Despite their connection as sister cities, Jasper and Hakone have many stark differences.
That’s what Minako Shiino discovered first-hand this month, after leaving her hometown in Japan to spend three weeks in the Rocky Mountains.
Shiino—who is studying to become a flight attendant—was here on exchange, staying with Ayoumi Nayak, who travelled to Hakone last year.
The exchange was organized through the Jasper Hakone Student Exchange program, which is arranged in conjunction with the Hakone International Exchange Association.
After arriving in Canada, Shiino quickly started noticing the differences—from the colour of the water, to the cold mornings and evenings, the strange shower heads and the even stranger public washrooms. It was safe to say she wasn’t in Hakone anymore.
“It’s a good experience for me,” she said while holding her face in her hands and giggling.
Public washrooms proved to be one of the biggest shocks. With cracks on either side of the door and a gaping opening at the bottom, she said she was nearly too shy to sit down.
Another shock was the colour of Jasper’s rivers and lakes.
“The water is white and cold,” she said, adding that in Hakone it’s such a deep blue that it almost looks black.
Shiino spent a lot of time on the water during her visit, first rafting the Athabasca River and then the Sunwapta River. She also went fishing at Medicine Lake, and while concentrating all of her energy on spotting a fish, she slipped in.
“I got all wet,” she said with a laugh. But, even so, she still managed to catch three brook trout and was able to try one for dinner that same night.
She also went horseback riding for the first time—an activity that terrified her, not because she was afraid of hurting herself, but because she was afraid of hurting her horse.
“At first it was so scary. I was worried about my horse—I’m so heavy,” she said with a giggle, noting that she was afraid her horse might fall over.
It didn’t take her long to kick that fear and to embrace the experience, though. With the mountains and lakes surrounding her, she was quick to change her focus.
“It’s so beautiful—the view. The mountains are so big, so amazing.”
Shiino said she would love to return to Canada again, and with Nayak moving to Vancouver to attend the University of British Columbia, she now has another place to explore when she returns.
Plus, noted Nayak, one of Shiino’s friends from Japan will also be attending university in Vancouver, so there’s no excuse not to make the journey.
But, in the meantime, Shiino said she is excited to return home to share her stories of adventure. Whether it was the Maligne Lake Boat Tour, the train ride to Dunster, B.C., shopping at West Edmonton Mall or her visit to Mount Edith Cavell, she has a lot to tell.
