Konichiwa! My visit to Japan!

Konichiwa!

I just wrapped up my incredible trip into the island nation of Japan. I learned so much about their culture (both positive and negative). I traveled to Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto over the course of five days with very little sleep. It was definitely a shocking series of events.

Day 1 (Kobe):

Kobe, Japan is a coastal city that lies in front of Mount Rokko. It has a population of 1.5 million people. Our day in Kobe had a very common theme: Food. We were late to the port due to heavy storms throughout the Pacific (another story for another day) but ended up leaving the port in the afternoon. We did a restaurant hop all over the city trying the most foreign foods we could find. The highlight was definitely getting my hands on real Kobe beef which is infamous for its taste plus an additional live octopus. 
My stay in Kobe was delicious.


Day 2 (Osaka to Tokyo):

Osaka is a city next to Kobe that is just as big if not bigger. We spent our economic field class there.We got to tour the Bank of Japan, speak to the US-Japananese consulate, and visit the Japanese stock exchange.The Bank of Japan was very interesting. We learned how they produce and exchange their currency. The consulate was definitely the highlight. We were able to witness the official executive order to the US Embassy in Japan to back out of the TPP which was awesome. The Japanese stock exchange was extremely docile and quiet which speaks to the attitude of its people. That night my friends and I took a Shinkansen (high speed train) to Tokyo where I got to see the Shibuya Crossing. We got to experience the local nightlife as well.

Shibuya Crossing

 Day 3 (Tokyo):

Tokyo was every bit as large and bright as Manhattan. Shibuya Crossing is just as magnificent as Times Square. This day was fun because I got the opportunity to travel around Tokyo on my own. I had to meet up with my group at the airBNB we were staying at which was across town. As you could imagine, traveling across a city as large as NYC without being able to speak the language or even read their alphabet, was a little challenging. Thanks to the kind locals i managed to transverse the entire city in only two hours. Ill take what I can get. Afterwards I explored a bit, ran into a shrine, and accidentally ate Whale (I thought it was beef) . That night my friends and I met with a Japanese businessman for dinner and drinks. We had Korean BBQ that was quiet a treat by itself. We tried Ox tongue, Chicken Cartilage, Cow's Heart, and Cow intestines. The Cow Heart was actually pretty damn good. We ended up staying up late to visit the famous fish market in Tokyo. We got a really good experience because we accidentally wandered into the actual fish market and not the touristy tuna auction. We spent an hour there before the workers realized we weren't supposed to be there and kicked us out. Definitely my favorite day of the trip!

Tokyo Fish Market

Day 4 (Kyoto):

After a late night in Tokyo and the fish market, we took a morning train to Kyoto. Kyoto is the traditional culture capital of Japan. I was sleeping on the train to Kyoto when destiny woke me up to find Mount Fuji right outside my train window. It was incredible. Kyoto was my favorite city in Japan. We visited Buddhist and Shintoist shrines and went to dinner at this hibachi restaurant (so good). I got to drink with some locals and talk about life in Kyoto which was really interesting. Kyoto was an awesome city.

Traditional Japan-  Kyoto

Mount Fuji

Day 5 (Kobe and Disembarkation):

Just a travel day. Only thing to note was the McDonalds we had was fire (Awesome). We head back into the stormy Pacific tonight and have been told its gonna be a rocky one!

While Japan was an absolutely incredible experience I do feel like I would be doing a disservice to this blog if I do not talk about the negatives i experienced so please allow me to grieve for a moment. There was two major issues I had with Japan. 

1) Obvious Racism - Japan is not a multicultural country so they are not used to seeing people of different backgrounds on their street. I'd say 70% were happy to help us and loved talking to us to hear our experiences but the other 30% would pretty direct in their racism. I was turned away at least 2-3 times to the sound of "no whites" or "no foreigners". I would take a seat on the train and before I could talk to the Japanese citizen next to me they would get up and move seats. It didn't ruin my experience but it was kinda glaring. Just an interesting experience. It didn't really bother me but it was sad to see people try to excuse it in our post-port discussion.

2) This is more subject to debate but the Japanese are very socialist socially and economically. They are also ranked the #1 most unsatisfied country in the world according to the Japanese businessman I met with. They don't show a lot of emotion because they believe it affects the people around them which is considerate I guess but I don't think its worth living life like a mannequin. They're not allowed to dress a certain way or they get shamed for it. They won't listen to music in their cars or talk about movies/art/etc. in public. It certainly has its benefits. They don't have trash cans and its extremely socially unacceptable to litter so their cities are very clean. However I don't think that the price of losing personal expression is worth it. Its just a shock coming from a city (Atlanta) that is so heavily culturally involved about being who you are. To me the music you listen to, the movies you watch, the clothes you wear, etc. help define who you are but to the Japanese it is unacceptable to try and branch out from the socially norm.

Japan was an incredibly interesting country. I could not remotely put everything I learned into this one blog post. I am very grateful for the opportunity to see Japan in its glory. The majority of the people were outstanding and tried to explain to me why they do the things they do. Ill never forget my experiences here!

Arigato Japan,

Maxwell

The Sumo Championship trophy and me in the ring!

Aloha Ke Ao Nei

Aloha! (Hello!) E hele mai 'oe me a'u (Come with me). Allow me to take you on an adventure through my recent experience with Polynesian culture. After a great week at sea, making friends and studying vigilantly, we finally made it to the magnificent island of Oahu in Hawai'i and boy is it magnificent! We spent the morning at the Bishop Museum learning about Polynesian culture before hiking Diamondhead, a mountain peak in Oahu, in the afternoon. It was a great trip with a beautiful view of the city of Oahu and the nature that surrounds it.

My first informal interest to have picked up is the oceanic language. The language of Oceania and its islanders is surprising simplistic from a linguist stance. It consists of thirteen letters: five vowels (a,e,i,o,u) and eight constants (h,k,l,m,n,p,w and ' {the okina}). When the discussion of a global language came up a few decades ago, the oceanic language was considered a finalist just because of the simplicity of its alphabet. However, like all languages, there are different dialects that separate the islands from each other. Some dialects are more different than others but its estimated that even the most different dialects still speak about 60% of the same language. Deciding on a dialect to study in Polynesia isn't an easy choice but since I was studying in Hawai'i I figured it made the most sense to study the Hawaiian dialect.

The simplicity of the language brought up some interesting concepts, debates, and discussions throughout the next few days. Does the simplicity of their language make their culture "less advanced" or does it make it "ahead of its time"? I'll use this to transition into a new segment I'm adding to my blog, Global Lessons.

Global Lesson #1

In my literature class, we studied the Polynesian culture through the eyes of renown anthropologist, Wade Davis. Davis argues that culture is not as linear of a chain as most tend to believe and I concur. Try thinking of culture more as a spider web than as a ladder. A web has multiple different paths that all lead to the center (Diagram below: I used 8 different topics for the sake of simplicity but that does not even come close to scratching the surface of all the different aspects of culture.)

In the Western point of view, a culture is typically judged in its progress by its technological prowess and economical power. That is the generally accepted judgment today across the board but is it right? If you view cultural evolution as a ladder than this may seem correct. However if you view culture as web than you realize that trying to judge a culture is anything but a black and white matter. Its a very gray discussion. For example: The western world may have viewed the lifestyle of the native Hawaiians as brutish and savage due to their lack of technology and the lack of a major religion. However the Hawaiians viewed the Europeans as cruel and foolish.

The Hawaiians, alongside the rest of Polynesia, populated the pacific without the use of modern navigation tools like the compass. Using just the stars, and observing nature around them, Polynesian navigators were able to travel the Pacific in just a canoe. It is said that a master Polynesian navigator can read the waves around an island to identify it, the same way a forensic scientist can identify a suspect with their fingerprint. Truly amazing stuff. 

To recap, the idea of culture progression shouldn't be a linear path. Every culture has a different piece to the puzzle in the collective of human beliefs, thoughts and ideas (a.k.a the "Etnosphere"). Giving these cultures a voice and working with them to put these pieces of the puzzle together should be a universal human goal.

A Hui Hou (See you later/Until next time)

Maxwell

Globetrotting

Life changes in the blink of an eye. Life doesn't care about how much you feverishly reach for your ambitions, or how heavily you scrutinize and adjust your plans. Just a year ago I was living the dream. I was playing football in the SEC fulfilling a lifelong dream. Now, 365 days later, I am sailing across the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to Hawaii. Six months ago, I hung up my cleats to see the world and its people.

Abroad the MV World Odyssey, I am formally taking four courses with a program called Semester at Sea (Sponsored by Colorado State). I will be formally studying the global economy (ECON 204), the stories written about the Earth and everything that inhabits it (ENGL 399), the science of the ocean (NR 150), and global community and politics (IE 300). I will informally be studying interests that pass me by as well. Topics such as Climate Change, language, and generally anything that catches my eye in my quest for knowledge.

I will be sailing to wander the beautiful Island of Oahu in Hawaii, to explore the great cities of Japan, to admire the looming skylines of China, to appreciate the gorgeous countryside of Vietnam, to venture the newly opened borders of Myanmar, to see the spices of India, to dive the precious reefs of Mauritius, to prowl the safari of South Africa, and to brave the deserts of Morocco before ending my voyage in Europe.

I will update this blog after every stop as well as my social media throughout the voyage.

Bon Voyage!

Maxwell