Life-Changing Experience

Konnichiwa, Summimasen, Hajimemashite. When I first decided to travel to Japan, what I expected from when I visited there was totally different from what I actually experienced. I thought everyone drove cars, the roads wider, and people being more open and such. What I got was different though, I never knew that roads were so small, all the buildings are bunched together and people are polite but keep to themselves. Everyone is living in their own world over there, the atmosphere is quite different from America. Although the country is advanced in technology and such, the use of it in every-day life goes to an extreme along with the fantasies and the art of animation. Once the rural part of japan is discovered however, there, people are more open to making conversation. The traditions they practice also rises to the surface because they are away from techy Tokyo and such. The urban, sub urban, and rural life actually differ drastically. The places I have travelled to, Tokyo, Sapporo, Kamaishi, and Kyoto were all unique in there own way, they're all pieces in a puzzle that make up Japan as a whole. Almost all the Japanese people that were encountered were surprised at us American-jins and loved to hear us try to speak Japanese. Coming to japan I knew only a crumb of the cake and left with1/4 of it. There is still a lot I don't know about japan but what has been learned is more than enough for now, which sums up to quite a lot too. Along with the Japanese people I met and stayed with I was also able to communicate well with the people I went there with. My leaders were helpful and knowledgeable, their resourcefulness gave me a surprise too. Overall, everything was spectacular, this is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed!