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• Itinerary:
o Day 1: Neha, Alyssa, Allie, Katie, and I took the Japanese Rail (JR) from Yokohama to Shibuya district in Tokyo to meet up with Alyssa’s friend Shinta, who showed us around Tokyo for the first couple of days. The Japanese rail system greatly resembled the San Francisco BART system and so it was really easy to navigate. Shibuya, with its massive electronic billboards and midday bustle reminded me of Times Square. We spent most of the day just walking around the streets and window shopping at 109 mall. We had dinner later that night at a Soba noodle place.
o Day 2: We spent the morning in Shinjuku district in Tokyo. After walking around the underground market in Isetan mall, we checked out a large electronics store. Japanese electronics from phones to computers and even appliances like fridges/washers are so advanced. Colorful Panasonic flip phones, with digital light displays on the front cover seem to be extremely popular. After lunch at a traditional Ramen noodle bar (tastes nothing like Cup O’Noodle), we hopped on the JR and spent the afternoon in Harajukwu district. Luckily, even though it wasn’t Sunday, we ran into some people dressed in classic Harajukwu style. We shopped in the outdoor market, Forever 21, and Top Shop for a bit and had the most amazing homemade ice cream at the popular Hanabatake ice cream shop. Later that night we met up with everyone at the Tokyo Marriot and went to Muse night club in Roppongi district.
o Day 3: Most of the day was spent walking around the Ginzu district of Tokyo. We visited the Sony Showroom where we tested soon to be released electronics like 3-D Home TVs and Playstation consoles and superior quality digital SLRS. After dinner, Amy, Emily, Stephanie and I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kobe and stayed in Green Hill Hotel because we all had Semester at Sea field trips the next day.
o Day 4: Spent the morning walking around Kobe and visited the Ikuta Jinja (Shinto) Shrine in Kobe. In the evening, I saw a theatre performance in Gion Corner with Semester at Sea. The performance including a tea ceremony, Koto music, Japanese flower arrangement, Gagaku (court music), Kyogen (comic play) and Kyomai (Kyoto style dance) performed by Japanese Geishas.
o Day 5: Visited the Gin Ju hot spring bath house in Arima, Kobe and had Kobe beef in a restaurant in Arima.
• Other places to visit: Hiroshima, Mt. Fuji, Fish market in Tokyo, Golden Temple in Kyoto, Zen Temple near Kobe
Japan is a beautiful fusion of both old and new, tradition and innovation. Arima and Gion Corner represent traditional Japanese culture while Tokyo serves as the epicenter of cultural and technological innovation. Verbs that describe Japan: Three C’s and a P:
• Conservative (& somewhat contradictory). Japan is very much a patriarchal society where women are very submissive and lower their voice a few octaves when talking to men. From the Toto toilets w. sound mufflers and deafening silence prevalent on all trains, it is clear that Japanese people are extremely private. Yet at the same token, the fashion, especially all over Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku districts) is very loud and electric. Both male and female fashion showed signs of a definite hip-hop/rock influence. Guys wore baggy jeans with Nike dunks and disheveled hair and girls were unapologetically sexy in very short skirts/shorts, printed stockings (some w. garters), and high heels/stilettos.
• Communal—The Japanese certainly seem to adhere to the “it takes a village” idea of child rearing. While on the bullet train a young girl ran down the aisle and was stopped by an older woman. While the older woman was not related to her, she picked her up and sat her on her lap and pacified her. The girl’s mother, sitting two aisles away looked over and smiled, thanking the woman with a head nod. They sat like this for a couple hours. I remember thinking, this would rarely happen in the United States. People are extremely individualistic in the States and there is always an underlying fear of child abduction. There isn’t the same level of trust as there is in Japan. The hot spring bath house experience in Arima, Kobe served as another striking example of Japan’s communal nature. One must be completely bare skinned in the bath house, no bathing suits were allowed. My friends and I, along with older Japanese women undressed together in the locker room and then entered a separate bathhouse where we washed and then got into the hot spring jaccuzi. At first it was a bit awkward getting completely undressed together, however after a while we completely let go of our inhibitions and got over the fact that we were completely naked. The hot spring and sauna were extremely relaxing. Although it may sound clichéd, I truly found the entire experience to be very liberating.
• Courtesy- Everywhere we went, people would stop everything they were doing to help show us the way. If we asked someone for directions and they didn’t know, they would find someone who could help us. In Arima, we had trouble finding a good Kobe beef place that also offered vegetarian options. We walked into a pricey Kobe beef restaurant and talked to the owner in order to investigate their offerings. The restaurant had very few vegetarian options and was way out of our price range. Despite the fact that we were clearly not going to eat at his establishment, the owner not only helped locate a good, affordable restaurant, but also left his restaurant to walk us there to make sure we didn’t get lost. When we were there, he then preceded to help us order as the menus were in Japanese. He even negotiated with the chef in order to get me a smaller cut of Kobe beef steak for a better price. After our meal, he then served as a translator for Neha and I as we interviewed one of his employees. I’ve never experienced such above and beyond courtesy in my life. How ironic that Japanese treat American foreigners with such courtesy yet Americans are often extremely rude to foreigners.
• Perfectionist- The Japanese believe that food should look good as good as it tastes. This was very evident in all of the department store markets we visited. Each food counter boasted amazingly beautiful food displays. Japanese people are also very hard workers. No matter what the job, people did their job to the best of their ability.
• New food loves: Japanese sweets and desserts are the BEST. Strawberry Pocky sticks, mochie filled w. sweetened bean paste, Kinotoya egg custard, and Hanabatake icecream.
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