終わり (The End)

*This blog is officially finished

Posts:
My first post in Japan - here
Our Tokyo trip - here
My video compilation - here

Time flies, huh?

Yeah, it's all finished and I'm safe and sound back home. These last few weeks of touching either end of Japan (Hokkaido to Okinawa) were tiring yet fulfilling, and a unique part of my trip. I met so many new and old faces in this last month and it quickly became the best part of my trip all together.

A quick rundown -
I spent time in Hakodate and Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido (the snowy one). It was chilly but nice and I was reminded of Vancouver like 10 years ago. I had ramen every day and recorded the delicious factors of each one. For example, my favourite was kara miso ramen (spicy miso) with submerged whole hot peppers, but the one that won for service was a curry ramen place who gave me a free ice cream popsicle afterwards. Yes!

Afterwards I flew to Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan and my first tropical island experience. I explored wilderness, visited Japan's most famous aquarium, and fueled my interest in native island cultures. Possibly my favourite place in Japan solely for its uniqueness and vibrant nature.

Then, a quick trip to Fukuoka where I hiked across the northern cape (through a mountain) to find my ferry, which took me to Kobe in 12 hours. One more night in Kyoto with my bros, then back to Aichi where my old host family took me in for one last night (and I couldn't be more grateful). And then I was home.

I'm not going to "reflect", here. That's the point of this blog, or at least one point: ongoing reflection. If you want to know what I thought of the trip, read the blog. Or, I can sum it up for you: it was good.


Inspired by Brittany, I feel compelled to list all the people who contributed or partook in the fun I had. Apologies to anyone I forget.

First of all, the staff of Aichi Gakusen university were beyond helpful. As I've mentioned before, they seemed as excited as we were, and went out of their way to take us places and make things easier for us. Nishio-sensei deserves special mention; he's been doing this for a ridiculous amount of years and although he may look tired 24/7, he always looked out for us. Sasaki-sensei, Aoyama-sensei, Yamaguchi-sensei, Yamada-sensei, and others (that means you, my bad ass badminton teacher and loud kendo instructor).

The students of Aichi Gakusen were also incredibly interested in integrating us into their lives. Ayumi, Saori, Ayano, Mei, Yuki(s), Momo, Suzuka, Asako, and many others! Akiko deserves special mention because she went to so many lengths just to help us out without asking for anything in return. Rock on, Akiko.

Finally in the category of categories, our host families were almost unbelievably kind. I've heard horror stories, especially in Vancouver or other foreign places, but my two families did so much for me that made my life simpler while I was there, and I'll never forget it. Thank you Katos, and thank you Abes. I'll visit you again.

 

Individuals:
Brittany and John.
Nagano Yuki. <3
Natsuki, Mao, and Gun.
Makiko, for always being cool.
Risa for the same reason.
Manami and Yuki, Okinawa.
太真央 for everything, past, present, and future.
Mizuno for being generally awesome and letting me stay at his place.
Madoka-san for inspiring me.
The rest of the Kyoto gang: Nuki, Maasa, Shinji-kun, Nishiken, Ton-chan, Yousuke, Kenichi, Shito, everyone whose labs I barged into, drank with, and talked to.
Anna-Maria.
Eiichi "Ken" Takasaki.
Aleena.
Roxy, for so much.
Alecks and Dave for presents (and being cool)
Julian D.
Stefan and Kezia for bothering me.
Nick Collins for being lenient on the due dates(笑）
Mito-sensei and Shinbo-sensei, as well as all my classmates.
My family for somehow living without me.
Everyone who encouraged me, helped me, and congratulated me before I left.
All my viewers (you know who you are)
That arcade employee who found Game Inn Sakura for me.

Thank you.

Thank you, and good night.