Day 1: Kobe, Japan

Japan was never a place that was high on my list of places to travel. I think a big part of this hesitation was that I like to try and blend in as much as possible when I travel and I have always known that my traveling in Asian countries would not allow me to blend at all. Checking in at 5'11'' and blond, I knew that my hope for blending was asinine. Knowing this, I mentally prepared myself for the first of a number of countries in which I would have no hope of blending in.

Although Japan was not high on my list initially, it is now one of my favorite countries that I've ever traveled in and I'm eager to go back someday because five days was only a tease. I cannot tell you how many friendly, polite and helpful people we met - it seemed as though everyone was genuinely nice. I know it's shocking, but folks could tell were tourists. I can't tell you how many people went out of their way to help us, make us feel welcome and genuinely wanted us to enjoy our time in their homeland.

Our arrival to Kobe

We had an indication about the welcoming nature from our arrival in port. As we sailed into the harbor, led by the pilot ship, we were greeted by a fire boat launching water out in celebration and, as we neared the dock we were greeted by a band in full uniform playing John Phillips Sousa music. There were "welcome to Kobe" signs and seeing all of our students on the decks of the ship waving and cheering provided an emotional welcome to our first "real" port - especially after 9 days at sea.

The band welcome

The fireboat welcome!

I spent the first afternoon walking around Kobe with Nam and Gail. Kobe is a bustling and beautiful city. I began to feel very illiterate as we walked around and especially as I looked at the menu when we stopped for some lunch. This is a feeling that stayed with me throughout the stint in Japan. I began to have a much clearer understanding of how so many people feel each and every day. Looking at the Japanese characters that meant absolutely nothing to me and that I knew meant something to others - characters that have meaning and valuable information - information that I couldn't get on my own and that I have to depend on other people for - what a feeling. How blessed I am to know how to read. Unfortunately I think this is something I often take for granted. I couldn't believe the feeling of disempowerment from not being able to read anything. I felt very helpless and realized how much we can do for ourselves when we have the ability to read.

Gail and Nam at lunch our first day in Kobe

That evening we headed to a Japanese baseball game in Osaka. There was an official SAS trip that went to this game, but we decided to go on our own and attempt to get tickets at the gate as many of us were ready for a break from the students (although we love them). All in all, it was a fun experience. The stadium was this massive round building that looked like the starship enterprise on the inside.

As we approached the building, we noticed that there were folks running into it from all directions. It was a Tuesday night and I was amazed at how many business men were coming into the stadium directly from work - still in suits and ties. You were allowed to bring in your own food and drink so a lot of these businessmen had grabbed bento boxes, sushi and the like and were chowing on that during the game. Sushi, bentos, udon and ramen were sold at the stadium as well. It was interesting to see that sold right alongside hotdogs, ice cream and beer. We were all surprised to see one of the stadium employees selling the infamous St. Louis brew, Budweiser. In Japan? Who would have guessed?

The Baseball stadium


The stadium? Or the starship enterprize?

The baseball game

The crowd was amazing and was very into the game and there was a lot of cheering and music! The Japanese culture is one in which people are typically very calm and polite, their behavior at the game reflected this as well. I only saw cheering for the teams - no booing, yelling at the umpires or anything of that nature. It was so nice to watch a game without fans demonstrating that behavior.

There were a few work-related issues at the game. We ran into some students who (shocking I know) had consumed way too much alcohol. It was our first "day off" and none of us (the staff) wanted to deal with this; however, that's not the nature of this job. There was one student who couldn't be ignored and I don't know if I've ever seen anyone quite this intoxicated. A professor who was leading the SAS trip, another staff member and I were the lucky ones who got to deal with this student (yay). I was so embarrassed to be standing in the stadium with this young man who couldn't control his bodily functions. His behavior was so against cultural norms and he was attracting a ton of attention. By the time we sent him back to the ship in a cab with his trip leader, we'd missed a lot of the game. He needed to get back in order to see our on-ship doctor. Blasted. We were all already sick of dealing with alcohol issues on the ship and were ready for a break from it. Not so much. All in all though, it was a great first day!