Isabel

6/20/13

I am so glad to have finally arrived in Japan. My luck changed for the better as I somehow got upgraded to business class on my plane ride over. The great desserts and adjustable seats eased my journey into Japan. Flying over, I was seated next to a very kind older japanese woman. She spoke excellent english, though she lived in Japan.  Luckily for me, she was happy to help me fill out the all kanji form I was given for customs. The kind woman also helped me practice my japanese when I told her I was a student.  The short conversations with her helped me really realize that I was entering Japan.

After a 1 hour train ride and a quick dinner of soba noodles, I finally arrived at the youth hostel. Meeting up with all the other trippers was great. They all told me stories of the past two days and showed me around the youth hostel we would be staying in for just another 10 or so hours. So far the humidity in Japan has surprised me. While the temperature is not always that high the humidity makes it feel ten times warmer. Taking a shower and going to sleep was a relief at the end of the day. Tomorrow we head out for Nikko and though i didn't get to see much of Tokyo, I am excited for the next phase of our trip.

Nikko is gorgeous. Coming to this cute little town surrounded by green, tree-covered mountains  has made my first real day in Japan extremely enjoyable. Our hotel room's style is is very traditionally Japanese. It has tatami mats, a tokonoma, sliding paper doors and paper lanterns for lights. I have got the feeling from our first day here that most of Nikko is very traditional and spiritual. 
After we traveled to Nikko from Tokyo on 3 different trains and dropped off our bags at the hotel we set off for the World Heritage Sites. These sites are the location of traditional Japanese shrines. As soon as we exited the bus and starting walking up toward the site's entrance I was taken back by the beauty of shrines and their surroundings. The site is locate on a mini mountain that is covered in emense trees. The trees were taller than any I had ever seen before. They framed the ancient buildings and gave the area a very ominous yet beautiful look. The weather complemented  the intrigue of the area even more so. All day there was either light rain or just mist on the mountains. It was a great improvement to the heat and humidity we had in Tokyo the day before. All of the buildings had very detailed designs and rich colors on them. Seeing these shrines made me much more aware of the depth of Japanese culture. I hope to see more of them tomorrow.

6/22/13

We started out today relatively early, catching the bus right after breakfast up a long winding road to the mountains. We arrived at the top of a medium sized mountain to find a small building and a cable car system. After buying a few small souvenirs from the gift shop, we headed further up the mountain range on the cable car. The cable car let us off at a deck that gave the most beautiful view of the many mountains around us. On one side there was a picturesque mountain range that stretched all the way across the horizon while on the other side there were two gorgeous rushing waterfalls. Our group took a number pictures before setting back down the mountain to catch a bus from the waterfall. From lower down, we began what would be a four hour hike through the mountains to one of the largest waterfalls I had ever seen. We ended this long day with a makeshift meal from the Nikko marketplace. Rather than disturb our hosts, we all ate our meals outside in the middle of the town. Tomorrow we leave Nikko and head out to a new city.

6/23/13

We left Nikko today for Hiraizumi. The ride to our new location took about 2 and a half hours and three trains, one of them a shinkansen. A shinkansen  uses magnets to travel at over 200 mph. As these trains rushed past us on the platform today, the whole station shook and the trains' roaring prevented us from hearing anything. Before leaving, we all picked up bento boxes to eat for lunch. My lunch was in a small cylinder with two separate levels for various parts of the meal. After the train ride, we arrived in Hiraizumi. This city seems much bigger than Nikko and less mountainous. While our new location seems more city-like than Nikko, our hotel is even more traditional than the last one we stayed at. Our beds our futons and for dinner we sat on cushions and had a giant complete Japanese meal. We spent our first day here largely at a large garden that houses the remnants of a Japanese town that was originally built in the year 800. The garden was very pretty and relaxing. Rows of iris flowers are dispersed through the whole area. So far Hiraizumi's scattered rice fields and traditional houses make it quite interesting. I can't  wait for tomorrow when we get to go up into its mountains.