We arrived really early in the morning and
I walked/stumbled onto the 7th deck Aft to watch the fireboat squirt water 30 feet into the air. Then, when docked, a live marching band greeted us playing Mission Impossible themes and a lot of other songs. It was so sweet! We learned how to say “OHIO” (phonetically) which means “Good Morning!” Then, we got onto a train to Osaka. We grabbed some beers from the local vending machines, took out Yen from the ATM where you could see straight into the men’s urinals
(a sight I can’t erase even to this day) and made our way to the Kyocera Dome Osaka for the local baseball experience. Basically, a place for intense socializing and suit-dawned, briefcase dragging brews. I met some really awesome people and nearly everyone was wasted. We did Sakebombs outside of the stadium and we were with one of the RD’s the whole time. Roy got way more drunk than I did, it was a sight.
After Osaka’s fun-filled baseball game, we took a train, hungover, to Kyoto. This train is the fastest in the world, hence the name The Bullet Train. We went to see the shrines in Kyoto and the Old Imperial Palace. It was pouring rain the entire time, half of us wearing sandals and unprepared, we were all miserable. So far, we were not impressed by Japan. The temple was beautiful and the shrines were amazing, but I wish we were able to appreciate it all a bit more comfortably.
I didn’t really like the people I traveled with except my closer friends and don’t expect to travel with them again.
( I tried not to, but it was inevitable…wish I could do it without them next trip!)
The bullet train went so far that it was hard to see outside and it made our ears pop. We also went to a market that sold authentic (and gross) foods. They had figs and octopus, seasonings and fish guts, and more that I care not to describe. We made our way to the “Times Square of Japan” and were surrounded by umbrellas and curious stares from locals. We ate dinner and toasted to traveling the world. After dinner we went to a club area and some sketchy Jamaican guy offered to show us a club that was pretty dead. A few Japanese women were playing darts and the Martini I had was topped with powdered pepper) We ran into Semester At Sea students at the same club and it was so random.
(It felt like home, where you run into friends at random places…except in Japan.)
We- Me , Roy, Jeff b, Jeff C, Zach and Christina. We stayed at the Hilton-Tokyo. It was really nice and well-worth the night of complete relaxation for $500.00! AHK!
( The other people wanted to stay somewhere cheap and found a hostel near our hotel and found dirty underwear in their bed…so in retrospect, I’m glad I blew a bit more cash)
We woke up and went to the Ginza district, which is known as the “Electronic District.” I played Pachinko (Video Game Gambling) and watched the boys get drunk. We ate dinner and went out.
We went to Club Vanilla and a bunch of Japanese girls pulled me onto an island in the middle of the floor to dance. They told me ” You oh so sexy!” haha! Then I danced with a bunch of my girlfriends on a different Island.
Before going back to the ship, we ate Kobe Beef burgers (with chopsticks) and they were amazing. They were so tender that picking it up with chopsticks was quite a difficult task.
The Japanese people were very sweet, but to my surprise very few of them spoke english. the toilets (at nearly every public bathroom that was decent) were so weird. You have options on the side of the toilet that can make nature sounds for you while you sit.
Overall Japan was fun but I don’t really want to travel with these people again. All they wanted to do was get completely obliterated. Oh well, while they’re taking in crap, I’m taking away amazing experiences. Their loss.