User blog:Tanglefrost/Japan Trip Details

So, on my last blog, everyone was all "DETAILSDETAILSDETAILS"

And so I promised a new blog.

And so here is said new blog.

What Did I Do?
I visited 4 cities (in order): Kyoto, Omihachiman, Hiroshima and Osaka.

In Kyoto, we visited Kinkakuji Temple (which was beautiful), Nin-nanji Temple (which was awesome, because it was so quiet and calm and relaxing)  and San-ju-san-gendo (which is called "Temple of 1000 Bhuddas", but san-ju-san means 33, so, I don't know), which kinda sucked, because we weren't allowed to take photos. Y'know, religiousy stuff.

In Kyoto, there is this mall called Aeon, which was massive, but pretty cool. I had Indian food there and it was served with fries. Yes, you read that right. My Indian food was served with fries. Let that sink in.

For those who wanted to know what I ordered, I ordered a keema naan combo (which also came with a drink). It was absolutely delicious.

I also ran in to this awesome American guy, and we celebrated because we both found someone who could speak English. We were like "YEAAAAAAAH! ENGLISH!" and everyone in my group was looking at me like: o.O

Next on our trip was Omihachiman, which is where we did homestay (stayed with a Japanese host family) and went to our host family's school. Homestay was the best experience of the trip for me, even though it was only 5 days long (3 school days + weekend). I can't go in to too much detail about it for privacy reasons, but it was amazing.

Then was Hiroshima. You all should know that Hiroshima was bombed by the Americans in 1945. If you don't, pay attention in history class, loser. Anywho, that was why we went. We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which actually sucked really badly for three reasons.

1. They put me in a wheelchair for the entire time.

2. My grade had just finished an entire unit, and done an exam, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so I already knew heaps about it.

3. I was really missing my host family.

On the second day of Hiroshima, we went to this Temple thing. There were lots of wild deer nearby, which was fun. They literally eat anything. They'll eat leaves, suitcase tags, and they even ate my teacher's ice cream wrapper.

There were also these American students from Florida at the hotel we were staying at.

Last on our trip was Osaka. WE WENT TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS OMG YAAAAAAAAAY.

Ahem. On the day we went, the Harry Potter exhibit had just opened, but we didn't go because it was really popular, there was a 3 hour wait to get in, and we were only there for 6 hours.

I went on 4 rides: Jaws (fun), Jurrassic Park (had this massive drop at the end, which felt like falling off a cliff, and I'm a little scared of heights, soooo, yeah), Spider-man (that was cool. There was another massive drop here too, but it was all illusion stuff) and Space Fantasy (I actually screamed. It went round and round on this tight angle and I felt like I was going to fall out of the thing and I was really scared).

Of course I went shopping. I bought a Harry Potter shirt (specially made for the opening day, so woo) and... wait for it.... A HEDWIG STUFFED TOY.

I'm so in love with it, omg. <3

And then we went home, which was painstakingly boring and annoying. Because of our flights, there was a four and a half hour wait, which, of course, due to the teachers being annoyingly overprotective, I spent in a wheelchair. WHICH REALLY BLOODY SUCKED. Seriously, everyone was like "OMG, you're so lucky, you get a wheelchair!" But you have no idea how much it sucked.I WANTED TO GET UP AND WALK OKAY. THAT LAST WEELCHAIR SUCKED BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T PUSH YOURSELF SO I HAD TO RELY ON OTHER PEOPLE TO PUSH ME. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT FREAKING SUCKED?!

Rant over.

The journey home was almost 24 hours. I left at 10AM Osaka time (11AM my time) and arrived back home at 9:30AM the next day, my time.

What is Japan Like?
Okay, firstly, there is A LOT of English there. And I mean A LOT.

Culturally, Japan is very different. The staff go out of their way to help you if you are a foreigner, which is really great. You have to take shoes off when entering the house, and you can either wear slippers or socks. In Japan, it's considered rude to walk and eat or walk and drink at the same time. You have to say "Itadakimasu" before you eat, which is basically giving thanks for what you're about to eat (I think it means "I humbly receive, but don't quote me on that).

On the street is different too. Because it gets super hot in Japan in Summer, there are vending machines EVERYWHERE. Like, in Osaka, there was literally an entire row of vending machines right next to each other. Food and drink are really cheap. You can buy a bottle of water for 118 yen, which is roughly $1.18 in my currency. Normally in Australia, you'd pay about $2.50 or something.

The only two things that are expensive are McDonalds (668 yen for a medium Big Mac meal) and Taxis (their meter starts at 590 yen roughly).

Also, one other thing. In Japan, you don't have to wear seatbelts in the back of a car, unless you're on a highway. That was freaky. I put my seatbelt on in my host family's car and they explained to me that I didn't have to and I was like: o.O

Anywho, Japan was amazing (EXCEPT FOR ALL THOSE BLOODY TIMES THEY PUT ME IN A BLOODY WHEELCHAIR SANFDISFHISGHIGSDHSGIHSOIDHSDG). I swear though, if I hear "sit down _____" (insert name here), "drink up, _____", "have you had a drink of water?" or "where's your passport?" one more time, I will kill someone. Like, seriously. I was asked that so many times, it wasn't funny.

One teacher actually forced me to sit down, and growled at me for not sitting down (two separate occasions)

Occasion One:

(I had been in a wheelchair ALL FREAKING DAY, literally.)

Me: Teacher One, can I stand up for a bit?

Teacher One: Okay.

(I stand up)

Teacher Two: (comes back) ________, what are you doing? You should be sitting down!

Teacher One: He's been standing up all day!

(I felt so grateful to Teacher One for that. I did actually get to stay standing up for about a minute.)

Occasion Two:

(I bend over to get something out of my bag)

Teacher Two: ______, sit down for that.

Me: No, I'm fine.

Teacher Two: No, sit down.

I SAT DOWN AND WAS IN A WHEELCHAIR SO FREAKING MUCH. ALL I WANTED TO FREAKING DO WAS STAND UP, OMG.

But yeah, that's my trip, in a nutshell.