Japan

We bought our Japan Rail Passes in Vietnam so we were ready to rock once we got off the ship on 4/11. This was after all 800+ passengers had thier temperatures taken, picked up passports, got pictures taken and fingerprints documented in a one-on-one with a customs officer. It took awhile. We jetted to Hiroshima on the bullet train that afternoon. Hiroshima is a beautiful city with very few physical remnants of the atomic bombing left other than the A-Bomb dome. The Peace Park is beautiful and the cherry blossoms were nearing the end of their week in bloom. The museums in the heart of the park are incredible- very moving, very informative- I highly recommend visiting. I am reading the book Hibakusha for Human Rights and it was most moving for me when I read the first dozen stories after boarding the train again that evening. Hibakusha means atomic bomb survivor in Japanese. (I think the direct translation is “one who met with an atomic bomb”.) That night we arrived in Kyoto and spent the night at K’s Guest House- and adorable and comfy hostel with great comforters and heated toilet seats! The 4 of us- Mason, Conner, and Eliza and I were in a dorm-style room with 2 bunk beds. The next morning we found some great toast for breakfast and went to the top of the Kyoto Tower waiting for Conner’s friend from Marist, Stu, studying in Osaka, to meet us for the day. He guided us to a cool temple that we explored for awhile- the grounds were very beautiful, saw more cherry blossoms, and we saw some fake geishas on the way too! We had some soba noodles for lunch. Then we walked around the Gion district for a while. Then Stu took us to a shrine that consists of hundreds of orange gates lined up which we walked through. That night we jetted to Tokyo and finally found our capsule hotel in Asakusa after battling the Tokyo subway system (we kind of got the hang of it after a few days.) The capsule hotel was quite an experience. They kind of look like slots in a morgue lined up against the wall- but with TVs and alarm clocks inside. Very uncomfortable mattress. Mason, Eliza, and I had some bonding time in the communal shower on the 9th floor. This hotel was one of 2 capsule hotels that even allows women (2 of the 9 floors were women-only.) Conner was all alone on the 4th floor. The next morning we grabbed breakfast and explored the large park (it felt like Central Park in NYC) and its lakes and flowers and museums. We had tickets to a Tokyo Giants baseball game at 1:30 at the Tokyo Dome so we made our way there to see the Giants beat the Swallows 6-4!
That night we visited Shibuya crossing (the busiest intersection in the world) and Harajuku District, know for people sporting crazy outfits and home to the hip shops (the hangout for teenage rebels). The next morning we decided to visit these same 2 areas again to get a sense of them during the day. We sat in Starbucks overlooking the crosswalk and watched the morning commuters and did some shopping in Harajuku.
We got up early that morning (by early I mean like 7am) to visit the Tsujiki (?) Fish Market- the largest in the world! It was fascinating to see but unfortunately it is only in existence to support the severe over-fishing of our oceans. Over-fishing is the most destructive issue facing our oceans today. It has to do primarily with the way we catch fish. We watched the BBC documentary “Deep Trouble” our first day back in Global Studies. It is really eye opening. (Interesting fact: 50% of the food eaten in Japan comes from the sea, whereas for the rest of the world seafood makes up 15%.)
Trawling the ocean floor is one of the destructive fishing methods. Prawn and shrimp trawling is the worst of all. 15 POUNDS of other species are discarded for every 1 lb. of shrimp caught. (Think about this next time you’re going to order shrimp cocktail.)
They actually served salmon last night after we had this whole discussion in Global- I don’t think many people ate it.One solution the movie mentioned is to create more no-take zones in the ocean. Something you can do personally is find a Seafood Guide on the Seafood Watch website- it tells you which types of fish are the Best to buy, some good alternatives, and which to avoid. (One to avoid include cod, mahi-mahi, salmon, and tuna.)
Overall Japan was great! On our way back from Tokyo we bullet-trained it to Osaka- ate some pastries there and walked around, then continued on to Kobe. It was an action-packed 4 days and I’m leaving out lots but I highly recommend a visit! I would love to go back and see/climb Mt. Fuji and spend more time shopping in Tokyo!