. I had seen pictures of it before we arrived in Japan and I wanted to see it all come to life. Before we visited the shrine, however, we went to the nearby Kyushu National Museum. It was the first time I'd been to a museum in Japan, and I was impressed by how beautiful and neatly organized it was. A couple things that stood out...

• The massive float just in front of the door downstairs. It was incredibly tall and covered with intricately colorful roadways, gates, dragons, and more. I could've spent half an hour looking at just that. (I also couldn't understand how it could ever move without toppling over.)
• A collection of Aztec-like pots from several thousand years ago with intricate designs. When you first looked at them they appeared abstract, but the more you studied them, the more they began to resemble people and animals. (Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed.)
• One room was entirely filled with this bizarre thing that I was immediately drawn to. It was an item from a (I believe Vietnamese?) festival, made of several tall wooden poles painted with black and white stripes. Attached to each pole were several circles of spikes of wood, also painted black and white. They looked like miniature suns. From the tops of the poles there were tendrils stretching up to the ceiling and draping artfully back down. The poles were all clustered around a shorter, slender green branch, and in the very center was the grinning white skull of a water buffalo. I think it was the skull that caught my attention. I couldn't stop staring at it. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen, and so complicated that I could have spent twice as long in that room studying it. I wish I could have drawn it.
• Much later on the timeline, the Western influence on Japan was becoming apparent. One of the items that stood out to me was a lacquered wooden cabinet inlaid with iridescent rainbowy shells that glittered like abalone. Each shell was carefully cut in the shape of a flower petal or butterfly wing, and each of the flowers and butterflies were different. The shells were cut so that the pattern of the colors looked like the actual pattern of a butterfly's wings. (I kind of wanted it.)
• The last thing I looked at was a painting done in Spain. It was the artist's perception of the execution of three of the twenty-six Christian martyrs of Japan. The three dying men were smiling despite the blood, and there were angels around the border, smiling back at them. I was struck by how different this scene was from anything else I had seen in the museum, particularly because it was European. Like the Glover Garden that we visited the next day, it was strikingly different from my own perception of Japan. I can't quite describe how this painting made me feel--it was a combination of sadness and curiosity... Sadness at the scale of influence Western society has had on this unique country, and curiosity at exactly how.

We left the museum after only one hour (it felt like it had been much more than that...) and headed to the street leading up to the shrine. It was crowded with people, the colors of souvenir shops open to the air, the smells of ice cream and cooking food. Atul, Mitchell (E) and I took our time looking for a good place to eat lunch and ended up at a restaurant where we sat seiza at low tables toward the back and looked out at the beautiful Japanese garden. It was my first time ordering on my own at a sit-down restaurant, and I have to say, it was pretty exciting. In Japanese class we had a whole food unit last year, where we learned how to order in a restaurant, and this experience felt like it was all coming to life (although they did give us a menu in English). The food was delicious, and afterwards I had green tea ice cream and all was well.

The shrine was different than how I'd imagined it, but at the same time, a few sights were strikingly familiar. As a group we spent a lot of time staring intently at the fish. (Probably more than we should have. Have you noticed a theme here yet?) I was also astonished by the beauty of all the umbrellas in the rain. I think I took lots of pictures, but not as many as I wanted to.... We'll see.

Inside the gates, there were little kids everywhere dressed up in traditional outfits. There were also groups of Japanese students on field trips. A couple of us split off from the main group and started a conversation with them. It was a lot of fun--one of the first times I'd participated actively in a group conversation. (I always find myself inserting random Japanese words and phrases into my thoughts after a primarily Japanese conversation.)

After the shrine, we were given a little unexpected time to shop. This was pretty exciting, because although we'd been to several good shopping places before, we had always felt a little rushed. First a group of about six of us headed to a quiet little restaurant nestled away from the main streets, where we were served rice cakes and two types of green tea. The shopkeeper was very kind and I ended up giving him one of the Chicago pens I'd brought. It was a very relaxing experience--almost like being in a cafe. Afterwards, we returned to the bustle of the main street to explore the stores. Carly and I had fun looking at everything, and I bought my very first pair of toey socks. (Among other things.)

Eventually, we departed to head to Komyozen-ji Temple. We all sat looking out at the garden, talking, journaling, and taking photographs for a while. Later, after taking a couple of trains, we happened upon an amazing curry place that we had mostly to ourselves. It was my first time trying Japanese curry, and it was amazing--would you ever have thought that apple, cheese, curry, and rice would have gone together? After a long walk through the dark and quiet streets, we took several more trains and arrived "home" at our hotel.

Backwards #4
Kumamoto

Let's see.... Today we arrived in Kumamoto. It was a very different experience from Kyoto, which had felt very urban. Kumamoto also had an urban feel to it, but you could tell that it was smaller, and people weren't quite as used to foreigners here. After a ride on a crowded tram with all our luggage, where I talked in Japanese with the older Japanese man who was sitting next to me, we arrived at our hotel, where we would be staying for four nights. The rooms were traditional-style tatami rooms with futons spread out on the floor, and sliding glass doors that opened onto a balcony.

We didn't stay long, though, because we still had most of the day ahead of us. First we went to Kumamoto Castle, an immense structure which can be seen from most parts of the city. It was an incredible work of architecture, and we learned some Japanese history at the same time. We also happened to see a samurai sword fighting demonstration, complete with acting and music. We were given some time to wander the area, which was nice, since the entire place was extremely beautiful. Pretty sure I've got some pictures.

Later we went to visit the Hosokawa Residence as it was growing dark. It was quiet, and peaceful, and we spent a good deal of time walking quietly past the tatami rooms and sitting and looking out at the garden. Everything that we've seen in Japan so far is incredibly beautiful--I wish that there were more places like that in America. Someday I want to come back and re-capture all the pictures that I never took.

Upon returning to the hotel, we settled in and a bit later dressed in yukatas and headed up to the top floor, where we bathed for the first time in a Japanese onsen. It was what you might call an experience. Very relaxing, though, and the steam and the hot water made me want to fall asleep. Which I did, very happily, on the warm and cozy futon. :)

Backwards #5
Higashiyama
(WARNING REALLY FREAKING LONG)

Ways in which this trip reminds me of Outward Bound*:

*My three-week backpacking trip in the Rockies.

• We walked 22 miles today! :D :D :D my legs were about to fall off.
• There are mountains. EVERYWHERE.
• Getting up later than 6:30 feels like a luxury.
• Dinner is always a bit of a surprise.
• Lots of teens. A few adults. Lots of responsibility. Lots of resistance.
• Every day is challenging. And not only physically. Emotionally as well.
• We spent lots of time in the airport and even more time on the plane.
• We're always moving.
• There's been little to no contact with our friends and families, or with the Internetz in general. (At least for me.)
• Toward the end of the trip, we each split up to stay with our host families. Kind of like a solo, except with more people and more food.
• There are some toilets here that you legitimately have to squat down to use. It's the weirdest thing. It makes me feel like I'm back in the mountains again and I don't like it.

No, actually, though. Today we woke up at Too Early O'Clock to get breakfast at the nearby コンビニ (convenience store). These convenience stores are everywhere in Japan, and they're kind of like a combination of a CVS and a 7-11, except with one major difference: they actually have decent food. I had a steamed bun with red bean paste and some yogurt that actually tasted like the fruit it claimed to have. Also, some tea from the vending machine. Did I talk about the vending machines here? They, too, are everywhere--you can find them at the train station, on a street corner, even in KJ. And they're not just your regular old Sprite, Coke, Dr. Pepper. They're full of different things--like energy drinks that don't taste bad, milk tea, coffee. Some of them even have a combination of cold and warm drinks. We found a couple that serve corn soup. (And from what I hear, it wasn't half bad.)

On our way to our first place to visit, we got to see a bit of Kyoto's residential area. Kyoto is a beautiful city, with the mountains in the not-so-distant distance, and the narrow winding streets like alleyways, and the hills. The houses, too, are beautiful, with a combination of traditional and new. I stopped to take lots of pictures of intriguing doorways. There are so many plants here--not like in Chicago, where there are trees planted every few feet in those neat metal squares, but tiny little gardens growing by people's houses. I wanted to explore even more.

We arrived unexpectedly at Enko-ji, our destination. Of all the temples we've visited, it was probably one of my favorites--mostly because it was quieter and therefore felt like much less of a tourist trap. After sitting and looking out at the garden for a while, taking in the peaceful atmosphere, I broke off from the main group for a bit to wander. I passed a pond, and the edge of a bamboo grove (keep in mind that this is in the middle of a city), and then I climbed some stairs to find myself facing a graveyard. Japanese graveyards aren't like Western graveyards--hopefully I'll find a few pictures to post later.

And that was where I used up my first memory card. :)

A bit later, I followed some of the others up an uneven set of stairs that led up alongside a small mountain to a panoramic view of Kyoto. A couple of us sat on a bench and talked, snapped pictures, and looked out at the incredible view.

Afterwards, on the way back, Sofia and I met an older Japanese couple who asked us to take their picture. We spoke to them a little in Japanese, and they offered to take our picture as well. I remember this as the first time I'd talked to someone here in Japanese without the support of the group, and it left me feeling a bit more confident and happy. I also felt more aware of my presence here in Japan. It may seem a little hard to believe, but for the first few days none of us could quite understand that we were actually in Japan. The idea that the days we had looked forward to for so long were finally here, that it was now, was just so impossible to believe that we couldn't feel it at all. It was too normal. It was on the other side of the world--shouldn't we feel different somehow? At least, that's how I felt. It was like I was dreaming and none of it was quite real. But after this brief conversation with these two people, I felt a little more awake, a little more aware. Maybe it was because talking with others in Japanese was what I had mentally prepared for most. In any case, it was a subtle turning point in my experience of Japan.

Our next destination was another temple, Eikando, but it had a very different atmosphere. The street leading up to it, with the entrance at the top of a hill, was crowded with people. Much like in Dazaifu, there were shops on either side selling food and souvenirs. We were all eager to check out some of the shops, particularly the ones selling Japanese sweets, but first we visited the temple. It, too, was as crowded as the street. This didn't detract at all from its beauty, however. We also noticed a lot of Japanese middle and high school students taking field trips to the temple. As foreigners, we attracted a lot of attention from them, particularly with Max and his crazy hair. Lots of us wanted to talk to them, but I'm pretty sure my group and I never did, since we were too shy.

Afterwards we were given about an hour to roam the street for lunch. I wanted to look in all the shops, but there wasn't time for anything other than food. I got a very strange and delicious thing whose name I've already forgotten, but it was some kind of fish cake fried with cheese on a stick. Some of the others disappointed us all by ordering a "Potatornado": rings of potato that tasted like French fries on a stick. (It was, admittedly, delicious.) And then after that, we had ice cream! It was the first of many types of ice cream that I would try almost daily in Japan. (I regret nothing.)

We then had to hurry to the tea ceremony on a long and fast-paced walk. The first half of it was along a river, where we kept passing people, shops, and beautiful scenes. I wanted to stop and take so many pictures, but there wasn't time. Eventually we found our way into a more urban-looking part of Kyoto, where we walked until we reached the tea ceremony place. Since I'm in the tea ceremony club at ETHS, it was especially interesting to watch and notice what was done differently. I was also able to understand much more of what she was doing. Entering the tatami room was a bit of a shock, since we had just been walking pretty intensely for the past thirty minutes. In the tatami room, however, everything was clean and quiet, and we got to sit still and relax for a bit while we watched the ceremony.

While the second half of the group observed the ceremony, I split off with Sofia and Carly and we wandered around the nearby area. (We tried to find the shopping area, but we went the wrong way.) It was a bit of a giddy experience, even though we didn't really do anything--it had just hit me all at once that we were alone, in Japan, in an unfamiliar city. Rather than scaring me, it made me excited. It felt so unreal and real all at the same time.

As it was getting dark, we took a long walk through a section of Kyoto lit with lanterns and crowded with people. There was so much to see. As we passed by, I watched fish being chopped in windows and caught glimpses of other places. We were headed to a famous noodle place for dinner, but there ended up being a misunderstanding about the reservations, and so we spent quite a while wandering through the streets trying to find a suitable place. We were all pretty tired by now, and hungry, and disappointed that the noodle place hadn't worked out, and our feet hurt a lot. Finally we found ourselves at a restaurant much like the one we had eaten at the night before. We were served a ton of food, except this time it was dish by dish, and though we had all been hungry none of us found it easy to eat it all.

Also, there were some pretty unusual dishes such as tofu, by itself, and something like custard except with a mushroom.

Before heading home, we visited one last temple. It was very dark, and the place was full of people moving quietly along the dimly lit pathways. One section of the garden was full of an arrangement of umbrellas and kanji in the sand; each part was lit up one by one. It was all very atmospheric and made me want to write. At one point, we came out of the forest to see people gathered around an area up ahead, taking pictures. At first glance, in the dark, I thought that the ground just dropped away into a cliff only a few yards off the path. As we grew closer, however, I saw that it was a huge pond with an absolutely perfect reflection. The whole thing was carefully lit, and the water was perfectly still, so that the reflection of the trees and their autumn colors appeared as real as the actual thing.

Eventually we walked back the same way we had come to get to the train station. Before heading back to K's House for the night, we ascended a series of escalators--there were at least five of them, all leading up--which took us to a place to view the city. In my tired state, I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I was in Japan. All that we'd done that day seemed like so much, and even though it was only the second day of touring, it felt like we had been there for so much longer. I couldn't get it all to fit in my head.

Backwards #6 (LAST!!!)
Arashiyama
Note: I wrote most of this blog post in my notebook a few days into the trip. However, since I had no way to download my pictures onto the computer, I was unable to post it then.

Our first real day in Japan. We all woke up around 4 in the morning, wide-awake and ready to eat lunch. Everything still felt a little surreal, like a bit of the exhaustion from last night was still with us, making it all feel like a dream. Even as we saw Japan in the daylight for the first time, even as we watched cities and towns and mountains pass by through the window of the shinkansen, even as we arrived in Kyoto Station and took pictures in front of the Kyoto Tower, I couldn't completely wrap my mind around the fact that I was IN JAPAN. This country that I'd studied and dreamed about since freshman year, this trip that I'd been thinking about for nearly every day since last March, was finally here--finally real. Just watching through the train window was unbelievable. There is an incredible amount of culture in this place, of beauty, of stories, and I think maybe my brain just maxed out within the first five minutes. Most of my friends said they felt the same thing, and I'm pretty sure all we said that day boiled down to: "Wait...guys. We're in Japan."

The first time it almost kinda hit me was during breakfast at the hotel. There was a buffet full of fruit and rice and noodles and other things I can't even name, and right outside the window was this beautiful Japanese garden. It made breakfast just that much more delicious. Here's a picture:

(insert picture here)

That by the oranges is natto. It's fermented bean paste, and somewhat infamous among the Japanese and foreigners alike for being an...acquired taste. Carly ended up eating mine.

Actually, that breakfast felt like a lot of food at the time. But after the unbelievable dinner that we had that night, it looks like nothing. Take a look:

(insert more picture)

Whoever said the Japanese don't eat a lot of food was wrong. Even a single one of these dishes was so filling it could have been a meal in itself. Combined with all the unusual textures and tastes, finishing it was probably one of the biggest challenges of the day. (I didn't finish it entirely, but I made a dent in just about everything.)

And that was after the incredibly long day that we'd had. None of us could believe it was our first full day here. After arriving in the city of Kyoto in the early afternoon, we trekked across crosswalks and past stores, lugging our heavy suitcases all the while. I'm sure we made a lot of noise. We dropped our luggage at the place where we would stay for two nights, a hostel called K's House, and then we turned right back around and got on another train that would take us to Arashiyama.

Walking through the streets of Arashiyama was amazing. Everywhere I looked, there was something new I wanted to photograph. People were flowing through the streets, and statues and traditional-style doors peeked out from the walls, and stores with the front open to the air were selling colorful souvenirs and delicious-smelling food. There were people walking around in kimonos. I still think it was one of the most beautiful places we've been.

After we hiked up a zigzagging path through the trees, we found ourselves looking down on Arashiyama from the monkey park. And I don't mean that there were monkeys behind glass or cages, like in a zoo--I mean that there were actual, real live monkeys walking around near us and climbing all over the visitor center.

(insert some pictures)

Next, we headed to a bamboo forest. It was starting to grow dark, and the tall bamboo made it feel like it was already dusk. We were given some time to split into smaller groups and wander, and I visited my first shrine.

(pictures)

Then it was to the restaurant where we had the above meal, and after that we went to our last destination for the day, the "kimono forest" at Arashiyama Station. Sadly I don't have any pictures, but that's partly because I knew they wouldn't be able to capture the mystical mood of the place. The kimono designs glowed from the inside like paper lanterns. Just next to us, the station was empty and brightly lit. The music playing from the station speakers was simple and somehow eerie--it reminded me of something you might hear in a Miyazaki movie. I couldn't get over how magical the whole place felt. Even the railroad tracks seemed otherworldly. (Even when half the group got stuck on the other side of the tracks while three consecutive trains passed by, it still felt that way.)

Later, I remember walking back along the dark streets lit by streetlamps, and trying to understand the fact that I was here. It was so strange to me to be walking like this with people I had only ever seen in class. It felt like it was happening to someone else, not to me. (Don't worry, it definitely felt like it was happening to me later.) As a first day, it was a hopeful and wonderful start to our trip.

Reflection

It's ten o'clock. I'm sitting in my room, typing, like it's the most normal thing ever. My backpack is sitting ominously in the corner, all packed for school tomorrow. Coming home felt so normal, it's as if none of it had ever happened. And yet--here I am, it's suddenly November 20, and the empty suitcase is standing in the closet, a little more worn than it was two weeks ago. Downstairs the dining room table is covered with gifts, both from me and from the three KJ students I've shared a connection with: Rikako, Mizuho, and Yukino. Part of me wants to say, "I can't believe it went so fast." But the other part of me remembers the person I was when I stepped onto the airplane on November fourth, the empty memory cards by my camera, the notebook that had yet to have a single word in it. I remember how I was still so insecure about using Japanese, how when the lady who changed my money in the airport told me my total, I froze up. I remember the people I didn't know as well and the people I had yet to meet. Now there are pictures of my experiences, there's a notebook half filled with my thoughts, there's dust on the bottom of my shoes from a place halfway around the world. My head is all filled up with memories, and my ears still listen for the sound of a foreign language. When I think about how much I've changed, I know I've been gone a long time.

Somewhere on an island on the other side of the ocean, it's one in the afternoon, and people who speak another language and live another life are going about their day. It may feel far away, but I woke up there just this morning, and those people there remember me, just as I remember them. I know it sounds cheesy, but when I say I'm never going to forget some of these experiences, I really mean it. All the days of school I missed are worth it; all the make-up work is worth it; all the time away from home and the familiar is worth it. To the people who've gone before me, thank you for being a part of a continuing story. To the people who will go after me: good luck.