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6) I traveled to Japan in 2010
I had already had the privilege of travelling outside of the country thanks to my parents and I’m forever grateful for that. Traveling to Japan was different though and not only because it was the first trip I took without them. I saw so many cool and different sites, but truly just the experience of being there and immersing myself in that culture was an experience that has forever changed me.
I went to Japan with one of my best friends at the time and we not only were going to site see, but we went so she could practice Japanese and we could see our group of friends who were doing studying abroad over there. I never once took a Japanese class or had the desire to study it. But during my freshmen year at college, my best friend switched her major and got me hooked on JDramas and the boyband Arashi. So I learned basic phrases and enjoyed just the fun of it. Before she went to study abroad, she introduced me to other kids she met including a lot of Japanese exchange students who I became friends with while they were in the States. So wanting to go see all of them and this new place was an adventure I couldn’t pass up.
And truly the most rewarding part of the trip was not the sightseeing. We didn’t go on guided tours, we did our own things, went to a lot of amusement parks which was fun, but then we got the opportunity that truly changed my outlook on travel. Thanks to the friendships we had built with the exchange students, not only did we meet up with them, but several of them were gracious enough to invite us into their apartments and home and we got to meet their families and see their daily life. Some of my favorite parts of that trip were those moments in fact. Like when we had been traveling for two weeks outside Tokyo and we had just come back, staying just one night at one of our friends, we decided we wanted an easy chill day. So we went to Karaoke and came home to her mom making us Nabe. Then after we finished, her mom asked if it was okay to put on a concert DVD of the Kpop band we just got into TVXQ and of course we said yes. And that’s what we did. It was great!
And truly, getting to see other people who live across the world live life, both differently and similarly to ours, really began to deepen that sense of just unity with the world and the rest of the people on it. To celebrate our differences and fight for all of our rights to happiness, freedom, and equally. I haven’t been traveling like this in some time, but I plan to take that approach and understanding with me when I can because truly that is the wonderful part about connecting to people.
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2月23日は天皇誕生日~
It’s Naruhito’s first birthday as Emperor. It’s weird to think of the holiday as being in February instead of December now 😅
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Usui Matagorô Kills a Giant Ape in the Mountains of Hida by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1834-35)
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What to consider when you’re in Japan!!
1. Take JLPT because depending on the exchange rate and which currency you pay, it could be cheaper to take it in Japan. Especially if you take into consideration travelling costs!
2. If you plan to work in Japan in the future, look into participating in career fairs. There’s connect job and career forum and possibly other fairs if you do some research! Although the downside is that you need formal suit wear which I did not have at the time and didn’t go to any. :( BUT!! I do believe I missed out and regretted not looking into any of them.
3. Part- time/casual eikawa teaching english - I personally didn’t do this because the ones I found or the people who emailed me did not have the same schedule or one where we could arrange a meeting. Again, there’s several websites where you can look into that. One is hello talk that my friend used and was very successful!
4. At my university, Ritsumeikan they did casual meet ups with Japanese companies at a university cafe called shiru cafe and that would have been very useful if I actually attended one.
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こんな石があったらいいなぁ
子供の頃からなんだか石が好き
アスファルトに絵が描ける脆い石とか
ちょっとキラキラした粒が入ってる石とか海で拾う削れてまるくなったガラスも好きだ
濡れると透けて色が少しだけ鮮やかになるところが
とくに好き0
“ Plum Season at Kiyomizu-dera ” by Patrick Vierthaler, used under CC BY SA
Tilt-shift from original
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