27 Before 27: Yokohama

You may have guessed already from my previous blog post, but I really enjoyed my visit to Japan! First international ports on my itinerary and ding, ding ding, we have a winner! Wondering why I enjoyed the Land of the Rising Sun so much? Here are my top 10 favorite things about Japan:

The country runs on time. My type-A personality is going to come out for the next few sentences. It’s so nice to show up for a train and have it arrive exactly on time! We are talking opening of doors as soon as the second hand rounds the 12! The country runs like clockwork and it’s so refreshing to not have delays. To go along with timeliness, I enjoyed the…
Ease of travel. The train system is very easy to navigate and I had no trouble getting around in Japan.
Friendliness. I found Japanese people to be some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. No matter where I went, there was always someone willing and able to answer my questions or point me in the right direction. In fact, I sometimes didn’t even have to ask for help! I simply pulled out my map and there was someone right there, asking if I needed directions!
Food. Any weight lost by walking all over Japan was gained right back by the amount of gorging I did on the food. Ramen, sashimi, green tea ice cream…the list goes on.
Cutesy society. For some reason, Japanese pop culture seems to be obsessed with cuteness. There are little cartoon characters everywhere. Even the Port of Yokohama symbol is a cute blue whale!

Welcome to Yokohama, Japan!
It’s so clean. The country is very clean! I have been in this country for five days and I have seen a total of three pieces of garbage on the streets. There also isn’t much graffiti and the trains are clean. It’s beautiful!
The cleanliness extends to the bathrooms. Unlike other country’s public restrooms that I’ve frequented, Japanese bathrooms are clean and complete with heated toilet seats and bidet options. I did not try out the bidet options (I thought that might be kind of gross, considering they are public restrooms) but the options abound for those more adventurous! Unfortunately, a huge long line at the women’s restroom seems to go along with all cultures.

I was greeted with all of these options and buttons in the public restrooms in Japan.
Women only train cars. During rush hour, there are certain cars on the train and subway that allow only women. This is for safety reasons so women don’t have to worry about being groped in a packed subway car on the way to work. Genius!
Vending machines. You can purchase anything your heart desires in a vending machine in Japan. They are everywhere!

Vending machines at the Port of Yokohama, Japan
So much to see and do. There are many sites packed into this little country the size of Montana. Don’t worry, Japan, I’ll be back for more someday!

No idea what this is about, but I'm intrigued!

After 10 days at sea, we finally arrived in Yokohama, Japan, on January 29! As you may have guessed, I was VERY ready to see dry land! Other than stretching my legs on solid, non-rocking dry land, I didn’t make any Japan major travel plans in advance because I wasn’t sure if I had to work. I found out just a few days prior to arrival that I would have some time off, so I tried to take full advantage.

Here’s how I spent my time in Japan:

· Wednesday, January 29: After being welcomed by a view of Mt. Fuji right outside my window, I rushed off to work in the morning but spent the afternoon in Tokyo with two staff members named Andrew and Sara. We wandered around the city for the afternoon and had an A-MAZING dinner before coming back to the ship to spend the night. When asked “if you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” I would strongly consider answering “Japanese ramen” after the wonderful meal we had on Wednesday night.

I see you, Mt. Fuji!

· Thursday, January 30: I had to work in the morning and explored Yokohama in the afternoon with two students named Bethann and Nicole. We went to the top of Landmark Tower to see panoramic views of Yokohama and even into Tokyo, had a great lunch of an egg/noodle combination that I can’t pronounce, and explored Chinatown in the afternoon. Chinatown was fun because Chinese New Year celebrations were in full swing and there were many good food stands to sample. In the evening, I helped with an open ship event. Open ships are opportunities for study abroad professionals from local universities to visit the ship to learn about the program. I was on a panel with some other faculty and staff members and also gave ship tours to the study abroad visitors. The spent the evening in the faculty/staff lounge, toasting my co-workers as we pulled away from Yokohama.

View from the top of the Landmark Tower.

· Friday, January 31: Transit day. The ship repositioned from Yokohama to Kobe and we encountered more rough waters along the way. Boo. However, we had a special dinning event on Friday night! Generally the meals are buffet-style but this meal was served at the table with wine as well as dessert (these two items may be common place at your dinner table but they are not on SAS voyages!)

Welcome to Kobe drum performance.

· Saturday, February 1: After arriving in Kobe, Japan, at 08:00, I jumped on a train with two faculty members named Maria and Greg to visit Kyoto. Kyoto is about a one hour train ride from Kobe and is an older, more historical and traditional city in Japan. Maria and I spent the day visiting temples, frequenting tourist shops and sampling the local cuisine along the way. After a lovely dinner of fried octopus (it really was good!), we returned to Kobe completely worn out at 21:00.

Temple in Kyoto.

· Sunday, February 2: This morning I had to work and this afternoon, I’m taking it easy. I’m going to stick close to the ship, do some exploring and also work on my capstone paper (remember, I’m still in grad school and supposed to be doing homework as I traverse the globe.)

I have one more day in Japan and I’ll spend the morning working and the afternoon at a traditional bath house. Bath houses are said to be very relaxing which I’m looking forward too. However they also require you to be naked, which I was ok with until I remembered that I’d signed up for this trip with several other SAS students, faculty and staff members none of which I really know. This may be slightly awkward but we’ll see how it goes!

Japan has treated me so well and I would gladly come back to the country to continue exploring. I think I’m going to do another post listing the things I liked so much at Japan, so stay tuned for more information about this unique destination.