Japan!

Before Japan:
        I was so sick on the way from China to Japan. I think I had the flu in addition to seasickness. I ended up sleeping for almost 32 hours, just waking up when my friends came in to check on me. They were so great; they brought me tea and Ramen. So the crossing was uneventful, and I was nervous that I wouldn’t get better before Japan but I felt fine by the second day there.
Day 1: Kobe, Japan
        Disembarkation was ridiculous! We had to go through the faculty staff lounge and get our temperature taken, but they just made us walk past this camera type thing that captures body temperature. Then we had to wait in our rooms until our seas were called off the ship, where we had to do face-to-face passport checking, have our picture taken, and our fingerprints taken. Then we were free to go- but no one could get back on the ship until everyone was off. We left right away, Austin had a dentist appointment so we shared a cab with him just to see what was around- we found two Starbucks. We were in the Mottomachi area, so we walked through the shops and found WiFi. After that, we tried to get a little closer to port, found a post office with an ATM, and walked towards a ferris wheel. We found out that we were nowhere near port, after almost two hours of walking around we found our way back. You have to take a train from Kobe Station to the Port Terminal. We dropped our laptops off and went back out for a little bit, in the Sannomiya area. There was a lot of shopping and just a lot of people in general, Bill went back to the ship but Justin and I stayed out a little while longer, we had icecream and went into this crazy electronics store. It was like 8 floors, each floor had a different purpose- the first floor was TVs, second was computers, third was computer accessories, and so on… the top floor was for model trains and cars, so random. We went back to the ship and I packed for the rest of the week and went to bed early.
Day 2: Hiroshima, Japan
        We got tickets for Hiroshima and figured out where we had to go- the bullet train was crazy! It was so nice compared to India- the nicest train I’ve ever been on. It took a little over an hour to get to Hiroshima Station, from there we took a street car towards the Peace Park, and got off at a stop that looked like it had a lot of hotels. We were very lucky to find Hotel Active, at only $75 a night it was a really cool hotel. It was really modern, had free Internet access, coffee/hot chocolate on every floor, and free breakfast. We left our bags there and went over to the Peace Park. The first thing you see when you get off the street car is the building that was hit by the bomb but mostly survived. The whole top of the dome is gone, but the structure is still there. It was very eerie- the rubble is still all over the ground inside the fence. The park itself was beautiful, the river runs through it and there was even a flute concert going on. We walked to a few of the monuments, where they were draped in paper cranes (1,000 paper cranes is good luck- it’s also a sign of peace). We made our way to the museum and went through that. It’s a huge museum- by the end of it we were all really ancy to leave. It was lunchtime too, so we found a shopping plaza and had lunch there. No Japanese food- we had a mix of Italian and Chinese. We shopped a little then went back to the hotel to rest and get ready to go out. We went to a really nice Japanese restaurant for dinner- we ordered a bunch of random things and they were all really good- but we’re not sure exactly what we ordered because nothing was in English. We wandered around for a little bit, trying to find a bar or something but didn’t find anything. It was pouring out too, we bought these clear umbrellas that everyone seemed to carry, and eventually made our way back to the hotel. Esther used my computer to register for classes and we all hung out and made plans for the next day.
Day 3: Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo
        The day ended up like this: breakfast in Hiroshima, lunch in Kyoto, dinner in Tokyo. But that was not the plan. Originally, we decided we were going to go to Kyoto and stay there for the night. We got there around noon, and couldn’t find a vacant hotel under $200. We were all so tired and grumpy from carrying our heavy backpacks around all day that we settled for lunch at McDonalds and then decided to just go to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the only tickets to Tokyo were scattered in the Smokers car. We settled for that, Bill switched with a Japanese man so we sat next to each other- thank god because it was a three-hour train ride and if people on either side of me were smoking I would’ve died! After the longest train ride ever, we arrived in Tokyo, found our way to the street, and tah-dah! A big building that said “HOTEL” on it. We walked over there, and settled for $90/night rooms, the man said “Small doubles…” boy were they small! The boys had to duck in the hallways and under the doors- and I think the bathrooms were nicer than the rooms themselves. Oh well it was a place to sleep that was close to the train station. We got ready and went out, the weird thing was they took your key when you left because the hotel closes at 2am, so if you’re not back- tough luck. We wandered the streets of Tokyo, unfortunately it was late on a Sunday night so it wasn’t very alive. The lights were all on though- so much light pollution. Oh and! All of Japan is in full swing Christmas mode. All the stores are playing Christmas music, all the buildings have decorations, Starbucks already has their Christmas drinks and cups out- it’s great! So, we found a place to eat, had dinner, went to an arcade, and then had McDonalds ice cream for dessert.  After a long day of traveling, we ended up back at the hotel and crashed.
Day 4: Tokyo, Yokohama
Bill and I decided we’d go back to Yokohama that night, and Justin and Esther were going to stay, so we checked out of one room, left all of our stuff in the other, and went out for the day. After traveling around the world- I still don’t know how to pack, my backpack was SO heavy! Anyway, we made our way to the Imperial Palace. It was cool how far back it was set in the middle of the city. We stayed there for a bit- which ended up working out really well because Austin and Allison were there too, what a coincidence! And we got to see the emperor ride by in a carriage. We walked for a little bit, then decided to split up. I went to Harajuku and Shibuya- and I’m so glad I did! Harajuku is so cool; it has all these little stores with the weirdest clothes. They’re big into boots, tights, and sweater/sweatshirt dresses. I wish I had more time/money to spend there! We wandered over to Shibuya without realizing it- SO MANY PEOPLE. The streets were so crowded. I went into Gap, which I’m pretty sure was a flagship store- they had an Icon Shop, which sold exclusive items in it. There winter line is really nice, I wonder how different it is from the US line? They have a ton of shops on this street, including an H&M that must’ve just opened because there was a line all the way down the street to get in and the cops were controlling crowds and only letting small groups of people in one at a time. It was insane. There were so many people there, and a lot of SAS kids with their huge backpacks so we made our way back to Tokyo station. We got a litttttle lost. Tokyo station is a massive confusing train station, with an underground mall, and a regular mall on top. It’s absolutely insane. We walked around in the underground mall for a bit- I found some cool souvenirs and a gift for my Secret Santa. Then we tried to find our hotel to get our backs, but we must’ve just turned the wrong way when we came out because we walked around the whole station before we found it. We grabbed our bags and went back to the train station, found our platform, and waited for our train. It was only a 15-minute ride to Yokohama, but then we walked the completely wrong direction from the port and had to get a taxi back. Once back at the boat, we talked with Andy about our Japan trip and he told us all about Tokyo, then Andy, Mackenzie, and I went out for dinner.
Day 5: Yokohama
        In preparation for the last leg of the voyage, we wanted to find a grocery store to stock up on snacks and whatever. I got lots of Cup of Noodle and Goldfish. It took us a while to find that grocery store, we wandered all over Yokohama, found a Starbucks, tried to find secret Santa gifts, and found Austin in the process. I wish I had gotten to see more of Yokohama, but from what I saw I really liked it. Now we’re back on the boat, 8 days until Hawaii!