Overall Experience and Reflections from Japan 2014

I meant to do this last week, but after I returned home, I became super lazy again.

Summer mode on.

But of course, nothing gets accomplished when I just sit here and stare off into nothingness, so why not blog about my overall experience? There will be some things here that I didn't initially mention in my other blog posts, so I hope you won't get too terribly bored from reading this today! I'll try to add a picture here and there to spice this post up a bit! =)

The last time I visited Japan, was in 2001. At that time, I was in Grade 6 and my father and brother were my companions. It was during spring break (Late March/Early April), so the weather was pleasant.

So it was a long time coming for me to return to the first country I ever visited outside of Canada. I was a bit anxious because it was my first time travelling alone. I traveled to Las Vegas the year before, so I had a vague idea of what I needed to do to check into the airport. After a smooth check in, I waited by the gate for my flight... 2 hours ahead of schedule.

I was surprised to see so many other people already there; mostly people around my parents' age, conversing in Japanese. It was like a precursor of what I would hear for the next couple of weeks.

Upon arrival in Narita, I recall going through immigration, and how I claimed that I had commercial goods (really, I think they meant by items that I were intended to sell... when in fact my bags of pistachios were souvenirs for my relatives). The security guard give a quick chuckle and let me through. I wandered around a bit, trying to find the bus stops, so I can board a shuttle bus to the hotel I was staying for the night. Unfortunately, I was a late for the shuttle, so I had to wait a while for the next one.

At that time, I just sat on the bench and thought to myself...

"I'm finally back"

It wasn't the exact same place, for my father previously took us straight to his hometown, but the feeling of being back in the country was plenty enough for me. Fortunately, it was cloudyish that day so the heat wasn't too bad... almost like a 30+ day in Calgary.

Upon boarding the shuttle bus, I was taken through 15 minutes of a... somewhat of a field trip moment. I was twisting my head right and left to absorb the sights. The scenes kind of remind me of the numerous amount of dramas that I watched over the years.

At Sky Court (the name of the hotel where I was staying at), I had my first conversation with someone that did not have the same mother tongue as myself. Somehow, through my extremely limited Japanese skills and sign language, I was able to check into my room and ask for a shuttle bus to the airport for the next day (since I had a flight to Hokkaido).

And then the wait for my brother to come meet me at the hotel. I admit, it was a tedious wait, since I had no access to the internet. At that time, I realized how dependent I had become to technology. To help ease the long wait, I pulled out a book I started at YYC and continued reading from it. It was a really odd feeling, for it's something that I don't do often anymore. I recall putting the book door and staring outside my window for a bit and realizing, like REALLY realizing that I wasn't in Canada anymore.

At that point at time, anxiety started to creep through me once again. I didn't know how to contact my brother to let him know which room I was in since I didn't had wi-fi. I tried connecting to the hotel's wi-fi, but there wasn't any signal in my room, and I didn't know where the router was. After pondering for a while, I became quite thirsty, so I went out to look for a vending machine. It was then I realized that routers were located on top of the machines. I turned on my wi-fi on my phone, found a STRONG signal, and messaged my brother the details.

Not too long after that, I heard a knock on the door and my brother was the one standing on the other side. It had only been two weeks since I last saw him, but he appeared a bit darker from before; courtesy of the time he spent in the southern parts of Japan.

After catching up and a quick shower, I easily fell asleep, which was an extremely odd occurrence. Normally, I have troubles falling asleep on the first day away from my own bed, since it takes me a while to become accustomed to my environment. Nevertheless, I slept like a baby till my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning.

And so my adventures truly began. The plane ride from Narita to New Chitose Airport went quite smoothly compared to the turbulent ride across the Pacific Ocean. It was the first time that I purchased (or more specifically, my brother purchased) a meal. I haven't had anything to eat in a while, so I was actually quite hungry. It was from the airport that I first took a train on this particular trip. I recalled going on some other trains during my previous visits, but those memories are quite hazy.

We got to our station and started looking for our hotel. Google Maps was difficult to use in Japan, compared to Calgary. I guess it was because we were in a foreign location, or maybe the slow speed of a stroll had us (or at least me) confused in whether my position was moving on not on the map. It didn't take too long though, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel (since we arrived much earlier than check in time) and explored the city.

It was quite a foreign experience, and quite the cultural shock. In Calgary, you see all sorts of people walking around, but in Japan... well it's mostly Japanese people. And the snippets of conversations that I heard, would obviously be Japanese of course (unlike the multitude of languages you can easily hear down a street in Calgary). My biggest surprise was the lack of garbage cans around the streets. There were literally no cans in sight.

Yet, the streets were so squeaky clean.

The next big surprise was from the sales people working in the stores. Nearly all of them (like 99.9%) were extremely polite and made you feel like a top end customer. They were also quite helpful in helping us look for certain products, such as taking the time to show us around a particular floor or giving us detailed directions in English. Now, I'm not criticizing the way it's like in Calgary at any means, but it really made me want to spend money down there!


After experience just a small section of Hokkaido in 3 short days (including our district our hotel was in, Sapporo, Furano, Biei (wished we had more time here!), Maruyama Zoo and Park, experiencing the very best bowl of Ramen I ever had), it was time to head to the Kansai region.

Maybe it's just me, but it felt a lot busier down here in comparison to Hokkaido. I recall travelling from the train station, down Namba Walk, to our next hotel. All I can say is that Namba Walk was the most colorful walk I've been down yet! So many colors, so bright, so vivid, so lively... so everything! My only picture of the walk doesn't do it justice, but just to give you an idea..

It was also here that I first tried a sushi conveyor belt in Japan. And oh my goodness it was a terrific experience. The place we went to had almost all plates valued at 130 yen. That works to just under $1.40 Canadian, which was a sweet deal considering you get two pieces of sushi for that price. And the sushi here was amazing. I normally don't care that much in terms of taste (quantity > quality in my books normally), but it was delightful.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time in Osaka, since we had to move onto our next location: Nara.

Nara had a really rustic feel despite being a decently sized city.

We managed to spend a decent of time in Nara. My brother and I even met a freelancer writer/poet. He was extremely fluent in English, and shared a bit about his life with us. Besides that, we managed to find a large amount of deer wandering around Nara park, which perhaps what Nara could be best known for (don't quote me on this... I just say this based on the drama I watched that stared Tamaki Hiroshi and Ayase Haruka. It was about deers and Nara). The deer didn't run away from you, like the wildlife in Canada. They didn't really care that you were there. Deers here would only show an inkling of interest to you if you had food on you. This food consists of special deer waffles that you can purchase from street vendors for 150 yen.

This made me wonder why the deer never attacked these vendors since the waffles were literally in plain sight...

Anyways, feeding the deer was exhilarating. I had to admit that I was scared at times, since a horde of deer would follow you with a give-me-the-waffles-if-you-want-to-live look. The deers were gentle, yet passively aggressive. Like I previously posted, one even nipped my buttocks to get at the crackers in hand!

After running like a little child for 30 minutes, we went to visit Todaiji, which housed one of the biggest Buddha statues in Japan (if I'm not mistaken). It was definitely a unique feeling to stand on sacred grounds.

After visiting a couple of other sites, night soon fell and it was off to sleep before travelling to the country's old capital: Kyoto. We spent more time in Kyoto, yet it was nearly not enough to cover much of the place. Sure, we visited a lot of landmarks, like the Golden Pavilion and Fushimi Inari Shrine, yet there were so much more to visit. Though I have to note... laundry was very expensive in Kyoto, or at least the laundromat we visited was really expensive...

It was all too soon, but off to Tokyo! It was only a day stay, but it was time to head off to the part I was looking forward to the most: climbing Mount Fuji. There's a saying that goes something like you'll be a fool to not climb Mount Fuji once, but a fool to climb it twice. I went up to the 5th station before (via my dad driving us up the volcano), but never up to the summit.

And it was quite the climb. Around 12 hours and a half to climb up and down the volcano for us (slower than most, but what can you do about that?). Living in Calgary did give us a leg up in terms of altitude I suppose, but it was a difficult climb nevertheless. It didn't make matters much better when there was a lot of fog during our ascent. However, once you reach above the clouds, it offered a wonderful view.

I was in awe of what nature had in store for us. It was a hard climb, though it reminded me of the lesson of hard work pays off (in some shape).

The mountain hut we stayed in was a unique experience as well. When I thought that sharing a bed with my brother was tough, it was nothing compared to the cramped spaces in a mountain hut. Literally, it's 20 small beds in a row, which greatly makes use of the saying of being packed like a bunch of sardines. It's all part of the experience, but I know what to do for next time: stay away from the beds and just sleep on the tatami mats in the dining area.

The last part of the ascent was perhaps the most difficult, and the most dangerous. Snow was billowing around, which made the ascent very slow, wet and cold. The wind didn't help either, for at times I felt like I would be blown off the volcano!

I had to admit, when we reached the top of the summit, we weren't as excited as I thought we would be. I could credit that too the intense cold winds. We huddled around after we found some shelter. It was a painful two hour wait, but the time went by surprisingly fast. The horizon started to turn color: first a reddish hue, to orange, to finally the sun popping out.

It would be a lot better if it wasn't so blistering cold... >_>

Though when the sun poked it's head out, people started cheering for the event. It really led to a feeling of solidarity among my fellow climbers. We all struggled (some more than others) to climb to the top to experience a nice sight. I wanted to wander around the crater for a bit, but the winds made it too difficult for us to do so.

Fortunately, the descent was quite warm and offered beautiful scenery. My other regret (besides not wandering around the crater at the summit) was not taking enough pictures on the descent down.

The descent literally marked the last chapter of our journey, for the next couple days was mostly spent in Tokyo.

Save, for visiting some of our relatives. I was anxious, for I did not know how to communicate with them since my dad always done so previously. Yet, it was perhaps one of my favorite parts on the trip. My brother and I had the chance to reunite with a part of our heritage that we don't get the chance to do quite often enough. 

At this point, I realized how strong family bonds are, for we haven't met for 13 years, but it didn't matter that there was this long of a gap. My brother and I even managed to have a delightful conversation with our relatives. Sure, things were different to what I remembered, for everyone is growing older, yet it was definitely a very nostalgic feel. 

It was extremely sad to leave (which also wants me to go back very soon to Japan to visit again!), yet it had to come eventually. Also, it did make the rest of my trip seem relatively dull compared to visiting my relatives... 

Nevertheless, this was the time I spent to explore sections that I haven't done so previously. And after that full single day, it was time to go home.

After every journey, I feel a little bit different coming back in comparison to going to. At times I feel a little wiser, at others, I feel less stressed. Japan has been both for me, for I feel a little bit wiser about life and definitely less stressed. Even though it was a little over two weeks, time went by slowly, yet quickly at the same time. Each day was full of adventure, yet there's so much more adventuring to do! It was a different experience, compared to travelling when I was younger.

In January 2014, I was sitting on the fence on whether or not I should travel to Japan. I knew it would be expensive (and it's my most expensive trip to date), yet I don't regret it one bit for taking the plunge. July 2014 is my favorite July month and perhaps even all of my summer months of my 25 years on the earth. It's full of memories that I hope won't fade so soon, but maybe it'll serve as encouragement to go back quite often! =P

And it allowed me the chance to visit some parts of my family. For family visits are often quite limited throughout one's life. I guess one final lesson I learned is to really cherish those that are around you. You never know how much time you have left to create memories with a person.

Day 18 - Departing back to Calgary!

It was supposed to be a reflective blog post today, but I guess I'll just explain what I did for the day.

First off, we went last minute shopping for a specific item for one of our group mates. Once that was done, we went back to get our luggage and proceeded to Narita airport. On arrival to Narita via the Narita Express (NEX), we checked in and quickly boarded our flight back to Calgary.

It was a flight shorter than what I imagined it would have been (having done it twice before). I managed to get some sleep in and watch a couple of movies. Fortunately this time, I wasn't bugged with annoying headphone jacks or lags. I managed to finish watching Trick and a Japanese movie called The Little House (about a maid's autobiography of a family she once served). It was a decent movie, though I didn't like how they focused a lot on a love affair within the house.

Upon arrival to Calgary, my brother and I got picked up and went straight home. We're still in the process of unpacking everything!

And that pretty much marked my extremely long day today. Now time to sleep, and get readjusted to Calgary time.

Welcome back to reality.

The gunpla kits my brother and I bought. 

Day 17 - Last full day in Japan 2014

I woke up relatively late compared to the last two days. We went down to eat our breakfast of bread and soup. Soon after, we got ready to go outside for our last full day in Japan (for this year anyways. I'll be sure to go back to Japan!)

We started the day by going to the Yodabashi store in Shinjuku to pick up an item for my dad. Once that was complete, we then travelled to Square Enix's Artnia cafe. It was decently sized compared to other cafés Ive been to, but there wasn't anything interesting items on sale. We had a brief snack there. I got myself a high potion drink which consisted of ginger ale and mint leaves with slices of lime. If I was a final fantasy character, I wouldn't last long if I was injured. The drink was pretty nasty in my taste. After Artnia, we travelled to Harajuku. It was my first time there, and I found it to be extremely busy. We stopped by a AYCE Yakuniku place for lunch. The salad bar at this place was pretty good, though they forgot to give us our ice cream =(. 

After lunch, we walked around Harajuku for a bit. We then walked to Shibuya to find an arcade. We played a couple of games (gundam simulator, Gundam Extreme Vs where my brother got pretty far in the game and gun slinger stratos), we found a MEC equivalent store. Well maybe not MEC, but travel equipment: my brother found himself a decently priced duffle bag. 

Since he has more room now, we travelled to Akihabara so he can pick himself up another Gundam. Once our trip was complete, we went back to Shinjuku to reflect about our trip. After spending some time gazing at the heart of Shinjuku, we travelled back to our hotel to eat our cheap bento boxes for dinner. 

And that pretty much marked my last day in Japan for this year! I'll right a reflective piece tomorrow when I get back home. I really dislike typing on my phone keyboard, but it does allow me to store my memories for the day!

Day 16 - Nostalgic trip back to Yamanashi prefecture

My brother and I woke up early again to catch a train to Yamanashi prefecture (the equivalent to a province or state) to visit our grandfather. He had fallen I'll earlier this year, thus he had to move to a nursing home. 

Our cousin was our tour guide today. Our communication actually went quite smoothly since we both had a translator on our phones. After the two hour ride, we walked to the nursing home in a neighbouring town. It was reay good to see our grandfather again, despite how different he looked to compared to 13 years ago. He's a lot thinner now, though it seemed like his mind is quite sharp at his age of around 90. He had a game of Go in front of him, and it seemed like he was thinking up of different strategies. 

We talked a bit, with our cousin being the translator. I caught up on his recent events and he had the chance to hear about ours. After around two hours, we had to leave in order to visit our grandmother's grave. It was a sad farewell, and I reluctant to leave. My grandparents took great care of me when I visited them previously and comforted me when I was longing for home. I hope to see him again one day, with hopes of increasing my vocabulary. 

We then went to fruit park, a beautiful park near my grandparent's house. We tried to grab a bite there, but the restaurant there was too full. We ended up going to a restaurant a taxi ride away. My brother and I had a great conversation with our cousin. We had the chance to discuss things that cousins would normally talk about. It was interesting to find out that she enjoyed western music while we listened to a lot of Jpop and Kpop. 

After lunch, we went up to our grandparents house. It was a trip down memory lane, for it felt like I was there not too long ago, despite also feeling that it had been too long. I recalled the room I stayed in, the narrow corroded with sliding doors that led to the backyard where we would have tea and snacks, the backyard where Chibi kept me company (a shiba I believe, that I aged with in the past). After burning some incense for our grandmother, we travelled to the graveyard, which was nearby the house. 

It was a hot walk, yet a meaningful walk. I had the chance to think about my grandmother for a bit. When we arrived, we washed our family tombstones and burned more incense. After spending some time there, we returned back to our grandparents house to wait for a taxi to bring us back to the station. 

Our cousin saw us off, back at our hotel, so we returned the favour back to walk her to the place near the platform. Besides our grandparents, we haven't seen our other relatives for a long time. After seeing her off, my brother and I windowed shop a bit in Shinjuku and then grabbed a bite at Mos Burger. When we returned back to our hotel,we spent a good hour or so to repack the souvenirs that our aunt, uncle and cousin bought us. We had trouble packing everything in! They have been so kind to us, that I'm not sure how to return the favour...

But that marks the end of visiting our family in Japan. It was only two days, but has been a very memorable two days. It made me realize the importance of families and how strong our bonds can be, even if you haven't seen them for a long time. 

And so tomorrow will be our last full day in Japan before we head back home. I'm going to miss Japan, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to go back home.

Day 15 - Tour of Tokyo via the Hato Bus

Our day started really early today. We got up at around 6:45 and ate a quick breakfast. We checked out and met our relatives at our hotel. It's been much too long since I last saw my aunt and uncle. 

They led us to Shinjuku, where we looked for our tour bus for the day. It belonged to the Hato company, which gave a bunch of different tours around Tokyo. We first started at the Imperial gardens for a quick group picture. After a few minutes, we moved onto Asakusa: which I would dub as the Kyoto of Tokyo. There was a large temple there, but what caught my attention was the street markets. There was a ton of stalls selling a variety of objects: food, trinklets, kimonos, etc. I may have to go back and spend more time here before I leave for Canada. 

During our time in Asakasa, our relatives took us to a famous tempura restaurant in the district. It's definitely different to the tempura I had before, and I must say I prefer the one I normally had. However, it was extremely tasty, just soggy. 

After Asakasa, we went to the Tokyo tower.  It was big, though I had my fair share of tall buildings around Japan (and nothing can match up to Fuji). Nevertheless, it did have some beautiful sights. 

After the tour, we went to a department store near my relatives home to buy ingridients for dinner. We the walked to their house, which was a slight nostalgic trip for me since I've been to their place before. After a couple of hours, dinner was ready and we ate. 

There was a lot of delicious dishes in front of us, and I actually found a dark beer that I liked. However, the best part was our conversation. I know extremely little Japanese while they knew some English. However, we were able to carry out small talk. It was really special to talk to our relatives that we haven't seen for a really long time. 

And now it's finally bed time. It's been a long day and tomorrow will also be a long day as I travel to go meet my grandfather!

Day 14 - More Shinjuku and Odaiba

I've forgot to put the day on my last post!

Yesterday, my brother and I went to Shinjuku to look for a particular item for my mom. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so. However, we ended up buying a lot of snacks to bring home at the basement of a department store. I realized that most department stores (or maybe all?) have expensive clothes in the 5-7 floors that they have, but they have some awesome food products in the basement! I even managed to get my yakult (essentially Japanese Yogurt drink). 

We returned to the hotel to drop off our goods and headed off to lunch at a nearby Mos Burger. The burgers here are cheap, but really delicious. I don't know what kind of sauce they used, but it was an absolutely fantastic burger!

After lunch, we headed off to Odaiba, an artificial island off Tokyo Bay. My initial impression of Odaiba was extremely positive: it had a full scale RX 78-2 Gundam! We wandered around the mall, trying to look for the gundam museum. My main purpose for going into the museum was to find the life size Strike Freedom Gundam bust. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for the day for some unknown reason. I was really disappointed, but it kinda disappeared when we walked around and looked at the various models they have built. 

After the museum, we walked around Odaiba for a bit, waiting for it to turn dark. Rumor has it that the full size Gundam outside would light up and a special show would take place. But before we headed off to see the show, we wandered Into a Toyota dealership that was unlike Toyota dealerships in Canada. They had concept cars on display and even simulators for you to test out and compare a conventional car to a fuel cell car. I really wanted to try some of them out, but we arrived too late. =( After spending a great deal of time at Toyota, we headed off to see the rumored gundam presentation. 

Lo and behold, the rumors were true! I managed to record a bit of the presentation, but my phone ran out of memory =(. It was extremely cool though, the head moved, steam gushed out of its vents) and the cockpit actually opened to show a monitor projecting Amuro Ray (main character and pilot of the gundam). 

After the show we met up with the rest of our group and proceeded onto the giant Ferris wheel. Unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit so we couldn't take pictures from the top of the ride. It was a beautiful sight though, to be able to see Tokyo so high up!

After the Ferris wheel, we ventured into an arcade. There was a shooting range where you shoot cork bullets onto objects to score points. One of the prizes was a gundam model, so I had to play. Ubfortunately, we weren't able to knock off anything. (So much misfortune today!)

And that essentially marked my day yesterday! I'll probably have some time to blog about what I did today! 

 A FT-86/FR-S convertible concept!

A shopping day in Tokyo!

Woke up and stuffed my face with the all you can eat bread breakfast today. After breakfast, my brother and I got ready to look at a couple districts in Tokyo. We started off in Shibuya with the sole mission of finding the gundam simulator. 

We managed to find it in a Taito arcade Center. Initially, we thought you needed to purchase a card to play, but after my brother asked an attendent, all you needed to do was insert money. The simulator was fun, for it gave you the impression that you were operating a mobile suit (albeit with a simpler control scheme). However, I soon became dizzy from spinning around my suit. 

After Shibuya, we travelled to Akihabara. Despite visiting a small section of the district, I can see why it's know as the electronic town in Tokyo. The department store (Yodabashi) we visited had a LOT of electronics. There were 6 floors of electronic goods with each floor being the size of a typical London Drugs in Canada (or even bigger to be honest). My favourite floor was the 6th floor, since that's where all the gundam models were to be found! I ended up purchasing a couple of gundams at a price that I would not be able to buy from in Canada. 

After Akihabara, we went to Hamamatsucho to look for the Tokyo Pokemon Center. It was bigger than the one in Sapporo, but essentially had the same stuff in this store. 

Then it was off to Ginza. It was everything I had imagined: upscale part of Tokyo with extremely well dressed people, expensive cars and luxury brands. I went to a stationary store and bought a couple mechanical pencils since my mechanical pencil at home was falling apart (after a good 6-8 years of use!) 

After shopping, we went back to the hotel with our hands carrying our items and our credit cards holding more debt. It wasn't really eventful today, but a full day nevertheless!

Day 12 - Descending Mount Fuji

We woke up at around 12:30 to continue our hike to the summit. We had about 900 meters of trail left (about 150 m in terms of altitude). It was extremely windy and foggy. Despite having a headlamp, I wasn't able to see more than a couple of feet in front of me. Then flurries started to occur, which made it even more treacherous than before. Progress was slow, but we made it to the top in about 1.5 hours or so. 

When we arrived at around 2 AM, the wind at the top was so fierce, that I had troubles keeping my ground. We eventually found a place where the wind wasn't as bad, but it was dreadfully cold still (even though temperatures were probably above zero still). I had a windbreaker on and multiple layers of clothes/pants/socks, yet I felt like I was going to get frostbite again on my toes!

After some time, we saw more and more people coming to the top. At around 3:30, the horizon was starting to turn red. By about 4:00, the entire horizon was orange-red. It was a beautiful sight. 

Then, when the sun rised at around 4:35, you can hear a whole bunch of cheers for the goraiko (I think that's the proper term for the sunrise). Our group took a couple of pictures, then we turned towards the descending trail to go back down. 

The descent wasn't as physically demanding as the climb, but it was still quite difficult. It was really hard not to slip on the gravel on the way down. I did end up slipping and scraping up my right knee, but I was more concerned about my right pinkie toe (my right leg suffered quite a lot of minor damage during the climb and descent). It was starting to hurt a lot from me going downhill while making a "hockey stop" with my right foot to prevent me from tripping as I went down. 

Eventually, we made it to the 6th station and the rest of the trip went pretty smoothly. The walk to the 5th was quite delightful, when compared to the foggy encounter we had the day before. 

Upon arrival at the 5th station, we took a 2 hour and 20 monte bus ride to Shinjuku station. When we rechecked in at our hotel, we did our laundry and pretty much fell asleep for the afternoon/night. 

And that marked the most epic part of my journey! The rest will be to shop and to visit some of my relatives in Japan! It's hard to believe that my trip is coming to a close, but I have to admit that I'm missing Calgary at the moment =\. 

Day 11 - Climbing Mount Fuji

We first took a bus from the train station to the 5th station of Mount Fuji. That took about 45 mins. When we arrived at the fifth station, we spent about 40 minutes to stock up on last minute supplies and bathroom breaks (costs 100 yen to use). I bought myself some hiking poles. They were expensive at 5600 yen a pair, but well worth the money. 

The initial part of the hike wasn't too bad. There wasn't much of an incline, so life was pretty good. After the 6th station however, things got rocky. Like quite literally rocky. There were many parts of the trail where I felt like I was climbing up rocks. 

The climb after the 8th station was quite gruelling. I had to take a break every 25 meters or so. It took us 6 and a half hours to get to our mountain hut. 

And that's it for now! Just waiting for dinner and then a bit of bed before going out and climbing the last part of the climb!

Day 10 - Kawaguchiko

Woke up later than I would like to today. We went down and rushed through a quick breakfast of soup and toast. Afterwards, we made one last check before leaving Tokyo for a couple of days. 

After some confusion at the train station, we finally found our train to Kawaguchiko. It's a small town, but had a really homey feel to it. We checked into the hotel and settled down in our rooms. I have to say that I enjoy all this space in our traditional Japanese room. Due to the lack of furniture, it makes the room quite huge. I also enjoy the tatami mats under our feet!

After settling in, we went out to look for dinner. We stopped by a bunch of convience stores until we found a restaurant that was open. After dinner, we ventured to our rooms for an early night. 

Tomorrow is going to be a big day!

Time to climb the sacred volcanoe of Japan!

Day 9 - Last day in Kyoto and first day in Tokyo

We woke up and checked out of the hotel. Afterwards, we walked to Nishiki market to buy souvenirs for our relatives. I wasn't able to find anything, so we walked to Ippodo (a tea place). 

There were various types of green teas that I never heard of, like gyokuro. I ended up buying a bunch of tea and headed to the cafeteria. Here, I tried a matcha that's exclusive to the Kyoto region. It started off very thick, but after you take 3 sips, they whisk the tea so it becomes less viscous. It was an expensive drink, but worth it in my eyes. I ended up getting my brother to buy some matcha to bring home. 

After shopping, we went to eat at a sushi place. It wasn't a conveyor belt place, so we were expecting higher prices. I didn't expect the final price however... About $20 for 6 pieces of sushi! Although, the toro pieces I had were the best pieces of toro I ever had! It was extremely flavorful and pretty much melted in your mouth; like a really good steak. 

After lunch, we went back to grab our luggage and went back to the station to ride the bullet train to Tokyo. It was extremely fast, and cramped since we had to keep our luggage with us. 

Upon arrival to Tokyo, it was an awe aspiring experience. I've been to Tokyo previously, but I don't remember it being this busy! Shinjiku station was full of people getting from place to place. After arriving at our hotel (and noticing how cramped it was compared to those in the Kansai region), we went out for more sushi. (This time, at a conveyor belt place underground.) 

And that essentially marked my day yesterday! We're on our way to Mount Fuji for our climb now, so I may not be able to blog till I get back to Tokyo. 

Inside of the bullet train

Day 8 - Second Day in Kyoto

Day 2! Woke up early and travelled to the Northern part of Kyoto. We rented bikes to help us get around this part of the city. Our group split up into smaller groups so we headed off to our own destinations. My brother and I headed to a mountain temple. It was quite the climb; after 10 minutes I was sweating so hard that you can see beads of sweat on my arm. 

The view at the top of the mountain was beautiful though. You can view the city at a distance, but it's mostly about the trees that surround you from all around. It's unlike the coniferous trees that you see on the Rocky Mountains. 

After the temple, we rode our bikes around the town till we found the Bamboo forest. It was quite crowded so we had to disembark and walk through the crowd. It's nice, but I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. After going through the forest, we biked back to our starting point to meet with the others. We then took a train to our next location: The Golden Pavilion. 

We ended up walking the 30ish minutes instead of taking the bus, but it was worth the walk. The Golden Pavilion was an amazing sight: a building that brilliantly shone when light bounced off the surface of the building. 

After the Golden Pavilion, we moved onto the final location for the night: the Inari shrine with the 1000 torii gates. It was another mountain, so we started climbing   up it, going through a multitude of these gates. It was getting quite dark, so I made the executive decision to turn back instead of climbing to the top. I admit, it was quite spooky to climb up the mountain in the darkness with barely any other humans around you. 

After trudging back home, we went to go eat at a Yakiniku restaurant. The protein was quite delightful after a full day of walking!

And that pretty much marked my 2nd day. Today, we'll have some time to finish up tasks in Kyoto before we take the bullet train to Tokyo! I'm essentially at the halfway point of my adventure to touch root with half of my identity =(. 

Day 7 - First day in Kyoto.

Travelling from one city to another probably takes the most part of a day. Fortunately, the train ride from Nara to Kyoto wasn't too bad. The walk to the hotel afterwards wasn't too bad either. After we arrived at the hotel, we dropped off our luggage since it was too early to check in. 

We then started to walk around Kyoto. For the former capital of Japan, you can tell the magnificent elegance that exists within it's buildings. From the narrow alleyways to the rectangular buildings, it also gives you the sense of nostalgia. 

It was a bit difficult to travel around the city. We were initially looking for the manga museum, but we ended up walking down Nishiki Market, a market full of colourful shops selling a variety of goods. After the market, we started a long walk to Kiyomizu-dera temple. It didn't look as impressive as Todaji in Nara, but it covered a lot of space! 

After exploring this place for a while, we trudged on home. Since it's been a week since we last did laundry, we had to walk around looking for a laundromat. Fortunately, the desk attendant at our hotel spoke excellent english, so we had an idea of where to go. After finding the place, we found  out how expensive it was to clean our clothes... But it's a necessity since I was running out of clean stuff to wear!

After an hour or so, we went back to our hotel. We had plans to visit the Gion district at night, but I was too tired that day. 

That will probBly take place tonight!

Day 6 - Butt biting deer in Nara

Got up early to eat a western/Japanese breakfast. Afterwards, we got ready and checked out to begin our journey to Nara. It took us a while to find our station, so that meant a lot of walking and going up stairs while carrying my luggage. 

Once we were in Nara, we got a chance to visit the deer in Nara park. People weren't kidding when they said deer were aggressive if you had food. I got swarmed and one even nipped my butt cheek! Fortunately, there were no damage, unlike some people in our group. Otherwise, they were quite cute, with some being extremely polite. When you bow to them, they now back!

We went to see the great big Buddha statue after at a nearby temple. The temple was huge and so was the statue. (I would explain more, but I'm quite tired =\). 

After our visit in Nara park, we visited an okonomiyaki restaurant. It was pretty decent, though I don't know how it stacks up to those in Osaka. 

Butt off to sleep! Off to The ancient capital tomorrow!

Day 5 - Osaka

Woke up early again to get ready to leave Hokkaido. We checked out and proceeded to the airport. We were slightly rushed for time, but the plane was delayed for 20 minutes. 

After arriving at Kansai airport, I noticed how humid it was compared to Hokkaido. That, along with not eating for 12 hours made me really fatigued. We trudged our way to get our JR passes and tried to figure out which train to take to Osaka. 

We ended up in Namba, the south district of Osaka. The sights that surrounded me fuelled my curiosity and managed to sap my fatigue. We walked through Namba Walk, which is essentially a long isle of colourful shops. I was amazed at all the different shops! Unfortunately, I was more worried in finding my hotel that I didn't take a lot of pictures of the walk. 

After finally locating our hotel, we went out to look for okonomiyaki. There was a recommended place we found outline, yet after a wild goose chase, we gave up and settled for sushi. 

I don't know the name of the place, but it was damn good sushi. I had the chance to try different types like Sea Urchin and Yellowtail sushi. I must have had 40 pieces and I only had to pay around $30 Canadian!

After sushi, we spent time at the arcades. I really wanted a chibi FA unicorn, but I wasn't able to figure out the trick to the machine =(. After an hour or so, we proceeded to the nearest 7-11 to ritually stock up goods for breakfast. 

Not much done today, but we'll get the chance to go see a lot in Nara tomorrow! Can't wait to feed the deer!

Day 4 - Last day in Sapporo

To every beginning, there is an end. Today marked our last full day in Hokkaido. We'll be taking the plane to the Kansai region tomorrow. For the last day, we spent time exploring some places that we didn't get a chance to in the first place:

My brother and I ventured to Maruyama Park and Maruyama Zoo. The park and zoo was nothing out of the ordinary, but it was essentially just to see our namesake. After visiting the zoo, we grabbed a quick bite at the family mart my brother found and proceeded to visit a department store that had a Pokemon Center. As a Pokemon fan, I had to purchase some goods, so I ended up spending about $50 on merchandise. I got myself a new case, some playing cards and trading cards. I also had the chance to fish out a goody bag (or goody master ball) for 500 yen. Fanboyism satisfied, so off to the nearby arcade! I have to say that I really hate the claw game. I'm not sure what the strategy is for that game. 

After games, we headed back to the hotel to charge up. We then proceeded to a reknown Ramen shop called Meijinbou. We were the only customers at the time, but that didn't deter us from ordering their famous pork belly ramen. And I enjoyed it to the very last drop! A must go for those who go to Hokkaido! 

Afterwards, we looked for a place to give us a picturistic view of Sapporo. We tried going up a mountain, but it was too cloudy, so we ended up going to the JR tower. It wasn't as high up as the mountain, but it did offer a wonderful view of the city in all 4 directions. I also had the chance to purchase a medallion and have my name engraved on it! It was pretty sweet!

And so that ends my last full day in Hokkaido. It was quite a blast, and I'll definitely come back to visit certain places where I haven't gotten the chance to visit (ie: the UNESCO end of the world site and biking through Biei). It's quite a beautiful island that has a nice blend of modern society and olden day Japan. The locals though were all quite modern in terms of their fashion. Even grandmas were sporting fancy hair cuts and dressed extremely nicely. They weren't kidding when they mentioned how nice everyone dresses in Japan! I can't wait to see what Tokyo has to offer!

But now it's time for bed since I have to get up early to pack for Kansai! Until next time Hokkaido!

Day 3 - Furano, Lavender Fields and Biei

I meant to post this earlier but I fell asleep after my shower yesterday!

I got up early in the morning to prepare to go to the world famous lavender fields near Furano. We took a 2 hour express train to Furano, followed by a "scenery train" (slower moving train) to the fields. 

Essentially, there were rows upon rows of flowers. The vast majority were lavender, but there were other types of flowers too. It was definitely a breath taking experience. I also got to try lavender flavoured ice cream. It had a distinct flavor which I didn't expect to like! The area was also known for its cantaloupe, so I have that a try as well. I didn't feel it was anything different than the fresh, juicy ones I had in Canada, but nevertheless it was still quite delicious. 

After the fields, we took a 40 minute train to Biei, another country side town like Furano. Unfortunately, we only had 40 minutes to spend there (since we had to take the train back to Furano to catch our train back to Sapporo). 

I wished I had more time to spend in Biei! It had a very nostalgic feel to the town. The small plaza we were in had that gentle rustic feel with old fashioned, yet pristine buildings surrounding a simple, yet elegant designed-still water fountain. If I ever come back to Hokkaido, I will definitely make a stop here. 

After our along day, we stopped at Nanda for all you can eat seafood and meat. I normally don't eat crab, but I had a king crab leg. It was quite juicy, despite me burning the crap out of it (we had to cook it on our own). I also had a bunch of salmon, which I also cooked on my own, and it was extremely flavourful. Hokkaido is known for its seafood and I can see why. 

And that pretty much sums up my day! I'll be getting out of bed soon to prepare for my last day in Hokkaido before I prepare to head back south to the Kansai region!

Day 2 - Sapporo

My brother and I woke up at around 4:30 today so we could catch the shuttle bus to the airport for our 6:30 AM flight to Hokkaido. Upon arrival at Chitose, we rode a train to the capital of the island. (I hope I'm not getting any of this wrong... Social studies/Japanese majors?) It was my first time on a JR train since elementary school. The system here (and the subway) strongly reminded me of the metro in Paris. 

After arriving in Sapporo, we dropped off our luggage at our hotel and travelled around the city. We ventured to the old government building, to the famous clock tower, an enormous long park, the Sapporo tower, and a department shop. 

The department shop, I would say, is every girls dream. Levels upon levels of clothes! I was more interested in the basement since that's where we found discounted food! We even found the famous souvenir snack: butter sandwiches. These sandwiches are essentially butter/cream filling mixed with raisins and sandwiched between two cookies. They were mighty tasty, yet had a short shelf life. (I wanted to buy some for my relatives and family at home, but since the due date was near, I couldn't. =( )

What I noticed about the department store was how polite the staff were, and how helpful when we were looking for locations. Most of them had enough English vocabulary to help us out (which makes me sad that I didn't learn Japanese). 

After shopping, we checked into our hotel. We stayed there for a while since it was difficult getting laundry done. There was only one washer and dryer for the entire hotel! PI took a pretty long nap in the meanwhile while I was waiting for the laundry to finish. After it was done, it was pretty late, so we went to the nearest 7-11 to grab snacks and ate a bit at a bar (expensive!). 

And that pretty much sums up my first day in Hokkaido! The climate here is very Calgary like, just a tad more humid. 

And now for the picture of the day:

Maruyama Zoo!

Day 1 in Japan!

Day one in Japan! Flight was relatively smooth, though I don't recall going through so many turbulent waves before! On arrival, I was amazed at how big Narita International Airport. (I've been here a couple times before, though I don't recall it being this big)

After arrival, I waited for a shuttle bus to take me to the hotel I'm staying at. Travelling by myself has been interresting, though kinda lonely. Fortunately, I met up with my brother at the hotel after a couple of hours. 

And that pretty much sums up my day for today!

Spiders are huge here! It doesn't help that I'm an arachnophobic...

Reflections of a First Year Teacher

It has been quite the journey.

My path started over a year ago. I graduated from the UofC, awaiting my placement at the public school board. Alas, I was rejected, and I felt like my career as a teacher would end right there. I had no back up plans.

None at all.

And so I frantically applied to any board I could find: private, charter, out of Calgary, even international. The only place that would accept me at that time was the UK. With a heavy heart, I prepared myself to venture onto a new journey... one that I didn't feel quite ready yet.

And in the end, I did get cold feet and withdrew my application. I then started searching for careers that I can do with a B.Ed (which, to be honest, was actually kind of difficult to find). There were some part time work (tutored for a while with a different company), but nothing full time.

With the situation being presented to me, I hesitantly decided to let go of my identity as a teacher and forge myself a new path. I applied to the UofC and got accepted into the BN - Degree Holder program. I always had an interest in the field of medicine, so this was a good way for me to enter. Once again however, I was undecided, for I did not want to go back to school for another two years.

And so I made one last attempt at a teaching job posting I found online.

And since I didn't hear back in a couple of weeks, I decided to let go of my career and continue to pursue the path of a nurse.

Till one day... I decided to go out on a brisk October morning (near Hallowe'en) to go volunteer at my old junior high school to keep me occupied before my classes start in January. Just as I walked a couple meters from my house, I got a call from the last job posting I made. Lo and behold, I had an interview in a couple of days time! And so I rushed on home to prepare for my interview.

Come interview day: I was nervous and was breaking out in a cold sweat. Near the end, I didn't feel like I got myself the position. I asked when I could expect a result, and I was told that I could expect one at the end of the week. I recall how I drove home, feeling a bit down.

A few days after the interview, I get a call from the school. Expecting the worse, I answered the call meekly.

And to my utmost surprise, I was told that I could start work on the following Monday! I guess I was so shocked that I didn't initially realize what that meant. I asked for directions and time that I needed to be there... and prep for the entire weekend.

Monday approached extremely quickly. I remember putting on my favorite dress shirt and tie. I met with the principal and he gave me a tour of the school, while introducing me to the students. I remember seeing the room where I will eventually teach in. I remember meeting the staff. Fortunately for me, I had the month of November to slowly ease my way to full time teaching. I was only responsible for one course, while giving time to prep for the other courses and to get to know the students.

And comes December, where I started my assignment as a Math/Science teacher. I remember standing in my classroom, looking up at the ceiling and saying "Damn, I'm a teacher now".

And with that, my entire year was a whirlwind. I had my own homeroom, I had bus supervision, I started a karate club, helped plan field trips, went through evaluations, "coach" the badminton team, and so much more. It was extremely exhausting. I was having troubles with my homeroom students. I don't blame them, they were moved from their friends and comfort of their old homeroom, to make a new homeroom for me. It took me many months to earn their respect. They went from one of the classes I dreaded to teach to the one where I looked forward the most.

And enough blabbing about my experiences being hired! Now onto the lessons I learned as a teacher. For those freshman teachers, this is what I learned over the past year:

1) You're going to screw up.
As a student teacher, I was fortunate enough to not screw up, or not screw up often. I credit this to just having to lesson plan, without having to do anything else really. As a full fledged teacher, I made a LOT of mistakes: whether its a mistake in my notes, on assignments, marking, or forgetting to get things done for the school.

It's okay. You'll hopefully have supportive staff members and mentor teachers to help you. Make mistakes, and learn from them!

2) You're going to become sick; quite often and at times quite severe. 
I think I was sick at least 5 times this year. Two cases of food poisoning (with one time where I was literally puking and gushing like an explosive fire hydrant... pardon the graphic image), had bronchitis for 2 months straight, while fighting a strep throat infection at the beginning AND a cold near the end of my bronchitis. Oh, and I was sick during the last week of school, where EVERYTHING was literally due (report cards, marking finals, marking final projects, etc).

Senior teachers aren't lying when they say you're going to get sick. Previously, I would only get sick once a year. I shattered my record in 2 months alone this year.

3) First year is a lot of planning, thus a lack of time to do much.
Well not for all, but if you're an average person like me, you probably won't have much time to do much beside school. My days would typically be like this: Wake up, go to work, stay at work to do work, go home and eat dinner, work till bed time.

It was extremely tiring and stressful. The worse part too was that at times I wouldn't be able to really plan what I wanted to do. Many times, I would plan day-by-day with no end goal in site. A REALLY BAD WAY TO PLAN AND ONE YOU SHOULD TRY TO AVOID. (I tried not to plan day-by-day, but there were certain events this year that were beyond my control). Planning day-by-day gave me extreme stress. I credit my years as a karate instructor to help me rudimentary long term plan in my head... yet at times that was really overwhelming as well.

4) You need to find some time for yourself, and that includes using your personal days and sick days.
Perhaps my biggest mistake as a teacher this year. I never took time off when I was sick (save for that one day where I was puking... I don't think my students would appreciate it if I blew my chunks on them). You should ALWAYS take time off to recover. Better to go in 100% than to fight your way through when you're crippled.

Also, don't lose your hobbies and interests. I lost a lot of mine, which in turn made me quite stressed about work. I did manage to find time to play games with friends online, but it wasn't sufficient enough.

5) Students will take advantage of you because you're a new teacher.
Perhaps they take advantage of you even if you're not a new teacher. When I was subbing for a social studies class for a period, a group of girls told me that it was against their religion to hear songs about WW2, thus they had to leave the classroom. I feel for that, hookline and sinker (or whatever the saying is).When I told their social studies teacher about that, she was outraged by it and gave the class a stern lecture. Another time that I remember was when a student told me he had to attend an event at school, so he won't be able to stay in for DT. I watch him leave the classroom and exit out the school.

Be prepared! They're going to fool you. It's kinda sneaky, but some students will tell you when their classmates are being mischievous. Use your resources wisely and learn their tactics. Also, communicate with your fellow teachers for they are sure to have had a couple of those students as well.

6) Communicate with other staff members, and especially get to know your secretary and janitorial staff.
A big piece of advice that I was given by many professors and mentor teachers, and one that I used well. I got a whole lot of help from the secretary in things like ordering supplies, using the attendance system, to a whole bunch of other things. The janitorial staff is also a valuable resource, for they'll help you with the maintenance of the classroom. I remember how one of them always made sure my paper towel dispenser was always full, which was a necessity in my messy classroom!

7) Communicate with parents.
Parent Teacher Interviews aren't the only way to talk to parents. Take the time to call them. They'll appreciate it, and it may help turn a student's work habits around. For example, I had this one student who would never do work. I called his parents, and I had an hour long meeting with them. In the end, he started doing his work and his math mark went from the 20s to the 60s.

8) Teaching is tough, and you may want to quit at times, but it's worth it in the end.
It's tough. I was one of those ignorant people back in the day that believed in the motto that "If you can't do, you teach". (That's not the reason why I became a teacher! I became a teacher because I had previous experience as a karate instructor and tutor).

Teachers have a lot of work. True, we get a lot of breaks, and the pay isn't bad... yet its a lot of work. And yes, there were many times where I thought about leaving the profession: why should I deal with students who I feel like they don't give a damn about their learning. Why should I deal with parents who would only complain teachers for not doing their job properly, yet can't understand why their child is not doing their work. Why should I deal with this horrendous work-life balance.

Because in the end, it's worth it. It's rewarding to see students succeed, whether it's as big as winning a medal at the science fair, to as "small" as seeing a student finally overcome their struggle with multiplying integers. It's worth it to see that parents come up to you and tell you that their child is happy to be in your class, for they're starting to enjoy learning. It's worth it to see students come up to you, to tell you what they did over the weekend. It's worth it to know that you're a pillar of support for students when they have an issue and they need your help to deal with it.

To conclude, teaching isn't about the money. Many of my fellow peers at my age are probably making double of what I'm making right now. Yet, there are many rewards in teaching that I don't think many other occupations can provide.

Yes, I have a lot to learn still, and I feel like I'm far from being the ideal teacher that I want to be. I know that I can improve in many aspects of my own teaching. I won't be able to change everything in a year, nor maybe even in 5 years... but I think I'll eventually get to that point. =)

And despite it being the start of summer break, I'm kinda looking forward to next year! =D

And by the time school starts... I'll probably change my mind...

Happy Canada Day 2014

It's July already? The year is about halfway gone!

I meant to blog something more significant today, but I guess that'll have to wait for tomorrow. And I promise that my blog will get a lot more interesting really soon! =)

So I hope you look forward to that!