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One of my favorite things about visiting Japan was all of the new food I got to experience. Of course, there were things that I was already familiar with and expecting like ramen, sushi, fried rice, and matcha, which were still amazing, but there is a lot more to Japanese cuisine than that.

One of the more semi known things that I tried is called Takoyaki. Takoyaki literally translates to “grilled octopus,” and it is a dish made of wheat batter which is filled with grilled octopus and fried. Even though this is more of a fair type of food, our group had it for dinner and it was very filling, but still delicious!

Another semi-known dish I had is called Yakisoba. This is a stir-fried noodle dish which is so delicious. The difference between Yakisoba and other noodle dishes is that the noodles are a bit chewier and harder. Now moving onto the dishes that I had no idea about before coming to Japan which also happened to be my favorite dishes. My absolute favorite dish that I had in Japan is called Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is famous in two places in Japan which battle between which has the better Okonomiyaki: Hiroshima and Osaka. I’ve only had it in Hiroshima, but based on how amazing that was, Osaka’s Okonomiyaki would have to be on another level to beat Hiroshima’s. Okonomiyaki is a type of savory pancake dish which has wheat flour batter, cabbage, meat, seafood, and soba noodles. The toppings consist of okonomiyaki sauce, anori, Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger. They have different variations of this basic recipe, and I got one with kimchi added to it which added an extra little kick of flavor.

I also tried a specialty cold noodle dish which was unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. I didn’t even know that cold noodles were a thing before I saw them on the menu at a restaurant. It was a perfect dinner after a long day of walking in the heat. It was refreshing but interestingly spicy while still being cold.

The last dish I want to feature is called Sukiyaki. It is served in a clay pot over a mini stover at the table, and the raw meet cooks before your eyes. Within the stew there are also vegetables and other ingredients, and a raw egg was given alongside the dish and rice.  It was interesting to see it cooked in front of me, and I think this is a good idea so you can cook the meat to your liking. Lastly, there were two foods that my friends tried, but I was too intimidated to try. One of my friends tried natto which is a very quintessential Japanese food which consists of fermented soybeans. Even though I didn’t try it myself, the reviews I got were very mixed, so I think it’s more of an acquired taste. The other food my friends tried is beef tongue, and after their ecstatic reviews I wish that I had. I know that someday I am going to have to make another trip to Japan and try even more food!

On the second week of our study abroad trip to Japan, we visited the beautiful city of Hiroshima. During our short stay, we had the privilege of going to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park to learn about the tragedy that occurred in August of 1945. After touring the museum, Professor Ibaraki recommended Barefoot Gen to me. He mentioned that he had read it himself as a young man and that the story had a lasting impact on him. That is how a copy of the first volume of Barefoot Gen made the 7,000-mile journey back to the United States with me.

Barefoot Gen, written and illustrated by Keiji Nakazawa, is a ten-volume manga series first serialized as Hadashi no Gen in 1972-73. The manga was banned in many local libraries on multiple occasions on account of it containing “unsupported depictions of Japanese atrocities”. Thankfully, local courts lifted the ban soon after, leaving school systems to make their own decisions about the importance of Barefoot Gen. If you are planning on reading Barefoot Gen for yourself, I suggest skipping the rest of this blog.

I knew very little about the series going into it, only that my professors and a few classmates recommended it. I knew that Barefoot Gen was going to be an emotionally challenging read- something I was correct about. I did not, however, expect to be so deeply impacted by the continued abuse of Gen and his family. While the illustrations in Barefoot Gen are in no way refined, the rawness

How police treated “traitors” like Mr. Nakaoka.

of Nakazawa’s lines and the exaggerated style only serve to enhance the brutality of the life that Japanese citizens lived during the war.

Because Gen’s father did not support the war effort, his family and everyone who associated themselves with the Nakaoka family were labeled as traitors and treated as less than human. Violence was very prevalent throughout the entire volume, whether it was from Mr. Nakaoka, the Nakaoka kids fighting back against neighbors and townspeople, or the gruesome scenes after the atomic bomb was dropped. However, some of this violence was vital in showing a key characteristic in Gen: that he is much like his father in that he will do “wrong” or societally unacceptable things for what he believes is right.

Almost all of the first volume was dedicated to showing how Japanese society treated “traitors” during the war, in addition to the struggle it took to redeem one’s family from the title of traitor, as seen with Koji Nakaoka (Army pilot recruit). Some of the hardest scenes to read occurred after the bomb was dropped and we see half of Gen’s family trapped in the rubble. The mangaka did an excellent job getting readers attached to these characters, only to make it more tragic as we see them literally burning alive in the last fifty pages.

The tragic effects of the atomic bomb.

Barefoot Gen is definitely a manga I see myself reading through completion, as it is such an important part of history that is told in such a heartbreaking but impactful format. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone curious about the everyday lives of those affected by the war effort and the atomic bomb.

For me growing up I was a little bit religious. I’m Hindu and I have a lot of friends who are part of Buddhism. So I was pretty excited to go to the Fukagaw a Fudou-do Budda temple as it was going to be my first time going to a Buddhist temple. It was very pretty and if you look in the blog post on the top left corner you’ll see a black wall that has these golden encryptions. The language is Sanskrit which is one of the oldest languages in India. Buddhism originated from India so it was interesting to see that correlation. In the beginning, we had to wash our hands which is kind of similar to the Hindu temples I go to. I usually have to wash my hands before entering the temple to be represented properly in front of the gods. We also had to take off our shoes at the Buddhist temple and while I was walking around I was simply amazed by the architecture. I like traditional art as it has a deep meaning and the way it looks as well is very appealing. It was so cool seeing the different variations of Buddha. The texts were in Japanese so I couldn’t read what each reincarnation represented but I know that if it was in English I would be in that temple a lot longer. I’ve always had an interest in reading or learning about different religions because a lot of the time there is a symbolic meaning behind each aspect of the designated religion. Everything about the temple was mesmerizing to me and we were able to stay around for a certain ritual. I think it was a fire-related ritual and I saw the monks pray and recite words while doing the ritual. The posture and the way we held our hands to pray was the same as how we do it in Hindu temples so for me I didn’t have a hard time understanding what were the next steps and what I was supposed to be doing. If I ever visit Japan again I definitely want to visit this temple as I enjoyed it so much while I was there. I was telling my friends about this it and they were so happy I got to experience that. They also want to visit the temple if they ever visit Japan and I would recommend they do as it was interesting to see how Buddhism is practiced in Japan.

On May 22nd everyone in the program went to the Edo Museum. I was blown away by what I experienced and what I learned. Throughout my life, most of the museums I went to weren’t as interactive as this museum. A lot of the time it would have a showcase piece with a couple of words next to it explaining what it is and how it’s important. I had an interest in this museum beforehand as I heard how popular the Edo period was in Japan. I was not expecting an almost real-life interactive area. It was amazing and my jaw dropped when I entered the room. I went downstairs immediately and was looking around and I felt I learned so much more by looking and seeing physically how the Edo period looked like compared to reading about it before entering the room. Seeing each individual home really brought into scope how the people lived during the Edo period. The museum taught me how the Edo period was created after the Sengoku period and that during this time economic growth, social order, overall piece, and enjoyment of art were a big thing. It was one of the most peaceful times in Japan. I was walking into the different homes and each of them had their own specialty. One of them was a market for vegetables while there was another one that had pottery. At the end of the museum, there was a river-like place that had real water and there was a boat in that river. The museum was trying to mimic the Edo period and what it was like. They did an amazing job as just a visual representation alone made me more alert and taught me more about the time period. Others in the program were also surprised by how interactive the museum was. We were able to interact with some machines and we were allowed to go inside the house and look around as well. Some of us sat on the pillow that was at the center of some of the homes. The museum was also playing music that was commonly played during the Edo period so it really did feel like we were in that period just looking around and having fun. Out of all the museums I’ve gone to the Edo period museum was one of my favorites as it was truly unique and the interactive aspect was something that was completely unexpected but it was one of the best surprises.

On May 26th everyone in the program visited the Memorial Park at Hiroshima. while we were there we were guided by some volunteers who were in mainly high school. They wanted to improve their english speaking skills and they explained to us about the nuclear bomb and how it impacted their country and what to do moving forward. While we were walking around the Memorial Park we saw the place where they pray and commemorate the people who passed away from the bombing. We also saw the place where the original atomic bomb landed. It was in a dome-like structure and you can see it in the back of the photo attached to this blog post. They explained how originally the bomb was supposed to land on the bridge near the dome but it ended up landing on the dome. Before the explosion took place the building was mainly used for keeping knowledge almost like a library that had some historical emphasis but it all disappeared when the bombing took place. At the center of the Memorial Park, there is a fire that is supposed to continue burning until there are no more nuclear bombs in the world. It’s a representation of the tragedy Hiroshima experienced and they don’t want anybody else to have to go through what they went. They also have running water as it symbolizes a place for the spirits to swim in as a lot of the survivors after the bombing were severely burned and were looking for water locations to cool down in. Another place we visited had a statue of a young girl with a paper crane. Around the young girl, there were so many different almost rope-like structures of paper cranes that were attached to each other. In Hiroshima, a paper crane represents peace, hope, and recovery. Sadako Sasaki was a girl who was exposed to radiation when she was an infant and was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away later on when she was around 12 years old. She’s a representation of how people still suffered from the result of the attack many years later. The guides told us most of the time it was leukemia that affected the people who survived the attack. Overall it was an interesting trip where I learned a lot and it opened up a new perspective on Hiroshima. The guides were super nice and they were excited to talk with us and it was interesting learning from them about the memorial park and what it symbolizes.

Before coming to the US, I was raised in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture. On March 11, 2011, there was a huge earthquake and tsunami in the northeast region of Japan. Miyagi Prefecture was one of the prefectures that suffered damages from the earthquake and tsunami. Luckily, the place where I lived was on a higher elevation so I only experienced the earthquake. But I still remember the time the earthquake hit. I was a kindergarten at that time so I only remember the sensation of the strong shake of the earthquake. I always wanted to ask about the situation me and my parents had to face during that time but I once heard my mother telling her sister that she doesn’t like talking about what happened. Because I heard her say that, I hesitated to ask my mother and tried to forget about the incident. But I saw the schedule of the study abroad program, the trip to Miyagi to learn about the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. I thought this was my chance to understand the situation back then and learn. I am so grateful for participating in this program. When visiting Okawa Elementary School, the school that was destroyed by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, I was purely sad. As I was looking around, I sometimes imagined what the students and the faculties had to experience, which made me sadder. While we were leaving the elementary school, I started to cry. Thinking back, so many people passed away from the earthquake and tsunami. I think I was lucky to be alive from the earthquake and tsunami. If the place I lived was different at the time it hit, maybe I would not be alive right now. I felt different emotions such as sadness, relief, and also fear from the thoughts that I could’ve died on March 11, 2011. The whole experience at the Okawa Elementary School was something I will cherish forever. But there is something I regret not doing while visiting the Okawa Elementary School. I wish I talked more with the person who gave us lectures on the incident at the school. His daughter was a student at Okawa Elementary School and sadly passed away. I wish I had spoken to him more as a person who experienced the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami at a young age and tell him that I would live strongly even for the children who lost their lives.

During the program, we visited the Kumamoto Castle and it was one of the coolest things I ever saw in Japan. I have been to Japan quite a few times but it was my first time visiting a Japanese castle. What I liked about Kumamoto Castle is how the structure of the castle is built to prepare for a battle. For example, the stone walls of the castles are at an angle so that attackers would have difficulty climbing. Also, windows were placed strategically to drop stones and space for archers. I was also amazed by the location of the castles. There used to be a hill that extended to the north and the castle was built right at the tip of the hill. To prevent attackers from the north side, they dug up the hill so that it made it impossible to move from the north. It was built on a hill and it made it possible for the castle to be surrounded by three-sided cliffs. Also, there were rivers on the east and south sides of the castle so it even made it harder to attack. Only the east side is available to attack. But the person who built the castle made the east side flat so that it attracts attackers and ambushes them from high grounds. Before coming to the Kumamoto castle, I thought all these fancy stone walls and the architecture of the building were just for looks but it had a greater meaning to it. After the program, because I enjoyed the Kumamoto castle, I went to three different castles in Japan. Another thing I liked about Japanese castles was how different each castle was. The history behind the construction of the castles and the different tactics it was used. One of the castles I visited that was different from other castles was the Matsue Castle, located in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. Of course, there were defensive systems in the interior and exterior of the castle but there were also schemes in the town that surrounded the castle. The 4-way intersection of the towns was purposely built so that you actually can’t see the opposite side of the road. So that it makes a blind spot for attackers which makes them confused. The Matue Castle also focused heavily on the towns to slow down the attack to prepare for the actual battle at the castle. There are still hundreds of castles in Japan so I hope I get to see them all.

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.

I believe one of the reasons it was so much easier to adjust to traveling in Japan compared to other countries I have previously visited would be the convenience and how easy the Japanese have made tasks for others to complete. Everything feels as if it has been done with a purpose and each detail has been thought out before it is implemented. Many aspects of how food is prepared and served is very convenient and user friendly. Such as bento boxes that provide small portions of a variety of foods presented in a travel sized box to take on the go. I enjoyed trying different bento boxes when possible as no two boxes contained the same food. Additionally, the vending machines filled with ice cream or drinks are very convenient and easy to use. I observed that there were always bins right next to the machines to collect the used bottles.

Next, not only is the trash and recycling separated but they are split into different sections from there. The trash includes burnable and unburnable garbage. Whereas, the recyclables include PET bottles, cans, papers, etc. This allows for an easy waste disposal process when organizations have to sort through the trash. It also makes it simple for people throwing away trash to separate their garbage since it is written very clearly. 

Even when shopping, the experience was seamless and efficient. Everywhere I went the lines in shopping or convenience stores were very organized and straightforward. A story from one of my first shopping experiences, when I walked into one of the changing rooms in a store I was instructed to take off my shoes. Then, I walked in to see a little box of plastic slips. At first this confused me but then I learned that the masks were to cover your face to prevent makeup from getting on the clothes. I was impressed by how little of a task this was but likely very helpful to the staff and store. 

Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised by the heated toilets in most bathrooms. One of the toilets even had a tv on the side playing music videos. A majority of toilets I used also played small music to cover the noises of people using the bathroom. I also noticed that there were no toilet seat covers but there was always a small dispenser of toilet cleaning solution, which likely uses less amounts of paper compared to the toilet seat covers.

During my stay in Japan I was able to not only try a variety of foods but drinks as well. Some of the drinks I got to try in Japan were sake, vitamin c, roasted rice tea, matcha, peach flavored water, Ramune, plum wine, and many more. I enjoyed how diverse the drinks were and the level of sweetness was just right for most drinks. In comparison to drinks in the US, I normally do not buy very many because of the high price and most drinks are too sweet.

The brightly colored vending machines located almost every few blocks were one of the most noticeable objects when I first arrived in Japan. I was shocked by the large variety of drink options the vending machines contained. They were very amusing for me to get drinks from since most of the time I would not translate anything but look at the bottles and pick different drinks each time. Like most food in Japan, I was shocked by the low prices of these drinks in the vending machines or at convenience stores. However, I did not realize how unusual it would be to not see any water fountains or water filling stations around. I found myself looking for them at the beginning of the trip as I didn’t want to keep buying water bottles. Although the drinks were cheap, the cost of buying water frequently did add up, making me miss the free water refills available back home. The convenience stores offered a wide array of beverages and they also provided an opportunity to try local flavors in a quick and convenient manner. Drinks like vitamin C beverages and unique flavored waters were readily available and provided a refreshing break during my explorations.

When preparing for my trip to Japan one of the things I was looking forward to the most was the matcha. I can confidently say that matcha did not disappoint in Japan. During our free time I got to visit a traditional tea shop in Shimo-Kitasawa. Here we were able to choose what type of tea we wanted, the matcha options were ​​thick (koicha) and thin (usucha). It was more bitter than I expected but they added a sweet on the side to tame the bitterness of the matcha. I thought the amount of matcha I was given at first was too little but after drinking it I realized that it was just enough.