Photos by: Emory MBAs
Edited by: Don Hansen (IG: @_donhansen)
My thought process when traveling is simple, why travel around the world and not get to see it?
My last post was all things Tokyo, but there is much more to see in Japan, and much like the speed of a bullet train, we are going to quickly dive back in!
Saké:
So we catch the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kobe, which was about 325mi in 2.5hrs to meet the rest of our classmates. The train was exceptionally clean and the legroom was fantastic. A flight would likely have been faster/cheaper, but comfort and the experience prevailed!
The focus of this portion of the class was Saké, and by all accounts, there was really no way to go wrong. Why do I say that you may ask…. I’m checking boxes off my bucket list and drinking my way through a course for all intents and purposes! ISSA WIN!!!!!
We saw Saké, development on all scales: from mass production and international export to small batch local breweries. In all settings, a few things rang true:
-Saké, ingredients: Rice, Water, Kogi mold
-Drink in abundance!
One company said that their saké was the “Water of Life”…
I beg to differ, because I died.
As a general note, saké is a potent alcoholic beverage and should be respected as such. I thought it was a game, but 22 shots of saké, later, I found myself in a bit of a predicament.
(My apologies to the custodial staff of the Japanese Metro System, my classmates, my parents, and any other American’s heading to Japan – That’s all I got to say about that lol)
All plans for the rest of the evening were canceled, I passed out at 6pm (that day ended abruptly).
Himeji Castle:
Under a fog of despair from the shenanigans of the previous day, I had to make a decision, get a gallon of water and rally or crawl back into the cave that was my hotel room and whimper for the rest of the day.
Needless to say, I gathered myself, because we were heading to Himeji Castle and regardless of how I was feeling I was not gonna miss it!
Himeji Castle was built in 1346, which blew my mind when I know buildings in Atlanta that didn’t make it 50 years. The castle grounds were beautiful and the castle itself was built to be virtually impenetrable.
First, you have to walk a literal mile to get to the castle. I don’t know about you, but that’s an exceptionally long way to try and sneak up on someone in 80lbs of armor. To add insult to injury, that mile walk is complete with death traps, mazes, trap doors, secret hallways, hidden archers, and walls that were meant to be knocked down in the event that you made it too close to the actual castle.
If by some stretch you made it to the actual castle you still had to fight the caste lord, who is ready to die for HIS… CASTLE, to take it over.
Bruh, if I gotta do all of that, you can keep it lol. (The castle had never been attacked so its safe to say others agree)
While we were there we prayed at the castle shrine and met several classes of students on field trips.
SN:I wish we had gone to a castle on a school trip, best we got was the Georgia Renaissance Festival… no shade, just saying.
After Himeji we went to another Saké, plant, I did not drink, because the way my life is set up… you know the rest.
What better way to end the day than with Ramen!
And with that, we close part two of Mission Japan!
Final Note: Kobe beef is just as amazing as everyone says it is but I didn’t talk about it much because the night when I passed at 6 pm I was supposed to be at an extravagant dinner which centered around Kobe beef and I missed it. Yes, my feelings are still hurt, but I went and got street Kobe beef the next day and for lack of a better way to put it, it was bussin!
生きる価値のある生活へ,
The Wkender.