日本へようこそ！Welcome to Japan!

Hello everyone! Well I finally made it to Tokyo. After a trip that sent me a whole day forward in time I am ready to take on all of the challenges Japan has to offer me! It is currently the morning of my second day here in Tokyo and am I am just starting to feel normal after have some intense jet lag. My first night in Tokyo was rather uneventful. I took a bus to Tokyo and a taxi to my apartment in Shinjuku (a sub-city in Tokyo). There, I was finally able to see the apartment I will be staying in for the next four months in person. I am really pleased with how comfortable it is! After dropping my things off I went to the train station near my apartment to get my pre-paid transportation card that will allow me me to use public transit. Then I returned and went to bed.

Despite how tired I was, I forced myself to go exploring yesterday. I was not about to let a little jet lag keep me from seeing the city of my dreams. Before I went exploring I needed to grab some breakfast at the convenience store by my apartment. Japanese convenience stores (conbini as they are called locally) are truly unlike anything we have in America. They are essentially small grocery stores all over Japanese cities where you can get most of your daily necessities. This includes plenty of pre-made meals the staff will kindly heat up for you. After eating I started heading to downtown Shinjuku to do some basic shopping for my apartment. I took the train one station over and went to a store called Don Quijote, which sells household items, clothes, costumes, and everything in between (and I mean everything). Along the way I could not help but notice how the city seemed to go on forever in all directions. It was truly breathtaking to see all of the sky scrappers next to the side streets going deeper into the city. Once I was done shopping I surprisingly found myself near a fairly famous shrine in Shinjuku called Hanazono Jinja (Jinja translates to shrine in English). I was shocked to see such traditional Japanese culture juxtaposed against the massive city I had just been traversing. The deity of this shrine supposedly able to bring good luck in business. This is fitting as Shinjuku is one of the largest business district in Tokyo. After paying my respects and admiring the shrine I returned to my apartment. 

 When I got back I started organizing my apartment a bit, and I soon decided it would be a good idea to go see my new school and its surrounding area. After a 20 minute train ride with one transfer I found myself in what I can only describe as a Japanese college town. The streets were lined with small restaurants, shops, and apartment buildings, It was a completely different environment than what I had experienced earlier in the day. Unbeknownst to me I decided to visit on the day when the seniors at Waseda University had just graduated. The school and the surrounding area were filled with formally dressed students and their families celebrating their accomplishment. Most of the men wore suits while the women wore traditional Japanese kimonos. The campus was beautiful and seeing it filled with happy people made the experience even more enjoyable.

 After giving myself a short tour and grabbing some lunch I still had plenty of time left in the day. I still had a few items left on my list that I wanted to buy, the most important of which was a portable charger I could use for my phone and mobile wifi unit. So I decided to make a trip to Tokyo's electric goods capital (and somewhere I have always dreamed of going) Akihabara. Akihabara (or Akiba as it is referred to locally) is a mecca for fans of Japanese animation. However, it is also filled with specialty electronics stores that cater to any technological issue one may have. As I searched the various stores (most of which had 8 floors) I was amazed at the variety the stores offered. For example, the same store that was selling video games and CDs was also selling samurai Darth Vadar figures! The streets were filled with an incredibly diverse group of people as well. Foreigners, businessmen, school kids, and people dressed as cats and maids lined the streets of this town and somehow nobody seemed out of place. Akihabara is truly an amazing area of Tokyo. I spent 3 hours there and only went down one street! during the time I spent there I was able to get my shopping done and enjoy a unique experience at one of the city's famous maid cafes. 

After my adventure in Electric Town I returned to my apartment. It was about 6:30 pm at this time and as I laid down in my bed for a moment I immediately succumbed to my jet lag and fell asleep... I woke up around 10 pm. Since my sleep schedule was very off at this point I needed something to do to occupy myself for the next few hours. Fortunately there were a few people in the common area of my apartment that I was able to hang out with before I went to sleep for the night. 

So that was my first day in Tokyo! In the future my posts wont be so detail oriented about what I do everyday. I plan on sticking to interesting topics and trends I notice that I can show you all and expand upon in the future. However, I think this is a good first post to show you all because it illustrates an incredible point; Tokyo is huge. In one day I traveled to what were essentially 3 different cities. Each had their own unique points and were fundamentally different from one another. I have barely scratched the surface of what Tokyo and Japan have to offer me, but already I have experienced things that I could never find anywhere else in the world. Tokyo is a truly amazing city and I look forward to experiencing it and sharing more of it with you all. Thank you for reading!

Best Wishes,

Niko Zalesky

Predeparture thoughts and feelings

Japan, birthplace of samurais, sushi, hello kitty, and a culture that is fundamentally unique compared to any other around the world. For over a decade it has been a dream of mine to go to Japan. Long before I dreamed of being an international business leader, I was a self proclaimed karate master in love with Japanese anime and anything else that had to do with the land of the rising sun. As someone who has never ventured to the eastern hemisphere of our planet, there is little I can teach you about Japan aside from what I've learned in class and through my own studies. However, I feel as though since this is my first blog post it is more important to impart unto you the sense of wonder and excitement I feel about the trip I will undertake. I have an entire semester to share with you everything I experience while I live and study in Tokyo, but I only have this one chance to accurately describe how I am feeling in this moment.

Recently I read a quote that inspired me to try and become a blogger for the IB program here at USC. It read: "when you leave your comfort zone, that is where your life begins." These words express how I have lived my life recently, and I have accomplished more than I ever thought possible because of it. I thought to myself that if I could influence a single person to chase after their goals through writing this blog it would be well worth the effort. To truly understand how I feel in this moment you must first know a little about who I am.

I left high school as an average student who never had truly pursued anything with fervor. I coasted through life with only a vague idea of who I really was as an individual. I wanted to change. With that goal in mind I started my college career with the intent of becoming more than anyone ever thought I could be. My first step towards the end of my comfort zone was taken the moment I applied to USC with the hope off one day studying International Business. With a lot of hard work I was accepted as an honors student after my freshman year, and then with even more hard work and a lot of will power I was accepted into our IB program last spring. I have spent the past years of my life well outside of my comfort zone and I can confidently say I have “lived”. If you told me 3 years ago that I would be excelling at the number one program in the nation for International Business I would have called you outrageous. At this point I am doing just that and going even further. As I continue to pursue opportunities that I think will push me past my breaking point I consistently find that there are no limits to what one can accomplish with passion and hard work.

As I begin preparations for my trip to Japan my imagination runs wild with what I might experience while I am there. Will I lose myself in the crowded streets and confusing metro system that makes up the largest city in the world? Will I be able to compete with the students of the prestigious Waseda University? Will I be able to adapt to a culture that is unlike anything I have ever experienced? As of right now I’m unaware of the answers to these questions, but I can say for certain that finding the answers will be an experience I will never forget. I am filled with both excitement and trepidation as I look towards the future. It is never easy to take steps further outside your comfort zone, but I have never felt more fulfilled as a person than I do in this moment. I urge anyone who reads this to take that first step. I cannot promise it will be easy and I cannot promise that your path towards your goal will be easy to traverse, but I can promise that it will be one decision you never regret.

As I finish this emotional and somewhat lengthy blog post I leave you with a quote presented to me in one of my classes that had a profound impact on me. If you take away nothing else from this blog post please remember this: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”   - Theodore Roosevelt

Best wishes,

Nikolas Zalesky