Well I have just finished up my Japanese adventure and I am now in Quindao, China! But let me give you a run down of Japan!!! I got into Yokohama, Japan at 5:30am and I woke up to watch us to sail into port. We were actually in the middle of a Typhoon while coming into port so it was REALLY rainy!!!! But as we got closer to the port, the clouds and fog cleared and we could see the city!!! This was the first time in Semester at Sea history that the ship ported in Yokohama! So there was a BIG ceremony with the Ambassador of Yokohama and the Capitan exchanging gifts. The ceremony was followed by a music and dance performance then the Ambassador gave everyone on the ship handkerchiefs called “Happies.”
After the ceremony I began my trip around Yokohama and Tokyo. I got a full tour of Yokohama City and it is really compact and high (if that makes any since). The city is full of millions of people all of whom are really friendly and helpful!!! While in Yokohama, we went to a garden that was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! It was full of old buildings and bridges from the early dynasties!!!
After that we went to a cemetery called the “Foreigner’s Cemetery.” It was interesting and elegant. Then we went to the 52nd floor of a building that had windows all the way around so that you could see the entire city!!! There are a lot of similarities with the country of Japan and the United States a lot of the stores and merchandise are similar and the price of items is only about $2 difference. Japan is pretty pricy but all of the stuff that I bought was worth it!!! 
But with the similarities comes many, many differences!!! Such as people drive on the other side of the street!!! Which is quite scary when sitting on the tour bus watching them make left hand turns on a red!!!! And when getting off of the bus you take a left… NOT a right!!! It is a weird feeling, let me tell ya!!! Some other differences include, tipping (you do not tip in Japan), tax (there is no tax on things purchased), and toilets!!! Yes rather than having a porslin bowl to sit on, you have a hole to stand over and well… you can do the math!!! Luckily in every public restroom, there were one or two stales that had “western style” toilets!!! YAY!!!! And in the hotel rooms there was western style along with heated seats, a spray and bide option, and a deodorizer button!!!! Oh the Japanese does it right!!! 
Once we finished the Yokohama tour, we made our way to Tokyo!!! Tokyo was unlike anything that I have ever imagined!!! There are lights EVERYWHERE and the technology was INSANE!!! There were people constantly walking around and getting on and off the subway sooo fast!!!! Speaking of the subway, the way people travel in Japan is CLOSE, in your personal space plus some CLOSE!!!! But it was an entertaining experience!!! I saw so many amazing things in Tokyo such as Shrines, Temples, the Sky Scape with a view of the entire city, the property of the Emperor, and the Electronics District. Tokyo was a lot different looking than Yokohama, in the fact that the city had more high rise apartments and buildings rather than high rises and small suburbs. Overall I really enjoyed Tokyo and Yokohama and the hospitality in both cities was superb!!!
My roommate and I traveled on our own while the ship went from Yokohama to Kobe. There was one day in between for us to go and explore Japan! We stayed in a hostel in Yokohama and then woke up and took the bullet Train to Kyoto and explored the ancient capital.
While in Kyoto we saw some Giesha’s, which I found extremely exciting because they really are the face of Japan!!! I tried green tea ice cream as well… and it was surprisingly tasty and I am now HOOKED!!! Unfortunately I do not think that I will be able to find it anywhere else on my journey!!! After Kyoto we made our way to Kobe and stayed the night at another hostel. The next morning we got up early and went to the pier to watch the ship sail in!!! That is only time that we will get to see it sail to us rather than having us sail with it!!! So that was really exciting. The ship was greeted by a band and dance performers!!! After the dance performance, we were invited up to learn the dance and perform it with them!!! It was really fun and I learned the “YES” Dance!!!! Then I was off to Hiroshima!!! We took the bullet train to Hiroshima and then toured the city and went to the hotel and ate a big Japanese style dinner!!! Within that dinner, was snake!!!!! Which I was not informed of until after consuming it!!!! 
But it was actually pretty tasty and I would not eat it ever again mostly because snakes FREAK ME OUT!!!! The next morning we went to the Hiroshima Memorials that are set up around the “A Bomb Dome” which is the only remaining building after the bombing. Seeing all of the Memorials and then visiting the Peace Memorial Museum was an eye opening experience!!! There were A LOT of artifacts recovered from the bombing mostly children’s clothing and some other items that are a little more grusem.
I learned sooo much from visiting the museum and I realized that there is a lot that we don’t know about that day in history. It was an erie sensation being around all of the memorials and the museum especially after being at Pearl Harbor and seeing both sides of the story. I am extremely happy that I went to Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor both because now I feel that I have the full knowledge of the entire situation and I am able to share the stories of the memorial.
Japan is an amazing hospitiable country that I recommend everyone going to at some point in their life!!! All of the people are very interested in Americans and want to help tourists constantly!!!! The land was absolutely beautiful and rich in culture!!! I learned sooo much from the 5 day visit and I cannot wait to show you all more photos from my journey and tell you even more stories because this e-mail barely scratches the surface!!!! I love all of you sooo much and I cannot wait to tell you about China!!!!! Peace, Love and Happiness!!!!☺ Bo Jaymes Forster ☺
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