When Shawn Mendes said “Lost In Japan”

New Characters:

Annie: Friend I met on the ship, but goes to CSU

Esra: Friend I meet on the ship, from Turkey

If you looked at my recently played on Spotify Music, you’d see “Jackie Chan” by Tiesto and Post Malone and “Lost in Japan” by Shawn Mendes. These two songs played on repeat the entire weekend on our Bluetooth speakers and in the back of our Instagram stories. Between navigating busy train stations, explaining to our taxis where our Air Bnb was, and Apple Maps walking feature’s terrible accuracy, Shawn Mendes’ song hit a little too close to home.

I’m going to be honest, I’ve never navigated a train station in the U.S. by myself, let alone one with signs written in all Japanese characters. If it wasn’t for Apple Map’s transit feature, the six of us would still be lost in Japan. Somehow, we all made it back to the World Odyssey in one piece and can say with confidence we circumnavigated Japan in five days!!

Here’s a little break down of what I did everywhere and little nuggets of knowledge I learned along the way. Hold on tight, this one’s a little longer than my usual posts:

Day 1

1/24/2019 – On my first day in Japan I had a Semester at Sea Field Class to the Shunkoin Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Here we participated in a traditional tea ceremony, observed a zen garden, and did mediation with a Japanese Reverend. He lead us in a deep conversation that challenged me intellectually and was extremely thought provoking. He asked about some of the following topics:

The difference between actuality and reality.

Basically, actuality is what is happening in real time, and reality is how the individual perceives it based on their background and ideologies.

Buddhist meditation is rooted in suffering. We discussed how Japanese people try to avoid suffering and discomfort and how they try to overcome it through meditation and religious practices.

Is Westernized mindfulness appreciating or appropriating traditional Buddhist meditation?

He talked about how the United States has commercialized mindfulness meditation and has ripped the roots of Buddhism and its history to make it more trendy.

He asked us a lot of frustrating and off-putting questions that caused extreme cognitive dissonance. But looking back after some days of reflecting, I realized that even though I may not agree with everything he said, I appreciate his point of view.

That night we explored the port of Kobe by munching on some delicious multicolored dumplings and $2 beers. We got a taste of the nightlife with a quaint little bar on the fifth floor of a building tucked in an ally way and celebrated getting off the ship after TWELVE days with some fellow SASers. Overall, a great first night in port!

Day 2

1/25/19 – TOKYO BABY!! The second day, the five of us (Annie, Aleah, Aly, and Esra) woke up and boarded a three-hour bullet train to Tokyo. This train modeled an airplane on the ground, I literally felt like I was traveling through time it was so fast. The rail pass was pretty expensive, but it was completely worth the experience and made all other subway and train traveling much more efficient for the remainder of the trip.

We got to Tokyo and headed to our air bnb in Shibuya. To paint a picture of the chaos upon stepping foot out of the train station, the famous “scramble crossing” is in Shibuya where more than 2,500 people cross an intersection at one time. That crossing was one block away from where we stayed. I literally felt like the small-town girl in the movies that moves to New York City. Spinning with her mouth wide open in awe and then the music squeals because she almost gets hit by a taxi… yea that was me. There were people everywhere you looked, dressed in elaborate street wear. The street vendors were illuminated by the street signs, and the fragrance of Kobe beef and sweet pastries filled the air. There was a five story Forever 21, a three-story Zara, and other brand names with elaborate store fronts. There was also 7-Elevens or Family Marts on every corner – which ended up being our lifeline for the next five days. I don’t think I can eat another cup of noodles ever again in my life.

That night we met up with some of our other SAS friends in another district to explore the night life. The PG and SparkNotes version is we may have celebrated our first night in Tokyo a little…too much.

Day 3

1/26/2019 – The second day in Tokyo, we planned on going to the Digital Art Museum. We got a late start for reasons you can probably guess and it took us a long time to figure out transit to the peninsula it was on. We were starving when we got there and the only thing in sight was a Wendy’s. The weirdest burger I have ever had in my life, but we were desperate so we scraped the plate clean. We trekked our way to the back of the line wrapped around the building and stood in the cold wind for about 30 minutes. We were bundled head to toe and still could feel the wind piercing through our puffy jackets directly to our bones. We were miserable and did our fair share of complaining to get through it.

Words are truly not the adequate form of communication to show what I saw. So instead, I’ll add some pictures for a visual aid. PS: I normally hate museums because I was scarred on school field trips as a child, but this is my type of museum. The rooms were filled with modern light art and vibrant colors. I felt like I was in Alison Wonderland, and hours flew by without even realizing it. It was beyond worth the wait in the frigid weather to experience what we saw and was definitely a highlight of Japan. Here’s some photos from the exhibits:

On our way back to our Air Bnb, we stopped at Takeshita street, which is the touristy street with the giant cotton candy trees – if you follow anything Semester at Sea on social media, I’m sure you’ve seen it. You already know I had to buy one for the pictures…duh. (Side note: Aleah GETS me. She knows how to hit the angles and is willing to stop for 10 minutes just to get the perfect picture. The rest of our group may want to kill us by the end of the day but hey, Journalism minds think alike.)

After we moseyed down the street, we stumbled upon this Ramen noodle chain called Ichiran. IF YOU LIVE BY ONE IN THE STATES, GO. This was straight up the best ramen I’ve ever had in my life, I’m still thinking about it.

You start by choosing the noodles and sides you want on a vending machine styled menu. You pay and they give you a ticket. You then go inside and they hand you a sheet to customize the ramen. Want it spicier? Want the noodles more or less firm? Want less oil? They’ve got it ALL. After that, they sit you at a single stall booth seat facing the kitchen. After waiting a few minutes, a bamboo sheet rolls up and they place the noodles in front of you just how you ordered it. If you want to add anything you just push the green button and the chef comes over and grabs your sheet. This is the place to go if you’re antisocial and struggling with the language barrier because there is minimal social interaction. It was such an experience, and definitely my favorite food we ate during the five days.

Day 4

1/27/2019 – KYOTO! Today we made our way to another city in Japan called Kyoto. This city is known a lot more for the culture of Japan and is home to a lot of shrines and temples.

We decided to explore a street market called Nishiki Market. We clicked directions on Apple Maps ttransit and it said we had to take a public bus. The panic set in. We found a bus stop and after 20 minutes of our bus number not coming, we realized we were on the wrong side of the street. Throw six girls in a busy city with their only way of getting around being public transportation and we’re bound to look like idiots. This bus. OMG. We were scrambling to get enough coins to pay for it while trying not to fall over from the sudden stops. We got plenty of dirty looks from locals to last a lifetime! We somehow made it to the right stop, don’t ask me how. On our way there we stopped in the fancy stores on the main city street. Had to stop in Gucci, because Aleah is always out here doing the MOST. First time I’ve ever been in a Gucci, right? I got my currency app out and checked one price tag and immediately knew I did NOT belong. My travelers’ budget was crying. I knew Gucci was outrageous but my chest physically hurt that people spend that much on a bag with a green and red stripe on it.

We got the street market and it was beautiful chaos filled with delicious smells, sizzling foods, and commotion. I wasn’t even thinking about travelers’ diarrhea because it all looked so amazing. I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but Aly, Esra and Aleah tried a literal mini octopus on a stick and that was where I drew the line. I did try fried Pike fish, giant shrimp on a stick, and chocolate soy beans, so hey still pretty adventurous. My dad would have been in heaven! The locals that owned the stands were so nice and willing to talk to us and take pictures with us. We had such an amazing time and felt like we really got a taste of Japanese cuisine and culture.

Before we went back to our hotel, our Turkish friend Esra, wanted to go to this Shrine to see geishas. Pause. Esra loves to Google stuff to do nearby and more times than not we have no idea what she’s talking about and it always ends in a weird story nothing related to the original plan. We questioned what she meant with dumbfounded looks on our faces but she convinced us it would be worth it. Long story short, we didn’t see any geishas (still not sure what she meant) and our feet were about to fall off from hypothermia. We missed the ONE bus back to our hotel so we had to wait 30 minutes in the hotel. We laughed about it and made the best of our situation. When we got back to the hotel, we were so cold we turned on the bath and all put our feet in it. A memory I truly won’t forget.

Day 5 - 1/28/2019

Last day in Japan, wahhh. We woke up and went to the Fushimi Inari shrine, which is an extremely popular shrine with thousands of orange pillars leading to a temple at the top of a mountain. This was by far the most photogenic place I have ever visited. We walked around for a few hours but did not think it was worth going to the top because of how freezing it was. Here’s some pictures for reference:

After this, Esra Google searched again (hold your breath) and found a monkey park on this mountain that looked cool. We said “why not” and navigated our way there. The walk over to the mountain was absolutely beautiful. As I was crossing the bridge over to the park, I actually got choked up because it was the most postcard moment I’ve ever had. The fog was rolling in over the turquoise water with ominous rolling hills in the back. Breath taking.

If you saw my Instagram post, I said “They told us the monkeys were a bad idea, so of course we had to do it.” For background, in our pre-port meeting, the medic said to stay away from the monkeys because they have “monkey herpes.” I wish I was kidding. She also said if you smile at them, they think it’s a threat, and can attack you. So naturally, we had to see what the fuss was about. We climbed our way to the top but not without puffing the inhaler a few times and coating our shoes in orange mud that resembled sloppy joes. That is truly the only way to put it. As we approach the top, I look up and start seeing monkeys swinging around in the trees with babies on their backs. I can hear screeching noises in the back so I know I’m in the right place. We get to the top and there are monkeys e v e r y w h e r e. They were so cute agh! We witnessed a “feeding time” and I have never laughed like that before.

Let me paint the picture:

The workers start howling out in this low moan and the monkeys start swarming from all the surrounding hills. All of a sudden, this literal CIRCUS music starts playing over the speakers and a worker starts scattering food everywhere. The monkeys went BERSERCK. They were crawling on each other and making monkey screeches and it was absolute chaos. It was absolutely hilarious.

Long story short, I can’t wait for the next time I can get lost in Japan – shout out to Shawn Mendes for the theme song. I haven’t hit many places on a map yet, but Japan has by far been my favorite. There is something so beautiful about independent travel and being willing to get lost and laugh about it.

Navigating train and bus stations instead of getting on and off a tour bus is an entirely immersive way to experience a culture and has been so rewarding.

Japan, you are beautiful. And your culture and people were so welcoming and unforgettable. I loved every second I spent wandering, eating, and photographing. You will seriously be missed and I can’t wait till we meet again.