|
I just hit my 7 month mark and halfway point of living in Japan! This experience is flying by, but I’m so incredibly grateful for everything I’ve seen, everywhere I’ve been, and of course everything I’ve eaten! Here are some of my favorite places and experiences captured with “1 Second Everday.” Since I first got here, I have been documenting every day and every adventure in video, and I’m so happy that I can share it with the world. Here is Part 1! Part 2 will be out in April 2018. In addition to my “1 Second Everyday,” I also picked 3 of my favorite memories while living in Japan. It was difficult to pick just 3, but these adventures will always hold a special place in my heart.
0 Comments
 Before moving here, I was told stories about how incredibly kind the Japanese people were. It was something I accepted as fact but did not truly experience for myself until arriving here and fully immersing myself. If there is one generalization I feel comfortable making about these people, it would be regarding this particular characteristic. It is quite unbelievable at times, and I end up in shock regarding the generosity and patience that a great majority of people have. For the most part, they are a very communal group of individuals and it is evident that others’ feelings are taken into consideration in most situations.
The first time I was really amazed by the kindness in Japan was when Brenna-chan and I went to Nagano. We decided to hop on the bullet train to see the snow monkeys during our second week, and didn’t really know what we were doing or where we were going. When we arrived at our final train stop, SURPRISE… I witnessed my first snow fall and it was magical!.. But also, my pocket wi-fi had no service and we no had idea how to get to our hostel. I had a screenshot of where it was supposed to be, but no real concept of where that was. We went to a convenience store in hope of getting some sort of help, but it wasn’t easy. The boy at the desk knew absolutely NO English and at this point the only thing we knew how to say in Japanese was “arigato" (thank you). I showed him my phone and he gave us a paper map of the city. He was able to circle where we wanted to go and where we currently were, but he seemed to be getting frustrated because he wasn’t able to assist us more effectively. He was relatively helpful, but there was nothing else that could have been done when communication was limited and google translate was unaccessible. We both left saying the only Japanese word we knew and simply hoped for the best as we set out into the crisp winter night. So, I wanted to write my first post about my Mount Fuji experience. From the perspective of the general public, I would say that there is a common misconception regarding what it is actually like to hike Mount Fuji. The glorified sunrise from the top is usually what’s posted on Instagram and is the only thing people see, but there is so much more to this adventure than just the highlights. So.. Here we go!
Wow. Fuji was quite the experience, and definitely not what I had anticipated. Before I moved to Japan, Allister and I were already talking about hiking Fuji together (aka 7 months ago). It was a MUST-DO bucket list item that we never actually imagined we’d end up doing… but we did. |
