Oh, The Places I’ll Go (Next Time I’m In Japan) – 英会話・英語 アミック
2019/01/31
It’s hard to believe that in exactly one week I’ll be leaving Matsuyama and then a few days after that, Japan, for who knows how long.
My experience here has been unforgettable, and I’ll go on record and say if Japan could just float across the Pacific and be closer to my family in America then I would stay in heartbeat.
I feel like I squeezed as many experiences out of Japan as I could in a years’ time, but I’ve already started to construct a list of what I might want to do or see (besides visit my Matsuyama fam) when I have the opportunity to return. In particular, I’m a little sore to have missed Kyoto (where “all the cool castles and **** are”, a member of the Ehime Orange Vikings told me), the snow festival in Sapporo, Nagano, and Fukuoka.
But perhaps what I’m most curious about seeing the next time though isn’t a Japanese thing, but Dutch. Ever since I watched this funny video about the history of Japan, I’ve thought visiting Dejima would be interesting.
A Dutch trading post in the bay of Nagasaki, Dejima was a man-made island that served as the only place Japan could trade with the outside world during the Edo period. Visiting traders were not allowed to leave the makeshift port and go onto the mainland, nor were Japanese (except those of particular professions) allowed to visit the other way. It was through this small gateway that Japan was introduced to photography, coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, badminton, beer, and many other novelties from the outside world.
From what I read, the modern Dejima is very much a work-in-progress and might not be the most ‘grammable’ tourist spot Japan has to offer. But much of travel’s fun is the anticipation, and I’m sure whenever the daily doldrums strike in my routine American life, my mind will dream of the day when I too can arrive from the west at Dejima.
