The big day is almost here! Five months, nine Japanese lessons, and several trips to local sushi restaurants have (hopefully) prepared me for three weeks in the Land of the Rising Sun. Tomorrow I will board a flight from Dulles to Tokyo and spend the next 21 days in Japan.
I will be traveling with a group of other students from my school and a faculty chaperone. I will stay with a host family in Tokyo for several days. Our group will spend time in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima. Our itinerary includes meetings with local elected officials, a visit to a high school, a day at Tokyo Disney World, and free time to explore with our host families.
The flight to Tokyo is scheduled to take 13 hours, and it will be my first trip to a foreign country. With that in mind, I created a list of predictions for my trip. I want to embark on this adventure with an open mind, so I don't want these ideas to be any kind of pre-judgment about what my experience in Japan will be like. Instead, I want to revisit them at the end of my trip as a way of seeing how the country's culture, people, and customs differed from or confirmed my guesses or assumptions.
Language: I think most people will speak some English (all Japanese children are required to study it in school), but likely not very well (although I expect that most will have more knowledge of English than I have of Japanese). I hope to immerse myself as fully as possible in Japanese. While I have an extremely limited Japanese vocabulary, I think if I really work at it, I will be able to at least hold basic conversations by the time I leave.
Food: I love Japanese food. Sushi, ramen, soba - you name it. I'm interested in seeing how that holds up after a month of eating Japanese food at every meal. One of my biggest goals for the trip is to learn some cooking skills from my host family, as well as trying new and unfamiliar dishes. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater, so we'll see how far I can push my horizons. Many people I've talked with who have been to Japan in the past say it's inevitable that you will get sick of eating raw fish, but I predict there will be a good amount of variety to my diet.
Host family: This may be the most exciting part of the trip. I will spend 13 nights with my host family, a couple with two children (a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son). They live in a suburb of Tokyo (here's a link to the address if anyone wants to see their house on Google Streetview), and the Sidwell student who stayed with them during last year's trip says they are great.
The Tokyo subway: I consider myself a experienced user of public transit, and I have endured dozens and dozens of rush-hour commutes on WMATA's Metrorail. I have to admit that just looking at the Tokyo subway map was a blow to my confidence. Tokyo's system is the second-busiest in the world (next to Beijing's), with 3.334 billion riders each year, and is famous for employing "osiyas" (translation: "person who pushes for a living"). Osiyas are in charge of shoving people into overloaded subway cars so the doors can close. Will navigating the system be the most daunting challenge I face in Japan? I'm not sure.
I have been looking forward to this trip for months. I will try to publish a blog post every day along with some photos to keep everyone updated on my progress. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think. To cap it off, below are a few pictures from while I was packing today.
I will be traveling with a group of other students from my school and a faculty chaperone. I will stay with a host family in Tokyo for several days. Our group will spend time in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima. Our itinerary includes meetings with local elected officials, a visit to a high school, a day at Tokyo Disney World, and free time to explore with our host families.
The flight to Tokyo is scheduled to take 13 hours, and it will be my first trip to a foreign country. With that in mind, I created a list of predictions for my trip. I want to embark on this adventure with an open mind, so I don't want these ideas to be any kind of pre-judgment about what my experience in Japan will be like. Instead, I want to revisit them at the end of my trip as a way of seeing how the country's culture, people, and customs differed from or confirmed my guesses or assumptions.
Language: I think most people will speak some English (all Japanese children are required to study it in school), but likely not very well (although I expect that most will have more knowledge of English than I have of Japanese). I hope to immerse myself as fully as possible in Japanese. While I have an extremely limited Japanese vocabulary, I think if I really work at it, I will be able to at least hold basic conversations by the time I leave.
Food: I love Japanese food. Sushi, ramen, soba - you name it. I'm interested in seeing how that holds up after a month of eating Japanese food at every meal. One of my biggest goals for the trip is to learn some cooking skills from my host family, as well as trying new and unfamiliar dishes. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater, so we'll see how far I can push my horizons. Many people I've talked with who have been to Japan in the past say it's inevitable that you will get sick of eating raw fish, but I predict there will be a good amount of variety to my diet.
Host family: This may be the most exciting part of the trip. I will spend 13 nights with my host family, a couple with two children (a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son). They live in a suburb of Tokyo (here's a link to the address if anyone wants to see their house on Google Streetview), and the Sidwell student who stayed with them during last year's trip says they are great.
The Tokyo subway: I consider myself a experienced user of public transit, and I have endured dozens and dozens of rush-hour commutes on WMATA's Metrorail. I have to admit that just looking at the Tokyo subway map was a blow to my confidence. Tokyo's system is the second-busiest in the world (next to Beijing's), with 3.334 billion riders each year, and is famous for employing "osiyas" (translation: "person who pushes for a living"). Osiyas are in charge of shoving people into overloaded subway cars so the doors can close. Will navigating the system be the most daunting challenge I face in Japan? I'm not sure.
A map of Tokyo's subway system
I have been looking forward to this trip for months. I will try to publish a blog post every day along with some photos to keep everyone updated on my progress. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think. To cap it off, below are a few pictures from while I was packing today.
My suitcase! The wrapped packages are gifts for my host family and our guides
(Left): 51,000 yen, or about $450 (Right): my passport
The "money belt" I inherited from my mom (which she received from her dad).
It has a secret zipper on the inside where you can put valuables.
It has a secret zipper on the inside where you can put valuables.
In addition to using my iPhone to take pictures, I will have a GoPro Session with me to
capture our adventures on video. I will try to make a short movie of the trip when I get back.
capture our adventures on video. I will try to make a short movie of the trip when I get back.
Love this Buddy!! Can't wait to read about your adventures!! Love you, Z
ReplyDeleteThank you, Z!
DeleteI like your ideas of "predictions". Quite a good idea --- you can test what you thought it would be like against what you experienced while you were there. I'll bet that will be very interesting.
ReplyDelete