Victor

Feb 1, 2017: I'm at the final trip meeting. Reality is hitting me. I'm going to Japan! That's crazy. I can't wrap my head around it quite yet. The sensation is overwhelming. I'm having mixed emotions. I'm excited and quite frankly, a bit nervous. However, it's a good kind of nervous. It's the type of nervous you get from being so excited. It's a rare feeling; it's a wonderful feeling.

Ten days left. That's all I can think about since someone mentioned it today.

I really need to start to pack up.

Feb 11, 2017: The night before I couldn't fall asleep. I guess I was too excited and a bit paranoid about what I packed for the trip. Later that morning, I arrived to O'hare International airport at 8:00 am. I was pretty early, and so I just hanged out for a bit until I saw Mr. VanKrey walking down the terminal. I later met up with my fellow trippers. I was so excited that a million things were racing in my head. I didn't really know how to react.

We later checked in our bags. I was lucky enough to be pre-checked so I managed to avoid all the tedious procedures TSA would have made me do.

After 12 hours we finally arrived to Narita International Airport! My legs felt a bit weird and numb, but I was super excited. The above image was the first one I took of Japan.

At the airport we then got our rail passes. However, while we we're waiting for our passes I and some of my fellow trippers decided to take a look at the vending machines and mini convenience store that was nearby.

I knew that in Japan there a lot of vending machines, but I didn't really quite grasp the entire notion that they are literally everywhere! Everywhere you turn you can find a vending machine.

Day one was fantastic. I am still in disbelief that I am actually in Japan! In a way it feels a bit surreal, but I know its real and I'm ready to experience it all! I'll also continue to tamper with my camera as I don't really know how to use it. I asked the photography teacher at ETHS, Mrs. Moore, if she could lend me a camera. I had no previous experience, but I think I'm becoming pretty good at it already!

Feb 13, 2017: This was my first full day in Japan! That also wasn't the only first thing that I tried today!

I woke up at about 5:45 a.m to get into the public bath room, but it was locked. I waited outside the bath for about 30 minutes with Alex and Devenere. We decided to go to the front desk and use some of our Japanese to ask the front desk to open the bath. Upon entering, I was a bit surprised to see the actual bath. It was fun though!

After breakfast we headed directly to the train station and headed to a park.

We then arrived to our destination. It was very chilly outside from what I remember. We walked a bit until we reached the park, and to our surprise, we saw cherry blossoms. I think the name of the park that we visited was Umega Koen. It was beautiful. The air was fresh; the sky was blue; the sun was gleaming. The atmosphere(ふいんき) was overall amazing.

We even saw a Japanese TV show being tapped at the park. I'm not sure what the show was about but who I presume was the host of the show was tasting foods and drinks and perhaps reviewing them.

After the park we took a train to Harajuku. Harajuku is a shopping district that was huge. It was absolutely lively and it had so much to do everywhere. I walked around with Alex and Devenere and we just explored and explored. We went into many clothing shops. I bought a shirt at H&M for a pretty good price. We entered every store that we could. We went through every single alley that we could and every time we found cool and interesting shops.

For lunch I stopped at a コンビニ and got some spicy chicken and fries. It was pretty cheap; however, what was funny was that when I ordered my spicy chicken the clerk at the コンビニ reassured with me 5 times if I wanted the spicy kind.

After lunch we continued to explore Harajuku. We went through one of the busiest alleys and explored. We ended up going into a １００円ショップ (dollar store). I ended up buying a lot of erasers as Yokota sensei said that Japan has the world's greatest erasers. I didn't hesitate to take more than a couple.

We had a lot of fun going into different places and shops!

After visiting Harajuku we went to the Tokyo Dome City where there was this enormous roller coaster and ferris wheel. The ferris wheel was called The Big O as it did not have a center to it. At this point I was incredibly tired, however being able to see the view from the ferris wheel was soothing.

After going on The Big O, almost immediately did I get on the roller coaster at the park. The wait was nothing compared to that in the United States at parks such as Six Flags. In less than ten minutes I got onto one of the best roller coasters of my life.

We went back to the hostel, but shortly after we went to a light show. I was exhausted that I do not remember where exactly we went. I fell asleep on the train several times. My eyes just closed shut. It was difficult to keep my balance too, but I was not willing to let anything escape my sight. I was determined to see everything and anything that I could on this trip. The light show was cool. There was a lot of movement and colors that I was a bit thrown off. Again, I was extremely tired. When others spoke to me I didn't know what they were saying. This was our last stop of the day. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel and called it a day.

Feb 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

To kick off the day we went to Tokyo National Museum. It wasn't too cold out today. There were times that I just completely took off my jacket and stuffed it into my backpack. There was nothing to complain about the day. As we weren't carrying much this day, a walk through the train stations of Tokyo felt like a breeze. Walking down Ueno park to reach the Tokyo National Museum was pleasant. By going through the park I got a better feel of what daily Japanese lifestyle looks and feels like. I saw people; I saw children; I saw students; I saw families.

In the museum I took tons of pictures. I've been getting a better handle of my camera. As a result, I've started to take my pictures with confidence. At first I was hesitant to take pictures because I was too anxious of what others might think of me. Yet, I got over that fairly quickly, and it has been a lot of fun. The only downside is that now I've been eating up my battery. I guess I just have to be smart about conserving energy.

Observing the history of Japan is spectacular. There is so much! It goes way back! It is so interesting to see how a culture morphed and form. I saw some calligraphy that predated hiragana ひらがな.

Shortly after we visited Toshyogu Peony, the shrine that was right next to the garden. Other here got their first stamps on their temple book here. Some of my peers bought some of the temple book, but I decided not to. I really don't know why. I wanted to buy one initially, but then I became incredibly hesitant. I was thinking about the overall cost of every single stamp I would get. Perhaps next time I get the chance I'll definitely do it.

The shrine was beautiful. It was golden from head to toe. There was a 600 year old tree right next to it. It was so quiet. Initially, it felt a bit uncanny, but shortly after it felt relaxing and friendly.

Feb 15, 2017

Feb 16, 2017

Onsen day!! We had the entire day to ourselves. It was pretty awesome. There nine onsen in total for us to hit. However, the morning was pretty slow. Well, at least for me, and my room. As we were not being rushed to do anything we took our time. I ended up going with Paul to seven of the nine onsen. The last two we decided we didn’t need to hit, but the overall experience was great. I had some culture shock at first. I never thought I would have liked getting into an onsen with other people, but it was completely fine after the first one. It was super relaxing. It was really hard to get into the onsen at first because I’m not used to the hot water at all. After going into the onsens I made sure to buy a tons of water to stay hydrated. It was pretty fun to walk around in the yukata and geta. It was fun to explore the neighborhood and meet the locals. At the shops many of the locals were very welcoming. Especially the older folks. In conclusion, today was awesome!

Feb 17, 2017

Feb 18, 2017

Today was all about travelling. First thing in the morning at 7:00 a.m I got some breakfast. After breakfast I took a quick shower and then headed downstairs. We hit the train station and went to Nagoya. From Nagoya, we got onto a bus towards Nagano: snow country. The bus ride was pretty boring. It was interesting at first to be see Japan from the road but that quickly got boring. We wireless headphones were dead, but I had a lot fo food to keep my company!

Our first stop was at NAME HERE where the roofs were extremely thick. They are made from grass. It takes a lot of work and people to finish a roof like that. I walked around took a couple of pictures of the houses and mountain that surrounded us. I got some street food, and enjoyed the weather overall.

We then got on the bus again and headed down to the snow festival. We arrived when there was sunlight as it snowed. With the mountains in the background, it felt as if I was in a movie set. It was absolutely beautiful. I went on to take plenty of pictures. I got to see a traditional dance that was fun to watch. All of the sudden, it was dark outside and all of the candles in the snow were glowing. It was really nice. I got some bean soup and then got in line to get a photograph taken. I was with DJ and we had a pretty funny conversation with the camera man.

We got back onto our bus, and a couple hours later we were back at the ryokan.

Feb 19, 2017

Today we had a fantastic day. It felt extremely long, but in a good way. We spent a lot of time outside. We got to see neighborhoods and normal day-to-day Japanese way of life. First thing in the morning at 7:00 am sharp we were suppose to be downstairs at the Kyoto ryokan we were staying at. I woke up about ten minutes before that, and let me tell you, it was a rough morning. My fellow trippers sharing the same room, Alex and Devenere, were also having a lot of difficulty getting up. In the last couple of nights I feel like we haven’t been receiving enough sleep.

We took a couple of trains and reached the Tojii Shrine. It was absolutely amazing. I was walking down the sidewalk and then all of the sudden I see this huge pagoda. I just stared at it. It was super cool. The way it looked, it was just marvelous. By the way, I was pretty angry at myself today because the night before I forgot to charge my camera battery due to pure exhaustion. While walking I kept on kicking myself for forgetting to charge my battery. There was so much that I wished I could capture.

I met this old woman with Alex who was giving us free plum tea. It sort of tasted like meat, or some sort of broth but not entirely. It was pretty good. Anyways, I got into a pretty good conservation with the old woman. Alex then gave her a gift, an album of Muddy Water I believe, and she gave us some cookies.

After the Tojii Shrine we took more trains and buses to reach our next destination, NAME HERE. We saw a bunch of plum trees. I was wearing some Aviators, that Alex let me use for the day. Everything looked really cool. There was a temple, and I spent a while just looking at people pray to the temple.

We got onto an incredibly crowded bus, and went to a 7-Eleven to get some lunch. I ended up getting a corn dog, beef on a stick, potato chips, and other sweets. One of the sweets I got was an octopus sweet candy. It was really good; it was sweet. However, like there are virtually no garbage cans in Japan (yet it is so clean) I put the wrapper in my jacket. That was a horrible decision as the sticky stuff on the wrapper heated up, it engulfed my entire pocket. I had my ticket in their and some gum.

We ate lunch at this park and then headed down to the Ninja house. Wow. The Ninja house was super cool. It was really small, intricate, complex, and fascinating. It had a lot of cool trap doors, hiding places and overall vibe. The only downside was that it was super cold to walk around. My feet started to hurt from the cold after a while.

Tojii Shrine

We then headed to a castle called the NAME HERE. We didn’t spent much time there but the artwork inside one of the building were really interesting. They were all in huge rooms and were heavily protected.

Feb 20 , 2017

Feb 21, 2017