GETTING WEIRD IN JAPAN

Japan has a special sense of nostalgia for me. Back in 2003 it was the trip that told me there was a world outside America and ways to live beyond the 'American' way. I had never traveled solo before and it showed me how to travel and be on your own. It is the trip that kept me from leaving my school and the one where I met people who encouraged being outside the bubble. I find coming from growing up in a suburbia it is hard to break free from that comfort, but the trip trumped that feeling. The trip could be defined by my sensei who told us to "go out for the night and come back with a story." Being back this past year was strange. It was the first trip I had been to in awhile with a fellow traveler. Two weeks into the trip, I started to feel the need for home. Like homesickness, but more in the sense that you want to feel the world around you is a part of you. You need to feel like where you currently are is your home for sake of sanity. The cliche of 'home is where the heart is' never rang truer.

The thirst for wonder was exchanged for thirst of settling in. I was treating Japan as not pass through tourism, but parallel living. Living a life I had somewhere else in somewhere new. I did things I would do at home. I ran the streets for fitness sake. I explored the canals of Kyoto on bicycle. I opted not to see museums in exchange for roaming around the parks in the morning. It may not have been the best experience for someone's first time, but for me, it was what I needed.

Regardless of what experience I sought, I had a wonderful time in good company. The food quality is the best I've ever experienced across the gamut of different varieties and flavors (possibly due to the density of the city, the attention to detail and effiiciency in Japanese culture, and the underlying need to survive and stand out as a new business in a large city) and the culture itself was refreshing. There was an appreciation for beauty, a respect for design, and a polite welcoming spirit found throughout the city.