Japan Reflection

One year ago, I had no idea I would be in Japan. Now that I'm home, after 10 days in Japan, I'm reflecting on everything I brought home from this beautiful group of islands. I mean besides some cool souvenirs. I had a sumo shirt, a “win” bandanna, artwork by Katsushika Hokusai, and various gifts for my parents, grandma, friends, and cousins; including posters with the sumos' names in Japanese and the many flavors of Kit-Kat that only exist in Japan, such as the green tea Kit-Kat and the strawberry Kit-Kat.

I also brought home over 750 pictures and videos from Japan (not including the 1,000 pictures and videos that were taken in Taiwan). And while these pictures do what they can to capture the beauty of the island, they don't show how much I laughed or how much I learned. The videos can't capture the feeling of a bullet train rushing past you or the excitement that is the Shibuya district on a Saturday night.

In one of these pictures, you can barely see Mount Fuji in the distance. I can barely describe the feeling myself, but seeing Mount Fuji for the first time, as far away as we were, was an epic moment. We tried to get closer, riding the bullet train to the best station (which looked like a ghost station) for viewing the inactive volcano. But, by then, clouds had moved in and covered the mountain, leaving only the base in our sight. We didn't know before, but that was our only chance to see Mount Fuji – we had to be grateful for the pictures we did get.

In some of the best places in Japan you cannot take pictures. Inside many of the shrines and temples, there are giant statues of Buddha and beautiful, elaborate altars, with signs that say no photographs. One temple in Kamakura, the Hasedera Temple, has an amazing statue of Kannon, the so-called “god of mercy”. When I walked into this temple, I had no idea what it was housing. I stopped in awe at the sight of this statue, and had to admire it for several minutes. To respect the religion, there were no pictures taken. I knew that some of the best things in life you can't photograph – these moments can only live on as memories.

The same is true of all the funny moments on this trip: which, I'm afraid, I've done a poor job of capturing the humor of this study abroad trip in either pictures or this blog. We shared many laughs, whether it was inside jokes among our group, or laughs with our new friends from Nagoya University. Everywhere I went, from Tokyo to Gifu and back, I went with close friends, cheering "waffle!". At one Buddhist temple, our whole group was guided in meditation – which was funny in retrospect, as the TV crew caught us fumbling to get into position as we struggled to focus with cameras recording us.

The fact that a Japanese television show found us interesting enough to follow for 3 days was humorous in itself – though we'll have to wait and see what they captured. I think we represented the University of Michigan – Flint well. This was also true of our business visits, to Mazda, Yamaha, the sweet shop, and the Buddhist altar maker. Dr. Laurence did an excellent job showing us around Japan and used his personal contacts at Nagoya University and JICA to ensure that we had the best, most personal study abroad trip in Japan possible.

There is so much to do in Japan, I could have spent more time at each city we went to! Tokyo is large enough to spend weeks there and still not see everything – although it'd be expensive! Hiroshima was beautiful and one of the most memorable events on our trip. I'll never forget taking a ferry out to the small island where the Itsukushima Shrine is located, where deer freely roam. To me, that day will always represent the beauty of Japan. Gifu was an awesome town with awesome people, like the owners of the sweet shop who were 6^th generation owners of the family business. If I had more time there, I would have loved to explore the castles in the mountains or see the crane-fishing ceremony where people fish with birds on the river.

Japan was an incredible country and I'm very glad I got the chance to explore it. It's an oddly familiar country – one that will happily welcome a foreigner. It is as modern as I expected but perhaps more normal than I expected – the media paints a crazy picture, whereas the Japan I experienced was a much more relaxed nation. The people are very kind, and every person in service industry treated me with the utmost respect. I encountered many professional, respectable people in Japan – there is a high desire to work and to learn. The food is different, but for the most part excellent; the scenery is beautiful even on a cloudy day. 

So, I take home more than just souvenirs or pictures. I have great memories from Japan that I'll never forget. I have the lessons learned from the history of Japan, the spirit to rebuild and recover and continue. I know the pride and the passion the Japanese have for their work, and I hope to apply this discipline to my own work. It is inspiring. If I should ever return to Tokyo, I want to know the Japanese language better. This way, I could talk to more people and feel even more at home in Japan.