Japan--the Trip that Started it All

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first travel journal I ever wrote, so to preserve the spirit of my 10 year-old self, I have kept the writing the same as it was back in 2016.

The Upstart Traveler arrives at Tokyo's Narita Airport with 5th grade class mascot, "Jojo". Look for Jojo in other photos from the trip.

Saturday-Sunday, October 22-23, 2016

An early start for a long day of travel...

We woke up at about four o'clock AM to go catch the plane. We flew from Denver to LA, which took three hours. Then, we flew to Tokyo from LA, which took twelve hours. There was a delay on both flights, so it took a little bit longer to get to our final destination. We flew 5,759 miles total. We stayed at the Kanto Lodge at Yokota Air Force Base, in Tokyo, where my Uncle Stu works and lives. Japan is fifteen hours ahead of Colorado, so we were always one day ahead in Japan!

Monday, 10/24/16

We went shopping for food, clothes and gifts to take back home. We went shopping at Uniqlo, Costco Tokyo, and many other stores. We looked at puppies and kittens at a store called Joyful Honda. We had ramen for lunch and used a ticket vending machine to get food tickets which we gave to the waitress so she knew what we wanted to eat. This way, ordering is simple, and you pre-pay for your food, so the staff does not have to handle money. That night, we went to dinner with my aunt Yuki's parents, who we had never met before. We sat on Tatami mats in a room, Japanese style. We exchanged gifts with them, souvenirs from our countries, which were called omiyage.

Tuesday, 10/25/16

Asakusa, an ancient temple in the heart of the modern city

We packed up and got ready to go into Tokyo. We went by bus which took about an hour. We ate lunch at the restaurant Gonpachi, where a scene was filmed in the movie Kill Bill. We checked into our hotel and walked through the city to buy tickets for the bullet train. We also saw the tallest structure in Japan, the Sky Tree. The Sky Tree is 2,080 feet tall, that’s more than 200 stories! We took the subway to the Asakusa district, where we explored an ancient Buddhist temple. My uncle explained how people were praying for blessings at the fountain and letting the smoke from the incense wash over them. The inner temple was almost completely covered with gold leaf, and was very beautiful.

Wednesday, 10/26/16

We got up early to walk to the train station and catch the subway to Tokyo Station, where we took the bullet train to Kanazawa, a coastal town. The bullet train travels at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. We looked at the fish market first. We bought a crispy fish you can eat whole, head, bones, and all. My uncle said this was a popular snack to have when drinking beer. Next, we went to a huge Japanese castle that was built hundreds of years ago. After that, we went to see a garden that had amazing trees and ancient structures. Out of respect and care for the trees, the gardeners prop up the heavy branches of the oldest ones, to protect them from sagging, especially under the weight of the winter snow. Later, we went to go eat lunch and get ice cream with gold leaf on it. Then, we went to the gold leaf museum where we learned how gold leaf was made by hand in the past, and how gold paper was made. Right after that, we went to old town to see old Japanese style buildings, but my aunt got lost! Finally, we went back to the station where my dad texted my aunt and told her to meet us there. We got on the bullet train and headed back to Tokyo.

Thursday, 10/27/16

We went to the most famous fish market in the world, Tsukiji. I had fresh uni don for breakfast, which is a rice bowl with sea urchin, or uni on top. We went shopping for crab, oysters, fish and more. We bought some baby crabs that you eat whole. They were sweet and crunchy. My parents bought me a huge oyster, which I ate in one bite. My mom bought a chef’s knife, and I got some candy. We took a bunch of pictures of seafood and some of the signs. We had lunch at a restaurant at the fish market and had dinner at a place that my parents were thinking about working with to open a new restaurant in the U.S.A.

Friday, 10/28/16

I ate a donut for breakfast, then we went to a restaurant that served unagi-don, or eel. We ate unagi-don for lunch, then went to see if we could fit me in a kimono, but it was raining, so that was canceled. We then went shopping for a Halloween costume at Don Quijote, and a Japanese department store, where we also bought gifts for some of my parent's friends. We got more gifts at a snack store. After we were done with the shopping, we went back to the hotel. Soon, after an hour or two, we got ready for dinner at Natsunoya tea house. The food was amazing and we got very traditional, but sometimes rare food from my uncle Stuart's friend, Suzuki-San. Some examples include fresh oysters, matsutake mushrooms, abalone, wagyu beef, and black bean natto. The Emperor’s brother had even dined at the restaurant! Only a handful of people are allowed to talk to the emperor & his family, for they are considered gods, so even Suzuki-San could not speak with him. Suzuki-San gave us many gifts and sat with us the entire time, which was a very special treat.

Saturday-Sunday, 10/29/16 - 10/30/16

We went shopping for more gifts, and after we were done, I got to play with my uncle Stuart’s dog, Boku. I learned how to say “Sit” (座ります suwari masu), lie down (ふせ fu se), and come (おいで oide). We then went to a restaurant where they have grills built into the table. This is called Yakiniku-style. They gave us raw meat to cook such as beef tongue, wagyu beef, pork and more. These were served along with bowls of hot rice and cold pickled vegetables. Later, my parents were able to find a yukata, or lightweight kimono in my size, which was a souvenir I really wanted. It was beautiful, and fit me perfectly, so I wore it on Halloween night for Trick-or-Treat Street, which was really fun. It was good to be back home after a wonderful trip with my family in Japan.

Reflection: What I Liked and Disliked

I loved the food in Japan, because it was very fresh and delicious. There was food I had never tried, and I enjoyed eating new food. I liked the subway and the bullet train, because some of the only times I ride a subway was at the airport or on vacation. I liked the buildings because they were so unique and different from the ones in America. I also liked using chopsticks and the style of the restaurants, because many were Japanese style. I disliked having to walk around so much because I got extremely tired, since most days we walked for an hour or longer. I also disliked the fact I did not speak Japanese, since I would hear announcements, conversations, people would talk to me, but I couldn’t understand them and I couldn’t reply, and I saw signs that I couldn’t read.

Reflection: What was the Same as the U.S in Japan, and What was Different

What was different was we had to use chopsticks almost the entire trip, the restaurants were different, the food was different, the stores were different, such as Walmart and Costco, because they had so many Japanese products that you can’t get in the U.S! In many Japanese style restaurants, you have to take your shoes off before entering the room where you eat, they had different drinks, there were no blondes except for tourists, all the dogs were tiny, the buildings were so close together that some of them looked like you couldn’t fit between them, they had some traditions such as wearing kimonos, putting your chopsticks on top of their bowl and propping up trees that we don’t do in the U.S., the cars were tiny, and the toilets had a bunch of buttons What was the same was people like to eat and drink with their friends and family like we do, they enjoy having pets, they like a lot of the same clothes we wear, they are very respectful and protective of their families, they take the subway and trains like we do, they recycle plastic and cans, and they had some of the same shops and restaurants. (Costco, Japanese Wal-Mart, lots of 7-Elevens, Starbucks and McDonalds....Maku-Donarudo!)

To see more photos from this trip, click HERE