Finding Yourself in the Wrong Place

I studied abroad in Kyoto, Japan, from May to August of 2023. I had some experience abroad in high school when I studied in Shanghai, China, during the summer of 2019 and in Rabat, Morocco, during the summer of 2021. You’d think that after all those experiences, that I’d have it down pat, right? It’s funny how that works. Studying abroad throws all sorts of surprises at you, especially when you think you have it all figured out; my time in Japan was no different. However, these experiences bring you to places you may never have been to before.

One day, while in Japan, I decided to make a short trip between classes to a popular Japanese second-hand shop named “Hobby-Off ''. Hobby-Off carries an assortment of games, figures, and plushies, all at a discount price. There are many types of “-off” stores in Japan, the most popular being “Book-Off”, which carries all sorts of books, music, and even video games. A Hobby-Off was not far from my apartment, about 4 miles away. Shouldn’t be too difficult, right? I would only have to catch a few trains and be there in under an hour.

Kyoto, Japan

I took my first train and made it to Kyoto Station. This was the largest train station in Kyoto, as it was centrally located and connected to the Shinkansen, or bullet train line. If you are ever in Japan, the Shinkansen is a great train to move across the country, as it spans the entirety of Japan. I left my train, and according to Google, my next train would arrive at the platform right in front of me. But, I had made a critical mistake: I didn’t check when the train I was supposed to get on was arriving and instead assumed that the next train to the platform would be the right train. After the train arrived, I took my seat. After a few minutes, I checked my phone to see what the itinerary called for next. Instead, I saw that I was going… in the polar opposite direction than I was supposed to. Internally, I started freaking out a little bit. I had no clue where I was going, and I had to get back to the program center in just a few hours for my next class. Still, I was determined to get to Hobby-Off. I found that there would be one in a town named Nagaokakyo just a few stops over, and I decided to get off there.

My mistake, instead of turning into a disaster, led me to what became one of my favorite spots during my stay in Japan. I stepped out into the town and found a quiet slice of Japanese life. Making my way to the second-hand shop, I passed much of what makes the smaller towns of Japan a beautiful place to be. This spot would be one I would return to quite often. 

 
Nagaokakyo, Japan
 

This experience taught me something that I now hold close to my study abroad experience. It taught me that mistakes can turn into great opportunities and that not knowing where you are going is not necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, make sure that you are safe and have a way to contact someone if you have become really lost, but going somewhere unknown can turn into some cool experiences. It even inspired me to create a “game”, where if I found myself with free time, I would pick a direction to go in, and I’d continue to follow and detour until I found something interesting. All in all, you can find yourself in the wrong place but still create memorable and fond memories.

Ryan Noyes is a 4th-year Software Engineering and Japanese Language double major who studied abroad in the summer of 2023 on the CIEE Summer Ancient and Modern Japan program.