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Sunday, January 28th: I’m going to japan! Customs was pretty simple, and i had no problems getting through. As a first time flyer, the plane trip was very exciting! When i first left the ground i was kind of scared, and i kept thinking that i was gonna die. When we got to max altitude above the clouds i cooled off, and i wasn’t stressed anymore. For the duration of the flight, i don't think my body realized that i was 32,000 feet above ground level. I would forget that i was in a plane until i looked out the window. We landed at around 3pm, and it took us about 3-4 hours to actually leave the airport because we had to buy rail passes, exchange our money, and get through security. When we got out, we went straight to the train station and rode up to the tokyo youth hostel where we stayed at for 3 days. The hostel was on the 18th floor, and below it there were a lot of shops and convenience stores. Throughout the day, i was so happy because i could see and understand most of all of the signs in the trainstation and the airport. By the time i went to bed, i had been awake for a total of around 30 hours.
Monday, January 29th: I only slept about 4 hours, and we had to wake up at 630AM. I felt better after i cleaned myself up and got dressed. Our first destination was the meiji shrine, and then to harajuku. The meiji shrine was a nice, quiet walk through about 3 or 4 massive gates to signal the passage of the gods. We washed our hands and said prayers, and the entire shrine was quiet. When we left it was time to go to harajuku. I was so happy because we could shop for japanese clothing, and see the many designer brands. We went to many shops in a large strip, and i got a lot of clothing! We couldn’t go to the bape store because we left the area because it opened at 11 Am, and we were shopping until 11. Carlon bought a nice homemade jacket, and i bought a few hoodies and a jacket. In shibuya, we went to the very famous crossing, and i felt like i was in a movie. Almost all of the people we saw over the last two days had on suits or trench coats. It's very interesting because everything is clean in the city, barely anyone litters, loiters, or speaks unnecessarily. People are very friendly, but a lot of people like to keep to themselves unless spoken to. On this day, i had to order food by myself, and it was scary at first, but i was able to speak normally, and i was understood very easily. Max, Carlon, Dennis, and i went to a small ramen place in the city in one of the alleys. It was a small shop, but the food was amazing. We had big bowls of ramen, and then left to do some more exploring. All throughout the day there were many people who lost their rail passes, and tickets, slowing down the schedule a bit, and i thank my mom for giving me this passport wallet that has everything in it. In Odaiba, at the Miraikan museum, Carlon, Trotter, Marissa, and I met about 35 students our age. They were fascinated by Carlon, Trotter, and I (for obvious reasons), and took many pictures with us. We were talking to them for about 2 hours. The exhibit itself was very interesting because it showed a bit of the technological advancements the japanese have made. There was a robot that could answer questions, with a full humanoid face; it creeped me out, but it was also very cool. Later that day we went to a Ferris wheel. Trotter and Carlon were making fun of me the entire time because of my phobia of heights. We did a bit more shopping in diver city, and saw a huge unicorn gundam statue, it glowed red at night, and stood at the entrance to the diver city mall. We went to the adidas store, and saw many new model shoes, with color gradients that don’t even exist in the united states. I was very tempted to buy a pair, but i didn’t Want to waste my money. We went to dinner, and i had an entire fish. It was very good with the lemon. I tried the fish eye, and it didn’t really taste like anything besides the seasoning. At the end of the day we walked a total of around 15 kilometers, and we got back to the hostel at around 10:30 pm. I was sooo exhausted that i fell asleep on the couch where i was writing my site report for the Japanese garden.
Tuesday January 30: I woke up tired but more equip to handle the tiredness i felt yesterday. We got up, and did sight seeing for the entire day. We first went to waseda university. The view of the university was great, and we met up with a current attendee of the university. Next we went to the Tokyo metropolitan building and saw the city from above. The scenery to me looks exactly like Chicago but a lot cleaner. While at lunch, i got challenged to order food, and troubleshoot in Japanese because of a misplaced order. I got a few gifts and moved on to the 2 temples we saw later in the day. I took a lot of pictures of the shrines, but i was slowly falling apart, working or 5 hours of sleep. The Tokyo sky tree was amazing because we got to see the view of the city at night. Trotter, Carlon, and I stepped on the open glass flooring, about a thousand feet in the air.
Wednesday January 31: I woke up to a big breakfast from the youth hostel for our departure. We headed down to Ueno, a giant hub for trains and bullet trains. We rode for about 2 and a half hours to Zao Onsen. We went straight to the bath, and it was so cool! There is a sulfur deposit in the mountain, and the water runs through it. The dinner we had was very big but it came in small parts, and at different intervals. I went to bed with a full stomach, and a clear head.
Thursday February 1st: We woke up to a large breakfast, and we were given about 4 hours to explore
Friday- We woke up early to another large breakfast, the room was filled with new smells, and everyday we tried a new foods, and i like all of it! We got dressed, and made our ascent up the mountain. I really didn’t like the gondola, but it was fun. The second gondola was scary for me but it was safer (in my opinion). The view from up-top was amazing, we were above the clouds, and the huge snow monsters were spread out over a plateau of snow. We took some great pictures, but the best thing by far was the TV interview. Carlon, Trotter, and I were stopped by a Small TV Crew, and we were interviewed on why we were up on the mountain, and they were surprised that we knew Japanese! We went home after a couple of hours, and got home to prepare for the long commute to meet our host families.
Saturday- we woke up to a slow departure from zao onsen, we had a small gourmet breakfast in the dining hall, and then we headed to the shinkansen. After about a 4 hour commute, we arrived in niigata. Meeting my student and family was exhilarating, and stressful at first, but over time it became a normal part of my day. My host mother is slightly hard to understand but after picking out a few nouns and verbs in her sentences, it became easy to understand her. I explained my picture book over dinner, and they were so happy because the presents. Mottoki, my host brother, and I played super smash bros for about an hour and then i went to bed.
Sunday, I woke up at around 9 AM, The family went out to the biggest shrine in niigata. After that i ate a gelatinous mass on a stick. It was very good but i don't know what it was. After that we went to a fish market, on the coast of the japanese sea. I got to try squid for the first time. It was very chewy and it tasted very good with spice. I love that in japan all the food is fresh, so they don’t have to label things as GMO free. We went down to a mall near their house, and i tried takoyaki for the first time! I liked the taste of it, but inside of it, it was very slimy. I want to try some homemade takoyaki sometime in the future. We went shopping for clothes, but the japanese clothing sizes do not fit me. I can’t even fit XL clothing. So we went home and had a large sashimi dinner. With tons of fish and king crab.
Monday: I woke up so excited to go to school! I had a small breakfast, and then we went got on the train. At the school, i wrote a haiku in japanese class. They have very similar curriculum, and when i went to chemistry, i understood that they were doing single replacement reactions, and balancing chemical equations. Me and Carlon met the “cool kids” in the school. They were very funny, and we talked to them in japanese, and had a lot of fun. We went straight home after school, and i had a large baked pork dinner.
Tuesday: This day was by far the best i’ve ever had. I really felt like i immersed in the culture. At school we went through world history, and ate lunch. My host moms food is amazing, and she gives me so much food in my lunchbox. I got to play basketball with the kids. I love japan so much because, the girls aren’t afraid to try against the boys. Our star point guard was trotters host student, and she was boxing out the boys with ease. Everyone gives it their all. I touched the rim a few times, and everyone cheered. After gym, we went to Calligraphy class. We got to draw a lot of kanji, and we hung out with the guys we met yesterday. We were talking to everyone in the class, and exchanging jokes. And i felt like i was truly apart of the school. My buddy, Dennis, and I went to kendo club afterschool, and the senpai was one of the people that came to america last year. I learned how to swing a sword, and there is an interesting way you swing. Regardless of the dominant hand, your left hand stays on the bottom. The left hand is where the power comes from, so i think for me being left handed is a leg up in kendo. You swing your left arm like a pulley, and your right arm is a balancer to reduce the full stress of the sword off your left arm. I learned how to swing at an angle. The 3 point markers are hitting the hand, stomach, or head. After i left the club activities. Before i went to bed, i video called carlon, and i met his host family. They were so cool off the bat, and they brought me food the next day. I was very tired because of the full day, so i went to bet kind of early.
Wednesday: I woke up to a quick breakfast, and headed on my way to the train station with Mottoki. I got on and we headed down to Ueda Highschool to meet student our age. When we met them there were all girls and 1 boy. We got to explore the town, and we got to have lunch together. We got to make cards, and talk to the girls. Carlon, Trotter, and I got a lot of line IDs from them, and it seemed like they liked dark skinned people more than the students at KJ (there was no discrimination at all). They seemed a bit more comfortable. We took a lot of pictures, and exchanged numbers. The day went relatively quick and I went home, and my host decided to go to a shabu shabu restaurant. Shabu shabu is the sound of swishing things back and forth in liquid. You take raw meat, and shabu shabu in hot water, or hot sauce to cook, It tasted very good, but i ate too much meat because it was all you can eat. I didn't feel too well, but it tasted very well. I went to bed, with a full stomach.
Thursday: Time to explore! I woke up and was dropped off at a different station as Mottoki. I met up with the rest of the trippers, and headed on our way to explore South Uonoma. The town was based off of the edo period, with the huge Hakkaisan in the distance. Hakkaisan means the 8 sea mountain. It has 8 peaks. We saw monks doing prayer, to learning about structural designs in the town. Me and Mr.Van Krey took some very good pictures of the linear streets. On our way back, our tour guide gave us some japanese mints. To me they were just altoids that havent been cut to small cylinders. We got to the train station and i was picked up by Dennis, Kengo, and Jose. We all decided to go to Kengo’s house to play the new DBZ game. We had some pork and rice bowls, and then went. I was good at the game right off the bat because of my history with competitive fighting games. Mottaki, and Jose weren’t good at all, and in tournament mode they came in last place. We got picked up at around 9, and when i got home i ate a bowl of curry rice.
Friday Last day with the students! We went to school early, to practice our presentations, and then it was time. We went out into the language lab where there were about 60 students waiting to hear us. I was nervous at first, and then i cooled off before i went up. We began the presentation, on regions of america, and their cultural differences. The presentation went very smooth, and we actually had a lot of fun when we did the jeopardy game. After that, we were asked to give critical feedback on english presentations. I gave some very critical feedback, and there were 5 of us, so it kinda felt like we were judging people on american idol. There faces were all sad, and when we gave them negatives it kind hurt to see them. After School, we did a lot of strength contests with the boys and girls for fun. I beat everyone, but i got tired out, and beaten by Trotters host sister. We did push up contests, and i got a few numbers. We said our goodbyes to the students, and went to the station. We were picked up by Mottoki dad, and we met up with the family at a yakiniku restaurant. Yakiniku is cooking meat in a fire pit. We were able to order every meat almost in existence to our table for exactly 100 minutes. We ordered so much food and it all tasted delicious. I tried every edible part of a cow, from tongue to stomach. I almost threw up trying to swallow a big fatty piece of stomach but it still tasted good. We went home for the last time, and i played smash until about 1230 AM with Mottoki.
Saturday: I woke up to some Mcdonalds, and some goodbyes from my family. We drove to south Uonoma, and i was very sentimental listening to Black Spiderman by Logic. I peered out onto the large mountains the entire ride, and remembered all of the fun times i had. We got to the train station, and saw all of the host families. Carlon’ dad gave me a huge bear hug, and we exchanged words. He said that i was a japanese adult, along with some other compliments. I hugged a lot of people, and took a lot of photos with the students. I hugged my host family, and then it was time to depart. I made it my goal to come back for the Olympics in 2020. I told my family and they said the next time we meet will be in tokyo. I had a great time overall and made so many new friends. I really want to come back, to meet all the people again.