Author: Bria

Well the first big difference between Tokyo and Kyoto is of course size. Tokyo is the biggest city in Japan. And the feelings between the two cities is completely different. Kyoto is where you can get quintessential Japanese culture. It is the oldest city in Japan with a lot of temples in the city and the surrounding area. And Kyoto also has the Gion district where people can see geisha and experience an older side of Japan.

Tokyo is a city full of youth and innovation. You can still experience Japanese culture there, but there are so many international influences in Tokyo, which makes the city so unique and a tourist destination. In my mind Kyoto and Tokyo are like Washington, D.C., and New York City. New York City is new, with a lot of cultural influences, and Washington, D.C., is more “American,” with all of the museums and monuments.

Making the sushi was very fun. But I was pretty down that morning though because I was feeling pretty emotionally drained. Overall it was still a good time even though I was quieter than usual. I thought it was great to be involved in the culture in that type of way because when people hear Japan they think of sushi.

It has become such a common food here in America that I forgot there is an art to making sushi. It takes a lot of time and hard work to learn how to make it properly. So taking that sushi class helped me appreciate that more. And I also learned some new things too, like how to properly eat sushi. I know now that you eat it all in one bite because before I would take bites out of it, which made it harder to eat.

The picture at left is one that I took in Akihabara. I chose to share this picture because it was actually a place that I didn’t exactly enjoy that much. I mostly went because a lot of other people in the group wanted to go and Akihabara is a famous area to go to in Japan, so I figured that I had to check ot out. I didn’t have a horrible time but I also didn’t have tons of fun. I think that’s mostly because I’m not into video games, arcades, anime, and manga that much. I enjoy watching it and playing video games sometimes, but it’s not a hobby or passion of mine. India and I did go to one of the photo booths there and that was a lot of fun. The pictures were funny too.

Looking back at the goals that I wrote in the itinerary before we left for Japan, I feel like that I have partially fulfilled these goals and expectations. I have definitely been able to understand the world other than the U.S., used my knowledge of the Japanese language, and gained more cultural knowledge about Japan.

I was able to find independence in the sense that I am no longer afraid of going abroad and that I know how to navigate an airport by myself. But that deeper sense of independence and getting to know myself better is something that I think I can only gain if I go abroad for some time by myself. I would be out there making mistakes and learning how to problem solve completely on my own.

And being on this trip so far, the only thing that I wish I had done before going was to take a Japanese history course. I feel like that would have given me a better understanding of all of the sights that we have been seeing. I can appreciate things a lot more if I know the history behind it. But I have been looking online to learn more about Osaka castle, the different religions, and the cities. But when I was on the ferry ride, I came to the realization that I would love to come back and study here in Osaka for a semester. I feel this course has given me all the tools needed to go back to Japan on my own and succeed. I would just love to come here and study and learn how the universities are here in Japan. And there’s no better place to study Japanese culture than Japan itself.

The picture at the top is one that I took during our free time in Namba. The lady in the picture is a Jehovah’s Witness here in Japan. This was special to me because I’m a Jehovah’s Witness too, so it was great to see another Jehovah’s Witness from another country because our religion is international. She was so nice but she also didn’t really know English well, so I tried my best to talk to her in Japanese. And she was also able to show us where we needed to go to catch the train.

The picture at left is one that I took at Osaka Castle. It was one of my favorite places that we went to because it was absolutely beautiful and I remember looking it up before going to Japan. And it’s so weird, but in a cool way, that the castle is right there in the city next to all of these modern buildings. It was fun to imagine what the area was like back when the castle was first built. But I kind of wished that the inside was kept more original.

To me the big difference between Nara and Kyoto was that Nara was more of what I expected it to be. And I thought that Nara was this small little town that is only known for its deer. But I was wrong, Nara is actually a pretty nice size, maybe like Akron. It’s a very touristy city too, everywhere you go you can see deer merchandise, signs, or cartoons. With Kyoto, I thought that it was going to be a really old city where the buildings aren’t really that modern. But Kyoto is a busy bustling city. And they are very modern, with so many shops.

One thing that I found interesting was, of course, the deer. It was so odd to see the deer just roaming around, being very friendly and calm with people. It was like a fairy tale to me. What I can tell so far is that Japanese culture is very in tune to nature, so I was thinking maybe that’s a reason why they let the deer roam around. I just wonder, how did this all start? It must have took awhile for the deer to get used to people. And do deer have any cultural significance?

A key concept that I found interesting in Japan is that the Japanese take bits of different cultures or ideologies and then make them their own.
For example, in Kyoto there was a Buddhist shrine within a Shinto shrine/temple. This really proves the point that many Japanese don’t follow just one religion. Which makes sense — both reglions have greatly influnced Japanese culture — it would be hard to just choose one. And I think that this helps people have more of an open mind when it comes to learning about different ideas.