The last two days in Kobe, Japan have been among the best days of my entire Semester at Sea experience. I signed up to do a home-stay through a company called HIPPO. Tami, her husband, her son, who was eighteen, and her daughter, Kumiko, who was fifteen, were my hosts. Even though I had been hoping to be staying with a family with young children because I love Japanese babies, it was a fantastic experience to talk to Kumiko who was around the same age as me. The most exciting element of my host family was that Tami is quite the world traveler! In fact, she has been to Long Beach, California! She knew all about the Queen Mary and in fact had been aboard it when she was nineteen and did a home-stay in Orange County! What a happy accident that she would end up having been to Southern California.
Tami and Kumiko picked me up from the ship and we went to lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant. Then, we went to a sake museum. We happened to be in the area of Tami’s parents, so we paid them a surprise visit! They served us tea and a dessert they called cream cake. It was so rewarding for me and also for the parents to try and communicate with me in English. I was surprised that they spoke English, as most elderly Japanese do not. The most interesting part of our visit to the parents’ home was seeing the way that Japanese families interact. In America, if you visited your grandparents, you most likely would hug them when you entered their home. In Japan, there was no sentiment or exchange of affection, even between the mother and daughter. This is very typical of Japanese culture.
Finally, we made our way home. Tami’s home was at the top of a hill with spectacular views of Osaka. The winding roads up to the house reminded me of Northern California. My bedroom was a very traditional Japanese room, complete with wood walls and sliding doors and a mat to sleep on. The second I saw my mat, covered in thick blankets, I passed out asleep until dinner. And what a dinner it was! Cooked salmon, broccoli, sushi, edaname, and... octopus balls! No, it’s not what you’re thinking! Octopus balls are fried dough balls with octopus in the center. Let’s just say I wouldn’t eat them again.
At dinner, we were joined by Tami’s husband and son. The father is in the international oil business, so his English was very good. I enjoyed talking to him about the parts of America he’d seen, his opinion on the future of politics in Asia, especially involving China, and his dreams for his children. He wants them to be open to new cultures and new ideas and that is why he and his wife are so happy to have guests from all over the world. But Kumiko was getting mad at her father because she wanted to talk to me alone, so I excused myself and went back to the game room to hang out with Kumiko. She showed me pictures of all her friends and then taught me this awesome video game. It is like Guitar Hero, but instead of playing the guitar, the player plays a taiko drum! It was so much fun even though I was horrible at the game.
I slept like a baby and woke up to a fabulous breakfast prepared by Tami. Tami is not a housewife by choice (her dream is to teach English, but, as she shared, her husband prefers that she stays at home), but she sure is an excellent cook. We watched Japanese housewife tv programs until we left for Tami’s friend’s house.
It was a grand gathering of Tami and her girlfriends, all members of the home-stay HIPPO program, all hosting other Semester at Sea students. We learned calligraphy and origami with several Japanese housewives and their children. Then, most importantly, we ate! It was a potluck unrivaled! The most exciting part of the whole day was when Pero, our host, decided to put on music while we ate. She put on The Beatles! I just about died. There I was, eating potluck in a Japanese home, listening to I Want to Hold Your Hand. Some things are truly, truly universal, I guess.
After eating and drinking some delicious Hawaiian coffee (LOL), our group headed to a Buddhist temple. The air is so crisp in the cool Japan winter, and the cherry blossom tree-leaves are all a striking red-orange. No matter where one looks, the scenery is breath-taking.
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to our new friends. But, I truly know that I will stay in touch with my host family. It was not just that they were friendly and hospitable—it was so much more. Here were people, half way across the world, who shared the same ideals that I will strive to achieve in my everyday life. They want to experience new cultures. They want to try new foods, learn new languages. They want to meet new people. They travel the world in hopes of better themselves and others. They take their children to Paris, opening their eyes to the world outside the oft-culturally-isolated Japan. These are the kind of people I want to surround myself with. And, happily, for the last two days, I did.
Well, this is just about it. In this I mean that I will be visiting no more foreign countries. Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Vietnam, China, and now, finally, Japan. Our next stop is Hawaii. US territory. Home. Home? I can’t wait to use my cell phone and go to Starbucks and use US dollars. At the same time, I don’t want this semester to end.
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