What a time! We embarked on our journey with my teammates, our coaches Ms. Jill and Ms. Durham, and the FFA Foundation Director, Mr. Rob Cooper. Before we took off, the 26th and 27th were spent getting all of our stuff together and some to do lists knocked out of the park. The morning of the 28th came and I was on the earliest flight so we all decided to stay awake all night so that when we got on the plane, dream land here we come! This was also supposed to help with jetlag. We landed in Tokyo after the 14 hour flight and had a slow afternoon and evening so that we could hibernate early.
It seemed so surreal to be in Tokyo…talk about FFA taking you places. There were four main events that took place that changed and challenged me.
1) One day we were able to visit one of the ports that ships arrive at and earlier that day, a ship carrying United States corn was on board. As we walked onto the ship, I began to understand much more about the reality of trade and the aspect of ‘Globalization.’ It made me see how important the movement of food is. In Japan, there is really no corn grown anywhere! Coming from South Dakota, that fact was pretty amazing to me and understanding that the every person in Japan depend of the US for corn consumption and by-products from corn.
2) There were two nights that we spend with host families. My family consisted of my Ogii-chan (grandpa), Obaa-chan (grandma), Obaa-son (aunt), Oto-son (father), Okaa-son (mother), and my little brother Tyoshi. It was a bit intimidating loading into the van with my host mom and brother to go to my home for the night. We were able to communicate in the very basic level and they could speak about 20 words in English which we used to piece thoughts together along with charades and pictures from home that I brought.
What amazed me the most about my time with my family was the fact that people from very different backgrounds and cultures could still communicate and understand each other because down deep, people has many similarities. One instant where all barriers were down and we were able to completely enjoy each other’s company was when we went to play table tennis (ping pong). I quickly learned that I was not nearly as skilled as I thought maybe I was. Throughout the epic battle that we played, the walls of culture and awkwardness gradually faded and by the end of the night we were literally laughing on the floor and having a great time. People are people! I must show respect and love to each person regardless of their backgrounds.
3) The Tea Ceremony that we experienced was a really great way for us to understand so much more about the culture. We saw right from the start that everything had a purpose and its own place. Apathy was not an option here. There are four main characteristics to the ceremony: Respect, Harmony, Purity, and Tranquility.
4) One blissful morning we left to go visit a local farm near Tokyo. We stepped off of the bus and walked onto about a four acre fruits, herbs, and vegetable farm. One thing that really was a mind-bender for me was the massive amounts of variety that was offered. He raised 150 different types of food products. Some of these foods that we saw were orange cauliflower, purple broccoli (which was AMAZING), and pointed cauliflower. Plants are amazing!
Big picture, it was so awesome to see how the people that we met are just as incredible as any other person that I have met. I see more and more that it doesn’t matter what background a person has or where they come from. What matters is that every person that we ever meet has unique experiences and perspectives that we can learn from and we are able to give something unique and special to help each of those same people. People are incredible!
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