4/30/07
33° 32.69N
141° 43.44E

Kon-nichi wa from Japan. Well actually, we just left Kobe the other day. Japan is such an amazing country! It was comforting being back in a developed nation for the first time in several months. That being said, it also had the largest language barrier of any country that we visited. Getting around involved many hand signals, noises, and facial expressions. My charades skills saw some dramatic improvement.

As soon as I got off the ship, I hopped on a bullet train and headed for Toyko with a sizable group of friends. The train was easy and comfortable with only a few stops and much more legroom than any U.S. airline (which by the way, seem to be worst in the world by my calculations). Tokyo was a sprawling metropolis of skyscrapers, lights and the most confusing public transportation system I have ever seen. We spent two days in Tokyo eating sushi, exploring the many districts, playing charades, and generally getting ourselves lost. The second night was my 22nd birthday (yeah, I’m getting old), so about 15 of us went out on the town sporting our Vietnamese suits. Let’s just say it made for one heck of an adventure.

The following day, I boarded a bullet train with a downsized group and headed to Nagano. Nagano, which was the site of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, is an attractive town sitting amongst rolling hills. Although the town had much to offer, we decided to adventure further into the mountains. This adventure led us to the small mountain town of Habuka. Habuka is a quaint ski town nestled in the so-called Japan Alps. Now I’ve never seen the European Alps, but these sure looked “alpish” to me. Enormous snow covered peaks surrounded Habuka with rivers, forests, and ski resorts occupying the lowlands. Immediately after getting off the bus, we headed to Gravity Worx for homemade pizza, pasta, and ice cream. Gravity Worx was located in a small log cabin with creaky floors, old-fashioned demeanor, and rich smells. Now this was the Japanese mountain experience we were looking for! That night we stayed in a ski lodge overlooking the town of Habuka. The lodge had an onsen, which is a popular public bath of hot mineral water (a revitalizing hot tub of sorts). After a long day of travels, we soaked our aching bodies in the rock bath, overlooking the lights of Habuka and the silhouette of the Japan Alps in the moonlight.

That next morning we did something that I never expected to do during my SAS voyage. We went skiing! The ski resort Happo One was still open, so we rented skis, boots, poles, and gloves and hit the slopes. Now I have been making fun of people skiing in jeans for almost 15 years, but here I am, skiing in jeans, a rain jacket, sunglasses, and no hat…basically everything that I happened to be carrying in my backpack. I was totally “that guy.” To add to my humiliation, it started to snow on us…hard. Good thing jeans are so waterproof! We skied the downhill course of the 1998 Olympics several times before catching a train through the mountains back to Kobe.

The final day, I went for a hike up Rokko Mountain and ate my final meal on foreign soil. Rokko Mountain provided splendid views of Kobe, Osaka, and the surrounding area. It felt great getting outside in the temperate weather, especially knowing that I would be on a ship for nearly two weeks starting that evening. My final meal was a traditional Japanese dinner atop one of the tallest buildings in Kobe. As we sat on the floor (shoes off of course), we dined on delicious chicken dishes, pots of steamed vegetables, and interesting noodle concoctions. Not a bad way to end the trip.

I’m now back aboard the ship and headed for Honolulu, Hawaii. We should arrive in 8 days after crossing a hand full of time zones and the international dateline. In the mean time, I’ve got countless papers and exams on the horizon to keep me busy. I’ll post another blog after Hawaii to let you know how the transpacific voyage is going.

Till then,

-Mike