Hi everyone! My name is Christo Stassis and earlier this year I was asked by my sister a simple question. “Hey bro, would you be interested in traveling to Japan with me in October? “ Now for the briefest of moments I thought of expenses, duties, work and a whole slew of things that would normally make me say no. after that brief thought and a little bit of luck, I responded to my sister “That sounds awesome, it’s a plan!”
What a life changing simple plan that was. I always wanted to go to Japan ever since I was a very young age, for me it was not just a place to visit but a place in books, and my dreams. Something similar to “The land of OZ” a mystical place of samurai warriors, large robots, and sushi. I am not sure of how many excuses I used in my adult years to give myself reasons not to go, but I was finally ready to move forward in my life. Now don't get me wrong, I really like my current life overall as a whole, good job, family and friends. However earlier this year I realized something, really liking my life just isn’t going to cut it for me anymore. I am ready to love my life.
First off, I always thought of myself as a pretty attractive guy, however I was overweight and no matter how pretty I felt inside, when I looked in the mirror I clearly saw the 5’7, 258lb man staring back at me. If I was going to visit the land in my dreams then I needed to make my physical self match my inner self. I joined a workout program called ripped in 42 days, and changed my diet to a much healthier one. I pushed myself, losing a total of 31 lbs during the programs time period, and after the program was over I continued to push myself and continued to get healthier. I am now proud to say that after losing a total of 68 lbs, I now look outside as I feel inside.
The next stage was the actual traveling to Japan. Like I said earlier, traveling to Japan has been a lifelong dream, but to get there I first needed to take care of a few reality problems. The first was who would take care of my pets? The second can I afford this? Third, can I take the time off work? After solving all these issues with the help of family and small term loans, finally this year I was able to realize that dream. What I did not expect was how much this trip would change me on a mental and spiritual level, and of how much traveling there would exceed all my dreams.
OK the reason my sister asked me to go to Japan this year was because she was returning to Japan for a 10 year reunion with the 13th members of The Ship for World Youth program. I was to meet her in Tokyo for the first day, and then travel the country together while staying at her various friends’ homes (mainly alumni from the ship). This instantly made the trip a wonderful experience. The people that attend the ship are already amazing as they are selected by applications to join the program; the people that attended the reunion are the ones that are truly even more exceptional. Race, countries, distance, language, costs, where no obstacle’s for these people to come together. These people were family, and I was honoured to be so easily accepted and treated as one of their own. I am now proud to say that I did not go visit my sister's friends in Japan; I went to visit my friends. From this one small reunion, I now have friends from across the globe! Listening to their stories, experiences and then taking part in an adventure throughout Japan with these people awoke a longing in me to continue to explore, to continue to adventure and to just live life to its fullest. I was bitten by the travel bug.
In that first week in Tokyo I spent the days traveling by subway, seeing and experiencing the different sections of the city. Each day was filled morning to night with new sensations, foods, customs and memories. Ever have a day that was so busy, that in your mind’s eye you felt like it was multiple days? Every day was like that for me.
I experienced so many wonderful things that it would take me a trilogy of books to write about. A few items that stand out just from my first week in Tokyo however would be, taking a class of traditional Taekwondo from true Korean masters. I Wandered through Ueno Park, and the nearby Ameyayoko-cho shopping district and my first experience at a Japanese karaoke bar. On top of all this I also met 50’ish members of the SWY 13 participants and made many new wonderful friends.
After the first week, I thought “how could this vacation even get better? I must have hit the plateau and the next few weeks I am sure everything will start to get dull”. How pleasantly wrong I was! After a first wonderful week in Tokyo, it was time for us to head North with our first stop being Nikko. In Nikko my sister, a few friends from the ship and I all visited the Toshogu shrine. This shrine hosts many famous carvings including the famous three monkeys who depict the proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. After a very full day of hiking the shrines sites we were ready to head farther north, towards the city of Sendai.
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