Your Words Here: Oriana Riley's Japanese Time Machine (+ Photos!)

"Try live something intense, at home, abroad… it does not matter. It has to be passionate. And once you know the basics forget about photography." - Thomas Dworzak

On August 27, 2008 I boarded a plane from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Houston, Texas. From Houston, Texas I would board a plane that would take me 8,000 miles away from home, to a place called Tokyo, in a island country half way around the world known as Japan. I had one fleeting moment of fear as I waited in Houston, reminding myself once I stepped on that plane, there would be no turning back, so I got on the plane anyway ...

The thing about travel is it teaches you what you’re made of (and, perhaps, what you aren’t made of). Trying something "intense" not only reveals the world to you, but it also reveals you to yourself. In five months, I discovered a completely different person than I imagined I was: from being totally spontaneous to learning how to navigate one of the most complex metro systems in the world to going out to a pub and conversing in Japanese with people I’d just met; all the things that seemed impossible at home, suddenly, became very feasible. I kept a travel journal and I photographed each and every moment, without restrictions, indulging in the limitless possibilities of it all.

Day 1 of Departure:P Wednesday, August 27 at 7 a.m.

So far, I’ve only cried a tiny bit but I could barely eat my bagel because I was thinking about my ridiculous family watching me go through security. Once I get on that plane, there is absolutely no turning back! I’ll be on my way to Japan to fulfill a life long dream. I can feel my nerves in my gut. This is crazy.

Temple University Japan Orientation Notes: Friday, August 29 at 10:30 a.m.

• need permit to work
  
• $40 bucks for national health insurance; 70% of cost covered by Japan
  
• drink responsibly; trains stop running at midnight, start again at 5am;
• be careful drinking in Roppongi ... actually, don’t go.
  
• don’t sexually harass anyone!
  
• don’t smoke pot here! five years in jail (plus labor!!?) if you get caught.

Koshigaya, Saitama-ken: September 9 at 10:42 p.m.

So far, I’m tired all of the time. I commute four hours a each day, sometimes longer. Most of the time I’m stuck standing up or I’m being squished by other people. I get stared at a lot too which makes me feel uncomfortable. Let’s make a list, shall we?

Things I like really like about Japan- its safe enough for me to walk myself at night even though I am a woman and a foreigner. So far nothing unusual as happened.- McDonald’s has TEA as a drink, tea as in ocha. It’s also a million times tastier than back home.- everything is new and exciting to me -- and safe for me to explore. I can’t really go exploring freely in Chicago because I worry about my safety but here, I just get stared at and I can roam around freely with little concern about danger.- vending machines. they are everywhere. they contain delicious things such as vitamin water and king of mango juice.- 100 yen shops. quality shit for 100 yen (about 1.10USD). hot damn! it makes shopping guilt free which i love.-I don’t get cat called. Good and bad, but we’ll get into that later.- i live in a really beautiful little town where people farm and garden and its just beginning to become fall here; its much more slow paced than Tokyo.- the menz. are so FINE. and everyone dresses so well. going to classes is like going to a fashion show!- traditional and modern things blending and even fighting against each other. it makes for an interesting texture I don’t see in the same way back home.- being on my own, seriously, and rising to the challenge for the most part. everyday is hard but there is always something that makes me grateful for being here, for example: i sleep pretty well here and my host family is so warm and entertaining.

September 29, 2008

As of Saturday, I have been in Japan for a WHOLE MONTH! I am still stunned by the simple pleasures of Japanese living, for instance: I reserved my ticket for the Justin Nozuka show online only to retrieve it at Seven-Eleven (a Japanese company, by the way.) which also allows you the option to purchase movie tickets and other event tickets. Saturday night/Sunday morning, I went to my first house club/lounge in Tokyo. During DJ Noriyuki’s set, I completely lost track of time and setting. It was a spiritual experience in a way because it was one of those moments where you become something greater than your body; your ego is completely obliterated and it’s just this sense of oneness -- what church should feel like (I read Rant by Palahniuk and that was one of the choruses throughout the novel, go figure.) but it was such a supreme feeling. I have huge blisters on my feet now.

October 1, 2008

Seen on a guy’s shirt on the train: "Never let gravity boss you around." Then I stumbled across a physics equation that resonated with me which goes POWER= time/ energy. I’ve heard it before but not like THIS. If you think about it, power really is just time you put into things and the energy you spend on them.

October 17, 2008

I just realized something most people my age I think realize when on, or rather, in the middle of an important journey and that is, I’m not quite sure what it is I’m doing here.

October 21, 2008

If you go around asking questions enough, you’ll get an answer eventually. Yesterday morning, a woman jumped in front of the train and committed suicide as I and others stood horrified. I remember recognizing that I’d just watched a life erase itself from this world. I spoke to a counselor today, spoke to my family back home and here, and with Hayleigh who witnessed it with me. and I just keep trying to rid myself of it as much as I can.

November 4, 2008

OH BAMA!

November 16, 2008

Everything I’ve wanted for so long, I’ve found here, 8,000 miles away from home. It’s been with me all along.

December 5, 2008

Being eight days away from returning home puts me in a bit of a precarious state. It’s almost as if I have re-arrived in Japan in some sense: classes are over so I spend a lot of time at home, enjoying life with my host family, smoothly brushing off minor linguistic misunderstandings. Now, the house is filled with xmas cards in Engrish, the weather is cooler and I have a routine even if it's fumbling around doing nothing in particular. I will miss this, all of this.

December 13, 2008

So this is it. The trip home has finally arrived. Sleep was hard to come by because I felt all mixed up with happiness, sadness and anxiety for the trip ahead. I cried when I said goodbye to my wonderful host family. I really hope to see them again someday soon. I’m looking out the window and the sun is low in the sky and gorgeous. A plane just landed. I bet whoever is in it is either happy to be home or excited for the beginning of a new experience.

An excerpt from a letter I wrote to a friend while we were flying somewhere over Canada.

It’s still Saturday. That’s weird because it’s totally Sunday in Japan. I cried, of course. I honestly thought I wouldn’t until I got on the plane but saying goodbye was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Megumi, my host mom, got me a cute belt her friend made for me. She wrote me a nice letter in her best English. She signed it: “We love you. See you again.” My heart just about broke in two complete halves. I realized being here has given me my emotions back, or rather, the rich complexity of my emotions. I’m usually a very hyper sensitive person which is really annoying and a pain in the ass but somewhere along this trip, I learned to be in control of my emotions and not have them control me but I also re-learned how things feel: happiness, elation, frustration, confusion, excitement. The idea of feeling, of being aware of it, is so awesome.

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