Sayonara, Nihon

これは最後のブログポスト、読者。
This is my final blog post, readers.

Four and a half months. Only. Just. Barely enough time to satisfy my taste for adventure in Tokyo and beyond. For some, studying abroad is a time for stepping outside of oneself, meeting new people, speaking another language, experiencing a different culture, and getting lost for the purpose of finding one's way. For me, all of these reasons led me to branch out of my Americanized bubble and travel to a place that tested me in every way.

Mentally

I look back to my first few weeks in Japan. A timid, twenty-year-old in one of the busiest cities in the world. Navigating with my brushed-up Japanese, I discovered how exhausted one feels after finding their way one step, or one word, at a time. I had never been in a situation where the first brain-puzzler was not how to get from point A to point B but how to formulate the question itself in Japanese. I became ignorant of time in order to give my mind as much room to figure out a Kanji or a train station attendant's guidance. Time, though, gradually earned its place back in my life. After a month, I had already found my way among Japanese society. Thank you to the taxi driver who drove me all around the city on my first day in Tokyo. He listened to my broken Japanese and helped me track down my apartment successfully. Thank you to all the strangers who kindly directed me towards my numerous destinations. Thank you to my roommates who put up with my "calling the police" scare and other fiascos. Thank you to my friends who love me for me and my super McKenna-isms.

Physically

From the beginning, I knew that I was entering a high-stress situation. The fifty-paged manual and the lunch-hour presentation on study abroad emphasized the words "culture shock" to the point that I was overly prepared. Still, stress and I don't get along, so I immediately began to explore possible running routes around my neighborhood upon arrival. Running has always served as my "me time," so to speak. In Japan, it connected me to the culture and its people. Through a runner's eyes, the world sharpens while at the same time it blurs together. Nature--the falling petals of cherry blossoms, the splash of rain puddles, the pigment of painted butterflies, the hum of cicadas--sharpened. The people--the businessmen and women in heavy stride, the shopkeepers shouting "welcome," the uniform-clad school girls giggling--blurred. The role of runner allowed me to escape the role of obvious outsider. I caught glimpses of stares but only glimpses. Not until I met other runners on the same path did I regain visibility, true visibility. Head nods and smiles. Acceptance.

Spiritually

On my last day in Japan, my mom and I spent the afternoon in Yokohama. I saved my favorite place near Tokyo for last. While just an ordinary day for most, this day meant returning soon to my old friend, the States, and leaving my new friend, Japan, behind. I chose Yokohama for it was here that I first ventured outside of Tokyo, and it was here that I first witnessed a part of Japan that reminded me of home. Yokohama's bay view mirrors that of San Francisco. Children and families picnic and play games in Yamashita Park with the Yokohama Bay Bridge standing in the background and complementing the beauty of the scenery. The bluish, gray water laps against the rocks. White jellyfish and flying fish appear. It is here where I spread some of my dad's ashes. It is because of him that I felt confident in taking this trip abroad. It is because of him that I found my way among Tokyo's turmoil. My dad taught me how to get lost and find your way again. So many of our family trips were spent wondering where he was. I now realize that he was out finding stories to share. So am I.

Mama's in the Uchi

アメリカからの挨拶、読者！
Greetings from the States, readers!

Yes, I'm back! 家に帰りました! I flew into SD's airport last Thursday around noon, fighting off jet lag while relishing the cool coastal breeze foreign to Japan's summer heat. Though southern California has warmly received me, Tokyo and the rest of Japan still beckons.

To recap on my final days abroad, here's a photo timeline of my adventures playing tour guide for my guest: the madre.

7/30 Day 1: Tokyo
7月30日　一日：東京

Mom asked me if she should wear tennis shoes on our first day. I told her sandals would suffice. After our nine hour day out and about, she never wore sandals for the rest of the trip. 
Sorry, Mom. すみません、母。

Imperial Palace 皇居






Gray Sky & Green Gardens
グレイ空とみどり庭

Aoyama Flower Market Tea House

青山フラワーマーケットティーハウス

Sipping the day's special: mango tea マンゴ茶

Harajuku 原宿

Strange prints & Western influence 

変なプリントと西洋の影響

7/31 Day 2: Hiroshima & Miyajima

7月31日　二日：広島と宮島

My mom has wanted to go here ever since she first learned about Hiroshima. After stepping off the street car, silence set in as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial 広島平和記念碑 sat before us. The Atomic Bomb Dome 原爆ドーム exists as the only surviving building from that tragic day. It serves as a tribute for the victims. It stands. We remember.

Atomic Bomb Dome 原爆ドーム








Children's Peace Monument
原爆の子の像










Cranes for Sadako Sasaki
佐々木禎子さんのための折り鶴

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
広島平和記念公園

Miyajima 宮島

On the ferry

フェリーで

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Deer sighting

                                                           鹿の目撃

Miyajima Torii (through lantern)

宮島鳥居 (ランタンで見える)

                                                                        

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Floating Torii

フローティング鳥居

8/1 Day 3: Osaka

8月1日　三日：大阪

For many, Osaka Castle 大阪城 is considered the most famous castle in Japan. Besides its history, the castle is a hot tourist spot due to the fact that there is little else to see or do in Osaka. My mom and I enjoyed viewing the city's heights from the castle's top, watching the skyscrapers of new and temples of old blend together.

Osaka Castle
大阪城

Hitachi "Tower Reaching Heaven"
通天閣

Umeda Sky Building
梅田スカイビル

Tanabata Decor

七夕飾り

8/2 Day 4: Kyoto & Nara Tour

8月2日　四日：京都と奈良ツアー

Although I had journeyed to such famous landmarks as the Golden Pavilion 金閣寺 in Kyoto and the Buddhist temple 東大寺 in Nara, I felt a renewed appreciation for these historical sites from my older, and hopefully wiser, college-student perspective. I felt a wave of gratitude brush over me for sharing these special places with my history-buff mom, who always wanted to see what Shelby and I had seen and experienced.

Our tour guide (with electric green loofah)

ツアーガイド(とはでみどりヘチマ)

Nightingale floor of Nijo Castle

二条城のナイチンゲールの床

Shogun's Garden (rocks symbolized power) 

将軍の庭 (岩の意味は象徴)

Mom and me at Golden Pavilion

金閣寺で私と母

Emperor's Garden (less rocks, more nature: place of peace)

天皇の庭 (岩が少なくて、たくさん自然がある：平和の所)

Deer in Nara

奈良で鹿がいる 

Japanese lanterns
日本のランタン

8/3 Day 5: Kyoto

8月3日　五日：京都

Every time I perused my friends' photos of Kyoto, I always envied their Thousand Torii 伏見稲荷大社 snapshots. It became my goal to witness the beauty of the renowned shrine with the reddish orange painted Shinto gates threading the mountainside like pieces of a scattered snake's skin. My mom and I survived the hike up and found the view of Kyoto well worth the trek.

Shabu Shabu   

しゃぶしゃぶ

Praying man at Thousand Torii

伏見稲荷大社でお祈りしている男

Torii pathway

鳥居経路 

 Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

嵐山竹の森

Iwatayama Monkey Park

嵐山モンキーパーク 

Man-drawn carriage ride

男車に乗って

8/4-8/8 Days 6-10: Tokyo, Hakone, & Yokohama

8月4日から8月8日　六日から十日：東京や箱根や横浜

While the historic relics of Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka capture the heart of Japan, the city lights of Tokyo speak to my inner self, which brings me to my feet each morning and says, "You're alive. Go out into the world and find reasons to smile." Fashionable mothers bike with their child safely strapped in the seat behind them; their conversation bounces forward and behind. Businessmen, dabbing the sweat that dapples their forehead, chuckle with one another in the packed train car. My mom grins as I translate an ad or engage the taxi driver in a recount of our ten-day tour of Japan. This is another place I can call home.

 Sky Hop Bus
スカイホップバス

 Tokyo Skytree (tallest building in Japan)
東京スカイツリー (日本で一番高いビル)

View from Tokyo Tower
東京タワーから眺め

Mount Fuji from Hakone
箱根から富士山

Chinatown, Yokohama
中華街、横浜

Yotsuya Sanchome (my neighborhood)

四谷三丁目 (私の近所)

Take Me Away, Toyama

読者の忍耐はありがとうございます。
Thank you for your patience, readers.

I've been busy as a bee, or perhaps more appropriately a cicada セミ to say the least. With finals, a trip to Toyama, and a tour of Japan with the madre 母, I've had little time to write let alone breathe. I'm taking a moment now, though, to pause and reflect. Japan has taught me the importance of setting aside time for rest in order to appreciate the often exciting but exhausting days of studying abroad.

This is the first of my closing posts, a trilogy if you will.

Part I: Take Me Away, Toyama.

After my first final of the semester, I packed up a few belongings and my study essentials--my precious Japanese textbook and Kanji flash cards--and set out for a "sweet escape" to Toyama 富山. Putting my Japanese to use, I navigated around the ticket counters and found my reserved seat after some assistance from a kind Japanese businessman. We boarded the train together and before parting he presented me with a Chinese fan 扇子 souvenir, the key to surviving Japan's sticky summer humidity.

Once aboard my first bullet train 新幹線 from Tokyo, I began pacing myself through the four chapters composing my Japanese final that awaited my return. Between memorizing vocabulary and drawing Kanji characters in the air, I chanced to take in the change of scenery 景色--from Tokyo's bustling boulevards with suited figures flying into their workplace to stretches of rice fields with only the bobbing straw hats of farmers showing signs of humanity.

After passing mountains blanketed with evergreen trees and roaming rivers that splashed into the sapphire sea, I arrived in Toyama. I tiptoed into the hotel's public bathhouse pleased to find an empty, hot-tub-sized basin ready to receive me. Readers, it had been some time since I had been able to enjoy a luxury such as a bath. My roommates and I had braved our "sketchy" shower complete with a rocking bathtub that shifted whenever you climbed into its depths. The hotel's bath thus served as a rare spa-like experience that my-tuckered-out self savored.

The next morning I greeted my high school sensei in the lobby for a Japanese breakfast buffet. Finished with our feast, we headed over to the local high school where I surprised my dear high school friends, Laura Breidenthal and Emily Nathan. Following my brief introduction to the rest of the high school group, I joined Laura and her host sister, Azumi, in the back of the tour bus as we headed to the Ainokua village in Gokayama 五箇山. Against the back splash of the azure sky and vibrant, verdant green of the rice fields and surrounding trees, the traditional huts looked as if they had popped out of a storybook.

Once inside, our group learned about how these farmhouses were made to withstand snow with their thatched roofs that mirrored hands in prayer. During wartime, the village stored gunpowder and weapons and even housed their prisoners in this isolated part of Japan. Saving the most impressive feature for last, Sensei explained how no nails were used in building these huts. Instead, the Japanese tied pieces of rope in an intricate fashion to hold the structures together.

Leaving the praying rooftops behind, we hopped on the bus and got off at a picnic site where we had a Yakisoba やきそば barbecue overlooking the picturesque countryside. Slurping the tasty noodles, a sound of politeness in Japan, Emily and I caught up with one other and enjoyed practicing our Japanese with our new Toyama friends.

With our stomachs satisfied, I rejoined Laura and Azumi for some funny pictures, posing in front of the gorgeous garden 庭 at the picnic site's entrance. As we began the return trip back to the high school, Laura, Azumi, and I relaxed in the air conditioning エアコン, sharing Japanese words, miscommunications, and highlights of our trips.

At the end of our time together, I asked Laura if she was thinking of returning here some day. She admitted, "Before this trip, I wasn't sure," and then continued, "Now that I've had this experience, though, I'm definitely coming back." I told her I had felt the same way when I first ventured to 日本 with Sensei and our class. We, birthday twins think alike. We both realized that learning about Japan barely scratched the surface of this gem. Only through living here, even for a short while, can we understand and appreciate this culture that is so unlike ours. A culture of patience, acceptance, and expectations.

And of course, the added bonus of our favorite snack, Daifuku Mochi 大福餅 (sticky rice balls (mochi 餅) filled with red bean paste (anko 餡子)).