Travelling, Zelda, Bo Jackson and Childhood Dreams

As a small child (8 years old) one of my favorite video games was Zelda. In the videogame a young boy named Link set out on a journey all through the land of Hyrule in search of the princess Zelda. As Link travels on his journey he hears many lengeds about a boy that the ancestors have spoke of for centuries that will save the land of Hyrule. As time goes on it becomes apparent that Link is this boy. On one level the story seems cliché. It is about a boy that sets out on a journey to save the princess Zelda from the evil villain Gannon. But if we look deeper into the storyline we realize why this story is so fascinating, engaging and inspiring.

The storyline of Zelda is filled with many archetypes that make a story go from good to great. There is the courageous hero archetype. There is the evil villain archetype. There is the good innocent peasant archetype. There are the unexpected peasant hero archetypes. Over the course of the story there are many instances when Link cannot succeed on his own. He must be given a hand by fate. All of these elements make for a great story because we can relate to them.




I think there are a few key elements that made me love Link as a child and still love him to this day. Link was a regular boy that set out on an adventure. He knew his destiny and he followed it with courage and faith. He never questioned his journey. He only questioned how to get there. Link is courageous. He walks right into his fear.



At times it doesn't make sense how the events will link together. But in the end it all makes sense. Every event in Links life is necessary for him to reach the next level. Anyone who played the game knows that you cannot skip dungeons because every dungeon requires all the skills learned in previous dungeons.

I think that the same elements that made me love Link as a child, and as an adult are the same elements that attract me to travelling. I want to go on adventures. I want to conquer my fears. I want to know my life has purpose. One of the most touching elements of Links story is when it becomes apparent that Link is "the one the ancestors spoke of". This is so touching because it unquestionably brings a sense of purpose to Link's life. Link's purpose is to save humanity from evil. This is a much larger and obvious purpose then most will ever have.



Inside of me is still that small child that wants to set out on a journey. To travel the world, to conquer my fears, to bring right where there is wrong. Yet, unlike Link I am vulnerable to my fears. I wonder if I will make friends? will I be lonely? will I get lost? should I be focused on my career? am I wasting my time? what about retirement?

I don't know my purpose as clearly as Link did. I am not fearless. I don't have a princess to get stolen. But like Link, I can demand more of myself. I can strive to do things I don't think I can do. I can strive to be someone that finds his purpose and lives his life according to it.

I think as small children we often have more insight into our dreams then we do as adults. I think it is good to ask yourself "when I was a child who did I want to be?" I wanted to be Link, a ninja, the ultimate warrior, and Bo Jackson. The "who" may sound ridiculous but the "why" can bring us answers that we have been in search of for a very long time...

Nagoya

In short I had a wonderful time in Nagoya. I was able to go to a Japanese school, see the sights in Nagoya, go to a sumo tournament and make many new friends. On the last night in Nagoya we were able to meet up with my friends from Israel that I met in Takayama (Noa and Matis). We all met and had a superb dinner. It is so much fun when people from all around the world come together and through the simple characteristics of kindness, appreciation, curiousity, and sincerity are able to enjoy one each others company. At dinner we had people from 4 different countries: Israel, Japan, Berma and the United States. Most of us had met one another within a week. Yet, we talked like old friends… This just blows my mind.

Why do I like travelling?

I really enjoy travelling. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been trying to figure out what exactly is it that makes me like travelling. I ask myself this question so much because there are so many aspects to travel that make it challenging and uncomfortable. The weather is really humid. I am often sleeping in a room with up to 12 other people. I am often tired because I don’t get fully used to my sleeping arrangements. I am constantly on the move so I don’t really get comfortable in a single town. In fact, the second I feel comfortable in a town I begun to get bored in the town. I often get into situation in which I struggle to find food, the location, the bathroom, or even water. I have no access to cell phones. I am far away from my friends and family. I am constantly in locations where I don’t know one person’s name. To a degree I am totally alone.

Yet with all of this I still love travelling. “Why? Why do I love to travel? Why would I proactively put myself in this situation?”. So here is the answer I have formulated so far. For me travelling provides me an opportunity to become curious at the entire world around me. I sometimes find myself just letting days pass me by back in the states. Time will pass and I will let the little things that should be appreciated go unappreciated because I’m just moving through the day. When I travel I pay attention to the details. When I travel I am constantly seeing new things. This causes me to keep my eyes wide open at all times. I feel like I am constantly learning. I love learning about other people. When I travel the normal for all around me is not normal to me. I love experiencing other cultures and finding out about their little quirks. When I travel I never know what the next day has in store. There is no structure that allows me to predict where or what I will be doing in 48 hours. Maybe it is my way of preventing monotony. Maybe it makes me feel adventurous. I don’t quite know. I do know that it makes me feel accomplished. I love the challenges that I go through while travelling. I feel accomplished every time I get lost and find my way. I feel accomplished when I get to town at noon and know nobody but by dinnertime I have made a new friend. I get excited to know that I am seeing and experiencing things that are world famous. I guess travelling makes me feel connected to something bigger than myself. I wish I was a better writer so I could explain this better. But I can’t. I just know that it does.

I would be very interested in hearing other people’s reasons for why they like or don’t like travelling. I’m sure other readers would be interested in what you have to say as well.

My impressions of Tokyo

Tokyo was my first stop on my exploration of Japan. Ideally I would have loved to have seeing a lot more sights and explored more but the reality is that the first few days I was a little tentative because I needed to get used to their transportation system, the food, the culture and just feel at ease. Tokyo got my feet wet. I now feel more comfortable in the water. But I did explore enough to get a sense of the city. Tokyo has about 12.5 million people in 840 square miles. So there are a lot of people. In a lot of ways I can feel the western influence in Tokyo. There are Mcdonalds, 7-elevens, pizza huts, and tully’s coffee. Many of the people in Tokyo speak English. With 12.5 million people I am surprised how easy it was to get around once I felt comfortable navigating through the subway system. I also was surprised by how welcoming everyone is when I walk into the store. I don’t know what they said but there was always a greeting. Also, they always bow when you leave and exit. Actually, at 7 eleven is where they gave me the deepest bows. They would hand me the receipt with both hands and bow deeply.

Tokyo is huge and initially is very overwhelming. But after a while I felt comfortable here. There are reminiscences of other major cities with good transit systems. With a city this congested it is impossible to prevent unknown scents from being developed which in some cases would sneak up on me while walking. There is a mass of shopping options in Tokyo. Pretty much anything and everything can be found there.

After being in New York a few times I was expecting Tokyo to be dirtier then it was. Don’t mistake me. Tokyo is not what I would call a clean city. But it is surprisingly well kept considering the mass of people. I will return to Tokyo on July 31 and plan to travel around the city much more extensively now that I feel more comfortable with their transit system. I will update these impressions then.

Just trying to not fall asleep

So this is my first blog that I am posting online. I got into tokyo today around 730. There public transportation is efficient and quick. I am currently sitting in a capsule room. I like it. Basically, I am just trying to not fall asleep right now. It is about 950 pm and I have been up since 7 am US time. in the use the time right now is 550 am. This basically means I have been up since 7 am and have stayed awake until 550 am. I want to make it until 10 pm (Japan time) so i can beat this jet lag as soon as possible but it aint easy.

First things first. I have managed to lose my sister's camera (she'll now be getting a better one upon my arrival back in the states). This means a few different things. The first thing that it means is that I will be writing a lot more detail on this blog then I initially expected since I won't have pictures. The second, thing this means is that I might be buying a digital camera from Japan while i'm here. I don't know. I shall see.

Today was all about getting grounded, finding my locaion for sleeping, figuring out where the atms are and getting acquainted with the fact that I am no longer in the United States. The thing that I have been most surprised about is how quickly i have felt comfortable here. I feel safe and comfortable walking around. This may have to due with the fact that I am sleep deprived and a little bit nuts. I don't know. Regardless, I feel safe here... Of course safety does not mean I parade around explaining to everyone how excited I am about the exchange rate that 7 eleven provides me then start showing all the Yen I have withdrawn (that would be stupid). But it does allow me to being more open to exploring and getting lost in the city.

Tomorrow I want to train at hombo dojo. This is the major Aikido dojo in the world. They have five different classes being offered tomorrow. My plan right now is to attend 3 of those classes. I will update tomorrow.

As for now, it is finally 10:01 pm... I can sleep.