Farewelling the Setting Sun

Hullo folks again from the Land of the Long White Cloud as New Zealand is known. It's been just over a week since I arrived back in lil ol' Nelson, during which time I've caught up with friends, unpacked everything, and started preparing for my imminent departure to Victoria University of Wellington. Before I get all reflective and airy-fairy about the adventure, I'll cover the last few days I spent in Japan.



My last morning in Ebina was Thursday the 2nd of February. A morning like no other, I had more or less finished unpacking, with just the likes of my toothbrush and pyjamas left to go in. Midori was taking her handicapped class to a work experience day, something she could not get out of, and thus I said my farewell to her after breakfast before she left for work. Akira, however, finished work midmorning, and so came to pick me up at around 11. Midori's brother was kind enough to drive Akira and I to Shake station, which in itself is only a 10 minute walk, but when carrying two suitcases together weighing over 30kg, the idea of driving is a very pleasant one.

Akira and I took a series of trains to Ofuna, which is a fairly major train hub, and we met with the head honchos of the AFS Shonan Chapter, as well as Calvin and his host family. Calvin and I were both recipents of the JENESYS Scholarship, and we were leaving ahead of the rest of our chapter for a few days with the other JENESYS students to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the scholarship, as well as a bit of extra sightseeing.

On the train we were met by a few of the other JENESYS students, with many more meeting at Tokyo Station. Walking in convoy, we made our way to the first hotel of our stay, and in a move completely out of character for AFS Japan, were given free time for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Of course this was spent mainly with friends watching movies on the laptop that this blog is written on, but it was quite pleasant to not be on some rigid Japanese timetable for once.


The next morning we boarded a bus for the National Diet, as the Japanese Parliament Building is called. As the theme of this trip was seemingly political, going to the heart of Japanese Politics seemed a no brainer. The building itself is peculiarly shaped, but then who am I to talk when the Beehive is quite possibly one of the oddest Government Buildings around.

We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the buildings themselves, aside from the entrance room, but from the outside we could take all the photos we liked. Can't really say much more about the National Diet Building, it's rather something that you see instead of talk about, and seeing as I'm more or less devoid of photos of the place, can't really show you much.

Carrying on the Political theme, we walked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to thank the Ministers responsible for enacting JENESYS, gave some speeches, met the head of Japanese AFS (the guy I made cry in Hiroshima), etc etc, struggled to stay awake during it, blah blah blah.

After that, we once again hopped on our bus and made our way to the Tokyo Tower. I had visited it on my second trip to Japan, thus I didn't really need to take that many photos, if any, of the view. At this stage I was beginning to think the trip somewhat unnecessary, and you may be getting a similar vibe yourself, but somehting I can't really capture with photos or words is what I got up to with friends, which unfortunately doesn't make much of a blog post. There were movies in our room, the inevitable truth or dare games (I had to knock on a random door and propose to whoever opened the door, for example), and general shinanigans.

Saturday was the day that we left Japan, but as the flight was relatively late in the day, we had one final adventure to go on. Everyone's flights were staggered, with a lot of the other Asian/Oceanian countries leaving on the Sunday, they had a day in Tokyo, doing I don't know what. Their bus had them leaving at 8am, so after the New Zealanders farewelled them from the hotel, we finished packing our bags, and at 10 we went with the Thai students to a historic village in Chiba, very close to the airport. This village is based on an ancient Samurai Necropolis, and throughout the streets and woods of the village there are monumental stones to long dead Samurai. In the main street you can do various Japanese crafts, they have a blacksmith, woodcrafting, stiching, cooking etc. It is a place where the inhabitants replicate historic Japanese life, and it seems to be a popular place with people who have a few hours to burn before heading to the airport. Just like us really.

 The highlight of this village however, was not the blacksmiths or the Necropolis. It was in a former Samurai household, and cost a mere 200 yen (just under NZ$3) We got to dress up as Samurai, in Samurai armour that is several hundred years old and kept in good shape. The woman who did it started on my legs, wrapping fabric and turtle shell armour around my calves, which was followed by a 'skirt' which served to cover my thighs. She then put some long sleeves of the same fabric/turtle shell over my entire arms. Each sleeve was done individually, the sleeve for one arm being tied around the other arm. With the underarmour done, the main body armour was put on, which was a one piece, consisting of a breastplate, a second 'skirt', back and shoulder armour. With almost my entire body covered in armour, I donned a little fabric hat, and then the helmet was put on my head, and then Toroi Samurai was complete!

I was soon joined by Violet and Joseph, who were also similarly dressed in Samurai garb, and Diana, who was in what we called the 'Princess Kimono", which made for some cool photographs.

The armour wasn't as heavy as the armour of European warriors, but my shoulders were too shallow for the shoulder plates, and the hooks that hold the armour up were digging into my collar rather than passing over them, but it was definitely an awesome experience to dress up as a Samurai.

Following this we visited one last shrine, and it was at this time I started to feel a bit fatigued and icky (I had caught something from the boy I shared a hotel room with), so I was quite content to just sit down and see the shrine from a stationary point. The airport was a breeze, passing security was no problem, we set up camp in a row of chairs, I fell asleep, not really sure what the others did, then boarded the plane, and had a fairly rough flight (not as weather or turbulence is concerned, more like I wasn't feeling flash), and was very happy indeed to land, with home in sight.

For my arrival to Nelson, I had promised people that I would be arriving in a manner like no others, so during the 50 minute plane ride, I prepared.

This particular garment I found in December when I went to Yokohama with Ginga on the 23rd, in fact this suit is the reason I wanted to go there in the first place. I was second off the plane, and the look on people's faces as a Pikachu arrived through the gates was quite funny.


With that, I was home, and the Kanagawan Sun had set for my AFS Experience.

It feels good to be back, considerably warmer than when I left, and most definitely warmer than Japan. The first day I was back I was feeling cold, because my body was unused to wearing less than 3 layers indoors, so I was waling round in jeans, long shirt and jacket for my first full day back here. I've experienced no 're entry shock' as it is called, that is reacclimatising to your own culture after a long time away. This may be due to that I only spent 6 months instead of a year away (we'll never know), or that I'm just a jet setting machine whose tolerance to culutre shock borders on the extreme (probably not).

Now I have a week and a half left before I head up to Victoria University in Wellington, where I will begin my studies, majoring in Japanese and International Relations. My time in Japan has been fantastic, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, so I am very grateful to all the people who helped me get there, so that's of course AFS staff both in NZ and Japan, the Japanese who selected me for JENESYS, the Japanese taxpayer for paying for the scholarship, my host family for putting up with me for 6 months, my friends for dragging me around Tokyo and Yokohama, speaking very sloooooowly to me when needed, to my own parents for allowing, encouraging and helping me in Japan from New Zealand, and to you, the dear reader, for reading the pages and pages of drivel that I've put up into the vast cloud of stuff we call the internet. I hope you've been able to get something out of the blog, even if it was just from looking at the pictures.

From Under the Kanagawan Sun, Sayonara

Toroi