U.S. Customs Officer: “Where are you guys coming from?”

Haidee (my older sister): “Japan.”

U.S. Customs Officer: “How long were you there for?”

Haidee: “Two days.”

U.S. Customs Officer: “………”

This was the reaction my sister and I received upon re-entering the United States after our 48-hour trip halfway around the world. Don’t worry, Mr. Customs Officer, I share your incredulity.

A month ago, this trip did not exist. But due to some major urging by my family and friends, one brisk day in October, I decided to take the leap.

And boy am I glad I did. One month later… flight booked, hotel booked, I left for Tachikawa, Japan. This trip was nothing short of awe-inspiring: physically, mentally, and spiritually. It not only reawoken my love for Japan as a country, but it also reaffirmed my faith.

For those of you who may not know, I practice a form of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism with an organization called Shinnyo-en. This past weekend Shinnyo-en held a World Youth Festival, commemorating the 60th anniversary of our organization’s youth association. The theme was “One Light, One Heart, One You.” All young adults from around the world were invited to attend in Tachikawa (a district of Tokyo) at the organization’s head temple.

From San Francisco, we had around 30 young adults attend. I think I speak for all of us when I say seeing the head of the Shinnyo-en order Her Holiness Shinso Ito, as well as meeting other Shinnyo-en young adults from Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and from all over Europe really reignited our determination to practice the Buddhist Teaching.

… But I digress. While I’d be more than happy to go into further details of my experience during the World Youth Festival (just ask and I will surely tell!), in the spirit of this being a travel diary (and one that I hope will not make you fall asleep), I will hence go into my picture/travel narrative!

Let us start in chronological order. Step 1: Get to SFO Airport.

So guys, I just got a GoPro Hero4. After seeing the incredible pictures/footage my sister captured in past trips using hers, I just HAD to get one. We got to the SFO airport three full hours before departure time. Let’s just say… I had some time to kill. “TIME TO TEST OUT MY NEW GOPRO!”

“Is this thing on?”

“Oh sh–, it is, HA!”

“Hello, fish-eye wide angle lens!”

“How’s the lighting outside?!”

… And after I was done being TOTALLY vain and experimenting with my selfie stick, more people arrived at the airport. Group shot!!!

As I mentioned, going to Japan was a relatively last-minute decision, so my sister and I booked a separate flight than the others. We flew Japan Airlines (JAL) while the others flew United. Keep this between us, but GOOD GOD am I glad we went with JAL…Why, you ask???

Reason #1 JAL is the best: NEW PLANES. Holy crap, this looks like a space ship. It reminds me of how awestruck I was boarding a Virgin America plane for the first time (those purple ambient lights…O_O). But yes, brand spankin’ new.

Say goodbye to those old janky window shades.  When you press the grey button (pictured below), the window tints itself automatically to a dark blue hue. Hit the white button and it goes back to being a normal window. INCREDIBLE, NO??? (Although, I did have my qualms about this “new technology” flying back to the States. I had the window seat and the dark blue tint was not enough to keep the sun from beaming on my face the entire last half of the flight. I wanted real window shades at that point. Ugh. First world problems.)

Reason #2 JAL is the best: DAT FOOD DOE. When I was little, I got severely airsick every flight I took. I spent 90% of the flight curled up in fetal position waiting for my insides to stop churning (I would use the airsickness bag every single flight without fail. Sometimes multiple bags.) So needless to say, I’ve never been a fan of airplane food. But over time, as I started to fly more (back and forth between San Francisco and New York throughout my four years of college), I overcame this airsickness. Even so, still not a fan of air-food……… EXCEPT FOR JAL’S. I mean, C’MON, look at it! So beautiful and so delicious!

I watched two movies during the flight to Japan: The Edge of Tomorrow and X-Men: Days of Future Past. And then I slept a bunch. Here’s my sleeping buddy:

At least for me, flights any longer than three hours are a delicate game of “how can I contort my body in weird positions (and then switch positions every 30 minutes) to inflict the least possible pain on my neck/back?” Yes, that game, and “wow, I probably look really ugly/stupid right now in this position, but I really couldn’t care less right now. Must. Get. Rest.” It sometimes pains me when I look in the mirror of the airplane bathroom. Bloodshot eyes, matted oily hair, zero makeup. Eh, I guess it’s a traveling-rite-of-passage.

So we arrived in Tokyo around 10:30PM Friday night and had to catch a 1.5-hour bus to Tachikawa. By the time we got to the Tachikawa Palace Hotel, where we were staying, it was already 1AM. Do you know what 1AM Japanese time translates to in Pacific time? Yes, 8AM. TIME FOR SOME FRIDAY MORNING MEETINGS. Cisco never sleeps. So apparently, neither do I :-(. This is me on my 2:30AM WebEx call.

Hey… at least my room was super cute/nice (Haidee and I had separate adjacent rooms. WAHOO MY OWN BATHROOM!)

Oh, and here’s a picture I took of the lobby after we checked out. So festive and gorgeous!

Haidee and I had stayed at the Palace Hotel multiple times in our previous trips to Japan. We love it here. One of the main reasons being…. their amazing Western & Eastern-style buffet breakfast! To die for!

Okay, to get back on track, this diary post about my spiritual journey to Japan wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t insert some photos of the amazing Shinnyo-en World Youth Festival. So here they are:

This is Ogen’in – the international training center.

MEOW! (Haidee and Elaina pictured.)

Our group from San Francisco (my sister made us matching shirts so we could find each other among the insane crowds. Best idea ever.)

For international practitioners who were unable to attend the ceremony in person,  Shinnyo-en provided a live-stream for remote viewing. Apparently since Haidee and I were sitting in the front row, we got some air time. O_O Probably should’ve put on more makeup. Just kidding :). I definitely shed many happy tears so makeup wouldn’t have helped. But like I said, if anyone wants to hear about my experiences during the festival, I’d be glad to share!

Now back to Japan. I’m going to flat-out say it: I am HEAD OVER HEELS in love with this country. This was my fifth time traveling there. And this in itself is actually really surprising because if you know me, you’ll know I am so incredibly stubborn, and I often tell people, “I don’t want to travel to [insert country I’ve been to] AGAIN; I want to experience NEW things and NEW places.” Well, here’s me calling myself a hypocrite: Japan, you are my one and only exception. Every time I travel there, I am reminded of the splendor and beauty of Japanese culture. And not to mention the major nomz (foodie alert.) In fact, I’m going to start a list: Reasons why Japan is truly an amazing country.

#1: Food. People ask me: “If you had to live with one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?” Don’t even have to think about that one: Japanese. All of it. Get in my belly.

Side note: These are ramen vending machines! O_O

The resulting ramen:

We went to this incredible sushi boat restaurant in the airport (YES, THE AIRPORT). Who woulda thunk fresh, amazing nigiri would come from inside AN AIRPORT?

#2: The Architecture. So quaint and cute. As a typical Asian girl, I’m a sucker for cute little things. Everything in Japan (including its architecture/housing) is cute and little. Excellent.

Also, kind of as an addendum to the above, everything in Japan is so damn clean! You know how on every street corner in the U.S., there’s usually a trash can? AND PEOPLE STILL LITTER? Well, in Japan, there are hardly EVER any trash cans out in public and yet there is zero litter. Curious. (But yeah, sometimes it’s a nuisance trying to throw things away, haha.)

#3: The People. In Japan, kindness is not an action–it’s a cultural identity. People will go out of your way to be kind to you. It’s incredible, really. And honestly, as cliche as it sounds, it gives me hope for humanity. I have a few stories to exemplify this:

• Haidee and I got a little (okay… A LOT) lost on our way to a meeting Sunday morning. We stopped to ask directions a couple of times, and each time, the person/people would be so incredibly helpful, even though we knew no Japanese. They would invest the time in orienting us, then giving us comprehensive step-by-step directions to our destination.
• At the Palace Hotel, after we picked up our luggage from the bell hop, even though we never asked, the bell hop made absolutely sure we wouldn’t miss the bus to the airport, all the while juggling other patrons he needed to serve.
• A short story our friend Christina told Haidee and me: Christina (in Japan) was walking around and saw that this man was holding a dessert that she thought looked really delicious. She asked him where he got the dessert. Instead of just giving her directions, he walked her to the exact stand (which was actually A LONG WAYS away) and even went up to the counter and ordered the dessert for her!
• Something funny Christina also told us: Apparently, there was a robbery that happened in somewhere in Japan. The residents of the house being robbed returned to their home to find the burglar. How did they know he was there? They saw that he had taken off his shoes before entering the house. His shoes were on their front doorstep. HA! Imagine that ever happening in the U.S. …. (yeah, right.)

#4: The Toilets. You’re reading correctly, yes. Toilets. I’m so mad I didn’t get any pictures (I guess since it’s not exactly a “novelty” to me anymore…), but I’m a huge fan of Japanese toilets. I know this is going to sound very bizarre to those unfamiliar with this technology, but in Japan, EVEN IN PUBLIC PLACES, their toilets have … “washing capabilities”. Not washing itself (though yes, it does sanitize itself), but washing THE PERSON. You. Me. You might think, “Goodness gracious, Mendi, that sounds absurd and so uncomfortable.” And yes, you are not alone; I had these thoughts once. But the moment I overcame the squeamishness of the situation, I saw it for its sheer awesome. Also – and this is absolutely hilarious to me- the Japanese invented a button you can press in case you’re going #2 so that it plays the sound of a toilet flushing (to cover, you know, your sounds…).

And actually, I’m even a fan of the squat toilets in Japan (and I say “in Japan” mostly because in other Asian countries, squat toilets can be absolutely filthy, borderline unusable). You know what I’m talking about, right? The hole-in-the-ground toilets? My affinity for squat toilets is actually a very recent one, given that on this trip, I had to carry around my humongous Herschel backpack everywhere I went. And no, I did not enjoy having to take it off every time I went to the restroom (if you know me, you know that I have a very… small… bladder). Squat toilets fixed that for me. DON’T EVEN HAVE TO TAKE OFF MY BACKPACK TO USE THE RESTROOM 8-). So cool. So convenient. It’s the lazy man’s/woman’s toilet.

Wow, I can’t believe I just devoted two full paragraphs to my love for Japanese toilets. Blame it on the jetlag. Anyways, I’m sure (actually, positive) there’s so much more to say about how much I love Japan, but my exhausted mind cannot work any longer. Also, this post is getting long. Please do not expect subsequent entries to be this lengthy. (Nor do you want them to be, I’m sure.)

I will say in closing… This entire experience still seems unreal to me. The fact that I and the other members of our youth association decided to hop on a plane to Asia for a single weekend – definitely a big fat CHECK off the bucket list. And zero regrets. Hey, maybe this is the start of a new tradition: Weekends Abroad with Mendi. Just kidding, my bank account cringes.

So yes, Sayonara for now, Japan. Don’t you worry – I will definitely be back. Hopefully for a longer period of time next time. Or maybe for another weekend :).

With love,

Mendi

P.S. Please maintain your present exchange rate the next time I visit. 115 yen to a dollar?! Yes, please. Buy ALL the things!

(Tokyo International Airport: Haneda)

24 Nov This entry was published on November 24, 2014 at 12:05 am. It’s filed under Asia and tagged buddhism, japan, tokyo. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.