Overall Reflection

I had a great time. Japan was so new to anything that I have been able to experience so far. The people were wonderful, the sights were breathtaking and the memories are unforgettable. I am so pleased that I had the opportunity to visit Japan, and I intend to come back again.

I have never had the chance to study abroad, so I didn't know what to expect. The class would have been really great for someone that was studying human rights or world peace, as a business student, there was not much focus on business for me. The businesses we were able to visit, Toyota and Kyocera, their museums were geared more towards potential customers rather than allowing us to look into the companies' actual business practices. It would have been nice to meet with professionals that work in these companies and interview them.

Meeting with the students of different universities was a great experience. It was really interesting to hear some of the questions that they had for us. Myself and the other business major got a few questions from students and professors curious as to why we were studying peace. This was difficult to answer for me. I did not think this course was going to be so focused on peace. Luckily, I hold a personal interest for human rights and peace, but it would be difficult for a business student who does not. I think studying peace and human rights should be a general education component for all majors, especially any coming from Webster University as there mission states to prepare all students for global citizenship.

Also, in retrospect, I wish I would have allotted more time to explore on my own. It would have been nice to have a few more days after the course ended, but because I was limited to how much time I could get off of work, I could not have stayed any longer. I supposed that leaves me with something to do on my next visit. :)

Overall, I had a good time and met so many wonderful people that will leave an impression on me forever.

Hiroshima

View of the Hiroshima Peace Museum from my hotel room window on a rainy day.
















I though visiting Hiroshima would be unbearably sad, and it was very sad at times, but the thing that I really took away from my visit was the unwavering message of peace. This is a city that was destroyed and people and families that were attacked and devastated by the actions of my country. And instead being vengeful or hating me because I am American, they were gracious and kind enough to share their experience and to preach peace for the betterment of all of us, the world. This attitude and pure goodwill blew me away. It made me want to strive to incorporate that kind of approach into my daily life.

Meeting with Steven Leeper was a great experience, it was wonderful to hear his thoughts. It was different than most of the speakers we heard on this tour. Not only was he American, but he really brought in a more realistic idea of peace for me. An idea with politics. It is great to hold peace meetings, conferences, rallies, etc. to support what you believe in, but ultimately I believe we need the lawmakers and government to lead the way. That is something solid that people can get behind.It is valid and concrete. That is something that is difficult to do which is maybe why our political leaders have not taken a strong approach in leading the way of peace. There are so many interests to account for when making any decision. Hopefully, the governments of all countries will one day realize that peace would ultimately be in the best interest of the human race and lead the way in making that idea a reality for all of us.

While in Hiroshima we had the beautiful pleasure of meeting a hibakusha named Miyoko. She was a little girl when Hiroshima was attacked with the nuclear bomb. She shared the story of how she lived through the attack, her feelings and her art. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

We only had one day in Hiroshima, but I will always remember it vividly.

Osaka

Osaka Castle Grounds

Liberty Osaka Human Rights Museum Logo

I had no idea what Osaka would be like. A few Japanese people that I had met would always have a certain look when I told them we were going to Osaka. Eyebrows would raise and heads would nod. I still don't really know quite why, but I suppose there is something unique about Osakans that is lost in translation for me.

I really enjoyed Osaka. It was a nice change from Kyoto. In Osaka we began to feel more heat, I guess going more south warmed up the temperature for us.

We went to Liberty Osaka Human Rights Museum. This was one of my favorite museums on the tour. It had focuses on 7 different groups that had suffered discrimination in Japan. One of the groups was the Minamata Diseased. I was unaware of this situation. It left me horribly saddened and curious. How could this happen? I have read a bit about it and it is really heartbreaking. For those of you who don't know, Minamata Disease was caused by severe mercury poisoning. The mercury was discharged into the water of Minimata Bay, Shiranui Bay and Minimata River as waste from the Chisso Corporation, a chemical company, from 1932 to 1968. The fish were exposed to the mercury and then eaten by the people and the disease spread rapidly. Some side effects of mercury poisoning are numbness in the hands and feet, hearing and vision loss, coma, paralysis, insanity, death and congenital disease such as cerebral palsy.The government knew about this for 30 years and did little to nothing to prevent the pollution. The way that it was all handled maybe saddened me the most. In a video that I saw in the museum, it was showing a group of victims and their relatives, who were asking for an apology from the Environmental Minister and government for ignoring this for so long and the Minister would beat around the bush, but never offered a heartfelt apology, she simply left it at "We will take that request into consideration". These people are still affected today! The woman asking for the apology has a grandson that is affected. It was outrageous that the Minister would not just say "We're sorry." I understand the need to be diplomatic but what about the need to be human? It was frustrating to see. Another thing that I really enjoyed about the museum, were all of the videos. It can be difficult to get the fullest experience of a museum when there isn't much English. Being a visual person, I really appreciated all of the videos (and English).

We also were able to visit Osaka Castle. The grounds were beautiful and vast, there was so much of it. Its hard to imagine what it would be like in its operational days.

Kyoto

So, Kyoto was very different for me than Tokyo. I have always imagined Kyoto to be a very historic and well preserved city, but it didn't really feel that way for me. The city where I was staying was old but not in a historic way, it was in a more rundown sort of way. The safe feeling that I left with from Tokyo, wasn't as assured in Kyoto. I saw a few homeless people sleeping on the streets, a dead cat on the sidewalk and the stores and buildings that I saw were not very well kept nor modern, which was very different than what I had seen in Tokyo.

A highlight in Kyoto was the people we were able to meet at Ritsumeikan University and the Kyoto World Peace Museum. They were so kind and welcoming. It was a really cool experience to meet the students and have lunch with them. The Director of the Museum took us out for dinner and that was a great, fun and memorable experience. I loved the yaki soba. They showed us such wonderful national hospitality.

We did get to visit some of the historic, touristy places too. That was very cool and made for some great pictures. Another highlight of the Kyoto experience was the Karaoke. It was awesome. We had such a fun night. It was great to have some of the Japanese students there also, to kind of show us the way. That is a night I won't forget anytime soon.

Tokyo!!!

The fast paced street in Roppongi.

Bathroom in Narita.

Note: The following is a combined collection of journal entries while I was in Tokyo.

So, I kind of love Tokyo!! It is beautiful. In the times I have traveled before, I always have that moment where it really sinks in "Wow. I am in ______!" I had that moment on a few different occasions, some on a small scale other times, it gave me chills. The first mini-moment, was when I was in the bathroom of the Narita airport and there were so many buttons and options for what you wanted the toilet to do, as pictured above.

The second mini-moment was on the Narita Express from the airport and I saw rice paddies and farmers with the lampshade style hats on working in the fields. It was like seeing in something in a movie, but I was seeing it in real life.

Tokyo is lovely. It is so decorated and everyone is so strategically stylish, not like Paris where it seems effortless. The people of Tokyo are so accessorized, colorful and styled. In the US even the most fashion forward people can't pull off the looks that people in Tokyo were running around it. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. I got to go to Shibuya it was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. It was like I was on a giant fashion show runway with thousands of people. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures and videos in the busy parts of Tokyo, but in my defense I was too in awe of everything that I was seeing, my camera was far from on my mind.

Tokyo was so populated and busy. I wonder why all of these people are here. Did they come here for work? Were they born here? Are they from a small village and had to move to the big city to find a job? Do they love it or hate it? Are they here on an important business trip? All of these things crossed my mind when watching the hoards of people maneuvering through the subways and crowded streets. Even though Tokyo is busy and full of people, I was amazed and excited to see the organized and structured way everyone coexists. People line up at train doors and part to let the exiters off, then they file in, in an orderly fashion. On the escalators, people who prefer to stand and ride the escalator may do so on the left side, but for those who want to walk up the escalator they have the right side open for them to run up the steps if they'd like. I can't imagine this happening in St. Louis. If St. Louis ever became that populated, it would be complete chaos.

Another highlight of Tokyo, was finally getting to meet my fellow classmates and instructors. Reading introductions and posts from people only allows you to get to know someone to a small extent, so it was nice to meet everyone in person.

At this point, I didn't know what exactly to expect from this course. Around the third day, after we met with Yumi, I could see it begin to take shape. She was such an inspiring person to meet, I feel she really helped shaped the mood for the course. Also, as we met Yumi, I feel like this allowed Satoko's passion to be revealed a bit more as well. Meeting with Councilor Fujita was an eye opening experience and one that would have only been made possible through this class. I don't think I could call up my local congressman and arrange a meeting for any purpose, so this was really special. It was a great to hear him speak and listen to the informative things he had say but also it was a great experience to be at the Diet building, in his office, while a Diet meeting was going on behind him on TV. It was a very cool experience.

Another experience and characteristic of Tokyo, was how safe it was. I was really blown away by this. Anytime that I have traveled before, I have always been precautious traveling alone and felt a bit uneasy at times. But, in Tokyo, the second night I was there, I was walking around Roppongi with a friend of mine and there was a passed out drunk business man lying on the sidewalk and his cell phone slid out of his hand and a guy walking by picked it up and set it next to him. No one was messing with him, no one calling the police, they just let him be. That would never happen anywhere in the US. It was weird to see this. My friend told me it's a common occurrence and throughout my time in Japan I found this to be true. Everywhere I went, I felt safe, I didn't get stared at because I was an obvious foreigner, like I have in some other places I have traveled. In fact I think obviously being foreign, worked more to my advantage, as people were more friendly in offering help when I looked lost. There were children riding the subway late at night alone and everyone seemed fine about it. It was a really refreshing feeling.

Needless to say again...I loved Tokyo.

Explanation

Because I did not bring a computer or have access to one that was not on a pay per basis, my following blogs are from a written journal I kept with me while traveling in Japan.

From the Beginning

Well, well, well... Where to begin?
When I first enrolled in this class, I was very excited about the idea and experience to study abroad. I have always wanted to, but because I have always worked full time, I couldn't take that much leave from work, without quitting my job.

I love to travel, but I haven't been able to that often. I went to Europe in 2005 and Thailand in 2007 both for one month each. I loved both experiences, they were very different, but wonderful. I suppose being in Asia in Thailand, I may have had some preconceived notions about Japan(most of these turned out to be very wrong).

In my past travels, I have always done so solo. So, I knew this would be a different experience to be with a group. I didn't know how I felt about that, but I liked the idea of learning while I travel and having my summer course be in Japan, rather than some classroom in St. Louis. Plus, according to the tentative schedule we adjourn around 4 or 5 most days, so that would still allow some time for exploring the different cities on my own.

To begin preparing for the class and traveling, I bought Let's Go Japan, a travel guide similar to Lonely Planet, but because I have had good luck with this series and I knew we were getting Lonely Planet as part of the course, I opted for this book. I started to read and study the book and tried to prepare myself for the adventure and brace myself on what to expect.

For awhile after signing up for the course, I wasn't sure if I would be able to go. Both of my grandparents became very ill between January and March and I didn't want to be away if I was needed. So, I put off planning the last of the details until I knew my grandparents were stabilized and doing OK. I was a bit worried that because I waited to buy my plane ticket and book my accommodations that I may have trouble with availability or high prices, but everything went smoothly.