By Carlos Gutierrez
Photos provided by Carlos Gutierrez.
On Nov. 22, Columbus went to Japan for the first time on an educational tour field trip (EFTours). This is a recap of my time there.
Early the first morning, my classmates and I took a flight from Miami to Toronto and later Toronto to Tokyo (not getting there until the next day, local time; JST), eventually taking another flight to Osaka from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, arriving around 8 PM JST. And then the journey began.
Flying from Tokyo to Osaka, half of the group was split up, however, since I was with the group that made it to Osaka, I was able to drop off my luggage in my hotel room early. Our group first stopped in Dotombori Market, a bustling marketplace in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, where my friends and I stopped at Sukiya--a Japanese curry and beef bowl restaurant--for dinner. It was also here that we met with our guide Aki-san, and our bus driver, Sousumi-san. A bit after we returned to the hotel, the other group finally made their way to the hotel.
The next day, we woke up, had breakfast and drove to the historic Osaka Castle, a site of notable cultural significance dating back to the late 16th century. After this tour, we drove back to Dotombori, this time, two of my friends and I went to Chibo, an okonomiyaki (Japanese cabbage pancake) spot, where we all split the "Dotonbori Okonomiyaki". Later, we drove to Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, and stopped at Mt. Inari, where my friends and I hiked up to the peak, before eating ramen for dinner at Abura Soba Nekomata in the Kiyomizu district.
The next day, we participated in a traditional Japanese matcha tea ceremony, followed by the Kiyomizu-Dera Temple and then the Kinkaku-ji Temple or, "Temple of the Golden Pavilion". After, we went to the Teramachi Market in Kyoto for a few hours where me and my friends ate fried chicken and ice cream and they bought Pokémon booster packs from the gachapon machines. For dinner that night, we went to a tonkatsu restaurant in Tsukiyama.
The next morning, we had a four-hour bus ride to Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, and my friends and I stopped at Hida Takayama Cafe for lunch, where we got Hida beef steak rice bowls which were delicious and probably some of the best steak I have ever had. Then, we meditated at the Soyuji Hondo Zazen temple for half an hour. We then drove to the hotel and walked to Kofune, a small soba restaurant. Later that night, I felt one of the small earthquakes that struck the Gifu-Ishikawa area, which was a first for me.
The following morning, we went back to the village area from the previous day, where my friends and I bought croissants and saw the 1,200-year-old ginkgo tree and a triple pagoda (Hida Kikobun-ji Temple). Then, we baked/grilled our own rice crackers at Yume Kojo Hida before we drove to Kanazawa. Along the way, we stopped at the mountain village of Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its building style known as gasshō-zukuri. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, where my friends and I walked around the small village, enjoying the nature and atmosphere--as well as some soft serve and sausages. The whole group then hiked up one of the mountainsides, where we were able to view the whole of the village. Before we left Shirakawa-go, we stopped at the open-air museum of Shirakawa-go Gassho-Zukuri Minka-en, where we were able to see ponds, historic small buildings, and the forests. When we arrived in Kanazawa, the group stopped at Kanazawa Nagomitei Hokuto for dinner, where we had tonkatsu with shredded cabbage salad, hot mustard and this sweet sauce for the pork as the main dish and an assortment of traditional Japanese sides like rice, miso soup, chawanmushi, miso soup, cold soba noodles with soup and tsukemono (Japanese pickled vegetables).
The next day we went to the Japanese garden of Kenroku-en by Kanazawa Castle, and seeking to warm ourselves from the cold, rainy weather outside, we stopped at Kenrokutei, a tea house where I had a matcha latte, dorayaki (Japanese pancake wrapped around sweet red bean paste) and higashi (a dry Japanese candy made of 100% sugar). After going to the Castle area, the group went to Omicho Market, where a group of my friends and I went to a Japanese steakhouse for lunch, and then we drove to Sakuda Gold Lead Workshop, a crafts and gift shop that used gold and silver leaf to make items like chopsticks (what we made), jewelry, and small souvenirs. Then after, we had some free time before our dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant in a mall where we had an informal Thanksgiving.
The following day, we took the bullet train to Tokyo, where we had some free time to eat and shop in Shibuya's Jingūmae district. Sadly, our drive to Kanazawa Station would be the last time we would see the best bus driver, Sousumi-san on our trip. We then drove to the forested Meiji Jingu Shrine, and later in the evening, we had free time to roam around the Dembo-in Temple area and check out the small shops and streets nearby. That night, we had dinner at a hotpot restaurant before heading back to the hotel.
The next day, which was our last full day, we went first to see the replica of the Statue of Liberty in Odaiba, and then we crossed the bridge to visit the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), afterward, we had some free time around the DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. We then drove back to Shibuya, where we had a lot of free time, mostly to shop in the bustling district's many clothing stores and gift shops. For dinner, we went to an all-you-can-eat barbecue spot, followed by karaoke later that night.
The next morning, we woke up to leave our hotels for the last time, as most of the guys and I went to watch a sumo show--which was on the stage of the hotpot restaurant two nights before--while the rest of the group went to Akihabara. We then took a train to meet up with them, where we had free time to eat lunch and do any last-minute shopping. We then drove to Tokyo's Narita Airport, and after we said bye to Aki-san, we boarded our plane around 7 PM JST. We arrived in Toronto around 6 PM EST, and we boarded our flight around 7 PM EST, departing closer to 8 PM, and arrived back in Miami at around 11 PM.
Overall, this trip was very fulfilling, with all of the different cultural activities, and many of them were new to me. I will remember this trip from all the shopping to the eating, to the bus rides and late-night 7-Eleven and FamilyMart runs, to the many flights and hikes we took.
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