Japan in the eyes of an American Teenager

 It’s a sea of limbs. Tons of arms and legs squirming around trying to fit into the train. There are men shoving people into the train. The sound of babies crying and people swearing rings through my ears. I watch in silence from my over crowded bench, I’m just lucky that’s not my train. The sound of the train vibrates through the entire tunnel and I hear the first call for my train to board. I try to pry my bag out from under the man sitting next to me. He seems oblivious to the fact that his butt is crushing my purse. I finally shove him over a bit and grab my purse. It is at that moment that I see a flood of people rushing to get on a train. I don’t even know how all those people fit into this building, let alone that tiny train. I strain to hear the intercom announce where this train is headed to but I vaguely make out the word Tokyo. That’s my train… I push past everyone in my way while muttering apologies, they seem unfazed by this behavior, it must be normal to them. I finally make it to the train and see that there is a line leading into every entrance of the train, it;s about 30 meters long. I quickly shuffle into line behind a very large family. The mother is holding her children by their shirts while trying to keep her spot in line. I finally get to the start to the line and feel someone's hands on my back shoving me into a very sweaty man. He glares at me and shoves me over. I look back just in time for someone to hit me in the face with an umbrella. The rest of the trip is a blur, I’m not sure if it’s because of my possible umbrella concussion or because I’m surrounded by tons of people and sound. The trips a blur, but once I get to the city I swear nothing's ever been this clear.

When the train stops I feel everyone start to move and get pushed out the door. I take my first step out of the train and immediately trip on something that’s either a banana or something I choose not to acknowledge. When I finally get above ground I’m temporarily blinded by all the lights. There are tons of billboards and cars everywhere. The city is lit up like a Christmas tree. I’m overwhelmed and realize a moment too late that I’m standing in front of the exit of the train station and get pushed into the busy street. I hear the sound of honking cars and sprint to the other side of the street and onto the sidewalk. The crowd carries me east until I finally cross the street and find myself at a small capsule hotel. I step inside and see that it is highly modernized. I rent a room, I know I’ll need more than nine hours but for now I just need somewhere to stay. I shower and climb into my tiny capsule room. It’s warm, soundproof and extremely tiny. I’ve never been the claustrophobic type but tonight I feel extremely cramped. I quickly find myself falling asleep and dreaming of the city lights.

Our Adventure at the beach!☀

 “Mom, can we go to the beach today?” That’s what my little brother asked. Mom said yes, but with the warning to stay next to her at all times. Why you ask, come with me and see. We get to the beach in Tokyo and as soon as we get out of the car, we are hit with waves of people. See why  mom insisted on us staying next to her at all times? The three of us make our way through the mass of bodies. We manage to get to a “clear” spot where people aren’t piled on top of each other. It isn’t much better, but it’s all we have. I try to spread our blanket out, but there were too many people. I guess we’ll just have to stand around packed like a bunch of sardines on the beach. The only way to get a little space is to go to the water. Looks like we’re going to battle again!

CAPSULE HOTELS!?

Convenient.  That is one word that describes capsule hotels. Now you ask what makes capsule hotels so convenient? Well I can easily answer that for you. First of all you do not have to get a reservation before coming to the hotel. I mean that's pretty crazy man! Say you had a delay on your plane and no other hotels are open. Well just go to a capsule hotel and check right in. The people at the front desk do their best to make sure that your stay is absolutely amazing.

Now, let's start talking about what the capsule hotel looks like. Inside a traditional capsule hotel there is a bed, a outlet, lights, plenty of storage and a television. One really cool thing about the lighting in some capsule hotels is that they can be used as your alarm clock.  You're probably wondering "how can lights be used as an alarm clock"!? Well that is a really good question and I have a really good answer. The lights automatically brighten to the time you set your clock so that you can naturally  wake up in the morning. Personally I would way rather wake up to my lights being brightened than a loud noise in my ear. Outside of the capsule hotel there is an area to freshen up. In this area there is a toilet, a sink, a shower and plenty of toiletries. If you are like me in the morning you are always in a rush. So not having to dig through your suitcase for toiletries will save you a lot of time in the morning and or at night.

I think that capsule hotels are extremely weird but they are also very convenient. If I got the chance to go and stay in a capsule hotel I would do it in a heartbeat. My favorite thing about capsule hotels is the fact that you get to sleep in a pod. When I was a kid I would always want to make forts to sleep in. But of course mom would always say "forts make a big mess". So now I get to stay in a fort without a mess. Would you want to stay in a capsule hotel? Why or why  not?
    

Finding my way through Tokyo for lunch. (Part 2)

As I walked down the crowded streets of Tokyo, Japan, I bumped into someone, and someone else, and yet another person! You need to be very mindful while walking the sidewalks here, you never know what kind of day someone has had, or how fast they need to get somewhere. I am in a rush today to get to the train station, I am meeting a friend for lunch today! I noticed a man selling something on the street. It looked to be some sort of hot dog stand… I decided to pass. Once I got to the train station I hopped on my train and when it was time, I got off and headed to my destination. I finally arrived at lunch, Pizzeria Da Peppe Napolistaca. Thanks for traveling through the city with me!

Life in Japan

In this interview I asked a normal male citizen of Japan a series of questions about what it is like to live there. I first asked, has he ever sleep overnight in a capsule hotel and what was it like. His answer was yes, he had stayed multiple times in a capsule hotel and he enjoyed his stay every time. He said that he had all the space he needed and it wasn't expensive all. I then asked him to tell me about his daily routines. He said he first woke up and hopped on  his bike and rode to the nearest train station. He told me about how they jammed so many people on the train and how you couldn't move at all. He said after that he had to go to his job and that he was running late to work. I had such an amazing time interviewing this man and learning about what it was like to live in Japan.

A Day in Japan

I just woke up in my tiny apartment here in Japan. Time to brush my teeth and get dressed for the day. There, I am all done with my morning routine. I'm off to walk to the train station so that I can get to my job at the Ford manufacturing factory. As I am walking the streets are full of people of all ages walking around. When I finally get to Tokyo Station it is packed. Next we all get shoved on the train. It is a tight squeeze all the way to the factory. I went to my job and worked and finally I got to go home and eat diner. That is a day in my life in Japan.

Wave Pool Of People

In Miyazaki, Japan it is tough to find some wave pools considering you can’t even see the water(as said in the video)!  All you see is a mass of people going up and down up and down up and down.  If you were new to Japan and wanted to go in one of them it would be scary(in my opinion).  I can imagine someone falling through their tube and getting stuck under the mass of people.  And if you weren’t one of the first people to get in you would have a very hard time to squeeze in with all those people.  It could be seen from buildings away the giant wave of people bobbing in the water sitting in multicolored tubes.  So if you ever think about going in a wave pool in Japan stop and think about what could happen.