Japan exceeded all my expectations exponentially. The people are so kind and generous towards
foreigners. The country is extremely clean and quiet and easy to travel through.
I would go back in a second.
The ship ported in Yokohama and we all got off and explored
the city the first day. It was strange being in a place where we all stuck out
so much. No English speakers and definitely no blondes. I went around with
about six blonde haired blue eyed companions; we were a sight to behold. We
went on the underwater roller-coaster in Yokohama center and walked the city. We
had a traditional Japanese lunch and then headed to our big challenge of
navigating the train system. Our mission was to get to Tokyo and stay the night
before heading the next day to Fukadaya. So we arrive at the station and all the
maps of the different lines are were in Japanese (no surprise). Somehow we
communicated with enough different Japanese people to put together how to use
the station and where to go. The trains were super clean and quiet, no people
on their phones or having loud conversations. I could get used to it.
In Tokyo we went to dinner and explored the city at night. The
next day we headed to southern Japan to visit my friend Hilary’s friend who is
teaching English to Japanese school kids. We got to visit Barrett (Hilary’s
friends) at school and play with all the kids. The school was in a rural area
and some of the kids had never seen Caucasians in their lives. To say the least
they were obsessed with us. We left like celebrities, the kids ran around
following us. They would say hello then run away laughing. It was amazing, so
much fun to play and talk to them.
Another highlight of Japan was using the public baths and visiting
a Buddhist temple. Along the journey I had real ramen, conveyer belt sushi, Saki,
learned how to use chopsticks, and was humbled greatly.
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