Land of the Rising Sun

(Luana:) It took us three mostly rocky weeks and two days to cross the Pacific Ocean, with four of those days spent in Hawaii, so there were plenty of people who were very happy to see land as we approached Japan on February 9. Talk about cabin fever! The excitement built as we maneuvered into the dock at Yokohama, where a taiko drumming group greeted us from the top of the port terminal building. We received a very friendly welcome, from the drumming as we docked to the photo opportunity as we cleared customs. Most everyone lined up to have a photo in a kimono or whatever the guy equivalent is called.

Bob and I took a city tour of Yokohama on our first day, and I continued with day trips to Tokyo and Hiroshima, while Bob went to Nara. On our last day, we explored Kobe, where the ship had moved. I’m happy with the choices we made, but I think it’s time to get more adventurous. Most of the kids on the ship--about 500 of the 700--traveled on their own and didn’t reboard the ship for the transit from Yokohama to Kobe. I’ve talked to many of them since they got back (all on time, and nobody missing!!) and I’m so impressed with the wonderful independent travel adventures they had. With budgets in mind, many had slept in Internet cafes, hostels, the little sleeping cubes in Tokyo, or in Japanese ryokans--rooms with nothing but tatami mats and futons on the floor, sometimes a little heater under a central table. They took backpacks and headed for the hills, for the mountains, for the hot springs, for the hidden corners. One group just got off at a random, unplanned train station and walked until they found something interesting; they eventually wound up at a hot springs. Universally, everyone was “templed out,” but what great stories they will bring home. (The girls in the picture are three of our "extended family" members, Taylor, Lauren and Kate--real sweeties. Their headbands say Japan.)

It’s easy to beat yourself up thinking other people planned better adventures than you did, but I’m coming to accept that each trip is its own unique experience, and I’m enjoying other peoples’ trips as much as my own. I don’t usually like bus trips but had decided to do them this time in the interest of maximizing things seen compared to time spent figuring things out. And the independent travelers in many cases mentioned that they had no idea what they were seeing and wished they’d had someone to explain things. With a bus tour, you certainly get your share of information! At any rate, this was a nice introduction to Japan. We even met one lady at a garden in Yokohama who is traveling to Portland this summer; we exchanged emails and are hoping to see her when she comes our way. The people were so kind and lovely.

My biggest surprises: (1) I had no idea that the many coastal cities are not really distinct anymore -- they all kind of run together. We left Yokohama for Tokyo on Day 2, and I have no idea where one city ended and the other began, and we drove for an hour and a half. And this was not just suburbs -- I’m talking city, city, city, tall building, tall building, overpass, overpass, etc., as far as the eye can see. When I get home and have bandwidth, I want to do a Google Earth flight along the Japanese coast. (2) I read a bit of Japan’s Shakespeare, Basho, in a lit class on board, and he talked constantly about how difficult it was to walk from town to town across Japan on a pilgrimage he made. I thought it was just because the roads wouldn’t have been good in the 1650s. But I had no clue how mountainous the country is. You would really have to be quite the adventurer to set off to walk across this country.

One statistic I found very interesting: one of my guides said 80% of Japanese are Buddhist, and 80% are Shinto. Japanese aren’t tremendously religious to begin with, but many of them observe both traditional religions. Some are even Christian and Shinto. The Shinto temples are where they go to celebrate happy occasions -- births, marriages, buying a new car -- and the Buddhist temples are for the “meaning of life” issues and to observe a death. Happily enough for our group, at the big Shinto shrine in Tokyo we had the great good fortune to observe a Shinto wedding (see photo, right). Very lovely, very quick.

Kind of like our time in Japan.