[SING OUT ASIA: Japan Visit 2012] Day 2, “This is Reality, Journey to Lake Kawaguchi”

First of all, before starting with my story in April 30^th, I would like to introduce you our lodging at Yoyogi Olympic Stadium Youth Centre! From what I heard, the rent was just around 150 yen or so per night. It was super cheap considering that the lodging was unexpectedly clean. I can’t complain much about the toilet too, because normally I could expect something worse for rent this cheap.

Well, talk about the toilet, I’m pretty much new with advanced toilet (those who had come to Indonesia might understand what I mean) such the one which is common in Japan. I snap a photo of my favorite toilet room in Yoyogi. The toilet is completed with warmer and another advanced facilities. Call me countrified, but yeah, toilet in Japan is in top ten list of things which amazes me the most.

The Yoyogi Youth Centre itself had strict rules such we’re not allowed to make loud noise at night, we can’t use the recreation room past midnight, the public bath only open from afternoon until before midnight, and the most important thing is we’re not allowed to eat or drink on our room. We also had to put the bed sheet by ourselves, then put it out and return it to the staff by ourselves too. It has more of dormitory feeling rather than your usual lodging place. I heard a lot of students use this place for Gasshuku (some kind of training for club or such).

My personal opinion, I really like the dormitory feeling of Yoyogi Youth Centre. The putting-our-sheet-by-ourselves sytem was a bit troublesome, though. Bila, Tres, and Yuki even give up to put it on and just went straight to sleep on our last night there. I think the public bath open time was too short, too. If only they opened for 24hours… I can enjoy ofuro on my last night in Japan TT TT But beside those two major points, I have nothing to complain about Yoyogi Youth Centre^^

So, back to April 30^th. We woke up early as usual. Yuki told us to only bring changing clothes and another important belonging to Lake Kawaguchi. We will leave our bigger luggage at the Centre so it’ll be easier to move around at the station. This was the point when both of my small and easy-to-carry around bags come into disadvantages. Through a series of struggle for putting a couple of changing clothes and all my important things to the bag, we finally departed to Lake Kawaguchi~!

The view at Sangubashi station

Japanese members who join in that day were Yuuki, Yuki, Shuuhei, Shoma, Yuka, and Ohchan. Sayaka still have another plan and will join on May 2^nd. Ohchan joined us yesterday night because she still had part time job before that. Yuka also back from her home. All in all, the Japanese members for Japan visit almost complete for today, minus Masaki whose in Thailand and Mikako whose in Canada.

So, it was three Indonesian members, three Thai members, and six Japanese members. In additional, Mr. Hatano also joined in together with his wife, Mrs. Kazue Hatano. Hirakawa sensei also come along so it sure bring back memories from our trip in March. Another addition for this trip is no other than Jennifer!

I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw her at the station. Last year, at the end of August, we say our goodbye at Soekarno-Hatta Airport because she’ll departed for studying in Japan for one year. Personally, I think I have long story with Jennifer. We went to the same high school, and was part of student council, too. There were a lot of problem inside the council at that time, and I thought Jennifer was one of those who oppose me because of a super silly reason. It never crossed my mind that we will meet again as senpai-kohai in ENJUKU. I never knew that she learning Japanese in university. When she got that scholarship to study in Japan, I wouldn’t lie by saying that I don’t envy her at all. A couple of month before she went to Japan, I acted a bit vicious toward her. Even after she went, I never speak a words to her whether it by Skype, email, or any means possible. I made a silly promise to her at the airport, saying that I wouldn’t speak to her until I go after her to Japan or when she goes back to Indonesia (and it seems she forgot about this promise so she got worried because she never heard anything from me. Oh, well ==a). After a couple of months, I realize that I acted like a spoiled brat. I was very selfish. As soon as I realize that, I contacted her by email. We already settled everyhing before SOA trip on March—well, to be honest, I just received her reply of my first email to her in the middle of trip to Pangandaran. It was a huge relief. Jennifer is a senpai whom I love, don’t like (I like to tease her so this is in a good way^^), and respect in the same time. That’s why I feel at peace once I opened up to her.

Seeing Jennifer after a long time, plus the fact that we actually saw each other again in Japan, gave an-out-of-reality feeling. I’m fully aware that I’m in Japan since I opened my eyes this morning. But after saw her face, I don’t know anymore. Jennifer herself—basically—doesn’t change at all. Except the fact that she got chubbier, her bright personality always lift up the mood. The first thing she said when we met was a complain—according to her, me and Bila only gave her a flat face rather than a bouncy-bounce-ENJUKU-style greetings as usual. Believe me, it was just too unbelievable that we even forgot to give any greetings ==a Jennifer just met Tres for the first time that day, so that’s explain why she only greet me and Bila at first. Both Jennifer and Tres are fast to get use with people they first met so there’s nothing to worry about. I really envy these ability of theirs.

So, long story short, we rode the train bound to Fujikyuu Station (forgive me if I make mistake about the name. As far as I remember, it was a station at the foot of mountain Fuji. We can ride train to Lake Kawaguchi area from that station). Me, Bila, and Jennifer sat together with Kazue-san. I just know that Kazue-san was living in Indonesia before. She can speak Indonesian with perfect pronounciation. Kazue-san didn’t admit it, but Hatano-san said she is really good at speaking Indonesian. But more than that, I also learn about an unexplained feeling when i heard Indonesian language being spoken in a foreign country by a foreign people. It was a mixed feelings of proud, happiness, and some other positive feelings^^

After arriving at the station, we change train to a Fuji-kyuuko Line. I heard that it’s rare to be able to see Mount Fuji at this time of year. But I guess, the Goddess of Luck was with us. We can see the famous mountain of Japan very clearly. I got greedy and took too many pictures—as usual, half of it are ended up as blurry images ==a Along the way, we can also see Sakura! Finally! I was too busy taking pictures, so I forgot how much time we spend until we arrived at Kawaguchiko (Lake Kawaguchi) station. We had our lunch there—my first soba (cold noodle)! I’ve tried udon before but I never had the chance to try soba because I love udon so much and all place which sell soba are selling udon too. Well, after trying soba, udon is still the best after all =v=

At that time, my spirit was at its highest level, so somehow I felt hot despite the very cold weather. I only wore one layer of clothes. Kazue-san even said that my appearance was too summer-like and worried if I was okay or not. Me, on the other hand, thought that Kawaguchiko wouldn’t got any colder than that. No one knows how much I’ll resent that thought later at night.

After lunch, Hatano-san rented two cars to reach our villa. Hatano-san drove one, and Shoma was in charge of driving one other. The interesting thing in this part was that Hatano-san tend to take a wrong way and suddenly turn the car to the other way. It was fun (at least for me), because no one knows when will Hatano-san make another turn. Well, but it must be hard for Shoma who following him behind ==a

It tooks time until we finally arrive at the villa. The villa was super great! If I don’t have any complain for the lodging back at Yoyogi, then for the villa at Kawaguchi, one words which can explain how was the villa is EPIC. I never expected something better. It was really amazing that it makes me forgot to take pictures of the inside. I only took a blurry video of the 2nd floor and a few photos of both kitchen and TV room. After putting our bags, we went to a supermarket to buy some stuff. I bought taiyaki at the park lane. It was way better than the one I ate at the festival in Indonesia =v= We had barbeques at night and go to the onsen (the rotenburo one —it is located outside so you can actually dip in the hot water while looking at the scenery).

Talking about night at Kawaguchiko—it was freaking cold. I could barely alive just by wearing my thin jacket along with my knitted shawl. I even wore the villa’s towel as my extra shawl. Really. The coldness reminded me of the coldness back in my grandma’s house at Bali when I was around ten years old. It’s been along time since I exprienced those kind of cold, but Jennifer said it was nothing compared to the coldness of winter in Japan. I was secretly relieved that I wasn’t come in winter ==a Another thing about that night is the fact that me, Bila, and Tres sang ENJUKU’s original song: Sakura Yo, for the very first time in Japan. Even before that, Kazue-san already crying so much because Tres sang a lot of nostalgic songs. Yuka had succeded in calming her, but she cried again when Sakura Yo being played.

Before we all call it a day, everyone was playing, drinking, and eating snacks at the TV room. I forgot to bring my training pants, so I ended up as the only one who still wore jeans. Hatano-san told me my fortune by reading my tenohira line. In return, I tried to read his using a deck of cards. It’s been a long time since I do fortune-telling with cards. I’m not sure about the result though, because I personally thought that my skill already rusty TT TT After Hatano-san, I also read Hirakawa-sensei’s, Jennifer’s, Foam’s, Shoma’s, and Gug’s. Shoma’s fortune was a hard one. I don’t really grasp his question at the first try, so he was the only whom I must read twice in order to make a clearer meaning.

After all that reading, somehow I felt extremely tired. I decided to call it day before the others. And that’s wrap up all the things that happened on our first day at Kawaguchiko. The second day at Kawaguchiko was not just also great, but also the luckiest day of my life. Jennifer also taught me something which will be the main key for solving my social problem.

All in all, I can say that the next day was the turning point for me in this trip.

(Continued to Day 3: Greatest Luck! Problem Solved!