The ticket is a trip to Japan. As I close my eyes and wake up on a plane to another country, I can't get enough of just thinking about the city, the shrines, the nature, and the restaurants, where you can eat till you get full. Thinking about it makes everything seem more fun. When I was younger, I used to see cherry blossom trees, and I remember that I used to ask my mom, “Do those trees exist? Those, pink leaf trees?” They were in fact real, and all my life I have wanted to go and see the cherry blossoms. I would like to have a cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo, where I can have a picnic enjoying my food while the leaves fall.
I go for a walk around Tokyo Harajuku, a market full of a lot of things. I buy souvenirs for my family and friends. As I walk down the crowded street, I smell the sweet aroma of the crepes and the strong smell of coffee at the café, but I save it for later, after I'm finished buying what I want., I head to every clothing store and see what’s affordable, and I get some shirts and hoodies because I like to dress and have a variety of different kinds of things. When I’m done, I return to my hotel room, walking as I carry my clothes and the souvenirs.
After the picnic, walk around Osaka, and I see there are people in food stands and restaurants. I walk down the streets of Dotonbori looking for a restaurant to eat at--somewhere that I can go in the evening to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, I get to the restaurant and sit. I order some fried calamari, tempura and some donburi, and as I crunch into the calamari and tempura I can taste the fresh fried shrimp and the calamari with some spicy sauce. I go for a second bite and a third; I keep going, savoring every bite. I then eat the donburi, which is a bowl of rice with gyudon, which is sliced beef and onions on top simmered with soy sauce. When I'm done I go walk around the street to relax my bloated stomach, a couple of minutes pass I go and encounter a yakitori stand and order two of them, they are small skewers of bite-size chicken pieces seasoned with salt or brushed with a sauce and eat my last meal for the night.
After waking up from the hotel and having a long night, I plan to go to Kyoto in the afternoon, where the air is more chilly and the sun is not too bright, and I would also like to see the shrines or temples. I take a ride to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, and when I arrive to my destination, I start heading to the shrine. As I walk up the stone stairs, I see the pathway where I'm supposed to go, but I see a bunch of bright red gates leading to the shrine. I walk toward the shrine, birds flying around, the cold air breeze passing by me, and I feel the cold on my ears and neck as I put my hood on. I reach the end and see a huge temple where I can see a shrine. I walk my way around the area and head to the shrine. I pay my respects as I see other people do it is quiet and very peaceful., I then head toward the Kiyomizu Temple. It is very high, but as always I keep heading up the wooden stairs., i'm out of breath., I finally get to the top, and as I'm trying to regain my breath and hanging on to the wooden fence, I look up and see the nicest view, smelling the fresh air and taking pictures of the scenery.
My motivation and reason for wanting to go to Japan is to gain an appreciation for everything, meaning that I've always longed to go and experience it with my own eyes, and I want to get out
of my comfort zone and explore every single thing. If I had a ticket to go anywhere, I would travel to Japan and visit all of the places that I want to see.
What inspired me to write this essay was that I want to travel to Japan but not only that but to also see new things, having new experiences. I thought of some ideas what I wanted to do, I started drafting, I revised it, and then I edited everything whenever I had the structure of my essay
I used a lot of visualization, and what I mean by that is using the 5 senses so I could structure my paragraphs/sentences. I began with what I was ready to write, so I made a plan, started with a few sentences and bullet points of what I needed, then I started with the thesis paragraph and conclusion
My motivation and reason for wanting to go to Japan is to gain an appreciation for everything, meaning that I've always longed to go and experience it with my own eyes, and I want to get out of my comfort zone and explore every single thing. If I had a ticket to go anywhere, I would travel to Japan and visit all of the places that I want to see.
Out of all memoirs, I picked Henry's memoir because I myself have also wanted to travel to Japan for a while, so after reading the title It really caught my attention. I have to admit, I loved the way Henry described the food, what it was, how he ate it, how it tasted and how the taste made him feel. His way of describing the roads, the colors, the fictional experience, the fact that it was in chronological order helped a lot with the visualization, it was filled with so many details that as I was reading, I also felt like I was walking those streets of Japan.
--Sara Lopez
It's an incredible thing how a yearning for a place can make us imagine it to the smallest detail. The sights, the smells, the tastes, and anything that reminds us of a certain place can take us away from our present reality. I loved how descriptive your piece was and how you truly showed your longing to travel there.
--Marta Moncayo