Last New Port

Finally! A port where we don’t have to worry about drinking unsafe water, eating street food that will make you sick, getting bit by mosquitos and contracting a deadly disease, and really just crime in general. Japan was amazing! It was disappointing to realize that this voyage has been slowly but surely coming to and end with Japan being the last new country I will visit this go-around. Our ship doctor was relieved she didn’t have to spend another 20 minutes (like she does every pre-port) speaking about the dangers of Chikungunya or the Super bug. Unfortunately and fortunately for me, Japan was the first country I was bit by a mosquito. We were walking through Kobe

trying to find some dinner and this one small mosquito ended my streak without any mosquito bites. I’m just lucky to have gotten bitten here rather than some of the other countries we’ve been.

Japan was the country that I had planned the most free time in hopes that I would find some friends to travel with during our  five days here. Lots of other students were doing the same thing which made it easy to find travel companions. Day 1 I spent with Sam, Melanie, and Amy. We started off from the port on our usual route (at least when we travel together on free days): Wi-Fi and coffee. We needed to look up something to do in Kobe because the Wikipedia we have on the ship isn’t the best resource. The Kobe Oji Zoo was nearby! And boy did they have every animal you could imagine. I’m not sure when the last time I’ve been to a zoo was but we did have a nice walk around the park for most of that first day.  I had many ‘firsts’ in Japan and one of those happened to be my warm vending machine juice box coffee. So good! Japan was similar to China in terms of weather, maybe a bit warmer, and I loved it! The five days we had in Japan was the closest we will get to fall this year. The trees were gorgeous and changing color but there was definitely a winter feel floating throughout the air.

The zoo had a small theme park and we rode the sketchy ferris wheel which provided a beautiful panorama of the city of Kobe and the neighboring hills. We walked around the city for a while after the zoo and looked for a good spot to dine. Our mission was to go fishin’ for some sushi at some point during our five days. We decided to wait on that first night to try and do a bit more research on where the best spots were. We saw karaoke bars and Kobe beef steak houses that lined the streets but would have destroyed our wallets. Instead, we ended up going to the only little restaurant that we found that not only had Japanese menus, but English as well. I got some kind of cheese stuffed, chicken meatloaf ball which was about as good as it sounds. We had a nice traditional dinner and went back to the ship shortly after.

The second day, I was on one of the two field programs I had registered for prior to this semester’s start.  We loaded up a bus to go off to Kyoto which was a gorgeous city with traditional and Japanese culture that was well-preserved compared to much of the modernized Japan. Many friends went to both Kyoto and Tokyo and they tell me that while Tokyo was neat, Kyoto was an entirely different experience. Our field program was meant to be a highlights of the city kind of program, however I feel as if we missed many of the main attractions. We started off visiting the Golden Pavilion (picture below) which was phenomenal. From there we went to the Nishimi market where I found some good street food. I didn’t try any of the exotic options but there were many to choose from. Many of the shopping centers in Japan consisted of narrow, crowded halls with only one story of stores and food shops. This small hallway though can last up to a mile long! We didn’t spend much time here as we raced off to the next thing, origami. We went to a small house in Kyoto where four women taught us the art of origami. This was one of my favorite parts of the day seeing as it would have been tough to do this on our own. After this, we went to the small town of Gion to see the traditional Japanese housing as well as the Geisha that roamed the streets. 

The third day was one of my favorites. It was a bit spontaneous and there was all kinds of miscommunications throughout the day. The morning of, we decided to travel to Osaka to visit the Cup Noodle Factory and museum. You know, the famous ramen noodles that can be found for $0.25 at your local super market? Yeah, those noodles. We learned about the history of the company and even made our own noodles! I went with different friends that day even though Sam, Mel, Amy and I were planning on going all together. I went with Nickki, Auki, and one of the ship’s life long learners, Becki. Becki and I had been together on yesterday’s Kyoto trip and we were both looking for something to do on that third day, so we decided to go to Osaka! The metro/train rides in total lasted about 1.5 hours and we had to get off and on four different times each way. The system was quite organized yet it definitely takes some time to understand the methodology behind it all.

We arrived back to the ship around 3 in the afternoon and I was in desperate need of a nap. I ate dinner on the ship and waited for the rest of my friends to get back so we could go out and do something. Nobody was in the mood to go out that night, so I decided to go for a walk on my own around the port and city center. Japan has been one of the safest countries we have visited and I felt this when I was walking. I walked to the port tower and did a bit of night photography (picture below). There is a tree that you can see looking at the picture that I would later find out is the largest Christmas tree in the world, at least for this year. It stands more than 16 feet taller than the New York Christmas tree. I saw signs and advertisements everywhere for ‘the Greatest Christmas Tree Project’ and did a little research on my own. Essentially I learned that this year is the 150th anniversary of the Port of Kobe and to celebrate, they put up a Japanese tree that is 150 years old and it was massive.

The next day was what I considered to be my workout for the next 11 day stretch from Japan to Hawaii. Sam, Mel, Amy and I started from the port and hiked our way through the city and part way up the hills until we found Nunobiki falls. The area we hiked around was so beautiful that we decided to spend a fair amount of time here walking through the vibrantly colored trees lit up by the morning sun. After this, we made our way to yet another factory/museum, this time for Sake. Like the Cup Noodle Factory, we walked around on a self-guided tour, learning the history and taking samples at the end. As much as we wanted to take the beverage home, our ship has a strict no-alcohol policy and we knew it would be taken from us had we tried. We knew we were running short on time for sushi so we decided to find a restaurant near the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery. We were in luck. Conveyor belt sushi was within a mile walking distance and we were ready to eat.

I had never actually had sushi before this, so I was a bit hesitant. We didn’t stick to our plan of researching the best one, but I guess what we found was better than nothing… I figured the worst case scenario was to stop in at a 7/11 store and pick up some sushi. We had many stops at these convenient stores, including picking up a few meals. 7/11’s are entirely different than that of what you would find in the States and the food was stellar for a killer price. I was happy with the conveyor belt sushi that we found that day though. I tried salmon, bluefin tuna, eel, and whale. Not going to lie, the whale was my favorite and the salmon my least favorite. Sam got chicken nuggets… What kind of sushi restaurant even serves chicken nuggets?? This wasn’t a touristy restaurant but apparently this was on the menu and Sam was not a sushi fan.

As we arrived back into Kobe that afternoon, we did some last minute Christmas shopping and preparing for the big night. I ventured off on my own and walked through some final sightseeing points I wanted to hit before we left. That night, we all competed in a 5k fun race put on by the Port of Kobe officials for the Semester at Sea program. This 5k was at night and near the port tower. I was here just the night before but this time was different. This time I was sweaty and out of breath. There were 100 SASers that competed in this 5k, including 60 students and 40 crew members. The 5k turned out to be more like a 3k but it was a cold and memorable experience. Later that night, I went out with my friend, Ilsa, and some others for a few drinks. We went to a place called ‘bar Moonwalk’ which is this small, quaint little pub on the third floor of some random building in Kobe. No idea how my friends found this place… Ilsa told me ‘don’t worry, they have a big menu.’ Shoot, there were only even 20 seats in this bar, I wasn’t expecting much. Then they brought out the menu which had 12 pages and over 450 drinks on it. I ordered the beer. The only beer out of the 450 mostly mixed drinks. The most impressive thing was that the one guy behind the bar could tell you what was in every drink and then he knew how to make each without any hesitation.

Our final day in Japan, I participated in a field program called ‘Relax at the hot springs.’ Relaxing, indeed. It was just what I needed after the 17-18 miles of hiking/walking/running I had done the day before.  I was hoping that the hot springs would be outside but to my surprise, we actually found ourselves on the seventh floor of a hotel. Not quite sure how this all worked… But it was incredible! Many were a bit worried before the program and rightfully so, seeing as there was a no clothes policy like most hot springs in Japan. What’s worse, at least one professor is required to be the trip liaison for each field program. We had two teachers with us. Now, I know I’ve talked about how I have enjoyed the more personal setting that Semester at Sea provides between students and faculty, but this wasn’t what I meant by that. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful last day walking through the village and warming up in the three hot spring tubs on the seventh floor of a hotel.  Here are five fotos from Japan.