China and Japan have been two of my favorite countries on the voyage thus far. One is rich with a vibrant culture while the other contains more natural beauty than any other country I’ve ever visited. To really understand China, one must grasp the concept of Ying and Yang. I’m sure the first thing that pops into most people’s minds is a yin-yang symbol etched on a piece of jewelry or something like that. Most people are aware that it represents balance, but what does it mean to the Chinese? It represents a balance that permeates nearly every aspect of life; not just good and evil. It represents man and woman, sun and moon, sweet and salty, strength and weakness; every opposite present in our lives, and how we need those opposites present to be complete. I admire this philosophy of balance. We could learn a lot from it as United States citizens. So often we lack the ability to maintain balance in our lives. We think being strong means being powerful, being rich leads to success, and being smart means being wise. I’d like to propose that, on each of these fronts, we are quite wrong.
We spent two days in Hong Kong and two days in Shanghai. Hong Kong, as you may or may not know, is a “special administration region.” Basically, it’s a free state that the Chinese government claims jurisdiction over. As such, it has a free market, making it a rich area. I’ve never seen so many tall buildings in my life! A cool side note: our ship was docked across the bay from a business center affectionately dubbed “batman tower.” One of the scenes from the dark night was filmed there. Yeah, Christian Bale leapt hundreds of feet from that building! Got to love Hong Kong.
One of the best experiences I had in Hong Kong was learning tai chi by the waterfront. Tai chi is a perfect display of the Chinese philosophy of balance. It’s a smooth and graceful pattern of exercises, but every position can be used for defense. It requires steady footing and a clear mind. Well… I’m working on the steady footing thing! We also learned how to serve tea. Tea drinking, in China, is an activity widely practiced by scholars. If you’re going to be a proper scholar in China, you learn how to serve tea. It’s not as easy as you’d think, either. The tea tastes AMAZING, though. I had some of the best teas I’ve ever tasted in China, and I drink a LOT of tea. Most of their teas are very light in contrast to British teas. You can buy packs of tea leaves in some shops, and it’s like purchasing fine wine! The packs are dated and aged for flavor.
In Shanghai, we were lucky enough to get tickets to a Chinese acrobatics show. It was pretty amazing. Yet again, most of their stunts were about maintaining balance. In one act, a woman balanced nearly twenty crystal glasses on her forehead. She was standing on a moving platform and she was wearing heels. Well, I was impressed. One of the main social arenas in China is the night market. They sell everything from food and clothes to luggage and paintings. I personally enjoyed the street vendor food, but I’ll eat nearly anything. Night markets are the perfect place to really immerse yourself in China. You can people-watch, try local dishes, and just explore!
Culturally, I found Japan to be different than China, at least in the modern sense. Japan is very orderly, dare I say mechanized. On the subway, the cars were stuffed with people, but no one was making a sound except for a group of noisy American study abroad students (yes, they were from Semester at Sea). I was actually kind of embarrassed. Everything is clean, and everyone dresses fashionably. Nearly every woman I saw was wearing heels. I felt rather shoddy in my sweat jacket and jeans with my hair pulled back in a messy bun. Japan feels more westernized than China, yet the sense of communalism is similar. Another thing I admire about China (and Japan): people aren’t nearly as individualistic as they are in the United States.
The natural beauty is what stands out to me when I reflect on Japan. We arrived in Kobe/Kyoto during the cherry blossom season. Japan’s cherry trees only bloom for 1-2 weeks every year, so we were lucky. Only 1/3 of the Semester at Sea voyages have a chance to see cherry blossoms in Japan. The first time I saw cherry trees in bloom was at a Shogun’s palace. We had taken a day trip to Kyoto and were walking through a garden. When we turned a corner, the whole pathway was lined with trees in full bloom. Few things are more beautiful in my mind. When the wind blows, petals fall from the sky like snowflakes. It’s an awesome experience.
In Yokohama, we visited Tokyo and Mount Fuji. Tokyo has two sides: it is both historical and metropolitan. We took a train to Tokyo and walked to a park in the center of town. We went to a business center, where a lot of local people worked, and bought fresh tempura and rice. So good! We took the food to the park and ate there. After we ate, we decided that it would be fun to fly a kite. Not a conventional thing to do on an afternoon in Tokyo, believe me. We were having a great time. The kids in the park were playing with us and the weather was fantastic. After about ten minutes, a cop approached us and indicated to us, in Japanese, that kite flying was not allowed in the park. We were kind of sad, but we didn’t feel like flying a kite in that particular park was worth being thrown into a Japanese prison. So we moved our scandalous kite-flying elsewhere. We walked to another park and started flying the kite by a lake. There were trees nearby and the kite managed to get stuck. We wrestled it free but, as soon as we had freed the kite, the cops were upon us once again. Apparently it is illegal to fly kites in Tokyo. We don’t really know. We kept getting reprimanded in Japanese!
Mount Fuji was definitely a cool experience, too. We had to drive several hours to see it, but it was still covered in snow from a previous winter storm. The trip we were on took us up the side to the 5th station. That’s about 2,000 kilometers (6,000 feet!) high. Abby, Jessi, and I got to lob a little snow at each other. It was cold, but well worth it! After Fuji, we visited a town called Hakone on the edge of Lake Ashi. Once again, incredibly naturally beautiful!
I enjoyed China and Japan so much because they left a beautiful imprint on my mind. Every country has left a lingering impression upon me, but I feel like I learned so much from these places; things I wish every American citizen could learn.
As we head towards Hawaii, Guatemala, and the Panama Canal, I can hardly believe Fort Lauderdale, FL is on the horizon. The voyage of a lifetime is coming to a close and I cannot even fully fathom all that I have seen, experienced, and learned.
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