I'm back home now, and will remain so until I head back to Japan for my second semester at Jochi toward the end of March, but there's so much that happened since my last post; I feel I should at least attempt to cover it and provide some sense of closure to my first semester in Japan.
To recap the final day of the Hiroshima/Miyajima trip, I took a series of gondolas up to the top of the mountain on the island and got to see for miles around. It was pretty cool getting to see the Pacific Ocean from the other side. Looking back on it, I think this trip was my favorite thing I did in Japan. The lodging, food, activities, company, and of course the deer were all amazing. And to think, I almost didn't make the trip because of a nasty stomach bug.
Christmas is also worth writing about. This was the first Christmas I spent away from home. Even if it was because I was living in Japan, it was still kind of sad. However, a package arrived from home bearing all kinds of awesome gifts for my host family and myself. I guess traditionally kids are the only ones that get presents on Christmas in Japan, so my host parents were pretty taken aback when they received their own presents from both myself and my family. It was a pretty low-key Christmas overall. We opened a few presents in the morning and that was about it for holiday happenings. I ended up getting together with some of the dorm kids and eating KFC for dinner that night. For whatever reason, tons of people get KFC on Christmas in Japan. That's certainly one of the weirder traditions I discovered in my time there.
While Christmas is something of a passing "meh" in Japan, New Years is a cause of major celebration. On New Years Eve, my host family and I went to a local temple and watched the Buddhist monks perform some sort of ceremony I didn't fully understand and heard them ring the gong 108 times, as is custom. We also went to a Shinto shrine and waited in an absurdly long line to toss a coin into the prayer box and pray for happiness in the new year. The next day we ate traditional Japanese New Years food and my host siblings and I even received little red envelopes with a bit of cash--another New Years tradition.
Before winter break was up, I went skiing at Mt. Naeba with my host family. I hadn't been skiing in quite some time, so I was a bit nervous about the trip, but I ended up having an excellent time. Maybe it's just because I'm taller and stronger since I last went skiing, but I felt much more capable than I ever had before. I tackled some challenging runs and came out relatively unscathed.
School eventually started up again and classes started to wind down before suddenly ramping up for finals. Those were quite the pain, but I eventually got through them. I was reminded once again while preparing for my Japanese final just how much I had learned while there--and I still have a whole semester ahead of me. I'll likely be even better in the language by then. It's pretty exciting to be honest. I still don't actually know how I did in my classes, and I won't until sometime in March, but I feel confident in my work.
With finals done, school ended leaving just a few final days before everyone said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. I somehow managed to pack all my things into just two suitcases and went out for one final trip to Akihabara with a friend to pick up some souvenirs for people back home and get dinner at the Gundam Cafe (which was obviously awesome). I eventually said my tearful goodbyes to Yoshimasa, Tomomi, Akimasa, Momo, and Takamasa, hoping that my next host family would be even half as good to me as they were. The trip back was over 20 hours in all, but I actually ended up back in the states a few hours before I left thanks to the magic of time zones.
It was wonderful to be back in my own bed after so much time, and to see my family and friends back home again, but I miss the sights and lights of Japan. I'll be heading back in around a month, so I'm presently just enjoying my time back at home, knowing I'll get another chance to see and do all the things I meant to during my first semester in Tokyo. I'll also try to be better about keeping my blog regularly updated next semester. Thanks for staying with me this long, dear reader. It's been a fun ride.
~ ネーサン
