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Japan
April 11, 2008
Welcome to Japan!!We have arrived and what a welcome it was!!Japan really knows how to welcome their visitors to their country. As we were pulling into the port at 8AM, a ship out in the harbor was welcoming us by spraying his fire hoses at our ship!Even better, as we got to the Kobe Terminal station, the local fire department band was playing music for us!It was such a great sight to see and hear as we pulled into our next country of port.
Well, as you know, as we arrive in each country, we have to go through some immigration procedures and Japan really put us to the TEST today.First order of business, temperature checks of all shipmates!!The health and safety department from Japan came on the ship and set up their HIGH TECH temperature reading radar gun and read everyone's temperature as we walked by their station.Since we just came from China, they wanted to make sure no one was bringing in any diseases from our travels, can't blame them.
After the temperature check, the fun began.The RD's had to head to the terminal building and distribute passports as normal, but this time with a twist.The Japan immigration and customs wanted everyone to pick up their passports from us and then have a 1-1 face to face inspection with the immigration officer.During that meeting, we had our finger prints taken and another photograph taken of us for their records before Japan would stamp our passports and allow us into their country.The entire process took about 4 hours and we finally had the ship cleared for everyone to leave by Noon.It was a process, that was for sure.
The money that we used in Japan is the Yen.$1 is about 100 Yen.Things are pricy here, but not too bad.A coke from a vending machine would cost you about 125 Yen…and the cost on the train to the center city is 200 Yen one way.
After my immigration work, I headed to the center city to visit and take care of some errands in the city.The first thing I noticed about Japan is how clean and safe the place is.It is just amazing to see how nothing is on the floor, the lack of graffiti on the streets and how well dressed the people of Japan are.Everything is pretty much written in Japanese, and I would say barely no one speaks English, so getting around and speaking to others is a bit challenging.We learned to point to things on menus and to try to make things as easy as possible for them and us.
We are in Kobe, Japan the place were a large earthquake destroyed the city about 15 years ago, I believe.It is remarkable on how fast and how rebuilt the city is and you would not even know that there was a large earthquake here.
April 12, 2008
This morning I was heading for an overnight stay in Hiroshima, Japan.About 35 students and I headed out around 8 AM to catch our bullet train from Kobe to Hiroshima.The bullet train was a great experience and awesome train ride.The train goes about 285 km/h and is very nicely set up with large seats and windows.The train ride was about 90 minutes, compared to a 6 hour bus ride.
As we arrived in Hiroshima, we knew it was going to be an interesting experience to be in the city of the Atomic Bomb, more of that to come.Our first order of business was to head to the Miyajima-guchi island.On the island we visited the Itsukushima Shrine and had time to explore the island. The Shrine was so beautiful with their Japanese architecture and bright colors.On the island there were many deer just walking around.Yep, deer.. they walk around with you on the island and live there.They like to be pet and fed by the people and really enjoy the attention of everyone!!They were pretty fun to be near and have around.On the island, there was a lot of shopping places and great street food to eat.Oysters, sushi, fish and some other interesting meats were being served on the street, which was all great to eat.
After our visit to the Island, we headed back to the mainland and went to our hotel in Hiroshima.As usual, Semester at Sea took very good care of us and put us up in a very nice hotel!!I do have to tell you about one thing you may find interesting, the toilets.Well in Asia, you find many of the squatter type of toilets, but our hotel had a Western Style toilet, but very high tech!The toilet seat had a temperature warmer to heat up the seat, which was fun.. but the best part was the other contraption it had.After you are done with your business, you have the option to have a nice little water pressure hit your little but and other areas to clean you off.You get to decide on the water pressure, the temperature and how you would like the water to spray you.It was really fun to see this on the toilets in Japan!!
After a nice little nap for about an hour it was time for dinner, Japanese style.We did not get to eat off the floor, but we had a 9 course Japanese meal with Sushi, chicken, beef, rice, noodles and tempura.All of the food was very good.I tried the sushi, from shrimp, to salmon, to eel and other fishes I did not recognize.I really had a great time at dinner and enjoyed having some sushi from Japan!!
After dinner a bunch of the students and myself went out to the Karaoke bar downtown and this was a blast.First of all, you need to know how the Japanese do Karaoke here, it is not like what we do in the state.The Japanese way that they like to have fun with Karaoke is that they have these private rooms that you rent out.They range in size, depending on your party and have couches, a table, the TV, very loud stereo system and everything else you would need to getyour Karaoke party going.So here we are, 8 Americans renting out a Karaoke room to sing Karaoke to each other, with no one else around.Yep.. very true.And you know what, we had a BLAST!!I think the best part of the night was when the locals started running around to different rooms and found us Americans and decided to knock on our door and join us for some fun.Yeah, they were a blast to have around and to be with them experiencing their culture of fun.
April 13, 2008
It is better to forgive, to be able to move on in life.
That was our lesson for today!!
Today was a very powerful and intense day for us.Today we went to ground zero of Hiroshima were the Atomic Bomb was dropped!Yeah, that is right, right to the place were the Americans dropped the bomb.It was a bit weird, uncomfortable and intense to be in this exact place were the bomb actually hit, killing thousands of Japanese and destroying their entire city and country!!
Being there today, to see how beautiful the city has become, to see how much they have grew and to see how peaceful they want life was just a surreal moment.In Hiroshima, there is a large park dedicated to the Atomic Bombing incident.There is the Atomic Dome Building, which is still standing exactly as it stood from the day the bomb hit the city, as the center of the memorial park.There is the peace clock, that rings everyday at 8:15 am to remind everyone in Hiroshima about building peace in the world.There is the peace bell, that visitors and locals can ring as they please when they visit to symbolize the peace we have for Japan.
Then there is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, probably the place that hit most of us today as a bit reflection time.We spent about 2 hours walking around the museum learning more about the Atomic Bomb, the city of Hiroshima and how it affected the people of the city when the bomb hit them.It was very sad to see the pictures of the burning bodies, the children and families suffering from the radiation and the extreme blasts of heats that hit them.It was sad to see the clothing, the materials from the city, the pieces of the buildings, to hear the stories for the victims all come alive for us during our visit.
Our lesson today from the Japanese, is that they are very peaceful people.They do not want any harm from others, they do not want others to fall victims of nuclear bomb in the future either.Talking to some of the locals today really hit us as they knew we were Americans.There big speech to us was that in life we need to forgive to be able to move on in life.It is not about forgetting about bad incidents, it is about forgiving that makes us moral to the fact that something bad did happen and I forgive you for it and now we just need to move on.If we forget about bad situations, then we can say that they never happened and that we did not learn something from that experience.
The park was just so peaceful, so clean, so beautiful, so intense of history, sadness, and power.Here was city that 60 years ago was destroyed to crumbles and here I am on standing on ground zero paying tribute to the many lives they lost in the bombing.
It was a very powerful day today, one that I will not forget.In comparison to the being in Vietnam, I would say I felt more appreciated to be in Japan and Hiroshima, than I did in Vietnam.It is interesting to see how each country has their own feelings and thoughts to Americans and the things that have occurred between us and the countries in the past.
April 14, 2008
Last day in Japan.. I wish I had more time here to do other things, but I think I will come back to Japan in the future!!This afternoon, I went back downtown with a few of the residents just for some shopping and wondering around the city.We took the train back to the city center and just walked around.Even though we cannot read one sign or speak to anyone, it is just a peaceful place to be, and very safe.
Lunch was fun… we ended up going to a Kobe Steakhouse and had Kobe Steak cook for us right in front of us on the stove.The meat was so tender and light and we all loved it.The Kobe beef is supposed to be one of the best meats in the world.Apparently they treat the cows very well on how they feed them and massage them to make their meat nice and tender.Whatever they have done to these cows it was well worth it as the meat was very good.
After lunch we just wondered around the town and stopped in the local bakeries to try some of the Japanese style desserts and pastries.Oh yes, they were good that you could not just have one!!
Well, nothing big today, just some local sightseeing and relaxing.I am tired from all of the long days and nights of traveling and am just relaxing before I have to head down to the gangway to work tonight.Time to wrap up Japan, get our students on board and begin our first trek across the pacific to head to Hawaii.
Well, here we go, only 27 more days left and most of the trip is completed and we will now be at sea for majority of the time to get back to the USA.Everyone is in a bitter sweet time of their life, anticipating what it will be like to reenter the USA, to get back ?Willyou have the time to hear our stories, our tales, our experiences not just for 5 minutes, but for hours and hours… there is so much that we all have done, have seen, have been taught, have taught others and have changed in so many ways.Going back home is going to be interesting, stressful, sad happy, scary and so many other feelings are going to head our way.Being in Japan and knowing that we are almost done with one the best experiences in our lives is a pretty awkward moment, sharing things with people we just met a few months ago.
We have survived and now comes the hard part for the next two weeks… getting ready for finals, reflection, reentry, returning back to normal life… what is like again… it will be interesting.
But for now, let's just sail across the pacific and begin the journey and see where it will take us.
Have fun and talk to you soon.
Keep in touch.
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