Piczo

Tosajoshi Ninensee Shugakkouryokoo

So yesterday I spent 5 hours typing this entire book all about my past amazingly awesome week... and it deleted. Did I mention just how much I hate Japanese computers? So last week I went on the Tosajoshi Ninensee (High School 2nd Grade) Chugakkouryokoo or school excursion! The trip was 4 days in Hokkaido, 1 day in Tokyo Disneyland, and 1 day traveling across Japan. It was probably one of the most fun weeks I have ever had. At first all did was procrastinate packing for the trip. To tell you the truth I really wasn't looking forward to it. For one I knew no one. I am a first year, and the people on the trip are all second years. Sure I know Yurie and masako, but they were in different homerooms. My host homeroom, Kitazoe-sensei, was unknown to me. Another thing, all of these girl are 17, and I'm well- ya know 15. But I guess I should have remembered that the maturity level of Japanese girl is a bit strange to say the least. Anyway I voiced this concern to Kitazoe-sensei and she had my group members kidnap for lunch and thursday. My group members for the trip, Muita, Tomoyo, Sara, and Haruka, were very cool and nice and overly excited to have me in there group. So I felt a little better about the trip after that. Chugakkouryokoo is a really big and important thing in a Japanese high schoolers life. Everyone discusses theres and usually brags about who had a better trip and stuff. My host father occasionally brags that his was better than by host mothers. It happened 30 years ago, who cares? I guess being able to participate in one is really a good way to experience the culture. And I was lucky as my trip was paid for by Rotary. Thus on Sunday night I threw about 3 things into the world's smallest carry on bag turned suitcase. I mean I figured I only needed a few things because we would be in our damn uniforms 24/7. MONDAY OCTOBER 2 HAKODATE; My alarm clock rang at 5:30 and I scurried to throw on my uniform and stuff. At 6, Yuries mom came to pick me up from my host home. My host father also came along, much to everyones suprise. The ride was awkwardly silent, as Yurie and I aren't speaking. At the airport, I had to wait another half an hour for my class to arrive. The grade was split in half on 2 airplanes, and Yurie's class left earlier. When my class finally arrived I met up Tomoyo, Sara, and Muita. Not one of us was awake. We trudged thru security and baggage check and when we got on the plane we fell asleep almost immediately. The next thing I knew I was in Tokyo. In Haneda airport, we strolled a mile thru the airport to out gate destination. With some free time, we bought a bunch of candy, and took some pictures. Then we were on another plane heading to Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the second largest island in Japan. It is the Northern most part of the country as well. It is covered in mountains and it very cold. Thus not very populated. Our plane landed in Hakodate, the Southern most city in Hokkaido. Kitazoe Homeroom piled into Bus 1 and led the way for all the buses on the trip. Our first stop was lunch, where we had Soba. Everyone started to realize that I was on the trip at this point so I kept getting stared at. After lunch we went to the first Catholic convent on the island of Hokkaido. We were supposed to learn about the dailey life of one of the nuns, but seriously you can't expect a group of schoolgirls to care. So it seemed everyone sat outside and bought ice cream. I ended up sharing a small ice cream with my 4 other group mates. Our next destination was The Special Historical Remain- Goryokaku Fort. It was the first Western Style Fort after the Meiji Period. It is a now a giant star shaped park surronded my a star shaped moat. It was actually pretty interesting. My group took a bunch of pictures, mostly of classmates sticking there heads in old cannons rather than scenery of course. That is until the rain started falling and we all had to get on the bus a little early. Our final stop for the day was Hakodate Mountain, the most famous spot in Hakodate. The 7 or 8 buses trekked up a steep and slippery mountain to give us one of the most beautiful views in all of Japan. Sitting on top of the moutain is lookout station, where one can peer out onto the city surronded my water. When the city is veiled in the twilight, a myriad of illuminationsare brightening below Mt.Hakodate. Two bodies of seawaterhold the fan-shaped city between them as if they were embracing the dazzling lights in their arms. The view reminds you of a milky way floating in the ocean. We were lucky because we got to see the view just before the rain started to pour. But it was so cold and wet that it was bit hard to enjoy. Afterwards we headed back into the city and onto the hotel. On the ride the class started singing this crazy childish song over and over. Kitazie-sensei explained that on the second to last night the classes would preform a talent show. I wouldn't be participating because I didn't know the song and dance. But I pleaded with her to let me in and she agreed as long I learned the words. So on top of sightseeing, I studied my butt off the words to a really silly song called Pepper Gemu. At the hotel, I shared a room with Haruka, whom I took a disliking to immediately. After dinner, I went and hung out in my friends Shino and Manas room, where we ate candy and talked about previous exchange students. Sleep came pretty easy after that. TUESDAY OCTOBER 3 LAKE TOYA- My favorite day of the trip began with being woken up a half an hour late, not by the sound of an alarm clock but instead by the sound of my obnoxious roomates snores. I scurried to pack up everything, throw on my uniform, and throw back my hair into pigtails. And by some struck of luck I didn't miss breakfast. After we packed up everything in the bus, I settled in the bus. 10 minutes later we were dropped off at a park off the outskirts of Hakodate in Onuma. The name Onuma refers to the large number of swamps, wetlands and lakes at the base of the volcano. There are two major lakes with many islands. The combination of heavy rainfall and snow melt, along with the temperate climate, creates a paradise for birdlife and a wide range of vegetation. Basically Onuma is a large national park with mountains and swarps, marches, and beautiful rivers. The park we had stopped at was know for its incredible scenery, but my group had to interest in scenery. Instead we rented a 7 man bicycle and wreaked havoc upon the park. The bike had 7 individual big wheeler type things all attached to one another. Sara, Muita, Me, Tomoyo, Yurie, another girl, and Kitazoe-sensei flew through the park screaming and splashing in large puddles and soaking other people. We came so close to riding off a bridge that I was convinced Kitazoe-sensei would have a heartattack. It was so much fun and I laughed so much that my stomach hurt. Finally the bicycle renter had to wrestle the bike from us after many people complained about the danger. So then we decided to walk around, not realizing that we were already late. Sure enough when we arrived my group got in trouble for lateness. Oh well- I didn't get in to trouble as no one yells at this cute little gaijin. Back onto the bus, we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, not that i really remember it as i slept through the whole thing. When Sara woke me at 12:30, it was time for lunch. The class got these stange bento rice covered in crab shavings. I thought I would have it but it turned out to be very very good. Next stop was Showa Shinzan, one of Japan's youngest mountains. Accompanied by earthquakes, the mountain suddenly rose from a flat wheat field to its current height of 290 meters between 1943 and 1945. Still venting sulfurous fumes today, Showa Shinzan stands directly next to Mount Usu, which bears responsibility for the new mountain's birth. If you can imagine the next stop would be to a fairly active volcano. It's funny because when I was little, I spent many nights not being able to sleep because of stupid volcano movie. And now here I am in Japan, where everywhere you go you in the proximity of a freaking volcano. I admit I was about nercous looking up at the Sulfuric steam pouring out of this new mountain as we pulled into the viewing station. But I looked around at the other girls, all clueless and not caring just smiling for the pictures. I figure I may as well be like them so I forgot all about it. By this point everyone on the trip NEEDED to get a picture with me or just of me. It gets pretty annoying when 5 screaming girls bow and beg for you to take a photo with them. Then when you do it for one girl you seem to have to do for 10,000 more girls. Finally I snuck away from the line of girls and met up with my group for some shopping. The thing about sourvenir shopping in Japan is that is really different and nothing to my liking. I like to buy presents suck as shirts or pens or teddy bears displaying the destination. Here the gifts are a food sweet that is popular at the destination. For example in Hokkaido you can buy Corn Chocolate, Crab Cookies, Milk and Lavendar Candy, Melon kit Kats, Dried plums, Sapporo Famous Ramen, and so on. So I refused to buy anything while i watchedmy group members spend a lot of Yen of Crab Cookies. yuck. We got back into the bus and headed for another of Hokkaidos famous industries, the Apple Farms. My class trekked out into a beautiful apple orchard and picked red delicious apples. After 500 pictures of me holding the damn apple, I finally got to eat it. It tastes just like the American apples. But it was still pretty fun. Everyone was pretty amazed when I helped the little shorty Japanese girl pick the apples from the higher parts of the trees, this merited at least 200 extra pictures. Finally at about 4 we headed to the Prince Hotel. It was an enormously elegant onsen resort with a great view of the lake and one of Japan's most active volcanos, Mt. Usu, which recently erupted in 2000 and covered about 80% of Hokkaido in ash. Ain't that just great? haha. My roomates would be everyone in my group and expected the room to be just as elegant as the lobby. But I was wrong, instead it was a very traditional japanese room, where everyone had to sleep on futons. But the view of the lake was unmistakeably amazing, and in the distance one could see the steam from Mt. Usu. We went down to the waterfront area, and I just sat there for a good long time staring out at the beautiful lake. I took my shoes and tried to walk out but the water was so incredibly cold that it didn't work out to well. Tomoyo, Sara, Muita, and me then played a Japanese version of Tag. And I got a little too competitive, so I was kicked out haha. We headed to dinner, which was a really fancy Seafood platter. Most of it was raw and really hate raw fish. But I at least tried everything. After dinner, Muita, Tomoyo, and me headed to the hotels private onsen. Onsen are really popular here because they are natural hot springs from the various volcanoes of the area. My last onsen adventure wasn not a speck as embarassring as this one. I found that I could not undress in front if my new friends. I am most certainly not the heaviest girl on the trip, but compared to the girl I was with. Ick. But I coaxed myself to do it with a towel. And so while my friends swam and danced around in the water, I sat in the corner curled in a tight ball wrapped in a towel. Gradually I got used to it. But by then Tomoyo had tricked me into jumping into the pool with the water from the lake and I was so frozen it didn't matter that I was naked. I quickly dressed and then we headed back to the lake front. It was eerily dark but suddenyl fireworks went off in the distance. Like all Japanese firework shows, it was slow and kind of boring. But the most entertaining thing is the squaling and excitement coming from the Japanese people. They practically wet themselves each and everytime a new firework goes off. It was beautiful as the colors glinted off the lakes, and I found myself saddened when it was over. In the room, I was perfectly ready to crl up into my futon. Instead my group snuck out after room check and had a large sleepover with Shino, Mana, and 2 new girls Marina, and Matedo. We stayed up past 2 talking and laughing and eating. It was so much fun but we were constantly afraid to get caught by the teachers. Finally 8 girls, all with different shapes and sizes squeezed onto 4 small futons and attempted to sleep. Emphasize the word attempted. haha WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 4 OTARU- 8 girls in a small room waking up bright and early with about 20 minutes to get ready is a very interesting experience that all should have. We made it to breakfast a little late, but we did make it at least. Todays first stop was a small park on the side of a mountain. We trudged into the forest, climbed over an ancient rickety old bridge, where a huge waterfall and various small rivers beamed at us. We were supposed to fill our water bottles, as this was the one of the cleanest water spots in all of Japan. Like usual, the girls seemed only interested in photos. Afterwards back on the bus, I stayed awake to look out the fabulous Hokkaido scenery. Lush pine covered mountains and rivers scorched the landscape. Like Shikoku, most of the place was not covered in towns and instead still wild. When we arrived in Otaru, we stopped for lunch at the seaport... raw fish and my delicious rice covered in crab shavings. I had to go to the bathroom, so I waited a good half an hour for the girls room. That's the problem with going on an all girl trip. Afterwards we had 3 hours to spent shopping and hanging out in the beautiful port city of Otaru. Otaru is a port town of about 145,000 people in western Hokkaido located on the northern tip of the Shiribeshi district of Hokkaido on the Sea of Japan side of the island, facing Ishikari-wan Bay. It's a beautiful fishing village surrounded on three sides by mountains, while the fourth faces Ishikari Bay. Otaru Canal is the symbol of this city. The gaslights and stone warehouses along the canal producing a beautiful nightscape popular with young peopl. There are many cafes, museums, restaurants, and shops and the city is often noted for its famous glass work. When we arrived my group first hit the Soft Cream shop. I had my first Milk flavored soft cream, sounds disgusting right? But actually it isn't too bad. My group then managed to stumble into every glass store in the damn city. I'm pretty sure they had no intention of buying anything, especially at the prices. But it was rather annoying and boring. The only thing that I wanted to do was see the Otaru Canal. My host family has told me that it was the most beautiful thing in the city. So I begged and pleaded with Tomoyo, who had no intention of seeing it. But I got my way and we trampled thru the old cobblestones streets. We were all glad I made us go see it. The canal was truly maginificent. Old Brick building were the back drop and old green lanterns shadowed the canal. I was more than happy to pose for some pictures with this as the backdrop. We even met some local boys and talked with them for a little bit. I was so happy because I could understand a lot of what they were saying. One of them even made all of my group members friendship leather bracelets. it was sweet, but we had to depart, as we managed to let time slip by again. Back on the bus, we headed for Sapporo City. I'm not sure if it is possible to actually fall in love with a place after seeing it only once. But I think I have. The tour bus drove us through the chilly autumn swept city of Sapporo, stopping in front of the important sites for photos. We drove by the bright clock tower and the famous government house of Hokkaido. People walked along the streets that seemed so old but not traditional in a Japanese sense. It's hard to explain but being in Hokkaido felt like being back in America, probably like Maine or Vermont. Everyone has this mountainous green countryish way about them here. I felt like Hokkaido was a totally different country than Japan. Our city tour had to end when we stopped for dinner at the Sapporo Beer Factory. In case you didn't know, Sapporo Beer is a VERY popular beer in Japan. But the Factory is realy just an enormous restaurant located in the heart of the city. The restaurant made to look like an old barn was very crowded and smelled funny. I shared a table with Shino, Sara, and Mana. The table had a large grill in the middle of it. And on the side was a huge platter of rice balls, vegetables, and Gengiskan. Gengiskan is sheep meat, which is, as I was about to find out, very very good. We all threw on the food to the grill and cooked it with out chop sticks, while throwing napkins at each other. We had to wear this bib apron thingie that was eventually splattered with meat juice and vegetable from getting flicked at with food. We laughed so hard and got in so much trouble. To make an already fun meal even better, the Ninensee members of the Track team came and found me. They were taking a group photo of the track team and seeing as I am a part of the team, I had to be in picture. We posed and screamed and laughed for thousands of pictures. I looked back to my table, where my friends were ushering me back for more food, and to the track team smiling and laughing at the camera and really felt like I fit in. Sure I don't look like anyone here, or speak the language, but I felt so overjoyed that these people really accepted me. I headed back to the table after the pictures for ice cream, and soon we were on our way back to the hotel. I was spending the room with Tomoyo, although sure enough Muita and Sara broke the rules and slept in our room. Well tried to sleep is more like it. THURSDAY OCTOBER 5 SAPPORO- We were actually on time for breakfast because we didn't exactly sleep. Kitazoe-sensei was pretty impressed that we had actually made it in time. She asked me how I was coming along with remembering the words to Pepper Gemu, and I truthfully told her I knew the words by heart. The bus took up the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympic Ski Jump, located on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. It was really cold and windy, but nothing seems to damper the spirits of these girls. We took a Grade photo in front of the enormous green ski jump and then watched some skiiers practicing the jump. After we took some more photos of Sapporo from the mountain view. Next we headed about an hour out to the Sapporo Salmon museum, where we watched Salmon swimming in their own habitat. We also spent a whole hour waiting on line for the girls bathroom! Something weird happened though. At one point my sarcasm got the best of me and I looked at one of the fish and murmured "I ate your brother for breakfast." Someone cracked up behind me and I turned to see a real Gaijin! He asked me where i was from and I immedately answered Kochi. He looked confused so i said "I'm an exchange student in Kochi, Japan but I'm from America." Still shocked at myself for answering Kochi, I kind of drifted off pondering where home is for me right now. Is it Kochi, Japan or America? I like to think both right now, and that it depends on how the question is asked. Afterwards we had lunch- Hokkaido famous ramen. I like ramen but I'm getting very tired of it, people eat it here alot. I guess I haven't really told you anything about my group, so I think I will. Tomoyo, Sara, and muita are best friends in Kitazoe-sensei homeroom. Tomoyo is the leader and probably the easiest to get along with. She was very eager to tell everyone her group got the exchange student. I think she was probably the friendliest and the silliest, always finding ways to cause trouble. Muita did everything Tomoyo did, it became kind of annoying how much of a follower she was. Sara was very quiest and distant as first. I think though I liked her the best, because once she did open to me, she was the most like myself. At first they were all pretty excited to have me in the group, but by the last day we were all tired of each other. At lunch we all talked about homesickness. Tomoyo, and thus Muita, had it really bad. They couldn't imagine why I wasn't missing home. I think they though I was kind of heartless, because I didn't really want to go back to Kochi all that bad. Tomoyo, at 17 years old, has never ever been on a plane before and never been away from home for more than a weekend. I feel bad for her, especially when I think about all that I have done. After lunch we headed to the Hokkaido Ainu Historical Village. The Ainu are to Japan as the Native Americans are to America. The Japanese government forced them off the main land and sent them to Hokkaido. Gradually they took away most of there land. Today there are hardly any Ainu left because of intermarriage and stuff. Anyways the village is an restored town that has many different building and things from the late 19th century Japan. My group took 4 bajillion pictures in front of the old houses. Then they stole the tour guides outfit, hat, and flag and dressed me up as the tour guide. Everyone took a picture of that including the teachers, tour guides, and bus drivers. I was sooooooooooo embarrassed. Then we rode the old horse and buggy trolley thing. We then played on the old fashioned playground and write Japanglish words in the ground. Afterwards we strolled through the streets, never once stopping to learn anything. When we got back on the bus, it dropped us off at the Hokkaido Island Museum, dedicated to all the history of Hokkaido. Well as you can imagine, spending time in a museum is not what most girls wanted to be doing. in fact most refused to go inside. My group went in but toured the museum really quickly. We were in and out of ancient history within 10 minutes. When we made it to World War II, I expected for sure that someone would say something. Instead, it seemed like no one noticed or cared. Ny group memebers just walked on through and instead made fun of one of the uniforms of a woman worker. I however did take notice. I looked around at the posters displaying words like "Sign Up For The Emperor" with pictures of Japanese soldiers slaughtering American soldiers, war posters, ration cards, and other grim reminders. And then I looked around at my company. I was surronded by hundreds of giggling noise making Japanese girls who didn't seem to notice or care. How is that just 65 years ago there ancestors were sworn enemies of my ancestors? And you know what, it doesn't matter. What is done is done, and I hate to admit that these girls have the right idea with laughing and giggling and just not worrying about it. The bus ride back was short, and we immediately headed to dinner. Afterwards I did some shopping, where I grudgingly purchased some damn cookies as a gift for my host family. Then we headed back to the dining room for the talent show. Each class performed some silly skit that managed to fall apart from the girls laughing uncontrollably. Kitazoe-sensei's class did a singing and dancing rendition of Pepper Genu, in which I stood in the back and snapped my fingers and sang. Sure probably no one saw me, but at least I got to be included. We ended up winning second place. Back at the hotel room, I pleaded with my group for my own bed and sleep. But I didn't get my way. Finally at 2 in the morning I got up and marched out of the room where Tomoyo, Sara, and Muita laughed loudly. I ended sleeping with Shino and Mana on the floor. But at least I got some sleep. FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 TOKYO DISNEYLAND- We were all up at 5 and ready by 7 as we drove to Sapporo Airport. The ride was kind of long so we played bingo, which I was determined to win. And I did luckily on the last minute. When we pulled up to the airport, a swarm of fighter jets were taking off the runaway pretty quickly and flying into the distance. it was really cool and everyone was amazed. I, of course, have not heard world news since August in America, so I was a little curious as to what it could mean. Japanese Airline security is kind of pathetic. I managed to get a water bottle in by mistake with no questions asked. Security takes a little less than 10 whole minutes. On the plane, I read Harry Potter, while sitting thru the worst turbulence I have ever felt. I had a window seat and I was excited to see Tokyo, but was informed that I wouldn't exactly get to see Tokyo. As Tokyo was experiencing a pretty big typhoon. The travel agency cut down out time in Disney because of how bad it would be. And sure enough it was ice cold and pouring with rain and gusty wind. Still, nothing seems to dampen these girls spirits. The mere fact that we were going to DISNEYLAND was good enough for them. Then we stepped out of the bus and a heavy gust broke everyones umbrellas, and suddenly we all realized it was not going to be easy. We trudged thru the ticket gate and into the park, into a covered area. Most people went shopping, but my group decided to brave the rain and get to Space Mountain. Space Mountain is always great fun. Looking at a map of Tokyo Disneyland is like looking at a map of a smaller Magic Kingdom, they share most of the same rides, themes, restaurants, and even plant displays. Japan does not celebrate Halloween, but Disneyland had been transformed into a Halloween kingdom. And it is pretty funny to watch Japanese people think they know the whole concept of Halloween. After Space Mountain, we got on Pooh's Honey Hunt. The only thing scarier than Pooh's voice, is Pooh's voice in Japanese. Then to Snow White's Adventure, and next to the Haunted Mansion. You think you have seen it all when your favorite Disney movie is played back at you in Japanese. After we had dinner, meat loaf. Who the heck eats Meat loaf in an amusement park? I still don't what my group was thinking. But I was too cold and tired and sick to care. The rain was really coming down now so we went on Space Mountain again. And again. To tell you the truth I got to missing my family a whole lot of Space Mountain. Not homesick, just wishing my parents and sister couldn't have been there. Finally my my group decided to head back. And I was so happy because like I said, I was tired, cold, sopping wet, and getting sick. But when we met with the whole group at the entrance, we were given another 2 hours. Kitazoe-sensei said that I could back to the bus with some of the others if I really wanted to, which I was very happy doing. But I looked at my group members, seemingly disappointed I didn't want to stay, and figured how many times am I ever going to be in Tokyo Disneyland? And if I ever come here again I guarentee it won't be icy weather in the middle of a typhoon. So I ditched the bus idea, put on a better smile, and tried to have fun. We took shelter in Pirates of the Caribbean, which is always a riot when your friends are shouting "Captain Jack Sparrow wa doko desu ka?" or "Where's Captain Jack Sparrow?" Afterwards we bought a huge bucket of chocolate popcorn and feasted. Then some stupid American girl who looks an awful like myself brought up the idea of going on Splash Mountain. Yeah, who cares that is on the other side of the park and we would have to run, with our lack of time, in the pouring icy rain, just to get on a ride that would get us even wetter. Well at least it was fun! We all laughed and screamed our heads off at the big drop. Then we sprinted back thru the park and got on the bus out of breath, frozen, wet down to our underwear, but at least happy. At the hotel, I shared a room with Sara. And after I pealed my sopping uniform off, I took the world's greatest warmest shower ever. I had to blow dry my leather shoes and all my other clothes to be ready for tommorrow, which was a bot annoying. Then I fell asleep before the sleepover crew could even come and prevent me. SATURDAY OCTOBER 7 TRAVELING JAPAN- We were up and out of the room early. Breakfast was kind of combination of gloominess and excitement. Half the girls were excited to get home and rid of the homesickness, while the other half were sad to have the trip end. I was stuck in the middle. I had just had one awesome week and made so many new friends and experienced a very beautiful country. On the other hand, I was feeling really sick at this point and my group members were getting tired of me. After breakfast, we headed to Tokyo Station where we sat in classroom formation until all the buses had arrived. We had some free time, so I trekked of to Starbucks, where I found they didn't have the drink I really wanted. At 10:30 we bounded thru the station to the Shinkhansen dock. The Shinkhansen is better know to us Americans as the bullet train. And sure enough that sucker can fly! 300 km each hour. And it doesn't really feel that fast until you look outside and see how quickly you are really passing everything. It was my first time so I was really excited when the train started. We passed thru Honshu and even got to see Fuji-san or Mt. Fuji is the distance. Some girls prayed to it but must just watched it in awe. As you might imagine, the mountain is very important to the Japanese. Most are expected to climb it at least once in there lifetime for religion and ancestoral importance. Everything settled down after that and I read Harry Potter for the 4 hour train ride. We passed thru stations of Kyoto, Osaka, and finally on to the final destination of Okayama. At Okayama we boarded a bus that would take us the 3 hours to Kochi. We passed over the inland sea and in to beautiful gree Shikoku, and soon to Kochi. The trip was over as we pulled into Tosajoshi. My group members all smiled and said goodbye, but I told them that in America we give hugs. So I hugged all 3 of them. They all seemed to awkward and out of place with hugs, but I didn't care. I walked thru Obiyamachi and was welcomed home, where i went to my room and crashed on my bed. And finally slept...