As you may or may not know back in 2006 I studied abroad in Japan. Now I’ll be honest there were bad times, times where I just wanted to go home, and I still till this day wish I had not stayed with a host family, but I’ll blog about why that is later.
For now I want to focus on the positive when you leave Japan good or bad you can’t stop talking about it probably because if you are an American especially you can’t really find a country that will make you feel strange, amazing, confused and vulnerable more than this one.
With that said here we go here are my 20 reasons on why you should study abroad in Japan.
1. The sightseeing. This is my photo from Osaka it’s the place where the gods came down.
2. You will come away with some amazing friends and some weird ones and you may or may not stay in contact, but you will always remember them when you remember Japan and all the crazy stuff you guys saw and did.
3. 100 Yen Shops are amazing and you will want to live in it and bring it home with you.
4. They have the best high tech toilets ever. (Warning: Not all toilets are like this and most public toilets are holes in the ground…I recommend finding the closest McD’s for a Western Style toilet.)
5. They totally respect older buildings no matter how awkward it looks with their skyline.
6. There is Ramen everywhere and if you don’t like Ramen by the end of it you’ll love it and no this is nothing like the Top Ramen from the grocery store.
7. They have crazy amazing festivals like the Snow Festival in Sapporo.
For realz they got snow sculpture amazingness.
One more…
8. They are home to Pokemon and about a million other amazing anime type things and yes buses do exist like this over there.
9. The temples. Steeped in history you will never find a place more immersed in culture and technology at the same time.
10. Your rail pass is a work of art. (Not sure if this is still the design, but it was when I was there)
11. This is totally normal and real. A small boat ride from Hiroshima to an Island off the coast and you will be on an Island full of deer with amazing hikes and crazy Monkeys too.
12. SUSHI! duh!
13. Those crazy monkeys. One yes you can get this close. Two be careful in some areas they will rob you and no I’m not joking they have warning signs.
14. Shibuya! The fashion district is amazing and if you think Halloween is crazy go during a regular time of the year girls will be all dressed in Lolita fashion and it’s like walking into a really edgy fashion magazine.
15. You will most likely get to go to a Tea Ceremony and wear a sweet ass kimono.
16. The Castles. This one is Himeji and it was amazing. (Warning: Wear good shoes when at tamples or castles the stairs are usually wood and get really slippery so basically if you have bad shoes and are uncoordinated like me you will fall down…a lot.)
17. They have a sense of humor and the penis has it’s own festival.
18. Cat cafes!
19. You will never go hungry.
Note on the food: when will you ever get to try this many flavors of KitKats?
20. Seeing a guy with a pet penguin on the street is totally normal and in no way will you feel like you belong, but that’s the magic of it because you don’t really have too.
Well I hope if you do study abroad you get way more photos than I did. In 2006 internet access wasn’t as easy over there just yet and neither were digital photos needless to say most of my photos are printed and with my mom in Michigan, but the experience is with me forever and if you are past the point where you can study abroad there just GO! It was an insane experience I will never forget and I doubt you would too.
Kate In LA 