Japan is a place that I’ve been wanting to visit for years, after hearing family and friends talk about it my whole life. What better way to end a voyage around the world?
On our first day in Kobe, we went through the longest immigration process yet, before heading to central Kobe. After shopping for better clothes to wear in Tokyo, our fashion game just didn’t seem up to par, we found the food court for our first semi-authentic meal.
In the holiday spirit, we ice skated at a rink outside of the mall while the same 5 Christmas songs played on a loop for the hour that we were there. It was one of the best hours I had in country. Spending such a purely joy-filled time with my best friends was a much-needed way to go in our last international port of the voyage.
After failing to get to a sake factory due to business hours, eating back at the ship, and getting ready to go out in some of our new clothes, we hit the streets of Kobe. Now, we might have ended up drinking Japanese four lokos inside a 7eleven before deciding to not pay $30 for a karaoke bar with private rooms. We might have also ended up at a $2 bar that had no chairs, but plenty of tables and beer, before walking around and ending up back on the ship to hang out. Point being, you don’t have to be at the best places or doing the craziest thing to have fun. It’s all about the people who you end up dancing with in a train station before eating pretzels and Nutella in a cabin at 3am while ranting about things and laughing at the same time. Max, Jenna, and I ended the night looking at pictures of pugs in the Kaisersaal and if that isn’t fitting I have no idea what is.
Waking up the next morning early was hard, but worth it. Jenna and I took my professor Kaichi’s now-fiancée Heather with us and some other girls to Kyoto for the day to eventually meet up with his field class that some of our other friends were a part of.
From our stop at the bamboo forest to Jenna and I splitting off to find an ATM and look at some shops, and then later to the Fusihmi Inari temple, Kyoto was a gem. It is such a lovely, calm city with the most beautiful scenic landscapes and such kind people. Also, it had the BEST matcha ice cream I’ve ever had.
Days 3 and 4 were spent in Tokyo exploring everything from the Kit Kat store and cool restaurants to museums and thrift shops.
The first day in Tokyo began very early, as we had to leave the ship around 5 am to get to the Kobe airport. We spent a lot of the day exploring the city on our way to our Airbnb. Walking wasn’t bad, except that it was the second time I was wearing the heels I bought the first day in country, and it’s safe to say they were not quite broken in yet.
After finally arriving at our house, Jenna and Hanna and I split off and left for dinner with a friend of mine. Emily and I met through my other study abroad experience, People to People, when I was 15 and have remained very close friends. She is studying in Mitaka, Japan, which is about a 45-minute ride from central Tokyo, for this whole year. We met her and her friend Alberto in the Shibuya district, which is the biggest, most well-known area of the city (Tokyo’s Times Square, really) for yakitori (kebabs) and sashimi (raw fish).
Afterward, we met the rest of the group we were traveling with at this ‘Kawaii Monster Café’ which was super interesting, but we were all running low on funds, so we decided, in typical fashion, to find a 7eleven and get drinks there again. After heading to a park with some amazing winter lights, and a room with a trippy mirrored sort of display of even more blue lights, it was finally late enough to go out.
When I say almost all of SAS had to have been at Womb that night, it’s not an exaggeration. That club was completely full of wig-wearing students ready to send it for (most of) our last actual night out of the voyage. I don’t think I have personally ever danced for such a long time without stopping or have been so totally care free.
Afterward, Hanna gave me her shoes because my heels were not working out anymore, and somehow Jenna and I each ended up wearing one of her vans and one sock because we wanted to share. All while Hanna, true to her generous form, carried my shoes and wore Jenna’s. We love and amazing friend.
We even managed to be up at a decent time that next morning, to check out of the house and adventure around for our last day in the city. Jenna, Hanna, and I went with our friend Robbie to get breakfast at, where else than, a 7eleven. If you haven’t caught on, we LOVE those damn convenience stores, maybe even more than we loved the Radisson from Cape Town or the smoothie place from New Delhi. Maybe.
We walked around a lot around Shibuya, Jenna and I still each in one of Hanna’s vans, but this time with my shoes on our other feet. From the absolutely iconic Shibuya crossing, to shoe places and other clothing stores, to a tea shop and a Family Mart (yes, another convenience store very close to our hearts) it was a great day. We ended our time at the National Museum of Modern Art before leaving Robbie to catch a train to the airport for our flight back to the ship.
Due to our exhaustion and the warmth and lulling motion of the train, the three of us all fell asleep for what felt like 5 minutes but was actually an hour. Not only did we end up further from our stop than we had begun and made our flight by no more than ten minutes, there was a huge chance that our metro tickets would not be valid for the line we ended up on and none of us had any cash left. We sprinted through the airport and made it in time to even buy some drinks and snacks before the plane, but man was it a close one. That’s one of those stories that is funny now, but extremely unfunny at the time.
After getting back to the ship and reuniting with the rest of our friends who had spent the last few days in Kyoto and Osaka, some of us tried to go out but ended up, get this, at a Family Mart to get snacks and some drinks. We then proceeded to drink Jim Beam and eat sushi rolls and ice cream in the stairwell of the port at midnight before going back to Dragosh’s room for a dance party (those happen a lot even though I don’t tend to write about them, lol).
The last day, of Japan and in an international port, was spent wandering around Motomachi, Kobe’s Chinatown of all places. We found a cool seven-story department store with everything from arts and crafts to cleaning supplies to clothing and toys where we bought gifts for our secret Santa exchange that was coming up soon. Our final meal was spent in a 7Eleven where we bought some snacks for the ship and then rushed back to catch the last shuttle to the port. We ran into our friends who had gone to Universal, so we all walked onto the ship for the last time in an international port together. We also cried a little, but who wouldn’t? After a semester like this one, real life felt all too close again.
Japan was one of my absolute favourite countries and I cannot wait to go back as soon as I possibly can.
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