Jessica Velasco
Crimson Chronicle Editor
During spring break, I had the opportunity to fly out of the country for the first time and visit Japan. Over the course of the nine days, we visited Tokyo, the Fuji-Hakone-Izu region, Kyoto, and Osaka.
At first I was wracked with nervousness because of the recently popular Netflix docuseries, MH370: The Plane That Disappeared, which only furthered my irrational fear. However, getting on the plane, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise. The seats all had a comfortable amount of space and a screen with enough movies and television shows to distract us from the fact that we were in a flying piece of steel over 39,000 feet of air and the ocean.
Arriving in Japan, we were greeted by the beauty of the cherry blossom season that, conveniently for us, would stop blooming only after we left Japan. Not only was nature on our side, but so was the weather. We had the opportunity to see Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 12,389 feet, which can normally only be seen 20% of the time due to weather conditions.
Throughout the trip, I visited everything on the itinerary and explored on my own. At first I was surprised at the independence that they allowed us, but I quickly became accustomed to the free time. This allowed me to get all the pictures that my parents were pestering me to send to post on their Facebook pages to show other family members.
Not only were the photo opportunities plenty, but so were the souvenirs I packed. By the time we had gone to the Harajuku shopping district and Akihabara Electric Town, my suitcase was at 99% capacity, which was impressive knowing that I had already tested my carry-on’s limits with enough clothes for nine days.
Earlier that year I had seen the movie Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt, so I was excited to know that we’d be traveling on a bullet train to Kyoto. Although the ride was free of assassins, the speed and efficiency of the train was completely different from the Metro system back at home. In Japan, trains arrive at the exact minute, unlike the bus on line 16 which always seems to pass my stop when I need it the most.
Overall, the trip allowed me to enjoy Japan to the fullest. Not only did we visit some of its most popular places like Dotonbori Street (where I tried a viral pancake that looked like a 10-yen coin and contained mozzarella) and Akihabara Electric Town (where I geeked out on the amount of figures that they sold) but we also went to more tranquil places such as the Golden Pavilion, a Zen Buddhist temple; Odawara Castle; and Nara Park (where friendly deer interacted with tourists).
Overall I’d recommend the company EF Tours for any future trips that they offer. Even with such a group of 40 people, Rania Zeineddine and the rest of the group leaders were very helpful with any questions that I had.
While the fear of being in an unfamiliar country for the first time made me nervous at first, I quickly got over it and enjoyed being on my own.
Top row left to right: Kinkaku-ji also known as the “Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Todaiji Temple in Nara, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto
Middle row left to right: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto, Dotonbori in Osaka, Dotonbori in Osaka
Bottom row left to right: A view of Mt. Fuji from Mt. Komagatake, a traditional dinner, a sumo-style hot pot dinner
