Journey to an Ancient Land

By Kate Newlands

This travel journal is about my experiences of living with families in Japan for a month in 2006. I experienced so many different changes in one month on an emotional and spiritual level, to different lifestyles, islands and scenery. Living in a family environment, the communication difficulties and the culture of a country 1000’s of years old.
This journal speaks of the people I came to know, the food, the scenery, tourist spots, and the culture. All the memories I have will stay forever in my head and heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Apr 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452501697

Kate Newlands

Kate is originally from NZ and now lives in Western Australia. Kate is a Author and Writer, Reiki Practitioner, Spirit Communicator. This journal describes her experiences staying in a non-English speaking country. Kate receives and writes channeled spiritual and inspirational poetry. She has had spiritual poems and messages published in the local state spiritual magazine. Kate has also had Inspirational Poetry and Messages from Beyond published by Balboa Press. Kate has recently written 2 novels, both based on true stories, which are being published, and has 3 more novels being written, all based on true stories. Kate publishes under her maiden name as dedication to all her deceased family.

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June 2005

But let me start at the beginning. AJ and I decided we were going to Japan while she was on her summer break. We checked out the prices online, and booked our tickets. We were flying with Malaysian Airlines who have a good reputation and for us the cheapest price. We booked to leave on 3rd February and would arrive in Fukuoka on the morning of the 4th February.

We were spending the first 10 days in Nagasaki Prefecture, after which we were leaving to spend 6 days travelling to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, Disneyland, and Kamakura, then the remaining 10 days in Isahaya Prefecture where AJ had spent her year as an Exchange Student back in 2001.

I had stopped a 37-year smoking habit about 6 months previously to enable me to get fit and healthy for trip. I achieved this with help from the Angels and Healers and only 3 weeks on cigarette patches.

December 11th 2005

AJ bought the rail passes at $335 each, a good exchange rate. They were 7-day rail passes, which we were able to use on the Shinkansen and the local JR trains. All we had to do was take them into the JR office a couple of days before we wanted to travel, and validate them, and book the seats if we wanted reserved seats. We still had to book our hotels for Kyoto and Tokyo, which we did in the coming weeks.

I started learning to use chopsticks but this idea had to be given away when I tore the muscle in my right arm. I wasn’t able to get a fork to my mouth so abandoned the idea of chopsticks. I had also been trying to learn some basic words in the Japanese language, so I could be polite.

One day shopping in the city months previously I had been drawn to a Buddha statue in a shop, I hesitated buying it, but later went back and bought it. I was looking forward to going to all the temples and shrines around the country. I felt I was going to have some kind of enlightenment that would contribute to the changes of my way of thinking.

We had an issue over what we would do for a mobile phone while away, but a friend of ours worked for a phone company and he was able to give me a 3G sim card for us to use my phone number while away. In Japan they only used 3G phones so any other kind of phone didn’t work at that time.

As the year was drawing to an end the excitement was mounting, time seemed to be passing slowly. I had packed my suitcase during the early part of January, as I only needed to pack winter clothes. It was summer here and I didn’t need the clothes.

25th January 2006

I was so excited as well as stressed with trying to get my work done, and life being busy generally, but it was only 9 days to go. We had our tickets, train passes, hotels booked, only had to pick up the hotel transfer for Kuala Lumpur where we were stopping over on the way back compliments of Malaysian Airlines. There was no connecting flight for over 8 hours.

The airlines had made a slight mess of my tickets, they had Mr instead of Mrs on the ticket but I found out this was due to there being not enough space on the ticket for all of my name. They informed me a note had been made on the computer system so it wouldn’t become a problem. I was still nervous that there would be a problem, but I needn’t have worried. In fact I forgot all about it after the 1st check in.

26th January 2006

Australia Day dawned and we had a small barbeque, AJ and I, and our neighbours who were also our friends then proceeded down the foreshore to watch the fireworks. This was 1st year AJ had been with me for a few years so it was good to have her there.

We heard from our friend Shane who was then in Singapore, making his way back from USA, where he had been for a month, experiencing their lifestyle and sightseeing. He let me know he had flown the down the length of Japan on his way to Singapore. It was the flight path the Singapore Airlines took from the USA. He was excited he had flown over Japan before me, but I had told him laughingly its was ok I would be landing there. He was arriving back that night and it would be good to hear his stories. We often do similar things when we are on holiday, so I was waiting to hear what happened to him, as similar would no doubt be bound to happen to me.

My suitcase was packed and locked all ready to go. We heard there was snow all round Japan, so it was going to be chilly. I hoped I had enough clothes to keep me warm. I only took 2 pair of shoes. One pair of running shoes and the other was just a plain closed in pair that I could wear if we went anywhere that required a decent pair of shoes.

1st February 2006

2 sleeps to go; it felt like I was going to burst. I was so excited. I wanted to go then.

3rd February 2006 - Weather is Sunny and 30.

The day finally arrived, the excitement had been building up and by this day I was nearly beside myself with nerves. I had to go into work to drop in some paperwork, and on seeing a couple of workmates I was close to, I burst into tears. The bubble had burst; the accumulation of all the planning was finally coming to fruition.

Our friends were taking us to the airport. We loaded the suitcases into the boot of the car and left. Check in wasn’t till about 1.15 pm but I wanted to be there and checked in as soon as possible. We had to wait for the check in to open; of course I got given heaps of teasing for my impatience at wanting to be there. When it comes to airports and catching planes I am always there hours before. Mo went away and got coffees for us. We checked in not long after and were given seats at row 31; we had two seats out of three, which was good, the third seat never got allocated. We then went upstairs to have some lunch at The Dome.

We went through to the departure lounge about 3.00 pm, our plane being due to leave at 4.30pm. Going through immigration and customs was easy, no problems. I was stopped to have the random drug test, which generally happens to me every time I travel. AJ got out of that one.

In the departure lounge we rang Shane to say goodbye. In all this time my nerves had calmed down to such a degree that I was now taking each step as it came. I wasn’t panicking at all. We boarded the plane and left the terminal 5 minutes later than the planned time, but it was ok by me, we were on our way. As we flew out of Perth we swung round and flew over Victoria Park and South Perth. We could look down and actually see our home from the air.

We were flying through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with a 3-hour stopover there. The plane was the 747 – 400 with two floors. The flight was good; the airline staff were pleasant and polite. I spend a lot of time sleeping, looking out the window, and figuring out how to use the TV on the back of the seat in front of me. This modern airline technology was new to me. I was dying to make a phone call from the phone, but it was some astronomical price per minute in US dollars. Just wanted to be able to say I had done it.

We landed in Kuala Lumpur on time, and wandered around the departure terminal looking at the shops. The prices didn’t mean a thing to me, as I didn’t understand their money. Anne my friend had given me some Malaysian money, and we had enough to buy 2 containers of chips and 2 drinks at McDonalds while we waited for our next flight. Prior to eating I experienced my first technological toilet. It just flushed without help from me. That amazed me. I had to text message a few friends and tell them, even though it was 11pm at night. The experiences were about to begin.

I had also never experienced crossing the equator before. To the seasoned traveller this was normal, but to me it was an experience. I had AJ take a photo of me pointing to the Equator on the screen, closest I could get to photographing something you cant see.

I came up with our first new word for the trip; I was often recently making up words of my own. This word was aero-technological meaning how the wing has all different openings to it when taking off and landing. My silly words made for laughter between us. I would come out with a few throughout the trip.

4th February 2006 - Weather is sunny and hot.

Our flight left KL for Japan at 1am in the morning. We travelled on the 737 – 330, not as big a plane as the first but lots more leg room. So we went down and waited at the gate till they opened up the lounge for us passengers to go through. Everyone around us catching the flight were Japanese, we were the only gaijin (meaning foreigner) on board the plane which helped when it came to going through immigration in Japan. We were given the usual meals on board, and this time we didn’t have TV’s in the seats in front, it was a screen on the wall. I slept most of the night through, till daylight started showing its way through the clouds.

I woke up one part of the flight and looked out the window, and saw we were surrounded in stars. It was an amazing sight. We were right in the middle of them, and it felt like if you reached out you could touch them. An amazing feeling I had never experienced before. Then I saw Venus it was so close and so bright. I said to AJ, look the stars are trinkling, another word we had a laugh about. I woke for the last time and looked out the window, there was a beautiful sunrise happening before my eyes. I was reminded of the Japanese flag with the red rising sun on it, and it was just like that. Of course we both took photos.

AJ was having problems with an ink pen, she had two pens, and when she took the top off the ink went everywhere. Her hands were black, but we cleaned up that mess. I had a problem filling in the areas of the arrivals card and had to get another one I made such a mess. But hey these were different to what I was used to filling in.

We started to see the lower islands of Japan as we came up the coast; I was feeling calm but excited too. I was feeling a little bit like I was coming home, not realizing just how much of an impact Nagasaki was going to have on me. This was to be our destination for the first 10 days.

As we came in over Fukuoka we heard from the captain it had been snowing and it was 0 degrees. I took photos of the city and as we came closer you could see the snow on the tops of buildings. I wondered how the plane was going to land in the snow, but there were no problems. Whereas half the countries airports were partially closed due to snow, including the domestic side of Fukuoka Airport, which was across the way from the international airport.

The staff we had on this flight was very nice; the hostess doing our area was from Japan. We were sitting in row 12 this time, again two seats, and close to the door, so we were off the plane fairly quickly.

We passed through immigration very quickly, handing in the forms we had filled in on the plane, including our departure card that they attach to the passport for when you leave, along with a yellow card to do with health. We picked up our suitcases and went to the customs guy who asked where we were staying; he didn’t x-ray our bags or check inside them. It was very easy arriving there. AJ being able to speak Japanese was able to give an answer for me in reply to the question of where we were staying. Being the only foreigners arriving, going through the passport checks was very fast.

Away we went out into the arrivals lounge to be greeted by AJ’s first host family. By approximately 8.15am February 4th 20 minutes after landing we walked out onto Japanese soil. I was in a strange but exciting country. My mind went blank regarding western ways, and all I had ever known, and I tuned into a new life for a month.

I was to understand what AJ went through when she came to this country for 1 year. I was reminded of this occasionally when I couldn’t read signs or understand the language. I understand more about the cultural change a person goes through on returning to their home country, but this you will read about when I get to the end. AJ was about to start a month of translating and jumping between two languages, which sometimes caused her great tiredness. For her it was going to be like having the same conversation twice.

4th February 2006 (Year 18 Part 2) - Weather is Snowy and Cold, 0 degrees.

Landed at Fukuoka, Japan. As we walk out into the arrivals area I ask help from the angels, arch angels, and all my family and friends in spirit to get me through this time of learning, and meeting new people. My senses were about to change drastically.

As the doors opened into the arrival hall I knew everything would be all right. Masaye Ishiguro, Misaki (her sister), Akihiro, and Himeko (Masaye’s children) were standing right there to greet us with smiles on their faces. AJ greeted them all beaming, and I know I had a smile on my face as I greeted them all. As I listened to them all speaking in Japanese I didn’t feel alienated, it felt like it was normal and I had been listening to the language all my life. As we were standing there, I heard this little voice speaking in what seemed to be a foreign language to me, but to my surprise he was speaking in English. I can still hear this voice saying, My name is Akihiro, nice to meet you Kate with an outstretched hand to shake mine. I will never forget hearing those words. We became close as the 10 days went on, teaching each other things. They were all very excited to see AJ, and just as excited to meet AJ’s mama.

We headed outside to the car – it was a large (for Japan) 8-seater van with room for our 3 suitcases and backpack. The cold air hit us in the face like a ton of bricks - on went the scarf and hat and gloves, all different colours but who cared they kept me warm. The cars in the car park were covered in snow.

Masaye had driven 2 and half hours from Nagasaki to pick us up; she had bought her sister Misaki along for company. We took some photos, loaded up the car and took off. We couldn’t travel down the toll way as it had been closed due to the snow, so we took the bottom road away from the airport and headed south. AJ messaged my brother; my boss and Shane to let them all know we had arrived, and then turned her phone back off. We were on our way.

While everyone was chattering away in Japanese, I took notice of our surroundings. The first different thing I noticed was a guy sweeping the snow off a car carrier so he could get the car down it. The next thing that was pointed out to us by Masaye was that all the petrol stations had quite a few attendants who all swarmed on you when you pulled into a garage to get petrol. One did the window screen, one checked oil, one did the tyres, and one poured the petrol. When not serving anyone I noticed that they all stood to attention at each petrol pump waiting for a customer.

I would like to point out here, that Masaye could speak relatively good English, she had been an international airline hostess for a time, she just needed practice, when one doesn’t use it one loses a little confidence in being about to speak it right. Misaki could speak as good English; she had lived in USA for 7 yrs, so the conversations were spoken in a mixture of English and Japanese. This helped me feel more comfortable in my first few hours. Akihiro and Himeko couldn’t speak English, but they were learning to in after school classes. The thing most of the fathers agreed on was their children were being taught to read and write English, but couldn’t speak the language well and didn’t know what the words meant.

The 3rd experience I was to have, was when we came up to the toll gate leaving Fukuoka, Masaye put her foot down as we come up to it; we were sitting in the row of seats behind the front seats. I thought how come she is speeding up, oh she must be nuts, but I am ready for anything. And she drove zooming through this tollgate. The barrier flipped up within a second as we came up to it, and we just kept driving right through. I found