Japan First Impressions / Host Family Experience

*Note: Not posted in real time

It is halfway through the 10 day Kakashi Project Japan trip, and I am currently in Nagano, Japan.

A few reflections on Japan so far:

Everything is so clean and orderly. And unlike in the United States, there’s so much color integrated into various designs, which is really aesthetically pleasing. I haven’t seen an “ugly” part of Japan yet. Even the older buildings are very clean and have a tremendous amount of charm to them due to the thoughtfulness of how things are placed and organized.

First morning in Tokyo 

Our very first night in Japan we stayed in a Tokyo hotel, and shortly after arriving we walked around our hotel a bit to get a feel for the area. Even in Tokyo, one of Japan’s biggest cities, I felt extremely safe walking around at night – which is something that I would never do back in Hawaii.

I also didn’t see a single homeless person or piece of trash on the street, which is completely opposite from what I see everyday when attending university in downtown Honolulu. No sign of homeless, trash, or danger. Yet, there’s so much happening on every corner. Japan almost feels like a strange utopian world.

When arriving to Nagano, we were each assigned to a homestay family. I was assigned to the Kakimoto family, where I met “Otosan”, “Okasan”, and their two children Soshi and Kaari.  As soon as we entered their home, the Kakimoto family immediately made us feel like we were at home.

Nagano Winter Alps 

Our time with them was filled with delicious Japanese food (and lots of it), skiing, shopping, baking, onsen, chatting, and laughing. Okasan spoke some English, but there was often a communication gap. Despite this, she was extremely energetic and devoted to communicating with us through hand motions, comparisons, and expressions. While giving us skiing lessons in particular, she made sure to give us step-by-step instructions and even physically catch us to stop us at the bottom of the hill. Otosan didn’t speak any English at all, yet he was able to make us all laugh throughout our stay simply through actions and gestures. Kaari, who spoke English very well, immediately took us under her wing and treated us all as sisters, including us in activities and conversation, and snapping tons of photos together. So far, the home stay portion was my favorite part of this trip. Just being able to interact with people from another country, be a part of their every day lives, and be able to talk and bond with them despite cultural differences, was an amazing and unforgettable experience. While it was difficult to say goodbye to the Kikumoto family, I know that our time with them was well spent, and I am happy to have made memories with them, and look forward to creating more in the future.

Until then, back to Tokyo!