Dear john: Wish
By Liane Kaneko
you were hereEVERY year, Castle High School participates in an exchange program with its sister school, Koike Gakuen, in Japan. The entire Koike Gakuen senior class comes to visit our school and stay on Oahu for a weekend. Then six of them stay to attend Castle for awhile. Castle students also have an opportunity to visit them every other year. I was fortunate to end my senior year with a trip to Japan, which involved 14 students. At one of our planning meetings we talked about Japanese customs. One of the things that freaked me out was learning that their idea of a toilet is a nice hole on the floor.
I was thinking about the toilet until the time we arrived at Honolulu International Airport, where I worried when I'd see a good ol' American toilet again. When I got to the hotel in Japan, there was my good ol' American toilet. I even had my friends take a picture of me with, not on, the toilet.
Then, when I met the student who would be hosting me at her home, the first thing I asked her was if she had an American toilet. She did! I was so happy.
Coming from Hawaii, I'm accustomed to the stereotypical image of the neat, orderly, somewhat bewildered Japanese tourist. I imagined Japan would be clean and full of neat, orderly, friendly, polite people. In Tokyo, it was a totally different story. The streets were full of rubbish. There were people passing out flyers on the streets and those on the receiving end simply threw them on the ground.
Walking around was a bruising experience. Everyone was in a rush, walking so fast. If I didn't keep up, people would pass, hitting me on the side in the process. Others walked so fast that they slammed right into me. There are no "sorrys," and it really hurts when that happens.
I will never look at Japanese tourists as lost souls again, now that I know what it feels like to be a tourist. I got looks that read, "Hello, what's wrong with you? Don't you understand?"
But the trip was not all about culture shock. In some ways, Tokyo was an American dream.
We felt a great amount of freedom and independence. We could go out at night with our friends, shopping and eating at sushi bars.
The shopping malls were a dream! One shopping mall, called Takashimaya, had about 15 floors, each dedicated to one thing. There were at least three floors with restaurants only. If I remember correctly, the seventh floor featured toys. Another floor had clothing, and one had office supplies.
Another mall I went to, Sunshine City, had a huge aquarium on the roof. There was one area featuring blocks and blocks -- almost a city -- of electronics. It was amazing.
And service was great. Clerks would ask if each purchase was a gift. If it was, they would take off the price tag and wrap it immediately.
Later, I met up with an aunt's friend and he took my friend and me to Disneyland. Rides and features are the same as in California. It was just a little weird to hear the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain songs in Japanese. And the ever-so-popular California Star Tours ride was pretty empty in Japan. On the other hand, the babyish merry-go-round was pretty busy!
The best thing about the whole trip was staying with my host student, Sakaya, and her family. They treated me very well. I didn't speak much Japanese and Sakaya didn't speak much English but we got along really well. Sayaka is coming to Castle in December, and although I will no longer be a student there, I hope to meet up with her again.
Liane Kaneko is a recent Castle High School
graduate and will attend the University of Hawaii
at Manoa in the fall.Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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