Japan!

Hi everyone!

(I started this draft on March 4th and then got distracted and forgot about the blog for another 14 days. This seems to be a trend in my life haha. Things around the world have changed drastically in the last 2 weeks since I wrote the first part of this post, and I'll share my thoughts and feelings about the coronavirus stuff either later or at the end of this post. )

I think the last time I updated this blog was over a month ago, so I figured it'd be a good time to share what I've been doing in Japan. I'm traveling on a series of Shinkansens (the super speedy bullet trains) this afternoon so I don't have much excuse not to write. An overview of my itinerary in Japan:

1. Tokyo

• Visited Institute for Nature Study and by chance happened to meet a children's book author who writes about humans' relationships with nature! We met up for coffee the next day and he gifted me a copy of his book, Gaudi's Ocean
• Met an awesome Hamilton alum for dinner
• Visited Ueno park and its accompanying shrines and temples
• Spent an afternoon at Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park, observing people and what they were doing in the park and how they were interacting with nature
• Went to TeamLab Borderless digital arts museum (okay- not so much related to my Watson project but very cool nonetheless) 

2. Kochi (on the island of Shikoku) 

• Did a homestay/workaway program with a professional chef who lives in a small village on the island. In exchange for helping her clean the kitchen and build a chicken coop, I got to explore the area and meet her neighbors. She hosted a welcoming party and we made dumplings and everyone brought different foods and we drank sake and were merry! 

At the party! 

Apparently her chicken likes to drink sake! Pyo-chang was nice and polite when she was around, but once she wasn't nearby he would attack me. 

Learning to make a japanese omelet!

My bedroom was tradtitional Japanese tatami-style, and this was the view from the windows/sliding doors. It used to be her grandparents' home, so it's a very traditional house and garden. 

Evil chicken, I took this right before he tried to attack me for the 5th time in 15 minutes 

• Biked/hiked to an amazing waterfall. I hated the biking part with a strong passion but sitting in front of the waterfall and being mesmerized by the endless flowing water was incredible. 

• Visited the old Kochi castle (didn't get any good pictures) 
• Went running through a nearby forest and suddenly found myself in awe of all the beautiful trees around me, so I did some brief but beautiful forest bathing by myself. 
• Went hiking up Mt. Miune nearby for a couple nights. The plan was to go to the summit and across to the next big city on the island, but there was still tons of snow at the top so we spent 2 nights at a mountain hut a bit further down from the summit.
• 
  









grumpy Andi (because cold)






Day 2 was much warmer than Day 1 on the mountain, so we hiked up to a ridge and sat in the sun for a bit and I made some land art! 






On the way back down the mountain, happy Andi (because warm)

• We hitchhiked all the way from near the chef's house to the head of the hiking trail, about 2 hours total of driving! The first person to pick us up was an old woman who drove us about 20 minutes and then gifted us a giant pomello before we got out of the car. She also happened to be the first car to drive by when we put our thumbs out. Then the next guy that picked us up was an older man that drove us >1.5 hours, and I'm pretty it was only partly on the way for him and then he just kept going. We tried to give him money at the end but he wouldn't accept it, and then he saw that I wasn't wearing any gloves and since it was snowing he gave me some (I had gloves in my backpack but he didn't speak any English nor I enough Japanese to communicate that) and then drove away after pointing out to us the bus stop we needed to meet the bus at to get back to civilization. He then gave me his card with his phone number which I think meant if we missed the bus to call him and he'd pick us up again. I was blown away by the generosity of the people we met. 

~~~~~~~~~(it's March 18th now)

3. Hiroshima

• After taking the train to Tokushima to activate the JapanRail pass which allows you to travel on any of the JR lines for free unlimited (within the 21 days that it's active) I went to Hiroshima. 
• The Peace Memorial Museum was incredibly beautiful and sobering. I learned way more about how the atomic bomb impacted the lives of Japanese people than I had ever learned in my history classes. Walking around the city was strange after visiting the museum, because I had to process that 70 years ago the entire city and surrounding area was completely decimated, and now it is a beautiful, thriving place. 
• I didn't know this before but Hiroshima is a great place for night life and foodies. Hiroshima's speciality is their own version of Okanamiyaki, which is like a cabbage pancake thing, but their version is filled with noodles! And they drizzle Japanese mayo on it and it's pretty good. Not my favorite thing to eat but definitely worth having.

4. Kyoto

• Explored the Shukkein Garden, a beautiful old private property-turned-museum that provides an excellent example of what traditional Japanese gardens look like. This one was inspired by the rivers and mountains of Japan, whereas many others are inspired by the oceans. The point of traditional Japanese gardens is to mimic what nature looks like in reality, but in a miniature version. The results are absolutely breathtaking. Every rock placement, flower and tree planting, and pond is meticulously designed. 
• Visited the Arashiyama and Sagano Bamboo forests. They were beautiful (albeit filled with tourists)
• Attended a traditional tea ceremony and learned about how Japanese culture came to value the tea ceremony and its usefulness for making deals and treaties during times of conflict
• Meditated in a forest on Mt. Inari with a monk, talked about forest bathing, and learned about Shintoism. I learned that Shinto shrines are marked with large rocks and stones and that the rituals of worship involve water because Shintos believe that God is present through nature, there's no need for a human or human-like representation of God.

The torii gates along Mt. Inari at Inari Shrine. The entire mountain is a shrine, and supposedly passing under the gates is a way of becoming cleansed and blessed. 

The Zen Rock garden at Ryōan-ji temple, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

Sagano Bamboo Forest during a rare moment where the frame wasn't filled with people

Meditating with the monk (who took this photo without me realizing it)

5. Jason's visit!  

• My brother Jason came to visit! It was lovely to see him, and being the awesome brother he is, he brought me my favorite girl scout cookies from the states! I was SO HAPPY. 
• We showed him around Asakusa and Ueno area in Tokyo for the first couple of days. 
• He went to go explore Nagano a few hours northwest of Tokyo and from what I know he had his own awesome solo adventure
• I went back to Kyoto for a few days, stayed in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse), and explored more of the city
• Unfortunately many museums closed almost immediately once Jason got to Japan, including Hiroshima's peace memorial museum, but he still got to explore Hiroshima and one of the famous gardens there (another favorite of mine) 
• Jason went to Kyoto and I went down to Unzen, near Nagasaki, because of the hot springs and volcano that erupted there in 1990. Visited Nagasaki's atomic bomb memorial museum as well, and the Nagasaki history museum was super fascinating. 
• Finished Jason's visit off back in Tokyo with some DELICIOUS Japanese barbecue followed by karaoke (the karaoke catalog didn't have our favorite song- I'm On a Boat by The Lonely Island so we just sang it ourselves sans music/words. Epic TWIN!) And before he left for the airport the next day, we finally had some proper Japanese sushi

After Jason left, I had plans to do some proper forest bathing/forest therapy. The first was in Yoshino, and I spent an entire day with Meimi, the forest therapy guide, exploring the forest, shrine, waterfall, and lake nearby. I was super impressed with the setup they have there, an actual base they built in the forest with a little shed to store supplies. One grove was set up with 10 different hammocks to lay in, and there was an area for yoga and cooking. I learned about ''yogoki" which is Japanese for wormwood, the herb that's used to treat stiff joints and sore muscles and help with other kinds of inflammation. I'd shown up that day without having any idea where I was going to stay that night, assuming I was going to take the train back to Osaka or maybe nearby Nara and find a place there. But Meimi insisted I stay with her and her husband that night. So after meeting her mother and neighbors, taking the neighbors' fat golden retrievers for a walk, and going to the grocery store, we went to their home and they made me an amazing dinner, and then made me a bath with the wormwood leaves! Japanese baths are an interesting experience, but they make a lot of sense. I'm used to it now I guess but in the beginning I was not. You wash yourself outside of the bathtub, all soap and scrubbing is done before you get in the tub. Therefore the bath water should remain clean after you've used it, and so all members of the household use the same bath water. Thankfully they still let me go first. 

Meimi also insisted she and her husband take me to Nara the next day to see the deer park and Giant Buddha and shrine, and also to have tea with her friends. The day was filled with meeting new people, trying to communicate in basic Japanese, and experiencing local life. It was amazing.

Meimi (pink shirt) and her husband, and her friend outside their beautiful home

A couple of days later, I traveled to Shinjo village in the mountains of Okayama prefecture for another forest therapy day. Shinjo Village is one of the most beautiful villages in Japan. The day began on a bad note- I missed the bus that was supposed to take me from Okayama city to the village because I went to the wrong bus and didn't figure it out until a minute too late. And the next bus was 3.5 hours later, so I thought I'd miss the entire day. But luckily I got in contact with the Forest Therapy Association of the village and learned it was okay to come later, so once it was time to board the next bus, I was super paranoid to make sure I was getting on the right one. I approached a woman waiting for the bus and asked her if she knew where the bus to Katsuyama was going and she was like "I'm going there too! Just come with me". 2 hours later, I almost got off at the wrong stop but she told me to wait for the next stop and she was right. And then Kuroda-san picked me up at the bus stop and offered her a ride to her home.

Eating mochi! 

In true Andi fashion, I also had not planned where I'd stay that night after forest therapy in Shinjo either. But Kuroda-san, the president of the FTA was my guide, and he offered for me to stay with his family for the night. I had the most incredible afternoon and evening with him and his friend while forest bathing, and then at his home where I was fed yet another delicious dinner, given a bath (lol), and then watched a Japanese soap opera with him and his wife while drinking sake. Forest Therapy in Shinjo was awesome, lots of fun and laughter. I got my salivary cortisol measured (indicating how much stress my body was experiencing) and also tried mochi for the first time. So. Good. It was not as slow and mindful as I expected, there was lots of photo-taking, talking and joking. It felt good to laugh like that in such a beautiful place. They had a forest therapy trail as opposed to a base per se, and along the way there was a gathering place where concerts would be performed, a stretch near a cliff with a rope guarding the edge where I was blindfolded and told to use the walking stick to follow Kuroda-san, and the mother Cedar tree whose seeds were used to plant many of the other trees in the forest. The trees were mostly Cedar and Cypress, which I learned Shinjo is famous for.

The next day, I spent the morning with another person that worked at the FTA and she showed me around the village. She spoke barely any English and so we had a great time testing out this fancy translator device that they had, called PocketTalk. And then, once again, I didn't have a plan for where I was going to stay that night. She called Kuroda-san who had the idea that the lady I met at the bus stop could host me! And she said yes! So I went to Matsumoda-san's (that's her name) house who also didn't speak any English, and we had tea with her and her other friend and the woman that showed me around the village. She had an extra bed set up in her room, so I had a sleepover with this nice 60-ish year old Japanese woman! It was a very concentrated experiential learning episode of Japanese language and culture. She wanted to know everything about my year and my family and my goals and perspectives, and I was curious about her life as well. Lots of google translate. She insisted I call her Mom, because she said she was so happy for all of these coincidences that led to us spending this time together and she wants to make sure I visit again. So now I have a Japanese mom! We stayed up late into the night (well, 10:30 pm- late for me now) drinking wine and trying to communicate and laughing and fumbling our way through most of our conversation. I think I'm much better at speaking and understanding Japanese now than I was a week ago, even though I'm still very bad at it. 

My Japanese mom and I right before I got on the bus back to Okayama

The next morning I decided I couldn't impose myself on my wonderful hosts any longer, and so I took a bus back to Okayama where I've been hanging out in a hotel for the last day, getting some mental and emotional energy back after 5 days of mentally taxing interactions. But I'm so grateful for the last week, I'd been wishing for more homestay experiences and turns out all I had to do was ~nothing~, just show up and hope for the best. I've learned that Japanese people are so generous with their time, resources, and energy. So many people have helped me significantly for no reason: the people that picked me up while hitchhiking, the forest bathing guides, the woman at the bus stop, the Hamilton alum, the professional chef who took me to the doctor, the children's book author, the list goes on and on. This is why I travel and why the Watson opportunity is so special. Museums and tourist things are cool, food is delicious, but my favorite experiences are the ones that happen because my plans have gone awry, or because I've simply accepted not having any plans and seeing where that takes me. I don't want to simply be a tourist or a backpacker, I want to learn and grow and be challenged and overcome and inspire and be inspired. The interactions I had with all these people may have been brief, but wow were they special. Those interactions define what it means to be a human, to see the best in a stranger and allow our lives to intersect, even if just for a moment. 

I was going to write more about how I feel about the coronavirus chaos, learning that Hamilton is moving to online classes for the remainder of the semester and watching everyones' hearts break for the semester ending abruptly (especially the dear seniors), and learning that other Watson fellows and friends that are abroad for various reasons such as Fulbright/Peace corps have had to return to the US... but I think that's enough rambling for now. 

Peace out <3 stay safe & wash your hands