Speaker 1: 0:02

Insightful Podcasts by Informative Hosts. Insights into Things a podcast network. Welcome to Insights into Teens, a podcast series exploring the issues and challenges of today's youth. Your hosts are Joseph and Madison Whalen, a father and daughter team making their way through the challenges of the teenage years.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Welcome to Insights into Teens. This is episode 191, Land of the Rising Sun. I am your host, Joseph Whalen, and my adventurous and worldly co-host, Madison Whalen. Hi everyone so how are you doing today, Maddie?

Speaker 3: 1:10

I'm doing all right. A little tired, but I'm all right.

Speaker 2: 1:13

A little tired, still suffering from jet lag.

Speaker 3: 1:15

I don't think anymore, just tired because I'm actually doing stuff now.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Okay, all right. I know you had a rough time with the jet lag and we're going to get into all of that today.

Speaker 3: 1:33

On today's episode we're going to recap your what was it? 10 days in Japan Kind of Well technically 10 days in Japan and three days in the air, Well, more eight days technically Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:41

We do have the agenda. We're going to run through that. We're going to have you tell us what it was like, how interesting it was, and, yeah, that's what today's podcast is going to be about, Because I think a lot of other kids out there would appreciate it from the perspective of a teenager. Before we do that, though, I do want to invite the listening and viewing. I was going to say subscribers, but I'm asking you to subscribe. So if I'm asking you to subscribe, you're not a subscriber yet. So our listening audience and our viewing audience you can find us listed as insights into things for all of our podcasts, both video and audio. You can also find us listed as insights into teens just our audio podcasts and they're available on Apple, Spotify, Google, I heart radio, tune in pretty much anywhere you can get a podcast. I would also invite you to write in contact us.

Speaker 2: 2:47

We do have a call-in number now, so no one's actually answering the phones, but you can leave a voicemail on the message itself and we'll get you on a future podcast with your comments. You can call in to 856-403-8788, or you can email us at comments at insightsintothingscom. You can find us on Twitter or X as it is now at insights, underscore things, or you can find links to all those and more on our official website at wwwinsightsintothingscom. Are we ready? Sure, here we go. So before we get into all the fun stuff you did on the trip, we kind of have to talk about the transit, the plane right there. So you had two flights over.

Speaker 2: 3:50

You had one flight from jersey to san francisco well, more philly to san francisco, well yeah, philly, to san francisco, coast to coast you went yep uh you got a little layover there and then from there you jumped across the the Pacific all the way over to Japan. How long did it take you total getting there?

Speaker 3: 4:12

Well, it took about five hours from Philly to San Fran and then around 11-ish hours, a little more, a little less. I still don't entirely remember. They technically gave us how long it was, but about 16 hours, I'd say overall.

Speaker 2: 4:32

For just to get there. Yes, now the other interesting thing and something that I was struggling with the entire time you were there was not only the time difference, but you crossed the international date line, so you were in the future for us. You were 13 hours in the future for us, right?

Speaker 3: 4:50

Yep.

Speaker 2: 4:51

And I just could not wrap my head around that. How did that affect you when you got there being literally 13 hours off your regular clock?

Speaker 3: 5:00

Well, the jet lag was probably a cause of that because, like when I ended up getting off, like the international flight, I felt like I was going to puke, I needed the bathroom, I wanted to eat, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to collapse all at the same time.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Sounds like you really had a good time on that trip, then huh.

Speaker 3: 5:23

Well, when I came we ended up landing that day and of course at that point it was like two in the afternoon that day and we had something to do and I'm like can we please just head back to a hotel? I don't feel good, but by the time we actually got to the thing we had like an hour long bus ride, so I was able to kind of calm down. That helps.

Speaker 2: 5:45

So this trip wasn't a spur of the moment thing. Obviously, this is something that had been in the works for several years now. What did you do prior to the trip to kind of prepare you for the journey or to get you ready to immerse yourself in culture in Japan?

Speaker 3: 6:03

Well, for one I started using Duolingo and, you know, got to the point of understanding that. You know it really wanted you to continue your streak because it held your family hostage.

Speaker 2: 6:18

It does tend to do that, doesn't it? It's very insistent.

Speaker 3: 6:22

So I'd been using that at one point to, you know, learn Japanese to maybe make communication a little easier. We ended up getting a suitcase specifically for cause. Like they, they didn't want us to have to check our luggage cause it wasn't going to be, it was going to take longer.

Speaker 2: 6:45

Cause of the layover and connecting flights and so forth.

Speaker 3: 6:48

So they ended up wanting us to basically have a carry on bag. So we had to pack like nine days worth of clothes and anything else into like a pretty decently small suitcase and I and we had to basically have that and also possibly have room for souvenirs, and like a bunch of people ended up just buying another suitcase and checking their luggage when we ended up leaving. That's funny.

Speaker 2: 7:13

So what did you do on the flight? Were there movies? Did you have books? Did you have any kind of activity or games or anything that cause that's a long flight? Yeah, and and I'm assuming you're like me you didn't sleep on the flight.

Speaker 3: 7:25

Pretty much, yes. So you had the five hour one, which I technically fell asleep during one hour of it, but I really wouldn't say I was sleeping. It did not feel like I was sleeping at all. I, more so, just lost consciousness. At that point I didn't feel rested. Afterwards they didn't have really anything, but I ended up getting books from like Five Below that were like puzzle books that I could, you know, write in and keep myself occupied. It was honestly, probably it was kind of a boring flight and, like it was, it wasn't a very fun one, I will admit. But then on the international flight we had like actual TV screens, they gave us headphones and you were able to watch movies, watch.

Speaker 2: 8:11

TV shows. That was from San Fran to Japan.

Speaker 3: 8:13

Yes, you were able to watch movies, watch television and there were even like games on there. There was even actually a mode that I kind of liked and it was basically like a sort of work focused but also like sleep. I kind of liked and it was basically like a sort of work focused but also like sleep mode kind of thing, or like you would just play like calming music in the background.

Speaker 3: 8:31

So it's like you needed to work on something, you had that. Or if you wanted to sleep but needed noise to block out every other noise out there, because there's no way you can sleep on an airplane you could do that and, as I I alluded to, I did not get any sleep, because anytime I would try to go to sleep. Something else happened, like I. I tried to go to sleep at one point and someone else's light went on. When the light went off, someone was snoring.

Speaker 3: 8:58

When the person stopped snoring, a child would be screaming. And when a child wasn't screaming, a child was just talking loudly to a chair.

Speaker 2: 9:05

Well, you know, at least they all took turns right.

Speaker 3: 9:07

Yeah, which, you know, that kind of made it a little agonizing, and that's kind of why, on the returning flight, I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to bed, I don't care, I'm not going to sleep.

Speaker 2: 9:25

So I have, I arrange the show notes based on the itinerary that you had. So if I have something out of order or something like that, just let me know and we'll. We'll kind of speak around it, of course. So your first day you were in osaka. Yep, what were your first impressions of osaka? What stood out to you that you saw?

Speaker 3: 9:39

okay, well, uh, we ended up taking a.

Speaker 3: 9:43

So, uh, the airport was actually kind of interesting looking because at one point after we went through because of course it's strange to see like all the signs not in English and instead in Japanese, because you know that's the country you're in, but like it's still kind of weird to see, there was also like a lot of like cartoon characters that like were part of like the signs and symbols and so forth. And then at one point, when we were, like in a station where we were going to get to the bus, it did not at all look like an airport, it looked more like a mall because, like, like it was colored certain ways, it was very bright and I also saw some interesting elevators which I hadn't seen before. And when we were on the hour-long bus ride we ended up seeing some of the shorelines. A lot of the buildings were very interesting because some of them, like, the architecture was modern but not modern as in the United States, like they were built in kind of interesting blocky ways, and then some of them looked more traditionally Japanese as well.

Speaker 2: 10:54

Okay, interesting. So you guys did do or you were supposed to do a walking tour of Dantenbori Canal Street. Is that where you guys ate, and how was that experience for you?

Speaker 3: 11:09

Boy. So yeah, we actually did see like the canal and they actually had like boats going across. So that was kind of neat because we were like stationed on the bridge at one point and we ended up having like a five minute walk down the street. And it was kind of nerve wracking because like a lot of like the stores and so forth were like very loud, cause like there were like three instances of, I think, the same store where there was this animatronic crab and it was like gigantic at the front yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:37

And its legs would move and its arms moved up and down. It was really weird. And its eyes would also like bob up and down as well, which was very interesting, and obviously the rest of it, like there were a lot of signs, there were a lot of street vendors out there where you could get food and so forth, and basically, after we like walked down the entire street and we were told where certain like food options were, we were given a couple hours to basically go and find your own dinner and then we were going to meet back at the place where the bus was so that we could get on the bus to the go to the hotel.

Speaker 2: 12:11

So how did finding food work out?

Speaker 3: 12:14

Uh, initially I wasn't really able to do that because I ended up kind of having a panic attack. Uh, cause, uh, uh it was. I'm not great with people like in general and, um, I was also in a foreign country, a place I'd never been before, which I don't have great experience with that either. If I'm not, if I don't, if I'm not at a place, I get like very antsy if I haven't been there before. So it's like I'm always kind of like looking around, like where am I? And the prospect of actually going and talking to people to get food. I can barely do that in the United States. But there was an extra layer to it because in Japan most people don't speak English, it's not really a primary language. So there was obviously going to be a language barrier there. And I was kind of freaking out.

Speaker 3: 13:08

And at one point when me and my one friend, she, was getting this thing called melon bread, which I did end up having at one point, but when she was getting that and I was in line behind her at some point I just freaked out. I was getting scared. People were like walking and like I. The thing is in japan they also don't really like personal space isn't really a thing because like they'll just walk past you with like the smallest gap in between you and somebody else which I had to learn to adapt to. But like I ended up like pushing myself against wall and I was kind of crying at that point and freaking out.

Speaker 3: 13:47

Thankfully, one of the moms and her daughter ended up finding me and basically helped to coax me and so forth. My one friend ended up getting me one of the melon bread with ice cream it was pretty good, I do recommend it. And bread with ice cream it was pretty good, I do recommend it. And then I ended up getting the confidence to buy a tempura crab leg, which is basically just a crab leg, but fried Okay, deep fried, rather.

Speaker 2: 14:13

So you did get to experience some of the street food there, some of the terrifying experiences on the street there.

Speaker 3: 14:20

Yeah, but one thing of note is that there was something, there was a stand, called Kobe Beef and it's basically just beef on a stick and so forth. I would not really recommend getting that, because when someone ended up charging it to their debit card, it came out to be like seventy five dollars.

Speaker 2: 14:40

Kobe Beef is a delicacy in Japan. It's like the finest grade of beef that you can get.

Speaker 2: 14:47

Yeah, so it cost them like 75 US dollars for it, so I wouldn't recommend that that would be like going to a restaurant here and ordering like a 15 ounce filet mignon, so that's understandable. So the next leg had you going from Osaka to Kyoto, but you stopped in Mara, japan, for a couple of shrines. Tell us how that was. I know you guys did a lot of shrines while you were there. You had Shinto, you had Buddhist. What was the experience like? Did you feel connected to the culture at that point? Was there a historical thing that was interesting? What can you say about that?

Speaker 3: 15:29

OK, so we visited two shrines in Nara, one that was Shinto and another that was Buddhist. The Shinto one had, I think, was the one that had like the most lanterns in it. It like had a hundred or something lanterns, and I did like find it interesting how connected it was to nature and, um, because, like in nara, they hold deer sacred. So both uh the buddhist temple we went to, where we ended up seeing, like the nara great buddha, um, so the buddha and uh the shinto uh shrine we went to. They were both connected to something called deer park, which we also ended up going to because the deer were sacred in nara. So, uh, the shrine was uh very calming and beautiful. I didn't, it was. They had like a prayer area. There was also the.

Speaker 3: 16:30

We had a Torii guy as well and there were Torii gates that were basically these like large orange gates and that basically marked if you were at a shrine and you'd like bow in front of them before you walk in and then when you left you would turn around and bow and then you would leave. You'd also wash your hands a certain way, as well as your mouth, as a form of purification, because water is seen in the Japanese culture as a form of purification. So we did that and then when we were at the Buddhist temple, we actually learned the history of like this gigantic grand building and how it used to like be much bigger, but like fires and like various things would end up destroying most of it. But it's and it would be rebuilt and there was actually like history inside of it where you could see the different. They had different models of it.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Oh, okay, cool, so you can see the different versions of the temple. Yeah, all right, so it sounds like it was kind of cool. It wasn't overly stressful then. Well, that wasn't what stressed me out.

Speaker 3: 17:42

It was more so the fact that at that point my legs like I don't walk often, so my legs were really starting to hurt. It was also pretty hot for me and it also started raining, and at that point I was also hungry and tired. So at one point I and at the when we were leaving the Buddhist temple to go to the deer park, I ended up breaking down.

Speaker 2: 18:00

Okay, all right, I'm glad you kept score.

Speaker 3: 18:04

Yep, I keep score of all my breakdowns because, you know, not really the most normal thing to be happening, as I didn't see anyone else that had breakdowns like I did.

Speaker 2: 18:13

You were very out of your element. I give you a lot of credit for how brave you were in stepping so far out of your element. Thank you so far out of your element, thank you. So you move on from nara to kyoto, and in kyoto you saw the famous temple of a thousand gates yep, tell us about that.

Speaker 3: 18:34

Okay, so that seems excessive to me I mean, yeah, uh, it was honestly uh, very interesting because that was a much that was like there was a lot of culture with that, because we also learned about how the fox is seen as a lucky symbol and there were a lot of like different fox statues as they were kind of seen as like the messengers of the gods. So we learned why, like the fox was a lucky animal. Because, the thing is, the fox eats the mice, that eat the rice, because rice is obviously grown in Japan and it's seen as one of their most valuable crop. So anything that kills the mice is seen as a lucky animal. So cats and foxes tend to be those lucky animals. So there's, like these masks that are made that are meant to, you know, embody the animals.

Speaker 2: 19:26

Interesting. That's a very practical approach to how they determine what animals are lucky and not. You know, some places and I guess a lot of cultures are like that like Indian culture reveres cows and I guess the cows play a major role in life there. Yeah, but you know, the fact that it's the revering animals that protect their food source makes a lot of sense. How did you find the gate? So you didn't walk all the gates, right? Yeah, we ended up.

Speaker 3: 19:53

We ended up like walking under some, and then there was a pathway with smaller gates that were actually donated to the area, and then there was like this one off area that had a couple significant like religious shrines and so forth. There's actually this interesting ritual I want to bring up where, uh, basically you would put in a coin and you'd want and you'd make your wish in your head and there was this rock. So if you lift the rock and it's heavier than you think, your wish won't come true for a while. But if you lift it and it's lighter than you think, your wish is gonna basically come true instantly almost sounds like the you know punch, a tiny fill in the groundhog, you know kind of, but I honestly thought it was interesting.

Speaker 3: 20:36

And they also mentioned how there are tori gates that you buy in the one shop area and people actually bring it up the gates up all up to the mountain to basically leave it there for the Shinto God. And I did end up like seeing, like looking down all the gates, and not only are the gates like in a line but there's also like steps to where you go up, and I have heard that of people that do that, but I think it takes like three hours to get up them all. Uh, it was very impressive to see. I didn't do it cause I'm not good with stairs and heights and so forth, but it was very impressive to see and it was very interesting how like they were different, like, obviously, how we have here Puxatawney Phil for Groundhog's Day, they have, you know, the stone rocks for their wishes and they had like other things that were meant to be wishes. Like there were these wooden tablets that you would buy at them. You'd write down your wish and you'd leave it on, like these boards.

Speaker 2: 21:39

So, having visited the various shrines and having your first taste of Japan there, how would you describe the cultural importance that the shrines and religion play in the lives of day-to-day people in Japan?

Speaker 3: 22:50

I feel like, after seeing all the shrines, wishing and praying a major aspect of the culture for Japan, as well as the symbols like the fox and the cat and how, and like, I learned more about like, how each of those symbols were lucky in their own ways and you know the whole like wishmaking Because, like the thing is, there's like many cause.

Speaker 3: 23:21

Like the thing is, there's like many, many gods in Japan. There's like matchmaking gods, there's gods of nature, there's gods of the mountains, and each of them hold various significances and basically, like, especially with Shinto, you don't, you basically don't have to believe in it fully, or at the very least, you can have most of your beliefs held in one religion, but you could still go to like shinto shrines and pray there and the god will still like, hear you and, um, you know, grant you your wish or your prayer, and a lot of them also don't depict their gods either. It's just like you have a general shrine area. You don't see what the God looks like, but you still, you know, offer, offer up your prayers and wishes.

Speaker 2: 24:05

Interesting it sounds. It sounds like it's a very passive way of of going about religion, unlike some of the more Western style religions out there. It's actually sounds kind of inviting.

Speaker 3: 24:17

And I did actually see like there were other, like it wasn't like just Buddhismdhism or shinto or chintoism, there was also, like I did actually see like a catholic church, uh, in japan as well, a couple of other churches and stuff like that. So there are like obviously, other religions there and there's, and it was definitely interesting to see how all of it kind of played into not only the cultural history of Japan but also the architectural history and just the traditions of Japan.

Speaker 2: 24:47

Fascinating. Well, I think we're going to take a quick break and when we come back, we're going to pick it up in Kyoto on day four and move on from there.

Speaker 4: 24:57

We'll be right back move on from there, we'll be right back. Are you tired of your favorite gaming podcast finishing what they play? Oh no, well, check out no credits rolled, where we play the games but rarely finish them. How's it going, folks? I'm sam whalen, your friendly host at no credits rolled, the ultimate gaming podcast, where we dish out the latest scoops and reviews on all your beloved video games. Not only that, but we spice things up with some guest interviews and even give you yes you a chance to have your say. Tune in every other week for a fresh dose of no credits rolled, available on all major podcast platforms, and hit us up on social media at no Credits Rolled. So why wait? Let's dive into the gaming world together, where finishing games is optional but the fun is guaranteed welcome back to insights into teens.

Speaker 2: 26:08

We are talking about a recent trip to japan that you took. So you were in kyoto for two days. Yes, you went to the bamboo forest, so tell us about the bamboo. What do they have in the bamboo forest?

Speaker 3: 26:23

well, you can take as many guesses as you want, but I'm assuming you'd get it on the first try.

Speaker 3: 26:27

Bamboo pretty much and like there was one spot where, like you could go deeper into the forest and there was, but like we ended up kind of stopping there. I didn't go into it because at that point we had already seen a bunch of bamboo. It was very pretty and it got me to appreciate nature, but it was really like, is that? Like at that point I didn't really see too much of a point in going forward, because there was also like a whole other town where we were expected to get lunch, at which, by that point, and all the panic attacks I had had, I was like you know what? I'm just just take me to the bus, please. The bus was still there. So it's like, can I just stay at the bus?

Speaker 3: 27:01

So our tour guide, keiko, was thankfully kind enough to escort me back to the bus, because it was genuinely a really long walk and my feet were already hurting. And I'm like, yeah, I can't, because, like that was the busiest street we've seen, like there was no space between anybody and like I had to be very careful to make sure I was still following her because the crowds were just insane. And I'm like, yeah, if I know, if I try to navigate this through myself. I'm going to panic again, which you know. At least I knew my limits.

Speaker 2: 27:30

That's true. So while you were there, you also saw, you visited the I'm going to hopefully not pronounce this too bad the Nijo Castle.

Speaker 3: 27:40

Yes.

Speaker 2: 27:41

Tell us about that and the Golden Pavilion.

Speaker 3: 27:44

Okay, so the Nijo Castle was actually the first thing we did that day and it was very interesting because it obviously I have a more like kind of Western and European style of thinking of what a castle looks like, looks nothing like that. It like it had purely white walls, it had a moat, uh, which was kind of the only like resemblance to it, but it still looked like a traditional japanese architecture.

Speaker 3: 28:11

we actually went inside where and it's like a pagoda style architecture with the the vaulted roofs and curved roofs and stuff right yeah, and it also had like, uh, very nice looking trees around, uh, the border, and when we actually got in the castle there was no photography and we actually had to take our shoes off, uh. So we ended up walking around. They had like dioramas, um, that like it was basically like a show. It was kind of like the place where a shogun would be. In Japanese history, the shogun used to be an influential political figure that had samurai that would protect him. They were warlords basically. It was basically a head samurai and so forth.

Speaker 3: 28:52

So we ended up seeing all the different rooms, all the different waiting rooms, for if you wanted to see the shogun, we saw replicas of samurai and the Shogun himself. It was very interesting, oh yeah, and then outside the one gift shop that everyone went to, I had another panic attack and had to go outside. Thankfully, the one nurse that was on the trip ended up kind of taking me away because it was very crowded in there and I could barely make sense of anything. Okay, well, I don't think we need to keep score of the panic attacks anymore. Kind of taking me away because it was very crowded in there and I could barely make sense of anything.

Speaker 2: 29:22

Okay, well, I don't think we need to keep score of the panic attacks anymore.

Speaker 3: 29:26

I understand that.

Speaker 2: 29:27

At the castle, like here. When you visit a historic site in the US and even in Europe, you often encounter people that are reenactors, docents that are in there trying to explain the different things. Did they have anything like that there in the tour where they had someone doing explanations of what the different things of the castle were? Anybody in costume or anything like that?

Speaker 3: 29:52

Well, we did have a tour guide that I guess kind of specialized in it and he basically like talked about the sort of stuff. And the interesting thing is that, like you can, actually, there's actually like still various traps in there that are like if anyone was going to break in, there'd be like different traps and so forth, and like I guess there's a way that you can tell that there's like some sort of trap in there. And he actually like asked us to be like be on the lookout for something like that, and if you figure out what the trap is, let me know, and so forth interesting, interesting uh, but he was our general tour guide as well okay, so you moved on from that to the golden pavilion.

Speaker 3: 30:32

Now was the golden pavilion in the same location no, we actually like had to take a bus to a different location for it so what was the Golden Pavilion? It was honestly very interesting because the entire top half of it is made out of gold.

Speaker 3: 30:48

Actual gold Yep, actual gold. It was very beautiful to see and they were like. They was also surrounded by like a big lake and there were also like trees that were also planted around it. That looked very nice. Trees in Japan look very different than trees in the US for the most part, unless you go to the mountain area, but that was very. It was very nice to see and thankfully it was a. It helped me at that point. I also had another one of the parents helping me to calm down, and you know to at least appreciate that. So, yeah, the Golden Pavilion was very pretty, helping me to calm down, and you know to at least appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 31:24

So yeah, the Golden Pavilion was very pretty Okay. So from here you moved on to what would have been my favorite part of the trip, and that's you got to ride the bullet train.

Speaker 3: 31:33

Yep, that was the next day.

Speaker 2: 31:34

The Shinkansen. How was that? Explain to us what the? Because I know they're on a very tight schedule there. You only have a certain amount of time to get on.

Speaker 3: 31:44

What was that like? So we had to basically carry our luggage around for most of the trip, but when it came to the day that we spent after the bullet train, we couldn't take our luggage with us, because if we were to try and get it on the bullet train, it would take us much longer and probably we wouldn't have been able to get on it. So basically we had to pack in our backpacks what we were going to need for a night's stay in the one hotel, and then we'd eventually have our bag shipped to Tokyo. So we all had to do that, and then, when we got to the station, we all had to make sure we were on time, and when the doors opened to it, we had to all rush in, because they only stay open for two minutes. So everyone that needed to get off had to get off, and then everyone that needed to get in had to get in.

Speaker 2: 32:36

Okay, how was the ride? I know you were fast. I know statistically the train gets up to 200 miles an hour. Did you feel like you were going fast?

Speaker 3: 33:03

relaxing. The inside was kind of like a bigger airplane in a way, because it had three seats and an aisle and they also had tray tables on the chairs and a little basket to hold stuff. But the legroom there was a lot more legroom, the aisle was a lot bigger. It was honestly very comfortable and the seats themselves were also pretty spacious. I will admit, the outside was not at all what I was expecting it to look like. I was expecting it to be like this very futuristic, very techie, very like metallic glass, like kind of open glass sort of area, and it's like it was basically kind of like a monorail. It was basically like a plane, but as a train it looked like it had kind of like a polyester white ish white stained outside and I'm like what?

Speaker 3: 33:49

this doesn't really look like how I was expecting it. I think it was kind of like I thought it was, like you know, future techie and so forth and it really kind of didn't look all that like futuristic. The inside was nice looking, but like it still kind of resembled like you were inside of an airplane and I'm like okay, did not expect this at all so you've ridden trains in the us and now you've ridden a train in japan.

Speaker 2: 34:13

How do they compare?

Speaker 3: 34:17

Well, with this one, there were, honestly, there were like a lot of tunnels and like there were tunnels that were immediately pitch black, to the point that when I was filming, at one point we went in one of the tunnels and like I could clearly see my reflection because of how like dark the outside was. Train itself was fast, obviously, and the boarding part of it, like the doors themselves, were honestly like very small, surprisingly, and like you did kind of have to push your way out because it literally stayed open for only two minutes, and like everyone was worried that we either left someone at the station or we left someone in the train.

Speaker 2: 35:00

Thankfully, we all got out in time, though. Okay, so from there, where did you wind up? So you went there. You went to see Odawara Castle next.

Speaker 3: 35:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 35:13

What was that? Was that smaller or bigger than the first castle?

Speaker 3: 35:18

I mean, it was kind of. It was kind of, it was kind of not.

Speaker 2: 35:46

I think it was a little bigger than the other one, but like the other one, like the building itself was smaller, but like the out, like the whole, like protection it had around it think was bigger. Okay, so you were also up in the fuji hakon izu national park, if I pronounced that, right that?

Speaker 3: 35:53

was where you took a cruise on lake ashy. Yep, how was that? Okay, so well. We actually did a couple of things there. For one, there was a cable car ride up the one mountain. I didn't do that because I'm afraid of heights, but I stayed down with, uh, our, with one of like with, I think, the teacher that I ended up, um, orchestrating the whole trip and, um, there they had like a bunch you're also supposed to do lunch there so there were a bunch of different like restaurants and so forth, and that's where I actually got the first souvenirs and that's actually like the part of the trip that I actually started to enjoy more.

Speaker 3: 36:27

The boat cruise was very interesting because the boat itself had like four different layers to it and like there was a very cozy looking relaxation area on the second floor. On the third floor they had like swings that were kind of like they were bolted to the ground but like you could still kind of swing in them. They also had like almost beach chairs and benches as well. They had like a lot of comfortable looking seating, and the lake itself was actually formed because of volcanic activity, so it's at a high elevation but like water circulation was cut off because of the mountains that were created, so it turned into a lake, so there were mountains all around it and you could also see a lot of the buildings and I got a lot of really cool shots from it, so that region itself is actually very well known the National Park Region there for its natural landscapes and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 37:24

Does it compare to anything you've ever seen in the United States, or is it something that's just unique to Japan?

Speaker 3: 37:30

I mean, like I'm pretty sure there would be, you know, like mountain ranges that were kind of similar. But I did think it was interesting that all around the lake it was mountains and some of them got higher than others. And when we were on the bus there were a lot of really interesting mountain areas that we actually drove past. Some of them actually looked like they were steaming, but it was probably just the fog, but it was still really cool to see.

Speaker 2: 37:56

So from there you were moving on to Tokyo via Kamakura, right? And you stopped at the I'm going to murder this one Hashimangu Shrine, where the great Buddha of Kamakura is. Let's talk about that one a little.

Speaker 3: 38:18

Okay, so that one. It's pretty much at the area we went to. It was pretty much just this Buddha and while it didn't compare to this, it was a little smaller than the first Buddha we'd seen in Nara, but it was still interesting to see. We ended up getting some more history about the Buddha itself. There were incense that were being burned, uh. There was also something in front of it that was like fruit and offerings and so forth, uh, but that was also kind of just it.

Speaker 3: 38:52

The buddha itself was like I think you could actually pay money to like go inside the buddha, um, but for the the most part, the Buddha was kind of just the whole thing and we were given like Over an hour to stay there and at one point me and my friend Just ended up going to Just go back to the bus. That was also the first time I experienced a public restroom in Japan, and by first I mean only Because I mean I don't like public restrooms in general, but in Japan they have bidets everywhere, pretty much Because after it was made, 80% of Japanese homes now have bidets.

Speaker 2: 39:32

So explain for the audience what a bidet is.

Speaker 3: 39:39

Basically, it's a very high tech toilet that has the ability to like. It's mostly I think it's mostly kind of something that women use, because it's not something that men often use, unless they're not just going to use the restroom in Well so it's basically something that squirts water and washes your bottom.

Speaker 3: 39:57

Yeah, pretty much. I don't know how to say that, you know, and the thing is, some of them are actually different, because some also, like, have seat warmers and can also sense when you're on it. So, like, when you sit down, your butt gets warm.

Speaker 2: 40:11

You'll know, the bidets were the highlight of the trip.

Speaker 3: 40:14

Well, it wasn't really the highlight, because I don't think I'm ever really going to be able to use one, because I didn't actually use the water spray function, because some of them also made noise when you got on them, and I think some of them could even play music for you.

Speaker 2: 40:27

So you guys ate while you were there too, right?

Speaker 3: 40:32

Not at that place.

Speaker 2: 40:33

But you ate in that local area there. Probably yeah it wasn't a fast food place to eat. Yeah, so how does the food compare from region to region? Is it similar? Do they have local food variations? That they have, or is it pretty much the same wherever you ate local?

Speaker 3: 40:53

Well, in certain areas there were actually delicacies of the specific region. Some stuff was more common in osaka than in kyoto, um, and they were like, like even the places we went to. There were certain foods that were made specifically because of the region it was in, but they also had a bunch of fast food places like wendy's uh, we ended up seeing like KFC's, mcdonald's, starbucks.

Speaker 2: 41:23

They're fairly modern.

Speaker 3: 41:24

So, yeah, they still have, like you know, your typical like fast food areas that you'd see in the United States.

Speaker 2: 41:32

OK, so from there you moved on to Tokyo and we're going to take our last break and we're going to come back and wrap up your last two days, starting with Tokyo. We'll be right back.

Speaker 1: 41:53

Insights into entertainment a podcast series taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Taking a deeper look into entertainment and media Our husband and wife team of pop culture fanatics are exploring all things, from music and movies to television and fandom. We'll look at the interesting and obscure entertainment news of the week. We'll talk about theme park and pop culture news. We'll give you the latest and greatest on pop culture conventions. We'll give you a deep dive into Disney, Star Wars and much more. Check out our video episodes at youtubecom backslash insights into things, Our audio episodes at podcastinsightsintoentertainmentcom, or check us out on the web at insightsintothingscom.

Speaker 2: 42:55

We are talking all things Japan, or at least all things Japan trip on today's episode of Insights in the Teens. So we have arrived in Tokyo. What was your first impression of Tokyo? Big city, very crowded, very packed in another area to be out of your element there. But what was your first impressions of it? What did you like about it? What didn't you like about it?

Speaker 3: 43:23

I mean at that point when we were in Tokyo, like I'd finally gotten used to everything and it was definitely different because, like in Osaka, like it was a very like food centric area, which is why, you know, we tried a lot of the food at that point, which is why we tried a lot of the food at that point In Kyoto. It was fashion-centric and also because it used to be the capital for over a thousand years in Japan. The people we were actually told, the woman that ended up guiding our tour the whole way, she originally was in Hiroshima but ended up moving to Kyotooto when she, um, when, I think, her daughter graduated and she learned very quickly that the people of kyoto are somewhat like, kind of have an air of a sense of arrogance, almost like like an almost like aristocratic flair because of the prestige of the city well, kind kind of, she mentioned how some of them would make backhanded compliments and so forth.

Speaker 3: 44:28

If they said you have a nice watch and you had a party, that basically meant that they wanted you to leave Interesting.

Speaker 2: 44:37

So while you were there, you did see a couple more temples, right, yeah and uh. Anything highlight, wise, worthy of mentioning from the uh temples?

Speaker 3: 44:49

the asakusa canon temple and the meiji shinto shrine well, one of them had like a set of 60 stairs that we ended up climbing up.

Speaker 3: 45:02

That was like rocky yeah, I mean, there were people that meant made that reference as well, like I want to run up this like rocky and so forth. It was very tiring to get all the way up there, um, but still obviously very nice architecture, um, and and. Then the other shrine was actually a nature-based god. So the traditional Torii temple is typically painted orange, but I guess in the nature-centric shrines they actually don't paint them and you see the natural wood of the gate.

Speaker 2: 45:37

Interesting, interesting. So you also attended the Akihabara Electric Town.

Speaker 3: 45:46

No, we didn't do that you didn't do that.

Speaker 2: 45:50

Okay, that was still on the agenda then, so we didn't do that. What else did we do? That was interesting in Tokyo.

Speaker 3: 45:59

Well, there was Joypolis.

Speaker 2: 46:01

Ah yes, talk Well there was Joypolis.

Speaker 3: 46:04

Ah, yes, talk about that. So Joypolis is basically this indoor amusement park, I think that one of the biggest in Japan, and it it's entirely VR. But like they actually had amusement rides that used VR, I didn't go on any of them, but I did see one that did like it. There was kind of like almost an upside down roller coaster, at one point where you like actually wore, uh, vr glasses. They also had a ton of um claw machines and something that I ended up using a lot in the end of the trip uh were these vending machines that you'd put some yen coins in and you'd turn it and then you'd get like something out.

Speaker 2: 46:46

obviously, so that's interesting that you mentioned that. So before you went, one of the other things preparation things was exchanging some us for Japanese yen. What's the almost comedic ratio that you're looking at for yen to US dollars as an equivalent?

Speaker 3: 47:12

It was very interesting because, like I ended up, we ended up looking it up at one point and it's like about $30 in US currency is 5,000 yen in Japan and along with that, everything is very cheap in Japan. So I actually remember I would get.

Speaker 2: 47:35

they were also like Except for the Kobe beef. Well, yeah, except that.

Speaker 3: 47:39

But when it came to like getting, there was also like a bunch of vending machines for drinks and so forth, and at one point when I ended up getting a Sprite, I paid, I think, 140 yen for it, which actually is less than a dollar in US currency, and it was an entire can of Sprite.

Speaker 2: 47:59

That's funny. That's almost like paying pennies in the United States for things rather than dollars.

Speaker 3: 48:04

Yeah, and I got a Dr Pepper as well, and that was only a dollar.

Speaker 2: 48:10

Wow, okay, so you guys did Joyopolis. You also had kind of a free day or somewhat of a free day that you guys could do stuff. What did you wind up doing with that free time?

Speaker 3: 48:26

Well, after dinner, me and a good portion of the trip went to Tokyo Disneyland.

Speaker 2: 48:34

And how did that go?

Speaker 3: 48:37

Well, trying to get there was kind of a pain, because we wasted like an hour trying to get an Uber for everybody, because we had to, like get a good number of people because the max you could get is like five. But then we had to downsize to four so that we had an easier time with the Uber, which was, you know, fun to have to figure out. But when we got there, we figured out where the entrance was, thanks to a couple that showed us where we needed to go. By that point we had like two hours before the park closed, so and like we only had to pay like thirty three dollars to get in from five to nine.

Speaker 2: 49:12

Yeah, that half day price is just insane because you guys bought the tickets ahead of time.

Speaker 3: 49:18

Yes.

Speaker 2: 49:19

Online and mommy helped you out getting that stuff taken care of, so you had your tickets walking in. You were there two hours. What can you do in Tokyo Disneyland for two hours?

Speaker 3: 49:31

Well, at one point I wanted to, at the very least, go to the Tokyo Disneyland Haunted Mansion. Uh, mommy is a big haunted mansion fan. I'm saying it for the audience's sake. I don't know if they have seen anything relating to that.

Speaker 2: 49:48

So it's hard not to if you actually watch the video version of the podcast. I I get that I get that, uh.

Speaker 3: 49:55

So I actually went with, uh, the same parent that had been helping me, because I wanted to at the very least get some picture of the Haunted Mansion, and I did, but they didn't come out as anything because it was not lit up like everything else, so you couldn't even see it. But we were able to go on it and it honestly is very interesting how different it is, because it is actually based on the original version of the Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion but it hasn't been updated, at least with, like the modern scenes, like with Constance's backstory or anything. So we went in. The narration is entirely in Japanese, which, you know, not that big of a shock. They didn't have like the one like interactive queue line that they have in the States.

Speaker 3: 50:45

When we got in the ride itself, it actually starts off in, like when you're in the Magic Kingdom ride, when you go through the one hallway where the lightning comes in and the paintings are changing, they actually have it, so that the paintings that used to be in the waiting area where you would get on the doom buggies, those paintings and the paintings that were in the changing portrait line, are actually all in the same room, like all in the same room. There's no windows, they're all like kind of tilting. The mariner one is at the top of the wall. It's honestly a very different scene compared to it was definitely a different experience then yep, um, there were books in the library that looked like they were new.

Speaker 3: 51:35

The one of my. One of the worst differences I saw was, instead of the endless staircases, there were like three spider figures that were there Just for you.

Speaker 2: 51:45

They put them in just for you for that trick, and of course they made them like neon colors, so they were incredibly obvious.

Speaker 3: 51:52

The lights themselves were all red, which I thought was interesting. When you ended up getting in the hallway and so forth, there was also this painting that like it was like a solid thing but it looked like it jumped out at you, like a face was melting into it. That's cool. And then one of the doors had green light coming out of it and like you genuinely thought like there was like scratching and it, like it, kind of jumped at you as if something was pounding against the door. Um, the madame leota scene she was all in English, which I thought was strange, and there was a lot less going on in her seance room. The ballroom scene was pretty much the same. Constance's was again based on the original version, where she was known as the beating heart bride and all throughout you hear like her beating heart, and they were actually a lot more like the jumping ghosts, like the ones that you see in the graveyard, and I unfortunately got scared by some of them.

Speaker 2: 52:46

Yeah, they always did get to you.

Speaker 3: 52:48

The graveyard scene and everything else was kind of the same, but it did actually look nicer in Tokyo. And then with the hitchhiking ghosts, when it came to the mirror scene, instead of doing anything with like your heads or anything and switching them around, they kind of just like we're in there shaking their heads like hey, we're with you, or something bobblehead ghost yeah okay, all right, and that kind of wrapped up the majority of the trip there.

Speaker 2: 53:15

We're going to take a quick break, come back and we'll let you wrap up with your final thoughts on what you enjoy, what you didn't enjoy, how you're going to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. We'll be right back for that.

Speaker 3: 53:35

All right. So, as the first time I traveled internationally, japan was definitely interesting. It's somewhat like in the States, and then also not at all either. There were things that reminded me of the States, but also things that had nothing to do with the States. It was definitely hard to get used to in the beginning, which I feel is why I got. I was kind of antsy about it in the beginning, which I feel is why I got. I was kind of antsy about it in the beginning, but I eventually did find my comfort level with it and it became a very enjoyable experience and I'm very glad that I did it.

Speaker 2: 54:10

Okay, great. Well, I'm glad you did it too. I commend you for having the courage. I think it took a lot of courage to put yourself in a position that was so outside your comfort zone. And, yeah, you had a couple of panic attacks, but I think for the most part, you know you didn't give up on it. You, you managed to get through it and, uh, I have to tell you I'm I'm very proud of you for for sticking it out there and and being able to cope with it, cause it was probably the most difficult thing I think you've had to do in a very long time. So that's all we had for today.

Speaker 2: 54:49

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