Day 1: The first day was mostly made up of travel by plane and train. The main thing I noticed was the small changes Japan has to increase quality of life. The convinience stores have good, hot food, the trains stop slower and more fluidly, the vending machines have tons of options.
The hostel is really really nice. The whole place looks really nice and has breakfast, a hot tub, and really comfy beds. Our room has a super cool view of Tokyo, and it really reminds me of the water tower in Chicago. The amount of similarities I see between Tokyo and Chicago really surprise me. Everytime we see a new place in my head I can see somewhere in Chicago that looks just like it.
We're doing an art exhibit tomorrow and I'm really excited because all of the pictures that I've seen are really pretty, so that's what I'm looking forward to.
Day 2: Today we went to a shrine, shopping, an art exhibition, and the Sky Tree. I got an icecream crepe, which was something I really wanted so I'm glad I checked that off my list. Seeing the shops in Japan was fun, specifically I noticed that there were a lot of shoe stores that were selling American shoes that were discounted.
I had a lot of fun with people visiting the most random stores in the whole shopping district. I felt really awful because I've slept like 4 hours over the past 2 days since I'm dumb jetlagged. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight because I really don't want to do another day like that again. The shrine was interesting because it seemed to have a similar purpose to a museum, but it was very different to me in many ways.
I'll be leading a half day tomorrow so I hope I can get some good sleep and everything goes well.
Day 3: Today we did some shopping, went to Meiji Shrine, and saw a robot show. The shrine was really fun and I enjoyed Meiji more than Toshougo. Meiji had a lot more nature and was huge which made it feel almost like a short hike, and I really enjoyed the trees and such. The shopping was fine, I got two shirts and a happi. The robot show was just like I imagined and the light and sound was just insane. It went on for 1.5 hours, with breaks, and I was fully engaged the entire show.
Meiji was more like what I thought japanese shrines would be like because it incorporated a lot of nature. I really honestly enjoyed walking through the trees even though it was raining and cold. The happi I got was from the robot show, and it perfectly encapsulates what the show stands for by being just completely insane. I can't really describe the robot show itself just because it shook me to my very core.
Next up is the hot springs!!! I'm so ready for the onsen with all my friends.
Day 4: Today was mostly for travel and wasn't very exciting, but I got some homework done, which was necessary. We rode the shinkansen from Tokyo to Aomori, then took a shuttle bus to our hotel. After we got to the hotel we settled in and took a nighttime waterfall tour. The tour was exciting, but I had a hard time understanding some of the information the guide gave since the tour was mostly in Japanese. I didn't make it to the onsen because we got back from the tour late and I was exhausted.
The shinkansen ride was pretty cool because we got to see a lot of scenery including Mt. Fuji. All the scenery and the houses showed me how different the geography is here compared to America. In Japan it's a lot more hilly than the midwest and also the towns are tighter packed, even the smaller ones. The hotel is beautiful and is a lot more than I expected. Their specialty is apples and I can't believe how amazing they are. The applie pie was amazing, the apples themselves are sweet and super super crisp, and the apple juice tastes like melted gold.
Tomorrow I hope to finally get into the onsen and also drink a lot more apple juice.
Day 5: Today was our second day at the Oirase hot springs hotel. Today we went to a skiing resort, had a snowball fight, went snowshoeing, and I went to the onsen. I had a great time snowshoeing, and I got to go on the longer trip so I was out for two hours. Sam nearly fell in a lake and scared everyone, but in a stroke of good luck we all made it out unscathed. The snowball fight was surprisingly competitive and I had a lot of fun. The onsen was kind of like what I expected but I was able to handle the heat a lot better than I thought I would be able to.
I think today was really good for team bonding because we were all able to do things together and also in slightly smaller groups. We saw new sides of everyone in the snowball fight and some people were vicious. Snowshoeing was fun because doing something physical, even if it wasn't particularly challenging, with people was a new experience with this group. The onsen showed me the ways that I think Japanese people relax, and how that's different from how Americans relax.
Tomorrow I'm excited to go back to the onsen and to go to the new hotel.
Day 6: Today we went on a tour of another skiing place, went to the onsen in there, then got to the new hotel, and tried the onsen there. The onsen at the skiing place was super different from the one in the hotel. One thing I noticed was pretty different was the size and the smell. The skiing onsen was a lot smaller and the smell of sulfur was a lot smaller, I assume this was because it was inside entirely and there was nowhere for the air to escape to. The new hotel is massive and also super boujee. We walked in and I was stunned by the decor of the hotel because it seemed like I was in some high end restaraunt.
The variety of onsen that I've seen now are really cool because I think that the fact that they vary in the first place is pretty interesting. In America most swimming pools are the same, but in Japan people go to different onsens with different mindsets. Sometimes the whole point of a visit is to go to an onsen, but other times it's just a way to warm up. At the hotel I also got to participate in a まつり at dinner which is a dancing celebration. I was shocked that they let anyone participate, but I think that they do that more in Japan because there is a higher level of responsibility expected for each person.
Tomorrow I hope I can go to the bigger onsen that's a shuttle bus ride away.
Day 7: Today was our last full day before the homestay and also our last whole day as a group. We had some time for relaxation and we also went to a castle in aomori.
Today was spent a lot in transit because the castle was super far away. I like riding transit in Japan because it's really comfortable and you never feel constrained in any way, you can get food whenever and use the bathroom whenever. I feel the same way about a lot in Japan. Things are a lot more pleasant because there's a lot of effort put in to make them convinient. Today was bittersweet because even though I am looking forward to meeting my host family, I had a lot of fun as a whole group, a LOT of fun. There are multiple moments that I doubt I'll ever forget and the bonds forged throughout the trip are insanely strong. I made a lot of friends and made deeper connections with older friends. I really hope that some time in my life I'll have another oppurtunity to participate in something so enjoyable and influential.
Day 8: Today we met our host families, but we had to take a long ride to get there. Today I didn't get a lot of homework done on the train but I helped some people with math which was a really good time. Meeting my host family was great. They accepted me with open arms and spoke a surprising amount of english. So far how it's been going is they talk to me in English and I respond in Japanese. I'm kind of sad that they feel the need to talk to me mostly in English, but so far when they do speak Japanese I can understand it for the most part so maybe they'll start doing more Japanese. We got conveyor belt sushi and went to a super market. The sushi was great, but I messed up with my chopsticks once so that felt bad. The supermarket was a lot like village market, smaller and it had a selection of some pretty niche foods.
Because of the way we've interacted so far I really just want to get to know my family more and have a good time with them. They're a lot more like my family than I thought they'd be and all of them are really jovial all the time which makes the language barrier harder to notice. Overall, I'm having a much better time than I had honestly expected to.
Day 9: Today was a lot of school but I also got to spend some time with my host family. At school I got to see chemistry, gym, and english. I could understand mostly all the material in chemistry which was cool, but what I realized is that they were learning some things I'd already learned and some other things that I won't learn until next year. This surprised me because it showed me how different the Japanese and American school systems really are, and that there are disagreements on what things are most important to learn. English class was really fun but it was mostly me and my friend (Alex) responding to japanese questions in japanese so that was confusing but entertaining (I hope they could understand me and that I was right about what they asked me). After school I got to see tea club, which while a little boring at times was pretty informative from a cultural standpoint. I think it shows that patience is valued, and that Japanese people believe that if you stop and think about what you're doing and why you're doing it you will either enjoy it more or gain something more out of it. I personally am lost whether to the traditions are aimed towards enjoyment, building patience, or just respect, but I am really interested in the answer.
After I got home I made takoyaki with Kouhei, his mom, and two of his friends. I specifically asked for takoyaki because the thing you make it in is really interesting to me. This meant that when they put mayo on I had to bear it and grin even though I really hate mayo. My strategy going in was just to eat it super fast and try to placebo myself into not tasting and either it worked or I was waaaaaay too worked up because I could barely taste the mayo and it was delishous. Before we ate the takoyaki though, we celebrated setsubun, a Japanese holiday. The point of the holiday is to symbolize the changing of a season, but also to ward of the demons who come at that time (of course, who didn't see that coming??). So we ate a big roll of sushi (like those little rolled sushis you ususally get except way longer) without talking, and facing a specific direction, so our dreams came true. We were also supposed to through roasted soy beans in a specific direction to ward of the oni, but we didn't get to it. After dinner we played some smash brothers and since I'm addicted I was very good and we did 3v1, and I had a lot of fun. When you can't talk to people very well video games are good because i think gut reactions translate pretty easily.
Tomorrow we are having tamago kake rice for breakfast (another thing I asked for) and I am super excited!!
Day 10: Today was another school day and I got to go to math (twice), gym, geography, and chemistry. Math was really fun because they still are doing algebra so I'm basically a god. That being said though they're doing some algebra that I didn't learn so I think a part of it is that they're education is a bit more thorough. Gym is really fun because I'm super tall and somehow more athletic than the average Japanese person so, unlike in America, I'm one of the best basketball players. Geography was wacky to me because it seemed like tedious work: the class. They had us circling bodies of water. Like literally we got a piece of paper and then had to circle the parts that were water. I was so incredibly bored. Chemistry was pretty tame compared to America, but it was still fun. We reacted sodium with water and talked about reactivity, which is stuff that I already knew so it was fun to try and understand it in Japanese. Also in school we gave presentations that we had preprepared in Japanese. Mine was a Family Fued game but I didn't get to say anything because we ran out of time before my question.
After school Kouhei (my host student) had to retake a test so I didn't get home until around 8. Once we got home I ate and then started to work on homework. Eating in Japan is a crazy thing because everyone tells you they don't eat that much but then you get here and they are basically assaulting you with food. My teacher said that you have to eat everything in order to not offend them so it's a straight gauntlet. They give you one small plate that seems manageable but then the second one comes, then the third, and of course the fourth. We didn't get the tamago kake rice today but hopefully we can have some tomorrow!!
Day 11: This morning I had tamago kake rice, curry, egg custard, and beef. If that sounds like a lot it's because it was and getting through it was a struggle. The fact that it was all really good made it bareable though. After breakfast we went to school and I had a lot of art class today. In art I messead around with my friends and drew some dumb things. One thing Cully and I did was we'd pull up pictures of different celebrities and describe them to the other person without saying the name or showing the picture. I drew Nick Cage and Cully drew Shaq. I also did some calligraphy but that didn't go very well because I don't write kanji a lot and I also don't paint so... During lunch I got to see the student I hosted last year (やすたか) and it was fun catching up. After art class we went to the gym and did this jump rope thing where the grade got split into 4 and we jump roped with those groups. These japanese girls thought me and my friends were the ones getting the jump rope caught but my feet were easily 12 feet above the ground and they were barely jumping so I mean it was a little suspect to say the least.
After school I had to wait around because Kouhei failed another test, so that was boring. The problem with it is that I can't really do anything because the only physical homework I have I need help with and there's no wifi. After we got home we went out for ramen and it was crazy good. They said small or large, and you'd think after all this complaining about portion size I'd learn my lesson, but I chose large and it was a mistake. This was the first time I didn't finish everything, but I ate the noodles and no one at the table had all the broth so I felt valid. During dinner we talk a lot about various things and I'm surprised how well I can keep a conversation. I mostly just add little bits about my life and answer questions they have about me and America, but it works. The car rides are quiet but I kind of like it and it doesn't feel that awkward to me. After we got home for the second time around 7:30 I took a showe and started on homework.
Day 12: Today I went to school, went to a dollar store, and went to the stationary store. School was presentations about SGDs which are these goals and the speeches were in Japanese so I was so bored I fell asleep for a whole hour. Overall, it was a remarkably horrible experience and I hope I never have to experience it again. After school I went to a dollar store and a stationary store. The mehanical pencils at the stationary store were super cool and there was one for $120 which was wacky. The dollar store wasn't as fun as I thought it'd be because it was mostly like house parts (doorknobs, things for your sink, kitchen appliances, etc.). I had fun today even though the shopping wasn't great though.
Once we got home I had gyouza and yakitori for dinner which was good because the portion was doable. I ate the gyouza wrong so they gave me more though, so that was a bit embarrassing. We played some video games after dinner and the parents taught me how to exclaim in Japanese and I taught them how to in English. Honestly, a pretty uneventful day.