It was my first time traveling alone to Japan. I go to Japan once every two years with my parents. The first thing I noticed while traveling alone is how flexible you can move around. I didn’t need to wait on someone and not have to spend time choosing where to visit and eat. In most of our trips to Japan, me and my parents usually don’t travel to urban places like Tokyo so I was amazed by everything. The first thing I noticed was the people. They were stylish with clothes that I wouldn’t see in the US or other rural areas in Japan. The buildings were so tall and I kept looking up every time I saw a huge skyscraper. However, during my stay in Japan alone, I was struggling with public transportation. The subway stations were packed with so many people, making me dizzy. Even getting on the train, the whole train was full of people like canned sardines. Also figuring out what subway line to get on was difficult, especially subway stations with multiple lines. The building structure of urban subway stations was like a maze. The stations also sometimes had shopping malls and other facilities that had nothing to do with the subway, making it more confusing. When trying to leave the station, multiple exits lead to completely different places so I had to choose which exits to leave from wisely to get to where I want to go. Even though there were lots of struggles with traveling alone in Japan I was able to enjoy it. When I was trying to find the train I needed to get on, a kind lady approached me and gave directions to where I needed to go. The station workers were kind as well. They helped me get a train ticket and directed me to the right train. For problems on which exits to choose from, at a subway station where tourists use a lot, some maps list what famous tourist spots can be visited for each exit. I think that helped me a lot. Of course, traveling alone is fun, especially in a place like Japan where it is fairly safe compared to other countries but, it also reminded me how much I relied on my parents a lot not just traveling but times in the US as well. Being alone in spaces that I am not used to, improved my self-reliance.
