Days 78-82. JAPAN

JAPAN

 

 

Japan had it all. From some of the most cultural experiences I’ve had on the voyage, to whirlwind travel, earth-shattering realizations, and just plain fun. Throughout the 5 days I spent in Japan, I learned more about the country than I thought possible, and equally as much about myself.

 

We arrived on the western coast of the island-nation of Japan, in the port city of Kobe (prounounced KO-bay). We had arrived in the peak of “sakura” season, the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. All throughout the country, cherry blossoms were coming out of the trees, making every patch of tree-bearing earth look like a photograph. Like the national mall in DC in April, it was mesmerizing.

 

Early in the morning on day 1, Japanese custom officers boarded the ship for the first display of superior Japanese technology. Every passenger- students, life long learners, faculty, and staff ,had to have their temperature taken prior to entering the country. Normally this would take an extremely long time; however, customs simply brought an infrared camera up to the faculty staff lounge, and one-by-one, we walked right in front of it. It could sense our temperature, and alert officials if it was too high.

 

I was allowed to disembark the ship first, since I was part of SAS’s famous “Kobe Homestay” program. This is consistently one of the highest rated programs on every voyage it appears, and I understand why. There were only 35 spots, and I was lucky enough to get one of them. After clearing customs, the 35 of us went to the lower level of the port terminal and waited for our homestay families. All at once, a large group of Japanese families entered, and formed a circle, unfurling signs with “WELCOME <NAME>.” I looked around, searching for my name, and found it, written in typical Japenese style: “Konichiwa Lessans Gregory!”

 

And there my family was: Mama Naori, and the 4 kids, 3 boys and the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. Tatsuhiro was 11, Matsahiro was 9, Akihiro was 6 and cute little Ayano was 4. Naori spoke broken English, but was so happy to have me. Her kids were shy at first, but as soon as I picked up Akihiro and put him on my shoulders, that was it. They were in love, and I was a camp counselor/ jungle gym for the next 48 hours. We played games in the terminal with all of the families, and they taught us different dances and sayings before we all went our separate ways. Me and my family went into the garage into the big family van and headed to their home about a half-hour away.

 

The first thing I noticed was how distinctly Japanese Japan was. It sounds silly, but in so many countries that I have traveled, many facets of culture are reminiscent of home in the US. Not in Japan; the songs on the radio were in Japanese, the signs were in Japanese, everything was in Japanese. It was unnerving, but great! We arrived at my family’s house, a 2-floor condo-type dwelling right off a main drag in their town. The area reminded me of San Francisco with its rolling hills and beautiful scenery.

 

            When I got to the house, I walked in, and all of a sudden, everyone started screaming. I stopped dead in my tracks, unable to figure out what the hell was going on. Naori pointed at my shoes- I forgot to take them off! You NEVER wear shoes inside ANYWHERE in Japan, and I had totally forgotten. They couldn’t stop laughing; I assume it’s the equivalent of some of our cultural Faux Pas in the US. “Domo! Domo! Domo!” I yelled, the Japanese word for “Excuse me! I’m sorry!” They just couldn’t stop laughing at my silly American ways.

 

            After we dropped my stuff off ,we went to the grocery store where we bought boxed lunches and drinks, and then headed to the local park to play out in the sunshine for the entire afternoon. There, we sat and ate on the grass under the cherry blossoms, and met up with 2 other homestay families. We shared, in broken English where we lived, what we thought of Japan, and our hobbies. After, we played baseball, soccer, and catch for hours. It was a great afternoon.

 

            That night, a few of the homestay families got together to have one big dinner for a few of us. We made Okonomiake, a delicious meat-pancake, and tons of other types of food. I ate until I couldn’t eat anymore, and was then surprised when the man of the house came in and yelled, “OKAY! TALENT SHOW!!!” to the roaring applause of the 20 other people there. I was forced to do something, so I whipped out some magic tricks for the much-loving Japanese crowd. We were the center of attention, it was great.

 

            Now. Before I continue, I have to fill you in on something. Before we get to each port here on Semester At Sea, our field office distributes special “port information pamphlets.” These spiral binders are great things to read before entering the destination country, and have all types of information; currency, customs, greetings, handshakes, electricity- basically anything you need to know BEFORE you arrive. As usual, I found myself reading this pamphlet on Japan a few days before arrival and I got to the part on homestays. “Most homestay families will require you take a bath before bed. You should be alerted that Japanese baths are much different from what you are used to, they-“ and then all of a sudden… “Hey Greg!” It was my friend across the lounge. “We’re going to get dinner, come on!” I closed the book and never finished the page.

 

            Back to the story. At about 10 pm, home safe and sound, Naori approaches me and says: “okay Gregory, you take bath first!” All of a sudden, my time reading that pamphlet came flying back to me. WHAT DID IT SAY!?!? I couldn’t remember a word, I wished I had finished that paragraph. I run upstairs and look in. Sure enough, there’s a tub with green water, a nozzle, a shower above it, and 3 or 4 bowls on the ground. There are knobs and dials that I have never seen. ‘SHIT!’ I think to myself. I look at Matsahiro, the 9 year old, who senses my confusion. I shrug, as if to indicate “what do I do?” He laughs at me. No dice. Finally, the solution comes to me: I run back downstairs and grab my laptop. I practically throw the 6 year old across the room to access the internet cable which I plug into the side of my laptop. www.google.com. Search: Japanese Style Bath.

 

            Ahhhhh. Revelation. There, listed in 10 easy steps on WikiHow.com, is a full description of what to do. I read the list, now relaxing from my panic attack, quiz myself, and then go upstairs and enjoy one of the most luxurious baths I’ve ever had! In case you’re wondering, the process involves soaking, washing, soaking, rinsing, soaking, washing, rinsing again, all with different parts of the shower and bath. Once I got the hang of it, it was great.

 

 

            The next day was spent with the homestay family, eating, relaxing, and trying on kimonos at their friend’s house ( I looked goo-ood). By the time 5pm rolled around, and it was time to drop me off at the ship, we all had tears in our eyes. In just 2 days, I had become very close to all of the kids and they were reluctant to let me leave. They watched as I got on the ship, and then I ran up to the 5^th deck (the lifeboat deck) and reached over the side yelling “sayonara!!” Finally they turned and headed toward the car. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

 

 

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Back on the ship, I had to move on from my homestay experience quickly. The ship was sailing at 2100 hours (9 PM) from Kobe up the coast to Yokohama. It was optional whether or not I wanted to sail with them, or meet the explorer up in Yokohama 3 days later. While I had planned to stay on land and travel, I was dead tired, and doubted my ability to navigate Japan coherently. Sitting at dinner, a few friends and I decided- that’s it. Let’s just GO. We decided we really wanted to go to Hiroshima, the port city in the south of Japan known primarily for the first atomic weapon used against humanity at the end of WW2. We searched hostelworld.com, and found a Ryokan- a traditional Japanese hotel 5 minutes south of the train station in Hiroshima. We booked it, and then realized it had a midnight curfew (also typical of traditional Japanese hotels). It was already 6pm, and would take a few hours to get to Hiroshima- and who knows how the trains run or when they run at all!? The race was on.

 

            We hopped a small monorail from the port terminal to Sanomyia Station in Kobe, where we quickly located a ticket office. Our first experience in a Japanese train station was beyond words. People, let me tell you, I have seen organization- but I have NEVER seen organization and efficiency like this. The train station was ultra modern and signs were everywhere (with English subtitles, thank Buddha). We found a train that ran south from Shin-Kobe station ( a few minutes away from where we were presently) and arrived in Hiroshima around 11 pm. But it was leaving in a few minutes, and we were all the way across town. We took it anyway, and RAN to a subway train to get us to our departure station. It was a scene from the movies, where we run down to the platform as the doors start to close. The 6 of us threw our hands between the doors, squeezing in just in the knick of time. The train pulled off and we couldn’t stop laughing. We made it to Shin-Kobe, and picked up our Shinkansen (High speed bullet train) south to Hiroshima, and 4 hours later, we were there.

 

            After we arrived, we dedicated a few minutes to procuring food and drinks for the night before searching for the hostel shy of the midnight curfew. We accomplished all 3, but barely made it to the hostel in time. We checked in at 11:45 by a pleasant non-English speaking Japanese woman who accidentally demonstrated her flatulent ability while we were standing in the lobby. She took us upstairs- and it was as traditional as it gets. A room with a straw-mat floor and 6 rolled-up futons. We stayed up late laughing, talking and sipping on Kirin Japanese beer, and then fell asleep- with the ship off the coast sailing north a few hundred miles away.

 

            We awoke early the next day and nabbed a street-car to the Hiroshima Peace Park, the hypocenter of the Atomic bomb blast that occurred there over 60 years ago.

 

            What followed was one of the most influential days of the voyage, and probably my life. What I found in Hiroshima, was a very human display of the destruction and casualty that the Atomic Bomb caused on civilians. Walking around on the bustling street corners, I could imagine the instant, the moment in time where everything in that city- and the world- changed forever.

           

            Most startling, however, was the message employed by the people of Hiroshima. Having left Vietnam a few weeks before, I had seen war memorials with a lot of hate in them. There is still a lot of anger towards America on the part of the Vietnamese, and that comes through in their monuments and museum exhibits. Certainly, with the first nuclear weapon used against civilians, I expected a similar experience, and I found myself shrinking in my shoes, embarrassed at my nationality in ground zero of the bomb.

 

            What we found was completely the opposite. There was no animosity. There was no anger. There was no demand for repercussion. There was no blame. In fact, the Japanese actually accepted some of the blame, calling the bomb “ a result of misguided Japanese imperialistic policies.”

 

            The entire park, the entire city, is just devoted to peace. Instead of asking why the bomb went off, they spend every ounce of their energy asking, how can we be sure it will never happen again. From the A-Bomb dome, one of the few remaining buildings from before the blast to the Cenotaph monument with the names of all 140,000 victims of the blast, to the eternal flame, which will remain lit until “all nuclear weapons are extinguished from the earth.” The museum was heart-wrenching and factual, and spent all of the time about the education of the damage that nuclear weapons can inflict on people. Normal people. Like the ones walking to work or to school in Hiroshima at 8:45 in the morning on August 6, 1945. People like me.

 

            My time in Hiroshima changed my perspective of war and violence forever. I had studied the end of WW2 many times, and had always had mixed feelings about the atomic bomb. I doubt any of us will ever know if it was, from a strategical standpoint, the “right thing to do.” But I can tell you, from standing in that city, from a human perspective, it will forever be the wrong answer. Hiroshima is a scary reminder of what can happen if cooler heads fail to prevail. More importantly, however, it’s a wonderful example of when the human spirit can prevail. Hiroshima today is beautiful, sprawling, and happy. It is developed and civilized, and was so wonderful just to stroll around. You know, when you’re in a place that you can immediately tell so much about… it was like that.

 

 

            We remained in Hiroshima until about 1PM, then caught a high-speed Shinkansen train north to our next destination: Tokyo.

 

            As I left Hiroshima behind, I remembered how close I was to never going at all, to staying on the ship. I’m so happy, and so proud of myself that I followed my gut. I will forever look at things differently from my day in the south of Japan.

 

 

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            Catherine, Tessa, Nancy, Nate, Chazz and I arrived by train to Tokyo at 1730 or so. Rested up from our train ride, we navigated the insanely complicated (but of course easily navigable) Tokyo subway to Akihabara, the sight of our residence for the night. We stayed in a “Capsule hotel” which is exactly like the title suggests. Created for business men who missed their last train out of the city, you don’t pay for a room, you pay for a… well, capsule. An enclosed shelf, if you will, with a mattress, pillow and sliding 2ft X 2 ft door at your feet. It also had some cool electronic additions, including a TV and clock alarm radio built in and accessible from the laying-down position. It was pretty out-of-this-world.

 

            Our night out was great. We met up with some other SASers, and ended up eating and walking around the nightlife district of Roppongi, before getting a Karaoke room until 5 AM. This is a common way to get a cheap hotel room, and a few of the girls who didn’t have a place to stay just slept in the Karaoke room before being kicked out when the place “closed” at 5 in the morning. This of course came after we sang our tails off… which was quite a sight to see.

 

            The rest of us with a capsule went back to the place and crashed for the night.

 

            In the morning of day 4, I met up with Kara, and together with a few others, we toured through downtown Tokyo all day. We took the subway to the central stop and locked our big backpacks in lockers at the station. We toured through the imperial palace, a kind-of island within the city where all of the old Japanese emperors held their court. It was an amazing sight to see.

 

            That night, after relaxing for awhile in a coffee bar, Kara and I met up with 25 other Jewish SASers for an evening I’ll never forget. It was the 2^nd night of Passover, and the Tokyo JCC decided to invite us to come to their Seder, held in the American Embassy. The Jewish community was made up of some of the nicest people ever, who were so interested in our journey and the differences between our observance and theirs. Among native Japanese Jews, there were those who emigrated from the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and Korea. We had a great Seder, with all-you-can-drink ‘Yarden’ red wine. By the time we had to leave, we didn’t want to. Still, the 25 of us headed to Yokohama by train (about 45 minute subway ride), where the Ship had docked at earlier that day. We arrived and boarded the explorer, and collapsed in content sleep from my 4 days in Japan.

 

            The final day, I layed low. Having accomplished more in 4 days than I had in most any other country, Jill, Caroline and I hung around Yokohama. We went around the port to the parks and city streets all day long, enjoying our last taste of Japan and land for that matter before taking off across the pacific for a 9 day journey to Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

            My time in Japan was inexplicable, though I hope I got some of it out on paper here. As it was our last Asian port, we had a lot of pressure to make this the best stop yet, and I can say that I accomplished it. From sleeping on the floor of a Japanese family’s house, to the traditional Ryokan in Hiroshima to a capsule hotel in Tokyo… to sporadically navigating among four Japanese cities, I had the most incredible time.

 

            Japan is a demonstration of when things go right. At the end of the 1940s, China and Japan both found themselves in a state of failure compared to the West. China decided to look inward for the solution, and went back to its roots to build up its society. As a result, the country struggled in totality for 40 years before adopting capitalism and turning a corner in the last 30… still, though, it wrestles with an unrepresentative form of government. Japan, on the other hand, looked outside its borders for the answers. It sent representatives to countries like the US, Canada, the UK to learn how they did things. With that empirical knowledge, Japan synthesized it with a culture that has existed since the dawn of time… and as a result, its prospered. The people enjoy a large per-capita GDP, have excellent health and infrastructure (way better than the US), and their economy (besides the recent worldwide slump) has gone sky-high.

 

            Most importantly, though, were the people. I have NEVER met friendlier, more eager to help people in my life. Through language and cultural barriers alike, their obsession for respect and responsibility shines through. All you had to do is look confused in public, and somebody would come up to you and help. And I’m not kidding. It’s that real.

 

            I’m truly privileged for having spent my time in Japan. It was an experience I’ll never forget. I hope to get back soon, I really, really do.

 

Greg