Kamakura

Saturday, May 28

So this was the day that we were originally going to have to freely explore Tokyo, but the students of Rikkyo had other plans for us which turned out to be way more fun than anything we could’ve thought up. We’d briefly explored what they wanted to do with us on Thursday, but I was sort of burnt out by that point so I was only half paying attention while they were planning in rapid-speech Japanese that I could only barely keep up with on a good day. It turned out that we were visiting Kamakura, little tourist villages with big shrines and torii gates. We’d met up with one student outside our hotel who led us to the others by way of a few trains. After taking some pictures in a goofy photobooth, then half of us missing the train to Kamakura, it was a hilariously disastrous start to the day. It was actually kind of nice though because it gave us some time to get to know the students that also got stuck waiting with us for the next train.

Over the course of the day, I got to at least have some 1-on-1 conversations with almost all of the students. At varying degrees of English and Japanese on both sides, it was mostly shared laughter and shared experiences that transcended the language barrier. The shrines at Kamakura and Enoshima were beautiful and the green mountains surrounding the areas felt surprisingly like the movies and stories I’ve grown up watching about Japan. We had dinner with the students at a little restaurant on Enoshima and learned more about each other over the course of the day. I learned a lot of new words today, probably the most of the whole trip. I guess that happens when you are trying to get to know people who you only kinda share a language with. Overall it was a really incredible experience and I feel grateful that they took the time to bring us out there and share their Saturday with us. I don’t think I would have been so hospitable as a 19-20 year old, but these guys were so patient and thoughtful with us. I’m just really thankful for the opportunity to get to know some new friends in such a fun, casual atmosphere. I hope I can keep in contact with at least some of them for a long time. We even have plans to meet back up when I return to Tokyo after the program ends and explore some more neighborhoods. I’m really looking forward to more adventures after I get back!

Meanwhile, after we all departed, Owen and Andrew and I decided that, with our last night together in Tokyo we wanted to make a trip out to the Akihabara neighborhood. This is a pretty well-known area as it’s a kind of nerd mecca. Akihabara, or Akiba for short, is full of 7-8 story arcades, anime and video game shops, pachinko palaces, and all manner of other strangeness. Sadly, we only had a few short hours to explore since everything seemed to close up around midnight and the trains would stop running shortly thereafter. We still managed to find plenty of sensory-overload to indulge in and enjoyed a quiet train ride home late at night. Tomorrow we leave early for Hiroshima on the Shinkansen bullet train. I understand it’s going to rain…