JAPAN TRAVEL JOURNAL
November 30, 2013 to December 16, 2013

I applied for the MNCC Japan Homestay Program Scholarship in
September because nothing genuinely excites me more than learningabout new people and places and using the knowledge to apply to my own
life’s endeavors. I was pleased to learn in October that I had been chosen
as one of two students to receive the fully paid trip to Japan.
The purpose of my stay is to learn anything and everything I can intwo weeks about the cultural differences between America and Japan. I
would like to report my observations and findings of Japan in this travel
journal.

Kamiah Dix

THS [Senior] 2013-2014

Before I begin, I must set an image to my location. Here are somefacts and pictures of Sasebo.

Location: Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture•

Sasebo is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimatedpopulation of 259,800 and a population density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47
km². The city includes a part of Saikai National Park.

•Current weather: 37°F (3°C)
Nagasaki is known in America as being the city that the USA bombedin 1945. If you do a Google Image search on Nagasaki, black and white
images of death and destruction are the prominent results. In fact,around the same time I was in Nagasaki, John F. Kennedy’s daughter wasin Nagasaki Peace Park giving speeches. I even watched her on the news
with my host family.
However, it has been over half a century since the event andNagasaki is thriving. I can see this immediately, with my own two eyes
while standing on Nagasaki’s Mt. Inasa. The top of the mountain is alookout point that is considered to offer the third best city nightview in Japan. Since I haven’t seen the other two, I have to say theview from Inasa is absolutely the most beautiful thing that has everblessed my sight. Judging on this view, Nagasaki today is definitely
not the same Nagasaki that existed 68 years ago.

Therefore, the most important introductory piece on Nagasaki, inmy opinion, is that the prefecture is NOW famed for its unique andprestigious food. Oishii!!
this wonderful prefecture!

I am happy to be stationed in a city inAnd now on to the city itself...
Sasebo has a U.S. Navy base, which influences the city
tremendously.

For example,...this city is where jazz first came to Japan.
There are also a few “interesting” restaurants sprinkled around.
One of Sasebo’s famous fooditems is “Sasebo Burger,” which
are just burgers that we in theUSA have an abundance of.

It was still cute, however, when my host family asked if I had
ever eaten Ketchup.

Why, yes.

This is the traditional-style Japanese bedroom I am so lucky to stay in for two weeks. The room has
sliding doors on all sides with lovely Japanese art on them. The mattress is luxuriously comfortable, andthe bamboo (“tatami”) mats perfectly aligned make the experience feel earthier.

Converting one country’s currency to another’s at an airport is anaction that will never cease to astonish me. The feat seems to hint
more at the grandiose side of things rather than the dull encounter itreally is. One simply pushes a disheveled pile of personally earned
papers under a glass window for an agent to calculate the foreign
returns, and in a few heartbeats the entire event is history. Thatbeing said, at least my particular currency conversion experience hadsome hindering yet interesting bumps. The agent did not have enoughJapanese yen for my desired exchange so she phoned a booth on adifferent floor to bring the difference. The five-minute wait was
brought to a close by the agent peering through the window and saying“ahh, there he is.”I turned to watch an airport staff member awkwardly carrying a
not-so-inconspicuous and nearly glowing red gift bag with cartoon
bunny faces. The agent jumped to the back wall to open the locked door,and she received the item from the currency transporter. It was allvery amusing, as the only reason I can think of to explain the bunny
bag is to be so severely unappealing that all thieves in the area areforced to sneer at the package and think wow; I would never steal
THAT...

I just thought the disguise charade might work a little

better without Mr. Cold and Rigid in the Uniform being the one todeliver the yen shrouded in smiley bunnies.

But here are the long-awaited facts... One U.S. dollar translates
to 105.14 Japanese yen. It was easy for me to keep tabs on what I wasspending in Japan by just taking two zero’s off an amount. One
thousand yen was roughly ten dollars; ten thousand yen was about one
hundred. I am naively satisfied with the stock of zero’s I haveacquired because of my yen, but I am seeing that even key chains here
are easily one thousand fifty yen in both touristy and local shops.
I am no economics expert but my basic understanding of Japan’s
economy is that1) Japan’s economy was deflated not too long ago (1986 to 1991)
2) Japan is the globe’s fourth largest economy
3) The Bank of Japan is the main holder of U.S. Treasuries (whichhas been unhealthy for Japan)
4) Inflation has now turned positive.

The most prominent company name in Japan is, without a doubt,
Mitsu-Bishi. The same car line in America is the same firm in Japanthat sells everything from home heating units to art supplies.

Art Supplies

Batteries

Air unit

HighTech Hand Drier

Japan is notorious for efficiency. I knew this before I came so I
had an idea in mind about things I could look for to best demonstrateJapanese efficiency.
The first thing I noticed when my host family led me totheir car in the parking lot was that a majority of the vehicles
looked small and boxy. (I am pretty sure that as a toddler I playedwith a toy of every model I see in Japan). ☺ Vehicles fit better inhome driveways, which are usually efficiently under the houses in thismountainous region. If Japan was a game, it would undoubtedly beTetris.

The roads in some parts have two lanes. I have not had a chance
to physically test this, but if I were to lie down line to line in alane, I would definitely be lengthier. Some rural roads have only one
lane and in this case, cars going opposite directions have to make wayfor each other to get around. I support and admire the ‘less concreteand less effort’ approach.
Actually, while we are on the subject of admiration, I have tosay admiration is my prominent state of mind in Japan...
You can also see efficiency in markets and stores. Carts are
merely metal frames in which you can place two grocery baskets. Thesebaskets are of course conveniently stacked, and the tiny carts take upa third of the space a cart at Food-4-Less does. After passing abasket through the checkout, you take your basket to a counter in thevery front of the store and proceed to bag your own groceries with thebags provided. There is always a little roll of tape to secure a
protruding piece on the lip of the plastic bag over the other so thatno groceries come out.

I helped my host sister bag some groceries a few times, each time
wondering what would happen if I secured the bag in a nontraditionalway. I finally worked up the spirit to take the two protruding bag
pieces and tie them together in a tight little knot, forgoing the tape
altogether. My host sister laughed a little and we were on our way.

The three Japanese-native English teachers I have met do make someEnglish mistakes, although the message is clear. I cannot bring myself
to say this is any sort of language crime. Sitting in the back ofclassrooms listening to thick-accented teachers have students reciteuseful "eego" phrases was perfect conditions for me to have arevelation. (I am having a lot of those). English is still English nomatter who speaks it, no matter what accent the speaker has, and nomatter what minor mistakes are made. Yes, language is complex andstructured inside a country or area that speaks it. But the moment aperson sets foot into a country that speaks something else, language
is only a minor tool for communication. Gestures and tone, energy andcharisma become the new communication force. To a person that lacks
this powerful ability, I imagine communicating could be difficult.
Luckily I extrovert fiercely when I experience something new!
Some interesting facts and statistics about Japan go as follows:--

Japan’s population is a staggering 98% Japanese! I saw a large
handful of Americans only because of the navy base in Sasebo.
There is virtually no immigration to Japan.
Japan is the world’s largest consumer of Amazon Rain Foresttimber.
About 70% of Japan is mountainous!
The literacy rate is almost 100%.
There are about 1,500 earthquakes in Japan each year.
It takes seven to ten years of training to become a chef that canprepare blowfish.
Native Japanese people live 4 years longer, on average, thannative American people. There is a huge importance placed onhealth and fitness. Some companies even require employees toexercise at work in the morning to start the day.
Japan luckily has the second smallest homicide rate of all
countries.
Specially grown “luxury fruits” sell for large amounts of money;(think 4 dollars per cherry).
Japan’s unemployment rate is under 4%.
There is a very real possibility one might get bombarded by alocal news crew interviewing about one of a variety of subjects.
In my case: Aliens.

Marine life is all around me; in stores, in bowls, in between mychopsticks, and in this little airplane snack bag I acquired from theplane!

When has a crab warning ever been printed on a bag of snackage inAmerica? I love Japan.

Going to the aquarium was an eye-opening experience, mainly because I
saw one size and shape of fish I never knew existed and my eyes
widened in fear as it swam aggressively from the far side of the tank
to my eye level.

The trained dolphin tank housed two uniformly
sleek bottlenose dolphins, along with a smaller, shorter, and flatter-nosed Risso’s dolphin. This dolphin could not jump as high or swim as
fast as its companions. However, it won the hearts of the audience
when it failed to slap a ball out of the water with its fin, and thenignored the fish treat its trainer sympathetically held out to try asecond time and this time slap that ball clear out of the area andonto a nearby roof.
Nagasaki’s coastline is one of the most beautiful island areas inJapan.
The “99 Islands” are a popular ferry tourist attraction, although
there are actually thousands upon thousands of tiny islands extending
from the shore out to the far sea.

It is so easy to get lost in the moment while taking in thesuper-sensory environment of Nagasaki.

One of my favorite places I have been to is definitely a wondrous
place called The Bio Park. The 300,000 meters squared tourist
attraction is home to an abundance of quirky yet endearing creaturesthat have SO much space to roam around! I have never seen such anamazing captive animal location and I refuse to call the Bio Park azoo. The enclosures were spacious, accommodating, and engaging for theanimals that lived there.

Humans could go in and out of the enclosures as they pleased, with theexception of the beaver and hippopotamus area. I finally got to see
AND touch a few members of the most adorable species on earth.

CAPYBARAS! (One lifelong dream, accomplished. Seven hundred twentynine to go).

I also ran into this pair of mischievous little imps who later tried
to commandeer my camera.

One coolpig.

The park also features a Flower dome! I fell in love with all thevibrant colors from floor to membrane roof.

Some beginning facts about education that I learned firsthand are:1) There is no physical contact regulation in elementary schools.
I witnessed several amusing wrestling matches in classrooms andhallways. No authoritative figure batted an eyelash... I am also quite
sure that my fun host dad principal would have cheered the boys on had
he been walking by at those times.

2) After sixth grade, the students receive new and prided
uniforms. Junior high school is a tad more serious than elementaryschool. and there is a big ceremonial initiation for the incoming
students. It is a very formal event in which the students must not
speak or move too much out of turn. It is their time to show they
deserve the uniforms and are ready for the years that lie ahead.
3) A student must complete all education through junior highschool. A student cannot be “kicked out” until high school.
4) Students do not change classes: teachers do. A class will havea homeroom and that is where core classes are taught every day. During
lunchtime, students rearrange their desks to eat together in theclassroom. I love this concept because I think it is more useful tolearn about your classmates than to split apart for different classes.
Students need traction.
5) There is time set aside each day to clean a school campus andsurrounding roads. Students do so well with this job that there is noneed for custodians. (ADMIRATION). There is a person called agroundskeeper, though his job is to plant and maintain gorgeous scenesetting flowers on the campus.
6) Elementary schools have chickens, rabbits, and various animals
that the students must take turns to take care of. The point of thisis to teach young ones to care for and be gentle with nature’screatures.

The main difference I see between Japanese schools and American schools isTeachers greet each other formally in the teacher’s room each morning. Students sent to fetch thenext teacher from the teacher’s room must bow upon entry and recite a formal request. (Thisrequest was translated to me by an American ALT and it goes something like this: “So and so” fromclass “so and so” are now prepared to request teacher “so and so” for the class of “so.”) Studentsand teacher stand and bow before the day’s lesson is initiated. Japan is socially structured so that
respect is apparent in the form of humble words and bowing whenever there is greeting, thanking,and departing. It is a beautiful concept that I will be sad to part from when I return home.

Luckily, I was asked to assist English teachers in the classroom. It was nice to get a tiny
indirect taste of my future occupation!

Japanese students are such hard workers and I admire their abilities to blend diligence withplayfulness. There is no reason to doubt that these students are not responsible, so they get use
tools such as this large cooking knife:.

This is a junior high school cooking class. We made tacos! The food was labeled in their home
economics text book and no one had ever tried it (tacos in Japan?) so we cooked it and there werenothing but positive results!

Japanese schools in rural areas are built as a part of thesurrounding countryside, architecturally secured on the sides ofmountains.

It. Is. Profound... It’s the morning sun rising above the peaks
to warm frigid bodies just arriving to school, the array of natural
colors all around that calms and soothes sore spirits, and theconstant feathery breeze massaging every inch of uncovered skin in thecold. The setting is arguably unlike any school’s view in America, andits role is a vital factor of happiness and peace for the learning
kids. And, if I stand here long enough, a single forgivable tear just
can’t contain itself while I awe at the view.

The small population of school children, after years of living
and functioning in Sechibaru, may stop noticing the profoundness ofthe everyday sight. One thing is for certain, though; the serenity of
the landscape has shaped these kids’ very beings in the most beautiful
and positive way there is.

Taking pictures is Japanese culture. Before I left any school I
visited, teachers would call for picture-taking formation. Students
would immediately place all desks in the back or front of theclassroom to clear up space, and twalaa: picture time! The idea seems
obvious, but the fact that there is indeed an actual picture-taking
formation demonstrates Japan’s neatness. The whole deal is pretty darn
magical.

Gift-giving is ingrained in Japanese culture. Aside from the company ofthe wondrous people I met, the sights and smells and tastes of Japan,
and the general peacefulness of movement here, I have received manyother beautiful gifts such as cloths from my host family and students
alike. And for them, I have come into the habit of drawing my gifts.
Appreciation for my doodles first appeared in the sixth gradeclassroom in Sechibaru, where students huddled around my desk between
classes to observe my handiwork in action. At times I heard thestudents excitedly draw out a hushed word that sounded like “skiiii!”
The teacher even hung up one of my drawings of a hand on the wall in
the hallway! My host dad, as principal of the school, suggested that I
create other drawings as super-official presents for the class when Idid my super-official goodbye speech. I loved the idea, because I had
1) never poured my heart into one piece of art before, and 2) neverhad my direct work so appreciated.
Over the course of the week, I worked for diligent hours on
various drawings for the students I adored. The teacher even requested
a special Christmas picture for holiday decoration. On the last day of
the first week, I finally presented the gifts. The wonderful little
sixth graders gasped in admiration for my drawing when I showed them
the finished product. I later learned that the word “ski,” drawn isslang for “suki.” It means “I like it.”
Drawing became a joyous job because of the way it made the sixth
graders feel. It felt good to see others feel good about objects
created of my own design.

This drawing was of the view in Sechibaru, created with my little
borrowed box of Mitsu-Bishi colored pencils. I captured the beautiful
scene in my mind during the morning car rides up and down a mountainbetween Sasebo and Sechibaru. Some of the most gleeful moments in mylife were when people who saw this drawing remarked, “That’sSechibaru.”

The second week was spent at my host sister’s high school in Sasebo. Idrew them a less cartoonish and more abstract gift.

One of my host family’s farewell gifts to me was an astonishingdinner feast. It was a time to forget that I would be leaving in themorning. It was a time to enjoy one last communion with my new friends.

Therefore, the last drawing I ever drew in Japan was for my own
host family. I doodled their family name on a beautiful little
Japanese poster, squinting for hours to put in the minute details of
the letters and wishing my love and appreciation would somehow mingle
in with the ink and be felt forever in the Okishima family’s home.

Afterwords
Japan is a unique country that is differentiated from thesurrounding Asian countries, in ways of food and customs and implicit
as well as explicit structure. The purpose of my stay was to learn
anything and everything I could in two weeks about the culturaldifferences between America and Japan. However, I have learned evermore than I could have hoped for with the help of my wonderful hostfamily. This new knowledge will be with me for the duration of mylifetime, and I strongly suggest that individuals with curiosities anda will to live go to Japan for an extended visit. I cannot wait until
my return!