Semester at Sea: Exploring Japan (Part 1)

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The second port on my Semester at Sea voyage was Japan, which was also the first international port. Having only traveled out of North America for my family’s trip to Ireland, I was both really excited and really nervous to land on the shores of a new country and continent. We had five days exploring Japan, an island nation and cultural titan. Since I wrote so much about this country, I’ve broken it up into a couple parts.

Better Late Than Never

Due to storms, our arrival to Yokohama was delayed by a few hours. Originally we were told that we’d be delayed until late in the afternoon. However, we ended up arriving in the late morning instead. This disrupted a lot of travel plans, and some of the trips organized by Semester at Sea were cancelled or changed start times. Going through Japanese customs was fairly simple and quick. We were digitally fingerprinted and photographed to confirm our identities, then sent on our merry way.

Yokohama (Day 1) 

I went on the Yokohama & Tokyo Overnight trip with Semester at Sea for the first two days. This included city tours of both Yokohama and Tokyo, the two largest cities in Japan. Not having traveled much before this semester, I was pretty overwhelmed by the idea of independently exploring new countries. To get an overview of a place I often took the city tours with Semester at Sea. The first stop we made in Yokohama was to Sankeien Garden, a traditional Japanese-style garden. It originally belonged to a wealthy silk trader who opened it to the public in 1906. The garden had many historical important buildings in it that were relocated there from all over the country. Even in winter, the garden was wonderful and we were able to enjoy viewing plum blossoms.

Our second stop was Harbor View Park where we had views of Yokohama Port where the MV Explorer was docked. While there, most students also walked down the street to the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery where foreigners were buried when Japan first opened its ports to the world in the 1850s. There’s also a museum on site, but we didn’t have time to go into since we were on a tour.

Bicycling is a very popular mode of transportation in Japan, and there were many areas designated for parking bicycles. When we made our last stop of the day in Yokohama at Landmark Tower, I was amazed at how many bikes were parked in front of the building. At the time of my visit, Landmark Tower was the tallest building in Japan. It has since been surpassed by Abeno Harukas built in Osaka in 2014. As part of our tour, we went up to the 69th floor observation deck, aka ‘Sky Garden,’ to enjoy great views of Yokohama and the surrounding areas. I think the best part was watching the sunset from there since we could see the outline of Japan’s tallest mountain, Mt. Fuji. We were told this is a rare occurrence as the mountain is usually obscured by clouds.

After sunset, we descended from the observation deck and we climbed back onto our bus to head to Tokyo. Luckily traffic was light so the ride only took about 40 minutes. Upon arrival we checked into our hotel, the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa. With the evening free, I had dinner with some fellow students and walked around to get a taste of Tokyo. 

One of the things that I noticed while traveling Japan was that people seemed to dress smarter. Many workers had elaborate uniforms that included white gloves and hats. The majority of the men I saw were wearing suits and women were most often wearing skirts and heels. This was common even during hours that weren’t part of normal business hours, and people seemed to care a lot more about fashion. Related to this, magazines seemed very popular, wherever you saw magazines there was always a very wide selection and a lot of people perusing them. 

Tokyo (Day 2) 

For our day in Tokyo, I was up early to eat breakfast in the hotel with a friend who was leaving the tour early that morning. When traveling with Semester at Sea, we were free to sign out and leave tours at any point. I was pleasantly surprised to find a buffet including both traditional Japanese food and more Western-style food. This was before I began my eating adventures, and was still a very picky eater (oh foolish child). Nowadays I will eat nearly anything and would love to go back to Japan to try all the delicious foods.

The tour headed out to our first stop, the Meiji Shrine which is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort Empress Shoken. It was fascinating as we entered the grounds of the shrine to go from the middle of the largest city in the world to a 170 acre forest. Our guide, Michi, showed us how to ‘purify’ ourselves at a fountain for that purpose, before approaching the shrine itself. It was a beautiful shrine and definitely felt like you were in the middle of a sacred forest in ancient Japan. 

After leaving the shrine, we went to view the Imperial Palace Plaza even though it’s not usually open to the public. For lunch, we had a traditional meal of tempura which included green tea, white rice, miso soup with tofu, egg loaf, tempura (fried) shrimp, fish, and vegetables. Despite my apprehension about some of the food, I found the traditional restaurant setting to be really interesting. Our next stop was the Asakusa Kannon Buddhist temple, which is also known as Senso-ji. We were given time to explore the temple as well as nearby Nakamise Street.  The street is lined with little shops for temple visitors to purchase snacks and souvenirs. 

The last stop we made in Tokyo was to Electric Town. This is where several of us asked Michi to show us where the train station was. Only 6 out of the original 41 students returned to Yokohama with the trip. Most of us, including myself, were going to be exploring Japan independently from Tokyo. I had purchased a Japan Rail Pass before leaving the US, and headed to Tokyo Station to exchange my papers for the pass. From there I was exploring Japan independently across the country and having adventures with friends that I’ve shared in Japan Part 2 and Japan Part 3!

Read more about my adventures on Semester at Sea!

Did you ever visit a place when you were younger and when you look back laugh at yourself? I can’t believe I was so picky I didn’t even eat sushi when I visited Japan!