A trip full of trains...

Japan was a blur. That’s the best way I can describe it. Five days of running around, seeing 7 cities, and having the time of our lives. Before we got to Japan, the twins, Pat, and us came up with a plan: to buy a rail pass and see as much as we can. And that’s exactly what we did. As soon as we arrived in Kobe, we headed to the train station. But not before we went through a rigorous immigration process that included getting our temperatures, fingerprints, and pictures taken, and we finally got off the ship at about noon. We exchanged a little money in the terminal and hopped on the monorail to go downtown to Sanomiya Station. Once we got there, we waited in line for almost an hour and a half to exchange our rail pass vouchers for an actual pass (you can’t buy a Japanese rail pass in Japan…you have to get a voucher in another country and then exchange it once you arrive). The line consisted of about 50 SASers trying to do the same thing and get out of Kobe. We started getting hungry while waiting in line, so we headed across the street to McDonalds (first time on the trip). It took us 20 minutes to order because they didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Japanese, and they kept mixing up our order. We finally got our food and paid almost $20 US for Pat and us to eat (oh yeah- if you didn’t already know, Japan is expensive!!!), and then we exchanged our passes. It took us a while to figure out which platform we were supposed to go to, but when we finally got on the train, it was awesome! It was called the shinkansen, or bullet train, and we were placed in the “silent car”, which is quiet- obviously. So we fell asleep right away and slept almost the whole two hours there. The time I did spend awake, I noticed how fast we were going. And it was fast. The countryside blurred past in a flash of green, broken up by the colorful cities. It felt like we were on an airplane- it was quiet, the pressure inside was different, and all we could see was the vastness of Japan, a few miles at a time. When we arrived in Hiroshima, we jumped on a cute little streetcar to go to the Peace Memorial Park. It was gorgeous. The first sight you see as you enter the park is the burned-out skeleton of the A-Bomb Dome sitting next to the river. It was eerie. Everything around the building was so beautiful, and this stood out like a weed in the middle of a garden, reminding everyone of the horrible events that had happened here. We took a few pictures and walked over the bridge to visit the museum. The city reminded me so much of a little New England town, where its citizens ride their bikes around, and everyone knows your name. It was quaint and peaceful and lovely. We stopped at the children’s memorial first which is very sad. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the story about the little girl who developed cancer as a result of the radiation from the bomb, and she thought that if she made 1,000 origami cranes, she would get better. Well, she ended up passing away, but her classmates erected this memorial for her and all of the other children who died or suffered during this time as a reminder that it should never happen again. It was a really nice memorial, and they had little glass booths that held all of the paper cranes that were sent from children around the world.

Walking across the street, we were in the epicenter of the memorial park. A long reflecting pool led up to the museum, dotted along the way with quotes from world leaders and a plea to never let this happen again. At the end of the pool, there was a box, and it held every single name of the dead in a registry, And it was not a small box. We walked to the museum and paid about 50 yen to get in. The museum was different than I thought it would be. More sad in some parts, more resilient and forgiving in others. In the first part, they had videos playing with footage of the bomb from the Enola Gay, and a complete military history of Japan from the early 19th century up until WWII. In the second part, there were boards talking about the atomic bombs themselves, how they are made, the Cold War, etc. And they had a globe that showed who has nuclear weapons now, and the U.S. had the most by far. How can we say we’re a peaceful nation and impose punishments on other countries when we are the ones with these deadly weapons? There have been many times on this trip that I have been less-than-proud to associate myself with our country. And there have been more times when I have been enthusiastic to tell others where I’m from. I think we’re headed in the right direction, but we have a lot of work to do, and that’s definitely been a gift of this voyage: to look at the U.S. from an objective standpoint, and see both the good and the bad. Anyway, I’m getting off topic… The third part of the museum was the saddest. The entire thing was a gallery of the aftermath: burnt clothes, melted lunchboxes, statues of people with their skin melting off. They even had a stone step, found outside of a bank nearby, where there was a dark spot in the middle of the step, where a person had literally been disintegrated when the bomb went off. There was also a tricycle that looked like a clump of metal, and the story next to it said that a 3-yr old had been riding it when he was killed, and his dad buried the tricycle with his son in the backyard so he could still ride it in Heaven. It was all very raw and eye-opening. The greatest thing was the feeling I got from the museum- they weren’t pointing fingers or feeling sorry for themselves. They were merely asking that you take what you learned at the museum and remember that day so that it doesn’t happen to anyone else. They just want peace, and I thought that was very mature and wonderful of them, and I applaud the Japanese for their resiliency.

The museum closed at 6, so we walked outside and saw the SAS trip there. We talked to some of our friends and then got back on the streetcar to catch our train back to Kobe. We played a couple games and read on the way back, and made it back to the ship at about 9:30. We were all really hungry, so we went out to explore the city and get some food. We found it very hard to find a restaurant that we could eat at because no one had English menus, and we couldn’t tell what anything was by looking at the few pictures they had. We settled on a small pizza café and ate some delicious pizza and fries! We were excited because we were allowed to drink the water and eat whatever we wanted, so we did! We had some really good conversations, amused a few Japanese girls who were sitting next to us, and then went to a different café to get ice cream. The dessert café was playing 50’s doo-wop music, which we of course enjoyed, and we had a great time. We got back to the ship around 12:30 or 1, packed for the next day, and went to sleep.

We woke up at 6:30, got ready, had breakfast, and boarded the busses to go to Kyoto. This was one of our favorite SAS trips so far. We had a really nice (almost to the point of annoyance) guide named Miyo, and a lot of people were on the trip, including R2 and D2, the Wittwer-Dukes family, Kevin, Amy, and Ellie, and the twins and Pat. The drive to Kyoto was an hour and a half, and the first place we went was the Nijo Castle, which was the summer residence of a few emperors way back when. We walked around the grounds, saw the huge, decorated rooms indoors, and learned about the castle (for example- we learned that one of the emperors had “nightingale floors” put in that squeaked every time someone stepped on them to warn of intruders. It was quite annoying when we were all walking around trying to listen to the guide speak). We had a little free time at the end, and we headed over to see the cherry blossom garden. We were lucky enough to be in Japan during the cherry blossom season, which only lasts a few weeks, so all over the country, we saw unbelievably beautiful flowered trees everywhere we looked. We danced among the snow-like petals falling around us, took a ton of pictures, and basked in the glow of the breathtaking scenery. It was really special, and I can’t believe how beautiful Japan turned out to be! We got back on the bus and drove to the next destination, the Golden Pavilion. This was basically a really pretty garden surrounding a lagoon, and the pavilion was in the middle of it. We had a great time just walking around the gardens, talking and laughing, taking it all in. And yes, Dad, we did take time to stop and smell the roses- literally! The weather was great and we all just relaxed and enjoyed the gardens. After leaving there, it was time for lunch. We drove to a park where hundreds of locals were picnicking, and vendors were selling everything from green tea ice cream to fried lamb’s leg. We sat and enjoyed our boxed lunch from the ship (these are infamous around the ship- they consist of a hard-boiled egg, some kind of sandwich, a piece of banana bread or something similar, a Capri sun, and a chicken leg. Yes, a fried chicken leg in saran wrap. Everyone always jokes about these lunches, so it was a real “treat” to get to eat them in Kyoto. haha). So we ate and talked and got ice cream, and then it was time for yet another couple of destinations. This time it was to a Buddhist temple and the Heian Jingu Shrine, a garden featured in the movie Lost in Translation. Both were very pretty and serene- a poignant display of the culture of Japan all around us. The last place was definitely our favorite! We went to the Kiyomizu Temple, which sits atop a very high hill overlooking the city. Legend has it that men used to stand on the balcony and make a wish, and then jump. If they lived through the fall, their wish would come through. If not….well…you get the picture. Standing at the railing, I couldn’t see how anyone could survive, and thankfully, this is not in practice anymore. This temple was gorgeous and consisted of several buildings hidden among cherry blossom trees and other plants and flowers. We walked along the path, coming up to what looked like a man-made waterfall. We had been told by our guide that if you take a drink from this water, you would add ten years to your life, if you take two drinks, you add twenty, etc. So we decided to give it a try. We each stood in line and took a drink from the “magical” water. We’ll see if anything comes of it. Haha. We shopped a little bit on the way back down the hill and boarded the bus. We drove back to the ship, quickly gathered our things, had a ship dinner, and ran back out to make it to our train. The train to Osaka was uneventful, and we ended up standing almost the whole time. When we got there, we walked around for almost an hour trying to find our hotel, with our bags, and finally checked in a little before 10 o’clock. Our hotel turned out to be awesome! It was an apartment with two rooms, a living room, a small kitchen, a bathroom, a shower room, and a TV. They even offered free wi-fi! So we were really excited to be there, and we checked our e-mail and watched CNN until we got hungry and decided to find some food. However, this turned out to be not so simple. We must’ve walked around for about 45 minutes looking for a restaurant that didn’t close at 11 pm, and we were about to turn back when we found a small place that was open until 5 am. At first we thought it was because it was a men’s club, but it turned out to be just a restaurant. We ordered a few dishes, thinking we would split them, but it turned out that the portions were tiny, the chicken was either all-bone or all-breading, and we paid more than $40 US for nothing. We did have a good time, though, laughing almost the entire time, due in part to the fact that we were beyond exhausted. At one point Victoria, Kate, and I put chopsticks in our mouths and pretended we were walruses. Needless to say, we had a great time, and I’m sure the waiters were quite entertained! We left still hungry, though, so we stopped at a 7-11 (these are all over Japan), and got some snacks. We also got milk and cereal for the next day, and then we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next morning, we made ourselves breakfast in our little kitchen, called Mom and Dad & Kathy, and took the subway to the aquarium. It was such a neat little aquarium- not very big- but included a ton of different fish, seals, and penguins, and its claim to fame- the whale shark! We saw two of them, and they are gigantic! We took a few stupid pictures, and we even bought Ellie a little white seal that we named, “Sammy the Seal”. Yeah, we are so cool. After we finished at the aquarium, we rode the ferris wheel. It is one of the largest in the world, and it took us 15-minutes to get all the way around! Victoria and I were really scared, but it was so beautiful, and we could see the entire city from the top. We were again blessed with the clearest skies and warm temperatures, so it was a great ride! By the time we got down, we were hungry, so we ate at the food court in the attached mall, and of course got some Haagen-Dazs ice cream before going to the train station. We played word games until we were able to board the shinkansen to Tokyo. Once we arrived there, we were extremely exhausted, and really weren’t looking forward to walking around trying to find our hotel. And then the best thing happened- we walked up the stairs from our train and ran into our hotel! It was on top of the train station and it was really nice- a 4-star hotel! We were so happy, AND we were on the 24th floor so we could see a lot of Tokyo!! So we checked in, took showers, got dressed up, and went out to explore the town. We actually ended up eating at a Chinese restaurant called The Giant Panda because we couldn’t tell what anything was in Japanese, and the menu at this restaurant was in English. It was really good, and we ended up turning it into a 3-hr dinner. Once we were full, we went to find karaoke. We wanted to find a karaoke bar, where we could sing in front of locals and make fools of ourselves, but it turns out that all they have in Japan are these places with a bunch of rooms, and you go in and sing with your friends. So we paid a ridiculous amount of money to go into this tiny room and sing, “Hit Me, Baby, One More Time” and Frank Sinatra Medleys until we lost our voices. Don’t worry, we got a lot of it on video, and Pat took enough embarrassing pictures of us to go around! It was a lot of fun, and we left extremely hyper, yet still delirious from lack of sleep. We got ice cream and walked around some more, bumping into other SASers here and there, until we called it a night and went back to the hotel.

Our second day in Tokyo, we woke up early, packed, and spent $14 US on Krispy Kreme! It was so worth it, though ☺ Kate had a phone interview for a peer minister position at the Wesley Foundation at her school, so she called from a pay phone while the rest of us hung out and walked around. Once she was finished (she said it went really well), we found a park to go hang out in. It was the cutest little scene- it reminded us of Central Park in NYC, and there were hundreds of families picnicking under the breathtaking cherry blossoms, children running around piercing the quiet beauty with their squeals and giggles. We walked almost the whole way through the garden, passing young couples by the pond and businessmen taking their lunchtime naps in the shade, and we left feeling refreshed and relaxed. We got lunch before taking the subway to the train station, and caught a short train to Yokohama. Just like in China, the ship left Kobe while we were in Osaka and sailed to Yokohama, where students who were traveling could meet it. We didn’t think it would take as long as it did to get back, and we ran to the ship to make it to our trip to the baseball game. Someone (I’m not mentioning names) from the field office was not a very nice person when we got there, and because of her, Stephanie and Victoria almost missed the game for no reason. Ask me to tell you the story later, it’s a good one. Well, we eventually made it to the game before it started, went back out to get food, and then cheered our hearts out for the Yokohama Bay Stars. If you didn’t know, baseball games in Japan are very different than the ones in the U.S., and a lot more fun. While your team is up to bat, you cheer. And I mean cheer! There’s even a “leader” who conducts the crowd so everyone is saying the same thing and everyone knows the songs and cheers- much like a college football game. Everyone gets dressed up and waves bats and gloves and flags in the air. It is SO much fun, and we cheered along, even though everything was in Japanese. Plus, they started playing the YMCA near the end of the game, so, obviously, Kate and I started dancing. And we looked up at the screen, and we were on it!! About half of SAS was there, not to mention half of Yokohama as well, so everyone saw us dancing up on the big screen. We are now famous in Japan, so you might want to get our autographs now before we hit it big time. Haha. It was a lot of fun! After the game, we were about to leave when we were stopped by a couple guys asking us if we were on SAS. We said yes, and they started talking to us. They told us they were Navy officers stationed here, and we stayed and talked to them for almost an hour. They invited a few of us to go out with them, so we did. They took us to a speakeasy-type place under a store, which was so cool! You had to pick up a phone outside, tell them how many people you had, and then knock on a mirror/desk inside and it would open to let you in. Even the bathroom once inside was hidden- you had to turn a knob on a sewing machine and a panel would swing out from the wall to let you in. It turned out to be really fun, and we talked for a couple hours over sangria. We were exhausted, so we exchanged e-mails and walked back to the ship. It was great to be able to talk to Americans who weren’t on SAS…haven’t done that in a long time! They were the nicest guys and had some great stories to tell. All in all, it was a fabulous evening!

The next morning, the five of us woke up, got breakfast, and headed out early to go once again to the train station. We had one goal in mind: to see Mt. Fuji. So we had to ask about three different people how to get there because they kept telling us different things, and by the time we actually figured out which trains to take, we hopped on, and rode the almost two hours to the little town in the valley of the volcano. We ate at a cute little café that had statues of cats everywhere (strange, I know, but we were in heaven. haha), and had amazing dessert. By the time we got done, it was after one o’clock, and we were running out of time. We started walking up the road toward Mt. Fuji, so at least we could try to find somewhere to take a picture in front of it, and we ended up walking for about twenty minutes. At 1:30, we realized we’d have to turn back to make it back by on-ship time, and we were nowhere near the mountain, so we went to the highest thing we could see- a parking garage- and climbed to the top. We took a few pictures and admired it from afar, and that was the extent of our trip to M. Fuji! We took the long train ride back, even more exhausted now, and went through another face-to-face passport check before getting back on the ship. Thankfully, post-port reflections were set for the following night, so we were able to have a nice dinner and then go straight to sleep!

Leaving Japan was surreal because it was our last real port…our last exotic place. Not to mention, we hadn’t had more than five classes in the past month, and now we had to go back to an A/B schedule for the nine-day trip to Hawaii! Real life was beginning again, and we were anxious about everything that had to be done (and there was a LOT). There was a change in the mood of the community. You could tell that the end was drawing near, and that any mentions of going back to the U.S. were getting more common as soon as we pulled away from the dock. But we are looking forward to all the fun things coming up…and we still have Hawaii and Guatemala before arriving in Ft. Lauderdale. Asia definitely had an impact on all of us- physically, mentally, emotionally, and we will all miss it a lot! But we’re looking forward to going back and seeing more!

Miss you and love you all!

Sarah and Kate