Journals Day 14 (The last day)

I woke up the next morning and got ready to take a shower. After my shower I went downstairs, grabbed my meal ticket and headed off to the buffet. After eating and checking in one last time with my loved ones, I met with all my friends as we waited to board the bus for this, our last day in Japan.

We started off our amazing final day at the Temple of the 1000 Buddahs. The temple is known as this because there is literaly 1000 Buddahs inside the temple. We entered into the temple and took off our shoes and began to walk. Before we went in, we were stopped by the main guard who told us that they do not allow photography of any sort inside the temple. We checked our cameras at the door and went inside. As I walked the long hall, I saw the buddahs. These buddahs were not little 6 inch statues, these were human sized creations of rock and stone. In the very middle, I guess it would be the 1000th buddah, there was a large, almost 15 feet tall buddah made out of gold. This place must be worth millions!, I told myself as I walked back to the entrance to head to our last stop of our trip before the airport.

The bus pulled to a stop at this large mall. We were given 2 hours to run around and look for last minute souvenirs for our friends and family before we hit the skies. My friends and I decided to look for a 99 Yen store to see if there was anything there we couldn't live without. We ran around the mall for an hour trying to find some sort of map and when we did, we got side tracked. Instead of looking for a 99 Yen store, we looked for this large sky ramp that is suspended over the entire mall at about 10 stories. The sky ramp was awesome, from there I got a great pic of what the mall looked like and decided to head back to the bus. We arrived at the bus with time to spare so we looked for a 99 Yen store. Instead, we found a few friends eating ice cream and talked with them until we boarded the bus to the airport.

We boarded the bus and headed off to the airport; a long but familiar 2 hour drive was ahead. On the bus, we talked about how we missed home and we would also miss Japan. We began to say our goodbyes to our guide as the airport came in sight. The bus crossed the bridge and dropped us and our baggage off at the airport and we had a few minutes to say our goodbyes. We all had our pictures taken with our wonderful guide, Kayo, and gathered up our luggage. As we began to check in, our guide began to cry and wished us all the best in our future travels. We passed through customs and proceeded down to the gate. By the time everyone had arrived at the gate, we were only 20 minutes from takeoff. We lined up and boarded the plane. As I took my final step off the jet way and onto the plane, I whispered good bye to the county that had hosted me for 2 weeks. The country that I now knew more about then I every thought I could. I quickly found my seat and began to write today's log of events in my Journal.

This trip has meant so much to me that words alone can't describe it. I thank all of you that sponsored me in my trip to Japan and you that followed me in this Journal. Thank you again for everything. Without you, I would have been stuck stateside this summer. Thank you again.

Jeffrey Jordahl
World Travelor

Journals Day 13

I woke up the next morning with a large knock at the door. We had about an hour and a half to be ready for breakfast downstairs. I rolled out of bed and got ready to take my shower. After my nice hot shower, I went down to the lobby and found a few friends of mine. They were all waiting for their leader to come down and give them their meal coupon to take to one of the 7 restaurants we could go to and eat. I used my waiting time at the phone bank and using a calling card, gave my loved ones a nice hello and welcoming them to the day that I was starting as their day was wrapping up. My leader arrived and gave me my food coupon, I went to the buffet. After breakfast we met and discussed our agenda for the day and headed off to the bus.

The first place on our tour was the former imperial palace in Kyoto. This palace housed the emperor up until the mid 19th century when Europe and especially America forced their good onto the Japanese people. The Japanese decided to move the capitol to Edo, the largest port town at the time, and the city was renamed to Tokyo which means 'eastern capitol'. The palace was unlike some of the others we had seen up until now. At this palace their were high gates like all the others but the palace was not as large vertically as it was in Tokyo and all the other palaces we had seen all over Japan. The thing that set this palace apart was the special floor they Japanese designed so no assassin could ever sneak inside the castle. The floor is known as the nightingale floor. The floor actually coos like a nightingale as one walks on the floor. The sound comes from the nails in the floor as they rub against the wooden supports as foot pressure is applied to them. The palace itself was ornately decorated and many of the ancient paint was still holding up considering the damage of time on it. After the tour, we went to the small store nearby and took a look at the beautiful gardens surrounding the palace. I loved all the koi ponds and at the store, I found a glass coca-cola bottle written in Japanese.

After the tour, we left the palace and took a long ride to a movie studio in Kyoto. This movie studio is like Universal studios in America; they have games, rides and shows, and at any one moment, you may find yourself in an actual movie set. We hurried to the cafeteria where lunch had already been served waiting for us to arrive. After lunch we all were let loose inside the the studio. We wandered around between the small souvenir shops and ice cream stands until we found this show that everyone else seemed to be going to. The show was all in Japanese (no surprise there) but it looked as if they were showing us how they go about filming a fight scene in Japanese movies. They broke down the action shot by shot until the good guy slayed the bad guy. Then they ran it once all the way through without stopping, All was going well until the lines got mixed up and the bad guy won. The director liked it and much to the good guy's dismay, he kept the shot and the curtain fell. We all left and found another show about a guy trying to save his village but ends up dying and continued wandering around playing games until I found something that shook me to my core.

I walked into a room where I was greeted by this large robot looking thing. At first glance it was unrecognizable but then when I took a second look it hit me like a sack of bricks, This was a megazord like the ones in POWER RANGERS! I caught my escaping breath and told myself that it couldn't be. I continued into the room and realized I was wrong. I found something like a shrine to power rangers inside. All the power rangers I had ever seen were there. Their costumes all lined up taunting me. I looked around the room and saw other shows from my youth, the VR Troopers and the Beetle Borgs. I felt like I was 8 again looking at what had shaped my youth and been the source of many childhood dreams and fantasies. As I walked out of the room, I felt that I had in some small way, reconnected with my inner 8 year old pernanently. I headed back toward the main entrance and looked at the large souvenir shop up their until it was time to reboard the bus.

Our next stop for today was the famous Golden Pavillion in Kyoto. The Golden Pavillion is so amazing because the main temple building itself looks as if it had been made completely out of gold! The building burned down a long time ago and was rebuilt on the ashes of the first but one would never be able to tell. Many foreign dignitaries come to the pavilion for state functions and to look at the beauty. We left the bus and walked through the main gate into the surrounding garden. We had to walk for about 100 yds until we saw it. The building itself looked as though it was made from 24K gold! I stared in awe as the green of the trees and the backdrop of the mountain seemed to make the entire pavillion rise up and come to life before my eyes. We walked around the pavillion and had our books shrined as we took pictures of the Pavillions beauty. After pictures were taken and books shrined, we boarded the bus and headed down to our last stop before dinner.

We arrived at a large shrine. This shrine is special because as all shrines have a sacred god that lives at the shrine, this shrines god was the god of good test scores and high school entrance. Many students from all over Japan flock to this shrine every year to pray to the gods to help them get into high school and pass their finals. This shrine itself was very cool with plenty of statues and ornate buildings. We once again had our books shrined and wandered around the shrine taking all of the culture in.

Finally, we boarded the bus and headed to our final destination, dinner. We went to a small restaurant but it felt like the first restaurant we visited back in Tokyo. We were given meat like chicken, beef, and pork and with large skewers, cooked the food over the open flame and ate it. Our table was the last served but the first done. We were all so hungry as we were the ones always running making sure everyone was keeping up. After dinner we went back to our hotels and had one final meeting about what was going on tomorrow. We would be leaving so I, with a heavy heart began to pack my bags one last time and set out my P2P uniform for the morning.

Journals Day 12

I woke up this morning from the Hiroshima Prince Hotel and collected up my things because we were only going to stay here for the night. We woke up late because we didn't have a wake up call, and I ran to breakfast getting dressed along the way to find it almost over. I ate as fast as I could (or as fast as I normally eat) and ran back upstairs to finish up packing my day bag.

After check-out, I joined the rest of the group in the lobby as we prepared to board a fairy to go to a famous shrine in Hiroshima. The shrine is on a island and the island is home to a group of deer that are unique to the island and extremely tame. The deer would let you walk right up to them and pet them and scratch them. The shrine itself is built on the shore so when high tide comes in, the water comes right up to the floor boards. I took many pictures of the shrine because my homestay family went on vacation to Hiroshima last year and went to this shrine. We all had our shrine books stamped and let loose for half an hour to wander about and shop if we wished or pet the deer. After the thirty minutes, we all boarded a new fairy where we found out bus and prepared for a long drive. The bus ride promised to be long.

The ride would be long as I thought for it took us about 30 minutes by a 380km/hr bullet train so it would take us at least 4 hours to get to Kyoto. We of course made potty stops but we had one more place to visit before we arrived in Kyoto. We arrived at this beautiful castle that many people say looks like a heron in flight. It was beautiful and better yet, not touched by the ravages of war for it was never used in war. After 4 centuries, it was still as beautiful as the day it was built. This was the most elaborate castle so far as it had more floors than it appeared, stunning architecture and many maze-like corridors. The castle was large and grand but because of the maps and gift shops, it seemed less authentic. The wierdest part of all occurred when as I was walking downstairs, I began to think that I could use the signs posted all around to watch your head in my room as good decoration. I quickly left and decided to take lots of pictures and reflect on the castle to get my mind off the signs and maps for a while.

After taking pictures of the castle and discussing how it looked more like a crane in flight than a heron with everyone, We left for Kyoto again and wouldn't stop until we arrived. As we pulled into the city, it began to rain and we had to grab our bags and take them up to our rooms in the middle of a downpour. I took the opportunity to pull on my rain poncho and prepared to walk through the streets of Kyoto during a downpour to our dinner restaurant. As we walked out side, we all saw that the rain had stopped so we put away our rain gear and beat a trail to the restaurant. About halfway there, the skies open back up and let loose their fury on us again. We quickly pulled out our gear and ran along the slippery sidewalks to the restaurant. We entered the restaurant and shown to our tables where we ate a buffet again and dried off. We finished and went back outside and walked though the clear evening night to the hotel where we sleep for the night.

Journals Day 11 (Prepare yourself before you read this please.)

We woke up early this morning as we had to leave our homestays. I returned to the shower area and got ready for the day. We dined one last time with the family. They presented us with gifts as we ate and wished us the best of luck. I bought beef jerky for the trip in case I couldn't eat and now that I knew that I could, I had little use for them unless I was planning to go with out for a while. I gave the remaining 5 packages of jerky along with my other gifts and scrapbook to the family. I felt bad for not giving them more but the happiness of their faces made me realize I gave them more than enough. I said goodbye to the kids with a heavy heart and watched all three of them walk off toward school. We then loaded up one last time in the car and prepared to leave.

My homestay Ito-san brought us back to the government building where he picked Zac and I up 3 days earlier. He thanked us for everything and left for he had to go to work. I watch as others arrived and said goodbye to their host families. Some were crying while others just shook hands but in their minds was the same thought: 'Thanks for being so nice and I will truly miss you." The bus arrived and with all our bags now in the truck, we left them all behind in a cloud of diesel exhaust on a trail paved by happy memories and shed tears of sorrow. The ground behind us was now made holy in our hearts forever.

We took a short trip to the train station where we were to catch a bullet train to Hiroshima. We got into the station and walked up to the platform. We were conditioned in the bus that when the train doors are opened, we must let everyone off and rush in or else we would leave someone behind and if that happened, they were out of luck. The train doors opened up and we rushed the train just trying to get everyone on. We did so well, we were all seated before the train took off and only left behind one person and no one like him any way (kidding). The train ride lasted a while but at 380 km/hr, the trip was faster than the bus no doubt. The group transferred once and after about an hour or so, we arrived in Hiroshima.

As we arrived, a tour guide met us in the station and showed us to the bathrooms, ATM, and finally the bus where we all piled in to get ready for the next event which promised to be the most heart wrenching experience of our lives. She explained how we were going to the Hiroshima Peace Park where we would see among other things, the atom bomb dome, the children's memorial, the students memorial, and the museum. We left the bus and headed toward the dome. As we walked, we were told the facts and figures that went along with the sad fate that befell Hiroshima that August morning. About 150,000 people died because of the one bomb. We were told of the complete and total devastation it caused... Of the pain people felt... Of the pain people still felt today...

We visited the student memorial and told that many who died here were students sent from all over Japan to work down here so all the men could go out and fight. The students did all the jobs needed to keep the city running like drive the cable cars and watch over the manufacturing of goods so both the people and soldiers had things to continue using to live and survive. We then moved to the children's memorial and told of the story of Sadako and how she 10 years after the atom bomb hit, fell ill with leukemia and thought that if she folded 1000 paper cranes, the gods would grant her a wish of being better. Sadly she died and even after folding 1000 cranes, she did not have her wish granted. We then placed all of our cranes down at the memorial and took time to pray before we moved on the the next and possibly hardest trial yet: the museum.

As we walked to the museum, we remembered what our history teachers told us and all the pictures in our history books. None of which prepared me for what I was about to see. We were taken into a theater room where they showed us a movie about the bomb. In the movie, we saw clips that we never saw before. Clips of Hiroshima completely leveled to the ground, scenes of bodies rotting in the street and faces burned beyond recognition. Scenes of little kids completely emaciated burned, and bleeding. Children that had everything to look forward to that morning and nothing but death by night fall. Thousands gone, hundreds in a flash turned to ashes. The movie ended and we were then told to go through the museum for the only way to the exit, is to re-live the horrors that many went through. We walked along paths that showed how Japan was fighting against America and winning, then turned into losing then turned into survival. We then entered ground zero. Words cannot describe emotions like these. It is hard to type the images are so powerful. Images of people burned raw diving into rivers to get a drink and cool off drowning as others pile on top of them... Images of shadows burned onto the ground and buildings as people who stood there were vaporized... Images of people crying out for water and help only to be consumed by fire and their own pain. There were articles of clothing blown apart by the blast as well as pictures drawn from peoples memories of the pain on that day on display. The entire scene seemed to be a living thing as it invaded every part of me. Finally, I reached the end and wrote my name in the guest book and headed out. I exited the museum and took time to regain my composure as did everyone else before we moved on. With a heart full of remorse, I left the park with a different outlook. War, not atom or nuclear bombs, is horrible and it can only lead to worse things. Peace is what we need.

From there, we were taken to a nearby shopping district and given about an hour to make our rounds. I found an electronics store and bought myself a new pair of head phones and some batteries for a friend who gave me some money if I ran into any. I thought how this entire city seemed to be what I thought Tokyo would be like. It was large and very noisy thanks to a overhead loudspeaker blaring out music and adds for stores. The entire area felt so Urban but a true Japanese take on the style, not the other way around like in Tokyo.

Then we loaded 'er up one last time and rode off to the hotel where we ate a great meal with all the trimmings and settled down for our one night stay (I don't mean High School Lingo) at the Prince Hotel: Hiroshima.

Journals Days 8-10 (The Home Stay Days)

Today we check out of the Gifu Sports Plaza and Hotel because today is the time to meet our homestays. My stomach churned with anticipation and dread as I dressed in my People 2 People uniform and rode the elevator up one story to the dining hall for a repeat of yesterday's breakfast of bacon, eggs and bread. With my bag packed from the night before, I descended in the elevator and brought myself and my bag to the bus where the truck guy took my bag and I took my seat. I tried to get comfortable because we were going to be on this bus for over 4 hours just to go say hi to some kids from the Japanese middle school in our homestay town.

The bus ride is so long that I began to try to get all the words right to the song 'One Week' by The Barenaked Ladies. I began to get fast as he would say 'vanilla is the finest of the flavors.' By the time I had given up, we arrived at the school. Immediately we were separated into groups of 2 and 3 and sent to classrooms to say "Hi" to all the students. Two of my fellow ambassadors and I were sent to room 2-1. The first number means the year which 2 in Japan means 8th grade and the second number means the class number. We ate lunch with them and tried as hard as we could to communicate. The ideas of sports, names and pokemon were universal so we stuck to those as we tried to our best on all the rest. Before we left, I asked everyone in our room to sign their name on a piece of paper we could take home. After using a lot of sign language, they understood and began to sign their names.

We were then asked to meet back downstairs at the 'war room' as we called it and go to the Third years (9th graders) and hang out with them. We were able to participate in English class and history lessons. I was even brought up to the chalk board where I got to tell the class 'My Important Thing' Rather than name a person or thing, I chose ice hockey, and surprisingly, many understood what I was talking about. Then we participated in a formal English presentation as the would-be-american-freshmen-japanese-third-years present to us things they did or things that are special to them in English.

After all the learning, we were called back to the 'war room' and led to the gymnasium where a special event was being held for all the third year students; a good luck rally. A 'pep assembly' in America, the good luck rally was much different than its traditional American counterpart. All of the sports teams walked into the gym in procession as someone bared a sign in front proclaiming the sport. Even the cheerleaders were different as they were all male! In America, it is female cheerleaders and a lot more music. As the assembly ended, we boarded the bus and drove down to the city government building to wait for our homestay families.

My Homestay family was called first and I gathered my stuff as I prepared to go to a new place with only one other person from my program and he was from San Francisco. Ito-san (Ito was his last name and that is how I addressed him) drove us to his house where his family minus one were all present and waiting to great us. The family consisted of Ito-san and his wife, his two sons, one daughter, and his parents. He gave us our room and as soon as his youngest son returned, we ate a large feast they had prepared for us. We ate at a low table sitting on the floor along with the family. My friend, Zach, and I tried everything we could and filled up on just those tastes. By then, it was late and after a long bus ride and an early wake-up call, I asked if we could go to bed early.

The bedroom was a formal living room by day and a guest room by night so we slept on Futons again but this time, they were not too bad to sleep on. The room got incredibly hot at night but if we laid on just the futon without the cover quilt, sleeping got to be much better.

We were awakened by the youngest member of their family, (Mei: 8 year old daughter of Ito-san and the youngest) with a loud “GOOD MORNING”. I got up slowly and walked through the living room to the laundry/ shower room where I got ready for our eventful day with our homestay.

We started by going around the back of their property and began to help out the grandparents bring in large bags. After asking what were the contents of the bags, I was informed that they contained green tea. I happily carried them to their shed and asked if more help was required. They said no and grabbed a bunch of orange fruits off a tree and handed them to us. The fruits were great and very juicy as we walked back to their house for even more Japanese adventures.

They took us down to an authentic Japanese Soba. I had never been to one in the states so I did not know what to expect. When we arrived, we were shown to a special room where we were then instructed on how to make Soba noodles. We were then given the supplies needed and under the sharp eyes and guidance of the chefs, authentic, Japanese Soba noodles were crafted by yours truly. Though the process from flour to dough to noodle was long and grueling, the reward, a large plate of the same noodles just made by us, was well worth it.

From there, they drove to a place where we then were taught how to make paper. When asked, the ‘paper instructor’ explained how a certain tree was harvested and all the bark from this tree was boiled to create fibers that when strained out and flattened, created the paper. This process is hundreds of years old and it is still practiced today, not as much in the professional paper used but definitely for decoration, tourism and fun like we were doing. I was able to decorate my paper with leaves, twigs and flowers and then we poured one final layer of paper on top and let it dry.

From the paper area, we traveled to a grocery store. Big deal right? WRONG! The grocery store was like a Wal-Mart Supercenter but bigger and had much more crud in it and you could park on the roof. One side of the store was food, the other was everything else. As we entered, all the kids scattered off and searched for 'certain items'. The carts used were very different as they were made for hand baskets and nothing else. The idea of such small baskets in America is in a word; impossible.

With Groceries in hand, we went back to the house where the family prepared a barbeque for us. The barbeque had bell peppers, eggplant, chicken, pork, onions, kabobs, and more. Where in America we use tongs to flip the food on the grill, in Japan, they use what else but, giant chop sticks. The barbeque sauce used was even different as it was sweet and not tangy like American brands. As we cleaned up the barbeque, all the kids ran back inside and ran out with what they called Hanaper; fireworks to me and you. We were very honored and invited to grab a few and light them up. With no matches, we use the embers from the grill to light them. The smoked more than American fireworks and didn't shoot out any colorful balls of flame but they made beautiful colored smoke and sparked. I absolutely loved the fireworks and the meal.

From the front yard, we brought the fun inside and played a game of memory and old maid. They were great. I didn't win in memory but didn't lose at old maid. After all the fun, our exhaustion caught up with us and I asked if I could go to bed. We made up the beds and went back off the slumber land.

I woke up around 8 o'clock and got ready for the day. My room buddy Zac didn't wake up until 9:30 so we got started late but fun was to be had nonetheless. We went to a nearby castle and checked it out. The castle was built many years ago but still looks brand new today. The castle itself is elevated and surrounded by walls with places to fire off arrows. The castle is laid out much like a European castle in that every hole was fortified and had plenty of trap doors for sneak attacks.

After checking out the castle, we headed next door to the museum and looked at all the centuries old artwork that was displayed. I loved how after all this time, the colors still looked as true as the day they were first painted. We ran into a few others from People 2 People and said 'hi' but I didn't want to be rude on front of my homestay so we went our separate ways.

The car was then loaded up and we drove to a green tea factory. There they take green tea leaves harvested by others and turn them into the powder that when added to water is green tea. All the steps were automated but the care given to each batch was felt as we were given samples of tea right off the line in the gift shop. My homestay bought both of us a nice package of green tea and we thanked him immensely.

From tea to energy, we arrived at a nuclear power station where they had shows and demonstrations on the use of alternative energy sources like nuclear and wind. The shows were all in Japanese, (what else would I have expected by now?) but the thought of them taking us to places, all by itself, was enough to make me happy. They took us to see a movie there called 'Young Black Stallion' but apologized that it wasn't in English. I laughed and told them that I liked it even better because it wasn't in English.

They then took us to the beach. The beach here is not sandy at all. Rather, very rocky with plenty of tidal pools. It was very cool to look at the tidal pools because they always seemed to be teeming with life. Most of the life consisted of crabs, snails, muscles and sand crabs. I tried to collect shells and sand but due to the lack of sand and space, I only collected a handful which I later lost on the way home. The beach was different, but still smelled the same.

The dinner of choice was sushi so we drove down to the local Sushi bar and prepared to dine. The food came down a conveyor belt constantly so when we saw food we wanted, we grabbed it. Some food was special ordered and brought to us but everything else came by the conveyor. This time I ate 7 plates of sushi, 1 large bowl of Miso Soup, and a dessert. My homestay father had 11 plates of sushi, 1 large bowl of soup, a dessert and 2 beers! The oldest kid had about the same amount as the father minus the beers of course! I was shocked that these small guys could put away soooooo much food! We then paid the bill and headed off to their home where we packed up all of our belongings and settled in for the last night sleep at our wonderful homestay's house.

Journals Day 7

We woke up and went up to a breakfast of fruit, sausage, eggs, and juice. We got our itinerary for the day and prepared to board the bus.

We headed off to a lacquer ware factory where they make lacquered items [Yippie :-( ] As we arrived, we are given a little over an hour to check out the interesting dishes and items made hundreds of years ago and items for sale. We checked them all out and crossed the street to the gift shop where little trinkets could be purchased that bared scenes of Japan and Japanese characters. I bought some origami paper and borrowed until we were called back onto the bus.

From the factory, we ended up at a shrine. This was a pretty cool shrine because it was right in the middle of Gifu between a few houses. I asked my delegation leader about this and she told me that many people step into shrines on their way to work or school to pray for their families or even to get an A on their test. I got my shrine book 'shrined' again and took a few pictures with locals. We then departed on foot to our next spot.

At the next spot, a traditional Japanese market, we were given about half an hour to shop for more souvenirs. As I walked through the narrow streets, I could smell the unique smell of 'tourist trap'

At the next spot, a traditional Japanese folk town, we were given about a half hour to wander around the entire area and take in the re-creation of Japan over 100 years ago. I walked the narrow streets and in my mind compared it to Old Town Scottsdale in that it smelled of a tourist trap and was a popular place for locals to hang out and meet with others or just be seen. I tried to avoid the stores that smelled like a trap for my American money and went to the stores where many locals could be seen milling about.

From there, we walked about 2 kilometers to a nearby hotel/restaurant where we were to have an authentic style Japanese lunch. While walking, I noticed how as we entered certain parts of the city with a predominately western feel, vending machines were more plentiful where as places that looked more traditional, minus the 'imitation markets', seemed to have less vending machines and more people acting natural. It was nice to be in a part of Japan that was where locals would come to hang out. We arrived at the hotel/restaurant and ate our lunch( small in size but plenty of flavor and tea) then we were given about 30 minutes to get money or shop or get stamps. I bought airmail stamps from the post office for post cards but I had no post cards and hadn't thought about buying them until now. I am what you would call out of luck if I wanted to get them home before I get there. I returned to the restaurant/hotel and left for our final stop for the day at least with People 2 People.

The bus pulled up in front of a large store. Puzzled, as were the other 35 ambassadors, we filed out of the bus and told to walk through the store. We did as we were told and walked though the store and out the other side to find a Japanese folk village. The area itself wasn't to large but the layout and architecture truly transported us all back to feudal Japan. We watched as a lady did needle point and some were asked to try their luck. The coolest thing about the village is that it had a fountain of youth there. I had to pay to use it so I hope it doesn't run out like a parking meter because it is very expensive to fly back and add a few hundred thousand yen to save my beauty for all future generations. The town itself was amazing and it made me think about how in northern phoenix, we have something similar to this but Arizona rather than Japan over 100 years ago. Both towns are cool and each draw visitors to show off the areas history. The biggest difference between this old town and the Arizona folk town is how technology was utilized in both. In Arizona, western tech was used and developed through necessity and the culture of the west is different than that of the eastern US because of what they used and how it was used. In Japan, the technology used back then was a bit different due to the terrain and landscape so things were done in different ways because of this.

After all the fun had subsided, we were once again corralled into the bus and driven off to our hotel/ sports complex. We were rushed up stairs to dinner and told what our shower schedules were to be and let loose for the night. Some decided to go shopping around the area before showers and lights out. I just decided to go to bed and finish up all the journals. I am getting pretty excited about tomorrow.

Journals Day 6

I woke up this morning and decided to work on yesterday's journal since I fell asleep really early. This is the second time I woke up today. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of pouring rain and thought about how it rains so little in Arizona comparatively. Since I showered last night, I got dressed and went to breakfast. I noticed that the sound of rain could still be heard and looking out the window at the breakfast table, I watched the rain play symphonies as it trickled from the sky to the ground. In a country where it rains everyday in the summer, I have been lucky up until now.

After breaking my fast with cheese and fruit, I re-packed my bag because we are only a guest for one night at 'The Guest House' :-) . We had to strip the beds covers and place our towels, robes, and bed covers in separate bags. I took pictures and proceeded to the bus with my day pack and backpack because our suit cases were in Gifu. I slipped my trusty shoes on and jumped outside and onto the bus.

The bus drive was long. 4 hours long, but we would end up at the World Expo in Gifu, Japan. We broke up into groups and spread out over the entire Expo. The place was HUGE, even by American standards. The amount of cultures from all over the world was amazing! All the cool things had lines so we had to go to other places. First, we checked out an area called the interactive fun zone and found it to be a 'kiddy land'. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We checked out the kid toys and then we went to lunch. After lunch, we headed toward the more 'grown-up' section where we had to wait in line to have our faces digitized and put into a movie. The movie was cool but I couldn't understand it because it was entirely in Japanese. The ideas expressed helped me to understand and in the end, the overall meaning hit home even with a language barrier. As we left the movie, someone in my group checked their watch. We had 10 minutes to get to the other side of the park!! To make matters worse, the distance we needed to travel in those 10 minutes was probably 1.5 miles as the crow flies!!!! We took off in a full sprint as we rushed to not be late. As the goal was in sight, a friend spoke of a bathroom emergency and how she couldn't wait. So another friend, our patty friend and I went to settle her business as the rest went to explain for us. After the business was taken care of, we walked to our group and found that because they got there in time and were able to explain our situation, we were given more time so we weren't late.

After we all got to the bus, everyone in our group started laughing about how we ran all that way through the park and made it on time. I laughed even harder when I found out that even one had time to flirt with a few guys as she rushed toward the exit. We got our room assignments on arrival and grabbed our suitcases from the truck to haul them to our rooms. After we got them to our rooms, we were met with the challenge of fixing up our beds. They were the same layout as the ones in The Guest House so we used our collective memories to figure out which futon to sleep on and what sheets to use. We had to then meet downstairs as we were going to watch fisherman fish in an old Japanese method of using birds to catch fish.

The Fisherman were very interesting. They tied ends onto the necks of the birds just tight enough to stop them from swallowing the fish but not to tight to stop their breathing. The birds are then sent out and while the fisherman use a fire hanging over the boat for light and bait for the fish, the birds dive down, grab a fish, and hop into the boat where the fisherman takes the fish and sends the bird back. The bird is not hurt at all and the method works incredibly well still today. We stayed for about 15 minutes and returned to the hotel for showers and sleep.

The farther from Tokyo we get, the more native Japanese culture I run into. Japanese culture is amazing. At the Expo, every country participating had its own area but Japanese culture was visible in everything from architecture to the language. The Expo was cool but watching interacted while there made it all the nicer. Being here is a treat, I know that, but a nicer ‘treat’ is the fact that we are able to live a life in which we can live as everyone in Japan lives theirs everyday. I only wish that this trip could be longer.

Journals Day 5

Today, I woke up before the wake up call and it feels great to hear those annoying, yet soothing musical tones. I cleaned up the room around my bed as my roommates rolled out of their own quarters. As I dressed for what promised to be an exciting day, a trek up Mt. Fuji; I packed a small bag with care to insure a change of clothes and shower supplies. Fixing my bed and my clothes, I dragged my suitcase outside the door and waited for my room check.

Following my room check, I went to breakfast and had my last meal at the Prince hotel in Tokyo. The same items were yet again there so I had a large meal that consisted of all the things I hadn't tried yet. They turned out to be pretty good. I finished my last breakfast and grabbed my suitcase to give to the concierge who began to load them up on a luggage rack to take down to the u-haul. I then boarded the bus bound for Mt. Fuji.

After a long bus ride full of twists and turns around mountains and through long tunnels carved out of pure rock, we arrived at STATION 5 on Mt. Fuji. STATION 5 is the farthest station one can drive up to on the mountain. To reach the top or STATION 10, one must climb their way up. We de-bused and met with our guide who would take us up to a crater on the side of the mountain. We was in great shape and even though I play hockey, the shear vertical climb made me so tired, I had to lag back a bit (but I was still with the fist ten almost a football field in distance a way from the last 10). The climb was well worth it. As we made it to the crater, all the clouds lifted giving us a great view of the ocean. Some of us descended into the holy crater and took pictures of the views all around. Those tired stayed at the top and relaxed. We all climbed back out and briskly walked down the side of the mountain toward our bus.

We continued on toward a Chinese restaurant. The sheer thought of a Chinese restaurant in Japan made a truly kind of funky sense, but it made sense nonetheless. We were rushed upstairs as we were late and food had already been dished out. We had to eat under 45 minutes if we wanted to make it to our next stop, a cable car up the side of a mountain overlooking a lake filled with the runoff of Mt. Fuji. We ate as fast as we could and boarded the bus.

We made it to the cable car about half an hour early so we were able to shop around the nearby shops and ride the giant mechanical pandas around the sidewalks in front of the stores. I chose to go down to the lake side and stare at the beauty that is Japan. I took note of all the trees around and found that most of them were Japanese maple trees. A tree that is very common and happens to be my second favorite in all the world. It made the scenery even better!

The time to ride the cable car drew near so we all ran up to the loading area. The ride was spectacular! From my vantage point of over 75 feet in the air, I could see the forest below just like a bird!! The ride took us to the top of the mountain where we could see almost the entire lake. I bought a coke for a 150 yen and returned to the car for the decent. As we arrived back in the bottom station, we were coralled and directed toward the bus.

Since our stay in Tokyo was complete, we drove to our lodging for this night only: The Guest House. The Guest House felt as though we were actually in a Japanese house since we were all going to sleep on Tatami mats and futons. As we arrived, we were served dinner promptly and given our room assignments. I carried my limp body to room and claimed the first bed I saw. Just then, I remembered about the hot springs this placed offered to its 'guests'. I jumped to my feet and got redressed in a robe in a flash. I rushed to the hot spring only to find a line. I resolved myself to wait until the line shortened up. After about 15 minutes, I got my turn and grabbed 3 of my friends who were waiting for me to let them know when it was our turn. The spring was amazing! The heat from the water engulfed all of me and brought me to an inner peace long forgotten. Us four sat and relaxed and talked about our times and the trivial stuggles that made us who we are today. And on a side note, the boys and girls had seperate buildings and seperate springs so we didn't even see each other until the next day (not saying no one didn't try though ;-) ).

Feeling great, I got out of the spring and rinsed off. I put on a robe and hit the bed. I feel asleep right away and am now writing this on the morning of the 6th day. The culture here is different and agian the same as Amereica. Though they drive on the different side of the road and use kilometers instead of miles, driving is the same. We shake hands where they do both. They even don't appriciate the beauty of their country until it is pointed out like us. Mt. Fuji to us is beautiful and inspiring but even more so to the Japanese who believe that is where gods live. Other cultures believed that Gods lived on their tallest mountains so our cultures aren't to different at all. Chinese food here is great food but in America, it is a culinary joke. The food is about the same but the cultural differences and similarities dictate the idea of the food. Even as we rode the cable car, the view was great but a golf course gave me the true picture of the area: an area full of beauty and culture but because most can't see it, gimics have to be used to get others inside. This country is great on its own and is a Jem in a sea of coal.