My adventures in a new place, in a new country, and in a new culture were about to begin as soon as I took my first step on the airplane. I have never visited a foreign country before let alone by myself. As I made my way towards my assigned seat, I saw the group of teachers and fellow students I will be stuck with for the next 2 weeks. Oh wait I mean the group of people I am going to share this unforgettable experience.
I always wanted to go to Japan but never had enough money to actually go on the trip. It was a dream that I thought never would had happened. Until the day Mrs. Carmody wanted to talk to me. She said, “Mikayla, I need to talk to you for a second.” I slowly walked over with palms sweating cause I thought I was in trouble or failing English or Social Studies class. Then she said, “I recommended you to go on a trip with the school to Japan. You work hard and you earned it.” I thanked her then, walked out of the classroom to go to recess with a million questions popping into my head, “Will my parents let me go? Can we afford it? Will I be able to survive with out my mom and dad?” I couldn’t wait to tell my parents about the amazing news. As I waited for my mom to come home, I played in my head what Mrs. Carmody had said over and over again. My mom and dad got home I smiled at them and told them the news. They exchanged a bunch of mixed looks and looked back at me and said, “We shall see Mikayla, we may not have enough money but let’s wait to see if you are chosen to go.” After that the dream of going to Japan was stuck in my head like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. I could not stop thinking about it, I would doze off in class thinking about it and dream about it every night. The trip was so close but yet so far, it would be an opportunity of a lifetime.
Later on that week I got a called into the office of the vice principal for a meeting. As I walked down, I thought to myself, “What did I do? I never get called down to the vice principal’s or principal’s office.” But it helped that the security guard assured me that I wasn’t in trouble. I arrived at the small, cozy office and the vice principal said to me, “ Congratulations Mikayla, we would like to give you the opportunity to travel with the school to Japan.” After that, I was so shocked that I was speechless I didn’t know what to say, all I could say was, “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.” I called my parents as soon as school was over and told the, “They accepted me. I get to go to Japan!” The first thing my mom said was what every mom would say, “Congratulations.” Then my mom was quiet, became serious and said, “I am not sure we can afford it, we have to discuss it as a family when we get home.” When mom and dad finally arrived home, it felt like I was waiting for hours until they finally arrived home. My mom sat me down with my dad and said with a straight face, “If you really want to go on this trip, we all have to make sacrifices and you need to fundraise to make money.” I quickly replied, “Yes, I will fundraise.” The school organized a Zippy’s chill fundraiser and my mom told me, “If I wanted to go to on the trip I need to sell 100 chill tickets.” So I went out on a mission to sell 100 tickets by selling to my neighbors, selling to my teachers, and selling to my family. I had finally begged on my knees to my grandma to buy the last few tickets and she said, “Ok I will take it.” Finally, after 1 month, 1 long month I could say, “Mission accomplish!” After that my mom couldn’t say no to me and said, “You better start packing your bags for Japan.”
Osaka, Japan was the first stop on our trip, since it was where the airport was located. Once we landed, everyone was beyond exhausted. We were all happy to go to the hotel and rest to be ready for the busy and adventurous trip. We went from Osaka to Miyajima, where we saw our first deer in Japan, visited a temple, and went shopping. I have never seen a deer before since in Hawaii you don’t see any animals just wondering around unless it is someone’s pet lost. The rice paddles was special only found there so I wanted to buy a million of these rice paddles that have sayings in the paddle. Each of the paddles sayings is a life lesson and describes important traits people should have like fighting spirit, or caring. However, I restricted myself from buying more than 5 by telling myself over and over again, “Girl, it’s only the first day you need to save your money for the rest of the trip.”
From Miyajima we traveled to Hiroshima, and then things got serious. We went to pay our respects at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. It was very emotional to see the destruction and the memorial of Sadako with all of her cranes. I thought, “How can man do this to one another and I wish that man would stop fighting and we could all get along.”
After Hiroshima we went to Himeji Castle where we all saw our first cherry blossoms in full bloom and lush. All of us soaked in the culture of Japan as we walked around the castle. Once we walked through Himeji Castle, we went to Kyoto for a river boat ride where we each took turns going to the front of the boat and took pictures with the scenery full of exotic plants. After that we went to visit the Great Buddha of Todaiji Temple, where we had fun learning the culture and seeing if people could fit through a hole in a pillar. If you fit you would prosper in life. After we went to the Golden Pavilion, we all wanted to go inside but we couldn’t. When I first saw the Golden Pavilion my jaw dropped instantly and I thought to myself, “Can you believe it? A whole temple made of what looks like gold.” We ended up doing a quick photo op, paid our respects and left. After, on the tour bus, on our way back to the hotel, I realized Japan has a lot of temples and castles to pay their respects to the culture and to people that have pasted. From that day on I made a promise to my self to be respectful to other people’s culture and to people that have pasted.
We went to Ikeda, to visit our sister school for home stay. I got to see what school in Japan was like, they all wore uniforms and had to clean up at a certain time. The school had no toilet paper on the ground, no gum on the ground, and no graffiti on the walls. The classrooms were like ordinary classrooms with white rooms and rows of desks. After the school day was done, the weekend began where I actually get to stay with a Japanese family. Then I went to a place I would call home for the next 3 days. The house looked so different from my house back home, they had no beds, and instead they slept on futons. They treated me to dinner that night and taught me to try new things, because before that I was terrified of change but thanks to my host family I will never forget to always try new things. I tried salmon sushi for the first time and fell in love with it. I learned how to make origami and speak a little Japanese. They treated me like one of them and I will never forget them. When it came to the day we had to say good bye, tears were rushing down my face so fast and I couldn’t stop, I missed them already.
After we left from Ikeda for Lake Ashi Cruise, where we had fun riding panda cars and enjoying the beauty of Japan’s natural tourist attraction. After the cruise was done, we went to a Komagotake Cable Car Ride to a Owakudani Volcano Site where we ate special black eggs that is suppose to add 10 years to your life. Right, when I heard about the eggs I was like cool I want to try it. However when I saw the black eggs it was a different story. I said, “No, I am not eating the black egg, it looks gross and nasty.” After everyone ate theirs they all said the same thing, “It taste like a regular egg, you will be fine.” Then I took the chance of eating the egg. I peeled the shell off slowly, everyone staring at me. Then I took the first bite, the my taste buds immediately told me, “It taste good, take another bite.” Next thing I know the egg was gone.
Then went to our traditional hotel called Hakone Kagatsuen where we were fully emerged into the Japanese culture. We had to wear Japanese kimonos, eat traditional Japanese food like nato, and bath naked with a bunch of strangers in a hot spring. Taking a bath in the hot spring was cool. At first, I thought to myself, “What kind of tradition is this? Where, I need to bath or swim naked with a bunch of strangers? That is just messed up.” Afterwards it felt just like I was swimming in a huge Olympic size swimming pool with strangers, it didn’t even feel like we were talking a bath just playing and having fun in the pool with close friends. After that night there, while falling asleep I realized that every culture is different, we just need to accept their traditions in order to get along.
After that we went to Toshiba Science Museum where we had fun watching dry ice float in the air. I was like how can this thing float in the air going around and around this little container. Then the last day of the trip we went to a near by mall where we rode on the rollercoaster that had steep drop and many loop de loops above the mall. It took me a while to even get on the rollercoaster since I am terrified of heights. One look at the rollercoaster and I said, “Pass, I don’t want to ride it.” However after everyone went on the ride and told me, “Oh my gosh this rollercoaster is insane you have to go on it. It’s not that bad once you get past the huge drop you are fine. Come on.” Once, I built up the guts to go on it, I went in the car was strapped in and there was no turning back. I screamed my head off like my life depended on it. After I got off, we went to see the photos of us on the ride and I started cracking up laughing. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline still running through my body but I went on it again and after that I couldn’t stop until it was time to go back to the hotel. Then at the end of the day we went to a baseball game but had no idea what the score was since everything was in Japanese.
On the airplane ride home, I thought to myself, “I have had the trip of a lifetime and will cherish it forever.” I had learned a lot from it not just the Japanese culture but also the life lessons. The lessons I learned was to try new things, to live my life to the fullest, to overcome my fears, and to not judge any culture by what you see on the media. When we got to the airport, I caught the sight of my parents ran at full speed to them dropping all my bags to give them a hug and say, “Thank you, thank you, and thank you for everything.”
