From January-April 2021 during the height of COVID, I was fortunate enough to travel to Tokyo, Japan for a semester abroad. I had a long list of things in mind that I wanted to do in and around Japan, and even though only about 80% of those things (including teaching English to students) were impossible due to COVID, I still had the time of my life over there. My journey got off to a rocky start when I was planning to go during the fall of 2020, but obviously, that was canceled and I had to defer to the spring. Thankfully, the school I went to, Temple UniversityJapan, worked very hard with the Japanese government to allow their study abroad students to come from all over the world. The school put its reputation on the line for the students, and I couldn’t be more grateful. After months of planning, my departure was nearing and I started to prepare, but I was not ready for what came next. Right before New Year’s, the Japanese government announced they would be closing their borders to all non-citizens at 11:59 PM on January 3rd, Japan time. Therefore, I had just 96 hours to completely reschedule my flights(involving a big hike in price), transportation to my quarantine location, and many other things. With help from my family and many others, my plan was adapted and good to go. So, finally, on the evening of New Year’s Day of 2021, I departed Denver for a journey of a lifetime that was somehow still happening. I had a layover in LA where I met some fellow study abroad students from all over the US, mainly the Philadelphia area (where Temple’s main campus is). My international flight was a LONG 12-hour flight over the northern Pacific to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which is unusual as most international flights arrive at Narita, which is about an hour outside of Tokyo whereas Haneda is basically in the city. This was due to Haneda’s amazingCOVID screening setup for the last couple of days of international arrivals. After going through customs, I was in the airport at 6 AM on the 3rd, well before the border closure. However, I couldn’t use trains to get to my dorm as I was supposed to quarantine. So, me and 2 other study abroad students who were on my flight sat in the airport terminal for almost 15 hours waiting for our arranged transport to the dorm.

My quarantine dorm was in Kami-Kitazawa in the western part of the Tokyo wards. It was tiny but a very cozy place to spend 14 days inside doing research on what I wanted to do in Japan, except for the fact that it was right next to a hospital, so there were lots of sirens. Finally, on January 18th, we were moved to our permanent dorm in Hakusan just north of central Tokyo and Tokyo Station, and we were set free.

TUJ is a one-building campus that recently moved to a new building within the past few years. I took 4 classes (12 credits, all in English): Japanese Culture (remote on zoom, taught by an American guy who lived 3.5 hours north of Tokyo and COMMUTED from there before COVID), Practical Japanese for Study Abroad Students (in-person, taught by a super sweet and energetic Japanese woman), Eurasian Politics (in-person, taught by a Scottish guy who had lived in Russia for a few years), and Metropolitan Tokyo (hybrid, taught by a very quirky and interesting Australian guy). These classes were quite easy and were a nice break from engineering.

During my stay in Japan, I never really made any good friends that I hung out with or traveled places with. This is mostly for 2 reasons; one being I’m not the most fun or nice person to hang out with, and the other being I like being on my own most of the time, especially when I’m exploring new places. I took lots of day/weekend trips as I didn’t have class on Fridays. I mostly explored the absolutely massive Tokyo metro area, the most populous area on Earth. This included areas like Akihabara, Chiba, Shibuya, Takao, Enoshima, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Odaiba. I also traveled by bullet train to Sendai and Hiroshima, as well as took a plane up to the north island of Hokkaido and visited Sapporo.

My trip came to an end as I departed from Narita Airport (the normal way to leave Japan)on April 30th and returned home to Colorado before I left Tokyo (crossing the international dateline has its benefits). I learned many lessons from this trip, mostly from observing the attitudes and actions of Japanese citizens. The Japanese take very good care of their surroundings and keep everything immaculate because the individual is valued much less to the Japanese as it is here in the States. This also leads the Japanese to respect each other to the highest level possible. We as Americans can learn so much from this culture and I hope to act the same way as my Japanese peers and hopefully inspire those around to adopt the same values.I can’t recommend a visit to Japan enough. The people of Japan are so incredibly friendly and welcoming, and the culture, food, and scenery is like nowhere else I’ve ever visited. Also, as a civil engineering major, I hope to take the marvels of public transit engineering Japan has crafted into inspiration during my future career. If you ever plan a trip to Tokyo or Japan in general, I have a few things for you to keep in mind. Firstly, Tokyo is a city of heavy business culture and has a completely different attitude than other massive cities like Kyoto, Osaka, and Sapporo. Therefore, I highly recommend you visit multiple cities and not just stay in one city; the culture varies so much over the country. Another tip is don’t let the immense complexity of the transit system deter you from exploring less visited places. There are guides who know basic English in most stations in cities, so don’t be afraid to ask for directions. Lastly, Japan is very different from any other Western society, so your comfort zone will be broken as soon as you enter the country. Let loose and just take it all in with an open mind.I would like to sincerely thank the Harveys for this amazing opportunity to visit such an amazing place in such a strange time in history. I will be returning to Japan as soon as possible for another visit, if not to be a full-time resident.