Japan Trip Home Page

The following is an account of Shelly's part of the trip.

After many months of planning, fundraising, attending meeting, and even taking a Japanese language class, on March 17, 2003 off we went for a very wonderful and exciting trip to Itadori, Japan. This trip was part of a great program "The sister city exchange program" that was formed several years ago between North Pole, Alaska and Itadori, Japan. Even though we actually reside in Salcha (which is about 20 miles away) and not North Pole, Josh and I were welcomed into this group. This was Josh's 2nd trip to Itadori, he went through this same program in March 2001, and returning has been a main focus of his every since, but this time he so graciously allowed me to go along, as long as we didn't have to spend much time together ( so much for the strong bond between mother and son).

The trip there was a very long drawn out affair, first we had to be at the Fairbanks airport 2 hours early, which of course meant leaving Salcha an hour before that. Then a flight to Anchorage, where we had a lengthy layover and a change of airlines, then off to Seattle and on to Honolulu, Hawaii for a 24 hour layover there (Oh darn, life is so rough) where we spent the night in a hotel one block from the beach. As this was Josh and My first time in Hawaii, it was great, we spent the afternoon swimming in the wonderfully warm water with nice small waves rolling over us, then back to the hotel for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Jeff was kind enough to take pity on us because we didn't have a clue what to do or where to go, so he acted as a tour guide for us since the students that he was chaperoning and also the other student that I had had went sightseeing with another of the chaperones so it was just him, Josh and I, first we took a horse-drawn carriage ride around Waikiki, ate dinner in a great restaurant, where Josh and I had Mahi-Mahi (fish) for the first time. Honestly the best fish I have ever had. Then for the Hawaiian night life, we walked and walked and walked down the streets of Waikiki and through every little shop that we came to, it was really nice to walk in the warm night air with the gently breeze blowing just enough so that it wasn't too hot. (Everyone of you that knows me knows that I do not like the heat at all, so the wind was welcome as far as I was concerned, also here in Alaska there is no such thing as dark and warm together, so that also was a nice change).

After a good nights sleep, we were off again, this time across the international dateline to another country, another continent and a totally different culture. After two days of traveling, we were in Osaka, Japan, where we then took a tour bus, sent for us by the City of Itadori, on a 4 1/2 to 5 hour ride to the small village of Itadori. We arrived at Itadori City Hall at about 11PM where we were met by our host families, and taken away to start one of the most fascinating weeks of my life (starting with a much needed long nights rest). Josh was hosted by a family with another student named Michael. Another chaperone, named Deena, and I stayed together with our host family which consisted of the Grandmother, Father,
(Naoyoshi) Mother, (Etsuko) Daughter, (Yuki) (who does not live at home anymore, but we did get to go meet in Gifu City, where she lives), and the dog, (May).

Deena and I spent the first day sightseeing with our host father, Naoyoshi Nagaya, in and around the village of Itadori, which as close as I could figure, is a small mountain village about 10 miles long and 1/4 mile wide, surrounded by mountains and divided in half lengthwise by the Itadori River. Later that evening we attended the welcome party given in our honor, which was a lot of fun, with the Itadori students singing and dancing for us and a drum concert performed by several adults from the village.

The next day we got up early to leave by 5:00 to drive to Kyoto, which was several hours away, for the most incredible day of sightseeing, I realize that I cannot describe this city with words or even pictures, it is a mixture of modern city and ancient times coinciding together. I found myself completely immersed in a culture that I could not even begin to understand. First we drove through streets that looked like any other city, parked our car, started walking and within a couple of short blocks we were taken back in time, to narrow winding streets lined with open front shops trying not to get separated from our host in the sea of people, where as far as I could see, we were the only Americans to be found. After a couple of blocks like this, all of a sudden the street ended at the bottom of the steps of a huge Buddhist temple, The Kiyomizu Temple. Where we walked through many building older then our whole country as we know it, drank from the holy water as it ran from the mountain and also drank sweet, hot rice wine for the first time, (differs from Sake in that it is not fermented), which I enjoyed a lot. After this we went shopping in the small shops alone the streets in Kyoto. I have always liked open shops that you can just wander in and out of, so enjoyed this a lot. Next we went to the Heian Shrine, and after that, off to
Nijo Castle, by this time I was really starting to get into the history of all of this, and it was starting to sink in just how long ago all this had come about. About now I was getting really tired, each place that we stopped consisted of a lot of walking and usually stair climbing, so was more than happy to stop for lunch. We ate lunch restaurant where our host father explained that what we were eating was a "Traditional Kyoto Meal". This meal consisted of mainly vegetables of different sorts and a couple of different soups, most of it was really good, but have to admit that it was here that I had one item (not real sure what it was) that I tried two bites of and just could not do a third. The highlight of this meal for me was that several of the small dishes were sprinkled with small pieces of gold sheathing, (supposedly good for the complexion). After lunch we had one more stop before heading home, The Rokuon-Ji Temple. This was a beautiful place thats main feature was a golden pavilion, which was under construction while we were there, so kind of a letdown.

At least the next day we did get to sleep in a little before we were off again for another long fun-filled day. To first stop of the day was the Paper Museum. To me when I heard that, I thought Boring!!! boy was I mistaken. When you walked in the door you were greeted with a wonderful display of cherry trees, all in blossom, with various japanese figures mulling around under them, all created out of folded paper, to see the intricacy displayed here was a little humbling, to my disappointment photos were not allowed to be taken inside the main museum, but they probably could not do the items on display justice anyway, to see all the ways that this culture values this art form was worth the trip. While we were there, we did get to try our hand at paper making, and needless to say our instructor had to scrap both Deena and my first attempt at this, but after that we both managed to make a keepable sample, which then I purchased a wooden frame for mine, to make a miniature room divider out of, for Butch. Our next stop was Gifu City, where we picked up our host families daughter, Yuki, and we all went shopping in a mall together, which was an experience in itself, because for about 1-2 hours Deena and I were left on our own to shop, went really well until Deena tried to purchase an item with her credit card and there was a problem (some people had a problem using credit cards and some didn't, and sometimes it all depended on where you were shopping, as the same card worked some places and not others, so was kind of hit and miss, but we didn't know this at the time). With our very limited knowledge of the language and the cashier speaking about as much english as we Japanese, it turned into a very time consuming and confusing fiasco until finally a cashier that spoke wonderful English came and explained the problem and we got it straightened out. Continuing on with the day, let me tell you just because the sign outside says "Denny's" don't think they will have your favorite denny's menu inside, at least we were provided with menus in English and the chicken and rice meal that I decided on, turned out to be delicious.

Another beautiful spring day awaited us as we left to tour the schools in Itadori. This was one of the days that we spent as a group together. First to the Elementary School, where we took a tour, played games with the students and ate a typical school lunch with them. Itadori Elementary is a fairly new school built 6 years ago, has about 70 students in grades 1-6, is a two story building, with everything that you could possibly want in a school, including a swimming pool, state of the art computer lab, home-EC room and the list goes on. For lunch we had curried chicken and rice, salad, fruit and milk, while we ate, one of the interpreters informed me that it is mandatory to eat school lunch everyday and it cost about $20.00 a month for this, but the students are not allowed to leave anything on their plates, no exceptions (couldn't help but wonder how this would go over in our schools). After lunch the students are expected to clean up the lunchroom before returning to classes. After lunch we took the bus to the Junior High School, which is every bit as nice as the elementary school, an average of about 70-75 students attend this school in grades 7-9, and are taught English three times a week and some can elect to take more if desired, so many of the students spoke extremely good English and were a pleasure to visit with. We were given a tour of this building also and played more games to get to know the students, we were also introduced to the students that will be visiting Alaska in the fall of this year. To finish off our visit here, we participated in the making of rice cakes, where you took a huge wooden mallet and smashed cooked rice until it was a gooey glob, made balls out of it and rolled it in either green tea powder or a bean paste. After ninth grade, students have to attend a boarding school elsewhere, as there is no high school in Itadori, if I remember correctly it is in nearby Gifu City which is about an hours drive away. We had a couple of hours after visiting the schools to go home and get ready to attend a dinner party, for the adults of our group, and the leading citizens of Itadori. This event took place at a very nice restaurant in Itadori, where they closed the whole place just for us, (talk about feeling special). Along with a nine course meal that used 15 pieces of silverware and a set of chopsticks, we were served a variety of drinks which included sake. Now I have had sake before and didn't really care for it and as I am not a hard liquor drinker normally, I thought OK, to be polite, will take a small taste, let me tell you, I could very well get used to this, did not taste anything like the sake I have had in the past, was very smooth and had a nice easy taste. I can honestly say I have never had so much wonderful food at one meal before in my life, did not eat anything that was not heavenly and managed to eat every bite, as I was told by the interpreter, that was seated across from me, that to not, would be considered very rude, (and who am I to insult my hosts). By the time this evening was over my soft, fluffy warm bed was a welcome sight, for we knew that the next day was another early one filled with many things to see and do.

We spent the next day as a group going to Takayama, sightseeing and shopping. This was about a three hour bus ride starting early in the morning and traveling up through the mountains and then back down again. I was actually surprised to see several feet of snow at the higher elevations even though we had been told that it does get quite cold here and the snow could be really heavy, but as we traveled back down, it was nice and warm again and passed many rice fields that were being planted. On the way there, several people got to see wild monkeys on the side of the road, but I missed them, but did get a picture of a monkey crossing sign though. When we arrived in Takayama we all split up into groups and did our own thing, (Josh was really relieved that I didn't expect him to stay with me). A couple of us chaperones grouped up and enjoyed the narrow old streets and open markets, even tried to go into a sake bar for a drink, but once we were in there, didn't know how to order anything, so left. We were told that the round balls hanging outside of the sake bars were symbols for the type of sake that they had available in each bar. The green balls meant that the sake was freshly made and the brown ones were for the older sake. Still not sure which is suppose to be better, maybe next time I return, will be able to ask more questions. After the group met back up at a temple, we were back on the bus to travel to a museum, then to a mall to shop. Now the museum is a story in itself, what we had asked for from the travel agency that made these arrangements, was a sword museum where you could also purchase a sword or knife, but what we got was a beautiful modern multi-million dollar two story museum dedicated to razors, yes, you are reading this right, razors, as in shick and Gillette. With whole rooms dedicated to razor blade boxes or artwork made from used razor blades. Imagine the excitement of all our teenagers when we toured this place, the worst part was, they were not even suppose to be open that day, but a couple of employees came in just for our tour. A couple of hours shopping later and then homeward bound.

Boy did it feel good to sleep in this morning, then took a nice leisurely walk around Itadori, even got up the nerve to talk to some of the locals on my way. Spent the first part of the day just relaxing, then off to the farewell party given in our honor. Couldn't hardly believe that the trip was almost over. Was just starting to be able to communicate a little bit with our host family and loosen up some. The party was a lot of fun, with good food cooked on large grills and some fun games, played by students and adults. Won some neat souvenirs playing bingo.

Was awake by 3:00, just couldn't seem to sleep any later, had to be to the City Hall building by 4:45 am anyways to meet the bus to Nagoya. In some ways was really looking forward to going home, but wished I could stay just a couple of more days. We took the bus to Nagoya, then the bullet train to Tokyo and a commuter train to the airport. I won't even go into the fiasco of the train, will just say if you ever have a choice of traveling with 37 people, most of them teenagers, with all their luggage, not really sure what is going on yourself, either by train in Japan or by any other means, take the other means, no matter what! Here we were with all our luggage trying to get on a train that was meant for people basically traveling to the office each day, along with hundreds of other people. One nice thing was that we did get to see Mt. Fuji from the train window. In the end it turned out ok, we didn't loose anyone or any bags, But by the time we got to the airport, through customs and to the gate, nerves were frayed by all and looks could kill. After another long plane ride, we finally arrived back on american soil in Seattle, where we had many hours to kill before boarding another plane back to Anchorage, then on to Fairbanks. What a great feeling to be home. After being awake for about 30 hours, I was in my own bed :)

This page was created for the sole purpose of family and friends to learn about Josh and Shelly's student exchange trip to Itadori, Japan. Some of the pictures overlap, as we did actually spend a little time together.
To view pictures of Josh's trip.	To view pictures of Shelly's trip.
*The following is an account of Shelly's part of the trip.* After many months of planning, fundraising, attending meeting, and even taking a Japanese language class, on March 17, 2003 off we went for a very wonderful and exciting trip to Itadori, Japan. This trip was part of a great program "The sister city exchange program" that was formed several years ago between North Pole, Alaska and Itadori, Japan. Even though we actually reside in Salcha (which is about 20 miles away) and not North Pole, Josh and I were welcomed into this group. This was Josh's 2nd trip to Itadori, he went through this same program in March 2001, and returning has been a main focus of his every since, but this time he so graciously allowed me to go along, as long as we didn't have to spend much time together ( so much for the strong bond between mother and son). The trip there was a very long drawn out affair, first we had to be at the Fairbanks airport 2 hours early, which of course meant leaving Salcha an hour before that. Then a flight to Anchorage, where we had a lengthy layover and a change of airlines, then off to Seattle and on to Honolulu, Hawaii for a 24 hour layover there (Oh darn, life is so rough) where we spent the night in a hotel one block from the beach. As this was Josh and My first time in Hawaii, it was great, we spent the afternoon swimming in the wonderfully warm water with nice small waves rolling over us, then back to the hotel for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Jeff was kind enough to take pity on us because we didn't have a clue what to do or where to go, so he acted as a tour guide for us since the students that he was chaperoning and also the other student that I had had went sightseeing with another of the chaperones so it was just him, Josh and I, first we took a horse-drawn carriage ride around Waikiki, ate dinner in a great restaurant, where Josh and I had Mahi-Mahi (fish) for the first time. Honestly the best fish I have ever had. Then for the Hawaiian night life, we walked and walked and walked down the streets of Waikiki and through every little shop that we came to, it was really nice to walk in the warm night air with the gently breeze blowing just enough so that it wasn't too hot. (Everyone of you that knows me knows that I do not like the heat at all, so the wind was welcome as far as I was concerned, also here in Alaska there is no such thing as dark and warm together, so that also was a nice change). After a good nights sleep, we were off again, this time across the international dateline to another country, another continent and a totally different culture. After two days of traveling, we were in Osaka, Japan, where we then took a tour bus, sent for us by the City of Itadori, on a 4 1/2 to 5 hour ride to the small village of Itadori. We arrived at Itadori City Hall at about 11PM where we were met by our host families, and taken away to start one of the most fascinating weeks of my life (starting with a much needed long nights rest). Josh was hosted by a family with another student named Michael. Another chaperone, named Deena, and I stayed together with our host family which consisted of the Grandmother, Father, (Naoyoshi) Mother, (Etsuko) Daughter, (Yuki) (who does not live at home anymore, but we did get to go meet in Gifu City, where she lives), and the dog, (May). Deena and I spent the first day sightseeing with our host father, Naoyoshi Nagaya, in and around the village of Itadori, which as close as I could figure, is a small mountain village about 10 miles long and 1/4 mile wide, surrounded by mountains and divided in half lengthwise by the Itadori River. Later that evening we attended the welcome party given in our honor, which was a lot of fun, with the Itadori students singing and dancing for us and a drum concert performed by several adults from the village. The next day we got up early to leave by 5:00 to drive to Kyoto, which was several hours away, for the most incredible day of sightseeing, I realize that I cannot describe this city with words or even pictures, it is a mixture of modern city and ancient times coinciding together. I found myself completely immersed in a culture that I could not even begin to understand. First we drove through streets that looked like any other city, parked our car, started walking and within a couple of short blocks we were taken back in time, to narrow winding streets lined with open front shops trying not to get separated from our host in the sea of people, where as far as I could see, we were the only Americans to be found. After a couple of blocks like this, all of a sudden the street ended at the bottom of the steps of a huge Buddhist temple, The Kiyomizu Temple. Where we walked through many building older then our whole country as we know it, drank from the holy water as it ran from the mountain and also drank sweet, hot rice wine for the first time, (differs from Sake in that it is not fermented), which I enjoyed a lot. After this we went shopping in the small shops alone the streets in Kyoto. I have always liked open shops that you can just wander in and out of, so enjoyed this a lot. Next we went to the Heian Shrine, and after that, off to Nijo Castle, by this time I was really starting to get into the history of all of this, and it was starting to sink in just how long ago all this had come about. About now I was getting really tired, each place that we stopped consisted of a lot of walking and usually stair climbing, so was more than happy to stop for lunch. We ate lunch restaurant where our host father explained that what we were eating was a "Traditional Kyoto Meal". This meal consisted of mainly vegetables of different sorts and a couple of different soups, most of it was really good, but have to admit that it was here that I had one item (not real sure what it was) that I tried two bites of and just could not do a third. The highlight of this meal for me was that several of the small dishes were sprinkled with small pieces of gold sheathing, (supposedly good for the complexion). After lunch we had one more stop before heading home, The Rokuon-Ji Temple. This was a beautiful place thats main feature was a golden pavilion, which was under construction while we were there, so kind of a letdown. At least the next day we did get to sleep in a little before we were off again for another long fun-filled day. To first stop of the day was the Paper Museum. To me when I heard that, I thought Boring!!! boy was I mistaken. When you walked in the door you were greeted with a wonderful display of cherry trees, all in blossom, with various japanese figures mulling around under them, all created out of folded paper, to see the intricacy displayed here was a little humbling, to my disappointment photos were not allowed to be taken inside the main museum, but they probably could not do the items on display justice anyway, to see all the ways that this culture values this art form was worth the trip. While we were there, we did get to try our hand at paper making, and needless to say our instructor had to scrap both Deena and my first attempt at this, but after that we both managed to make a keepable sample, which then I purchased a wooden frame for mine, to make a miniature room divider out of, for Butch. Our next stop was Gifu City, where we picked up our host families daughter, Yuki, and we all went shopping in a mall together, which was an experience in itself, because for about 1-2 hours Deena and I were left on our own to shop, went really well until Deena tried to purchase an item with her credit card and there was a problem (some people had a problem using credit cards and some didn't, and sometimes it all depended on where you were shopping, as the same card worked some places and not others, so was kind of hit and miss, but we didn't know this at the time). With our very limited knowledge of the language and the cashier speaking about as much english as we Japanese, it turned into a very time consuming and confusing fiasco until finally a cashier that spoke wonderful English came and explained the problem and we got it straightened out. Continuing on with the day, let me tell you just because the sign outside says "Denny's" don't think they will have your favorite denny's menu inside, at least we were provided with menus in English and the chicken and rice meal that I decided on, turned out to be delicious. Another beautiful spring day awaited us as we left to tour the schools in Itadori. This was one of the days that we spent as a group together. First to the Elementary School, where we took a tour, played games with the students and ate a typical school lunch with them. Itadori Elementary is a fairly new school built 6 years ago, has about 70 students in grades 1-6, is a two story building, with everything that you could possibly want in a school, including a swimming pool, state of the art computer lab, home-EC room and the list goes on. For lunch we had curried chicken and rice, salad, fruit and milk, while we ate, one of the interpreters informed me that it is mandatory to eat school lunch everyday and it cost about $20.00 a month for this, but the students are not allowed to leave anything on their plates, no exceptions (couldn't help but wonder how this would go over in our schools). After lunch the students are expected to clean up the lunchroom before returning to classes. After lunch we took the bus to the Junior High School, which is every bit as nice as the elementary school, an average of about 70-75 students attend this school in grades 7-9, and are taught English three times a week and some can elect to take more if desired, so many of the students spoke extremely good English and were a pleasure to visit with. We were given a tour of this building also and played more games to get to know the students, we were also introduced to the students that will be visiting Alaska in the fall of this year. To finish off our visit here, we participated in the making of rice cakes, where you took a huge wooden mallet and smashed cooked rice until it was a gooey glob, made balls out of it and rolled it in either green tea powder or a bean paste. After ninth grade, students have to attend a boarding school elsewhere, as there is no high school in Itadori, if I remember correctly it is in nearby Gifu City which is about an hours drive away. We had a couple of hours after visiting the schools to go home and get ready to attend a dinner party, for the adults of our group, and the leading citizens of Itadori. This event took place at a very nice restaurant in Itadori, where they closed the whole place just for us, (talk about feeling special). Along with a nine course meal that used 15 pieces of silverware and a set of chopsticks, we were served a variety of drinks which included sake. Now I have had sake before and didn't really care for it and as I am not a hard liquor drinker normally, I thought OK, to be polite, will take a small taste, let me tell you, I could very well get used to this, did not taste anything like the sake I have had in the past, was very smooth and had a nice easy taste. I can honestly say I have never had so much wonderful food at one meal before in my life, did not eat anything that was not heavenly and managed to eat every bite, as I was told by the interpreter, that was seated across from me, that to not, would be considered very rude, (and who am I to insult my hosts). By the time this evening was over my soft, fluffy warm bed was a welcome sight, for we knew that the next day was another early one filled with many things to see and do. We spent the next day as a group going to Takayama, sightseeing and shopping. This was about a three hour bus ride starting early in the morning and traveling up through the mountains and then back down again. I was actually surprised to see several feet of snow at the higher elevations even though we had been told that it does get quite cold here and the snow could be really heavy, but as we traveled back down, it was nice and warm again and passed many rice fields that were being planted. On the way there, several people got to see wild monkeys on the side of the road, but I missed them, but did get a picture of a monkey crossing sign though. When we arrived in Takayama we all split up into groups and did our own thing, (Josh was really relieved that I didn't expect him to stay with me). A couple of us chaperones grouped up and enjoyed the narrow old streets and open markets, even tried to go into a sake bar for a drink, but once we were in there, didn't know how to order anything, so left. We were told that the round balls hanging outside of the sake bars were symbols for the type of sake that they had available in each bar. The green balls meant that the sake was freshly made and the brown ones were for the older sake. Still not sure which is suppose to be better, maybe next time I return, will be able to ask more questions. After the group met back up at a temple, we were back on the bus to travel to a museum, then to a mall to shop. Now the museum is a story in itself, what we had asked for from the travel agency that made these arrangements, was a sword museum where you could also purchase a sword or knife, but what we got was a beautiful modern multi-million dollar two story museum dedicated to razors, yes, you are reading this right, razors, as in shick and Gillette. With whole rooms dedicated to razor blade boxes or artwork made from used razor blades. Imagine the excitement of all our teenagers when we toured this place, the worst part was, they were not even suppose to be open that day, but a couple of employees came in just for our tour. A couple of hours shopping later and then homeward bound. Boy did it feel good to sleep in this morning, then took a nice leisurely walk around Itadori, even got up the nerve to talk to some of the locals on my way. Spent the first part of the day just relaxing, then off to the farewell party given in our honor. Couldn't hardly believe that the trip was almost over. Was just starting to be able to communicate a little bit with our host family and loosen up some. The party was a lot of fun, with good food cooked on large grills and some fun games, played by students and adults. Won some neat souvenirs playing bingo. Was awake by 3:00, just couldn't seem to sleep any later, had to be to the City Hall building by 4:45 am anyways to meet the bus to Nagoya. In some ways was really looking forward to going home, but wished I could stay just a couple of more days. We took the bus to Nagoya, then the bullet train to Tokyo and a commuter train to the airport. I won't even go into the fiasco of the train, will just say if you ever have a choice of traveling with 37 people, most of them teenagers, with all their luggage, not really sure what is going on yourself, either by train in Japan or by any other means, take the other means, no matter what! Here we were with all our luggage trying to get on a train that was meant for people basically traveling to the office each day, along with hundreds of other people. One nice thing was that we did get to see Mt. Fuji from the train window. In the end it turned out ok, we didn't loose anyone or any bags, But by the time we got to the airport, through customs and to the gate, nerves were frayed by all and looks could kill. After another long plane ride, we finally arrived back on american soil in Seattle, where we had many hours to kill before boarding another plane back to Anchorage, then on to Fairbanks. What a great feeling to be home. After being awake for about 30 hours, I was in my own bed :)