Nippon By Koji Jagust As we made are way up to the “friend of a friend’s” house; I did not know what to expect. We seemed to be traveling deeper and deeper into the countryside. Seeing fewer and fewer houses, I became worried. I was wondering whether we were lost or if this really was where we would be staying for the next couple of days. Finally, my dad spotted out a dingy old cabin surrounded by wilderness. No way, someone actually lives there I thought. But I was wrong. As we approached the plywood jungle, a man appeared from around the corner. This must have been the “friend of a friend”. He began talking with my mom and dad in Japanese so I could not understand. I wished I could’ve understood what he was saying and possibly learn something about him or this place and not be so lost. After they finished talking. He started to guide us around his house, if you could call it that. As he was showing us around, I noticed my sister seemed to have the same discomfort I did, because the look on her face was of pure disgust as if she had just smelled a fart. He showed us his little kitchen and dining room, his bedroom which was packed with random boxes of possessions creating his already tiny room smaller and making him have to sleep on a cot. Then the bathroom which was something I have seen before but not that often. It was just a toilet seat with a deep hole in the ground. So when you do your business you can hear when it slaps the soil of the earth. Like a well. Before he showed us our room he decided he wanted to take us to a pond he said was close by. When my mom and dad told us what the man wanted to show us my sister immediately declined as did my mom and I was stuck along with my dad to travel through the wilderness to see the pond. My dad and I first thought, “It won’t be so bad, it’ll just be a little walk away.” When we went outside the man was waiting along with his dog and just simply said. “Follow me.” My dad and I both looked at each other for help but neither one of us had anything to say. He then bolted and my dad and I went running after him so we wouldn’t get lost, though I felt I already was. He was guiding us through a jungle with no trail. I remember weaving our way around the brush he already passed and trying to stay on his tail. We could barely see him, just the white of his shirt in the distance between all the leaves. I was wearing sandals because of the heat, but this was not the place for sandals. My feet were getting torn apart as I followed my dad who seemed to know where the guy was. Just then we emerged from the jungle and walked right into a river of ice cold water. I could feel the water slicing its way through the cuts on my feet. That is where I stopped and cried out to my dad about the pain of my feet. Since I was just five years old I wasn’t ready for this type of pain. My dad told me with an unsure voice, “Come on Koji it’s just a little bit further.” So I whined and kept going. Finally when we caught up to the guy breathing heavily he was standing beside a filthy little pond encrusted with so much algae you could barely see the greenish brown water beneath it. Surrounding it was a cloud of flies, mosquitoes, dragonflies and all kinds of strange bugs. He then pointed and quickly said, “That’s the pond, let’s go.” He then started heading back. My dad and I could not believe it. We had just traveled through all that to see a dirty little pond. When we got back my dad and I cleaned our blood soaked feet off and told my mom and sister all about it. They both laughed at us and told us they knew it would be like that. After we settled in we had dinner and then he showed us where we would be sleeping. He took us up to the attic which was completely empty and told us this was where we would sleep. He gave us some blankets that very much resembled rugs and then left. Right after he left my sister began to complain to my parents. “Are you kidding me, this is where we are sleeping?” “Don’t worry it will just be for tonight. Or maybe for tomorrow night too if the hotel isn’t ready,” my dad told her “What! No way we can stay here for another night. He’s got us sleeping with rugs!” she shouted. Once my sister stopped complaining we tried to go to sleep. But it was impossible it was so blistering hot in that attic that it was like we were being cooked. I was sweating as if I was running through that jungle again and the itchy rugs were not helping. I yelled out “I can’t sleep.” “None of us can.” my sister replied. “It’s so hot.” even my mom complained I did not hear my mom complain while on this trip about the heat until now. But because she grew up here in Japan I thought she would be use to the heat. So I was a little surprised. In the morning we peeled ourselves off the attic floor and began to pack our things. This action alone put a smile on my sister’s face. Once we made our way down stairs I took one more trip to the toilet well and then we said our goodbyes to the stranger who let us in his home. Once we left we all sighed from the relief of getting out of there, and made our way to the hotel. When we got to the train station we started to see a little more civilization, but still could not beat the heat. While we waited for the train in the humid weather me and my sister went and bought something to drink from one of the million vending machines in Japan. That was one thing about Japan no matter how deep you were in the country, there were always vending machines. Once I popped open my can of “sky melon drink” I could see the green liquid inside which reflected everything that surrounded me. After I finished drinking the liquid candy our train came. As we scooted across the planes of rice and tea fields, my dad joked with my sister about staying there another night. Saying, “It wasn’t so bad actually it was kind of comfortable maybe the hotel will be just like it.” My sister stared at him with eyes that screamed murder. She then blurted out, “It better not be like that!” then mumbled, “I knew this trip would be like this.” Finally we emerged from a tunnel to find cityscape. When we got off the train we hopped on a bus and headed to the hotel. As soon as we got to the hotel we could see it was nice from the outside. It was sitting on a hillside overlooking the town. Inside the waiting room it had leather seats. In our room there was a big TV, blankets that didn’t itch, and best of all air conditioning. Right when I walked in I could feel the cool air absorb the heat from my hot sticky body and tingle my skin with its cool breeze. Once my body hit that mattress nothing else mattered. When we woke up, my dad and I headed to a ferry which was going to take us to Niigata. Where we had to catch another ferry to another destination on our trip. My sister and mom stayed one more night at the hotel since my sister liked it so much. My dad and I then went and boarded the ferry, where we were a little shocked. It was a pretty big ferry, kind of like a cruise boat but not really. The ferry had a dining hall, a small movie theater and a tiny little arcade. Being the little five year old I was, I rushed over to the arcade and began to beg my dad for money to play. But once I started I could not stop. In the background of all the bright lights and amusing sounds my dad kept telling me if I spent anymore money on the arcade we would have to walk to the other ferry’s port from the ferry we were on, but I did not care. At the time. After playing our taxi money away on the hours of video games, my dad decided it was getting late. So we went to go look for our room. On our ticket it said we were staying in the “community room.” This could not be good. When we went to go check it out, it was just as it sounded. There were two different kinds, one smoking and another non smoking. On our way to look at the smoking room the overpowering scent of cigarettes forced its way into our nostrils. Once we got to the room we looked inside. Only to find billows of smoke. Covering the entire room inch by inch, I could not see anything else. So we turned right around and headed down the hallway toward the non-smoking room. As we were distancing our way from the smoking room the air became much clearer and easier to breathe. When we found ourselves in front of the non smoking room the phrase “community room” was dead on. My dad and I peeked through the door window to find one giant room filled of old men sleeping on tatami mats, a very thick straw mat covering the entire floor with individual pillows. There were about twenty men in the room. I looked up to may dad and said, “No way.” He had the same exact thought written on his face. So we decided to just go looking around the ferry for different rooms that were empty. When we finally came across a vacant room holding two bunk beds. We checked to see if anyone was around and quickly slithered in. Once we were in, we unpacked our bags and as soon as we were getting ready to go to sleep two younger guys walked right in. Each had slight beards, one had a black beanie on, the other had glasses, and both had slim builds. My dad and I froze. The four of us stood there staring at one another for an awkward minute. Then my dad began acting as if his was lost and asked “What room is this?” and pointed toward his ticket, they motioned and pointed to the community room which we already knew about, but told us it’s okay if we stay. Then my dad not knowing very much Japanese just said one word to the two of them “Naisho” meaning secret. The two laughed and nodded. Then we all went to sleep. The next morning we woke up, packed up our bags and got ready to get off. Once we got to Niigata we disembarked and filed our way out of the ship. As soon as we got off and onto the street my dad reminded me we would not be taking a taxi but would have to walk to the ferry port. I completely forgot about the walk and spending all our taxi money and began to whine. “What come on dad why? I know you have more money.” “Sorry Koji but we have to walk. We can’t spend anymore money,” he replied. “How far is it?” I asked. “It can’t be that far,” he said. “Fine!” I moaned. We started trudging along. Around the same time a bank of fog seemed to seep its way in. While we were walking, everyone on the ferry from before was passing us in taxies and cars. I then spotted out the two younger guys we had shared the room with on two motorcycles which zoomed right passed us. Everyone seemed so happy in there vehicle’s. Every sound and image of someone passing us ate at me just a little bit. Finally there were no more people passing us but just my dad and I walking along this deserted street barely making out the port in the distance. The longer we walked the more tired, sore and impatient I grew. My shoulders felt like they were drooping all the way down to my ankles from the straps of my bulky backpack. My feet felt as if they where stuck in cement. Every step I took, took my entire body to lift it. I kept complaining to my dad but he did not care as we kept struggling along this barren street. My dad then began to second guess his judgment as he started to say. “Geez this is a lot longer of a walk than I thought it would be.” Then said “Well we can’t turn back now.” After almost an hour of trekking alongside foggy desolate roads we then happened to spot out what appeared to be the sea port. When we walked in, it was just as empty as the street we were walking on. No one was there. The seats were unfilled the only sound was the whistling of the wind outside. When we looked up at the schedule of the ferries we saw we just missed it and now had to wait two more hours for the next one. Right then my dad said, “Man I guess we really should have taken a taxi.”