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Student Photo Gallery: Japan

Japan was the first foreign port of the Spring 2014 50th Anniversary voyage. The MV Explorer docked in the port cities of Yokohama and Kobe. Students explored near and far from the ship during the six days Semester at Sea spent in Japan. Here is a collection of the best student images from our visit to Japan.

While picnicking in Shizuoka, Belinda De Jesus from Union County College noticed a feeling of peacefulness being so close to the grandeur of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji.
While on a field program, Kimberly Selinske from Colorado State University visited the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island. Before entering the Shinto shrine, she and her fellow SAS voyagers had to purify themselves. Kimberley explains the process, “You wash the left hand first, and then the right. Then you cleanse your lips and the stick of the washing ladle.”
Joanne Ickstadt, a Lifelong Learner from Colorado Springs, wandered through Yokohama’s Chinatown in the early evening to capture the glow of storefronts and lanterns.
Allyson Miller from Metropolitan State University of Denver caught the eye of a Japanese macaque in Kyoto. “Right after I snapped this picture, the monkey screeched really loudly, as if he was yelling at me, and leapt away through the trees.”
Allyson Miller from Metropolitan State University of Denver decided to capture the thousands of bright orange torii gates at Fushimi Inari shrine set against the green of a forest in southern Kyoto (left). Ashley Davis from Marist College came upon many Japanese people wearing traditional clothing while visiting Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. For Ashley, seeing historical sites such as Kiyomizu filled with people keeping their traditions alive made her value the Japanese culture and its long history even more.
Hailey Franklin from Boise State University was drawn to the natural beauty found in the traditional Japanese garden surrounding the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. The overcast day made the colors more saturated and allowed the crane’s reflection to contrast nicely in the water.
Leonie De Jonge from Cornell College photographed a fishmonger preparing eels at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo (left). Natalie Nishi from the University of Oregon was drawn to the colorful peace cranes on display in Hiroshima (right). “At the Hiroshima Peace Park, it really touched me to see how the people of Hiroshima and others around the world have not forgotten what happened on Aug 6, 1945. Visiting Hiroshima and imagining the vast destruction really opened my eyes to a whole new way of understanding the city. It is one thing to read about it in a textbook and another to see it in person.”
“The overcast day fit perfectly with the somber personality of Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan,” explained Christie Lee from Stephens College of her photo of the Atomic Dome, the closest surviving building from the detonation area of the 1945 bombing. “It was both a humbling and encouraging experience to see how the community had embraced such a devastating moment in their history.”
Josiah Savig from Colorado State University photographed his cousin, Hiyori, at the Todai-ji Buddhist Temple in Nara. Josiah said, “I had a wonderful time getting to know her and my other Japanese relatives. It was interesting comparing the differences between Japanese and American approaches to raising children.”
Ivy Guild from the University of San Diego noted that, “Yokohama is an attractive city during the day, but at night it is stunningly beautiful, especially from above. The ferris wheel and surrounding buildings were beautifully contrasted by the surrounding dark water. For my friends and I it was a great experience being able to look down on the city that we had spent all day exploring and to see alongside it the ship that we now call home.”
Written by: Administrator
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