Japan

    The past few days on the ship have been quite hectic as the semester is winding down, but nowhere near as hectic as my five days in Japan were. In 5 days I traveled to five different cities and there were miles of walking, not much sleep, and a lot of sightseeing. For the first time in months, the Explorer docked in a country that is considered "1^st world" and it was strange to be in a place that was so developed, both economically and culturally. I guess it was a good primer for coming back to the States in just a couple weeks. Despite being so developed and modern, Japan is rich in culture and tradition. For example, even aboard the trains, the crew would bow upon entering and exiting each car, as a sign of respect to the passengers. At the same time, Japan is an extremely formal culture. Every male in this society wears a full suit, day in and day out. I constantly felt underdressed in Japan.

    Anyway, here's the rundown…

Day 1: We were welcomed onboard the ship by a group of Japanese students and a group of Japanese drummers. The performance was amazing and after they exchanged gifts with the officers and captain of the ship and some of the administration of Semester at Sea, it was our first glimpse at the level of respect that the Japanese have for us as visitors to their country. Even before we got off the ship we felt welcomed by Japan. Once we did get off, we spent a chaotic afternoon picking up our Japan Rail Passes and getting tickets to head out to Tokyo that evening. After standing in lines and running around to different train stations, we boarded the bullet train to Tokyo in the early evening. As you might expect by the name, these things are fast. I don't recall the exact speed, but I know it was well over 100 mph. Not only that, but throughout my travels in Japan, they served as the best place to sleep because the chairs were so comfortable and the leg room was unmatched by any other form of transportation.

    Anyway, we got to Tokyo in a little over three hours and set out on a mission to find some authentic Japanese dinner, and boy did we. Slava, Ali, Sashia and I ended up at a restaurant where we had to take our shoes off and sit on the floor to eat our tamporo and noodles. After our dinner, we headed towards Tokyo Tower, which is the highest steel structure in the world at 320 meters (yep, higher than the Eiffel Tower). We took the elevator to the observatory and then up even further to the special observatory for some incredible night views of the city of Tokyo.

    Our plan for staying overnight was to find what is called a "manga" café. More or less, these are internet cafes that are open around the clock and offer rates that you can sleep over in some really comfy leather chairs. For $12, it was the most economical choice for staying the night. The only problem was that these places improved impossible to find and after walking around the city for about 3 hours, we finally settled in to a café around 11:30pm. We planned on getting some sleep so we would be all ready for a full day in Tokyo, but when you live on a ship where internet is 30 cents a minute, unlimited internet is really attractive. That and sleeping in a place with lights and music on is not the easiest thing. Needless to say, I think I got about an hour and a half of sleep before we got up early to go to the fish market.

Day 2: Five AM rolled around real quick and we all headed out of the café and got on the subway to go to the largest fish market in Japan, and probably one of the largest in the world. Although we were all half asleep, the place was pretty amazing. We saw Tunas worth over $10,000 being traded and cut up, not to mention every sort of fish, octopus and other sea creatures all being put up for sale to the hundreds if not thousands of restaurants in Tokyo. They use these little flat bed trucks that zip around the narrow aisles of the market and I could have sworn I was about to be run over at least a dozen times in the short time that I was there.

    After roaming the fish market for a while, we set out to find some breakfast before heading to the Imperial Palace. We found that the only thing open was the fine establishment of David and Deluca's and killed an hour or so there while waiting for the palace to open at 8:30. The imperial palace is still a functioning complex and we found out that we were not actually allowed to go in. However, the surrounding grounds act as an oasis in the middle of the city and the area is wide open and quite large. We spent a while just sitting in the grounds, taking it all in and watching as the everyday life of Tokyo buzzed around us.

    The rest of the day we spent visiting different districts of Tokyo and in mid afternoon we took the train back to Kobe to spend the night on the ship. We were all quite exhausted from lots and lots of walking and lack of sleep, so the Explorer was a happy site at the end of the day.

Day 3: We caught a morning train to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Once there, we headed to a castle that we were able to walk through. Many of the shoguns of Japan ruled from this place and the artwork and architecture inside and outside of the castle are quite amazing. The hardwood floor inside was actually engineered to make the sound of a mockingbird under footsteps so that the shogun would know if someone had entered his castle. Four hundred years after being built, the floor still works and as we walked through the 30 rooms of the castle, we could hear the mockingbird chirping. Surrounding the castle are many gardens that are kept immaculate, we even saw a woman trimming blades of grass by hand.

    After touring the castle, we headed to the golden pavilion; a shrine that (as you may have guessed) is covered completely in gold. Like the castle, the shrine was surrounded by beautiful gardens. From the pavilion, we took the city bus to the Ito district, which has been left relatively untouched since ancient times. The narrow streets were lined with wooden buildings built in traditional Japanese architecture. We walked a little ways out of the district to a 5^th floor restaurant that overlooked the city for a late lunch. Following lunch, we headed back to the train station and got on a train to Osaka.

    Once in Osaka, we headed out on a planned walking tour that we had found in one of our guide books. The first stop was the floating garden observatory, a skyscraper that consists of two towers connected in the middle by a donut shaped observatory. It's difficult to describe, but the view from the top was quite incredible. Osaka is a city that is divided by many canals and waterways and it was an incredible site to see the sun setting over the waterways and the skyscrapers of the city. After coming back down, we walked towards Hep Five, a giant ferris wheel in the middle of the city. We took a ride that lasted a good 20 minutes because this thing is so big and had another great view of the city. I'm not sure what it is about Asia and ferris wheels, but I think that each of the last four countries we have been to have had a giant ferris wheel.

    We next headed toward a district that is famous for its many restaurants. On the subway, we met a Japanese man who was actually raised in SoCal and had recently moved back to Japan. He talked to us for a while and was nice enough to bring us to the restaurant we had been looking for. This area of Osaka was plastered in neon billboards and huge crowds of people. It really looked like the Japan you see on TV. At the center of these advertisements and billboards was a 3 or 4 story tall poster of Dice-K…Go Sox! After dinner, we headed back to the train station to take a train back to Kobe for the night.

Day 4: I was excited about this day for quite some time as it was the day the four of us were headed to Hiroshima. We arrived early in the morning and after standing in line to buy tickets for the Hiroshima Carps baseball game that afternoon, we headed to the A-Bomb Dome, which is right across the street from the baseball stadium. This is one of the only remaining buildings standing after the A-Bomb was dropped and it stands as both a memorial and reminder to the world of the dangers of nuclear war. While at the dome, we were approached by a man who said he was a survivor of the bomb and was now a free tour guide. He was in his mother's womb when the bomb went off and experienced many health problems as a child from the radiation. He showed us around to some of the sites that we would have never caught had he not shown us. Among these were the hypocenter of the bomb (where it was actually dropped) and a statue that displayed the shadow left by the blast. It was a surreal experience standing in the space right below where the Atomic bomb exploded.

    The guide gave us a great tour throughout the Peace Park, which is an incredible memorial, and left us at the museum. The museum was an incredibly moving experience and probably hit me harder than anything I have seen thus far on the voyage. The four of us did not speak one word or take one picture for the time we were in the museum. The artifacts, anecdotes, and photographs of this low point in history were shocking and heart-wrenching.

    After the emotional experience of the museum and Peace Park, it was certainly a good change of pace to head to a Japanese baseball game. The day was absolutely perfect for baseball, about 75 degrees and sunny. The Carps were taking on the Tigers, which are one of the most popular teams in Japan. Despite being the underdogs, we decided to support the Carps and all bought T-shirts. A Japanese baseball game is unlike anything I've seen before. The crowd is completely into it all nine innings. The stadium is divided perfectly in half between Carp and Tiger fans and the crowd conducts organized chants throughout the whole game. It's completely different from the atmosphere at an MLB game. Speaking of which, I can't wait to get home and watch baseball after hearing the Yankees are in the cellar and the Sox are tearing it up. After all was said and done, the Carps pulled out the upset and beat the Tigers 8-4.

Day 5: After four days of traveling, we were ready to spend the last day in Kobe. The first thing on the agenda…Kobe beef. Kobe is famous for its incredible beef. The difference comes from the way they raise their cows. By constantly massaging the cows and feeding them beer, the fat is evenly dispersed throughout the cow and the result….absolute heaven. Kobe beef is the most incredible thing to ever enter the confines of my oral orifice. It literally melts in your mouth. I could honestly go on for pages about how good it was, but I won't seeing this entry is already way too long. After lunch, Ali, Dan, and I went to a saki museum and brewery and took a little stroll alongside a river way that was lined with Japanese families enjoying the day. We then headed to an internet café, and then to dinner before heading back to the ship.

So we have completed our last foreign port and only a day in Hawaii stands between us and San Diego. Everyone on the ship is getting pretty emotional about leaving, as well as being stressed about end of the semester school work. It seems that everyone is bittersweet about going home, we are all excited to get back to our friends, families, and hometowns, but at the same time everyone is disappointed to leave such an incredible voyage.

     I probably won't post again til I'm back in Mass as internet minutes are running quite low, but maybe I'll get the chance to make a post in Hawaii.