Analysis of the Things I Brought

Pants – 3

Too much. Two pair would have been fine, a casual one and a dressy one.

Shirts – 3

Ditto. Probably one too many. As you can tell in my pics, I pretty much wore the same shirt (gotta love blue) the whole trip.

Jacket – 1

Needed this for the professional meetings and such, of which there were a lot. But mine was a bit too heavy, and it wasn’t that cold (although it was wet). A lighter one would have been a bit better.

Dress Socks – 6

Success. Six pair of socks seems like a lot, but I was able to get by without washing them every single day, so that was nice. Plus, they were nylon socks instead of cotton, so when I did have to wash them, they dried pretty quickly. Thanks Simpson. You’re the master of sockery.

Running Socks – 5

These were good and bad. I needed these for running around Japan and casual days, but I should have bought nylon ones. Mine were cotton, and when I washed them, they took forever to dry.

Undies – 7

Same with the running socks. Cotton takes way too long to dry. Stupid cotton. Fabric of our lives … lies!

T-shirts – 5

These were a lifesaver. Well, not literally – they just sat there – but they did make things easier. Especially since they were running shirts made of wick-away material. So I was able to wear the same shirt numerous days in a row and then when I had to break down and wash something, they dried very quickly.

Running Shoes – 1

Needed ‘em. Plus, good for casual days.

Running Shorts – 1

Need ‘em. Plus, good for … well, nothing else.

Pajamas – 1

Uh … next topic.

Dress Shoes – 1

Needed these pretty badly. I was lucky in that I bought a bunch of insoles in case my feet hurt, so I was able to put those in and out depending on things. Plus, I did a TON of walking in them, so it was good that they were comfortable.

Slippers – 2

I definitely needed a pair, but not two – but since I paid only five bucks a piece for each pair on Karate.com, that wasn’t too bad. However, I did see some people wear regular slippers from places like Target or Kohls or K-mart or even the slippers provided by the hotels. But since I only paid $10 for them, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Hat – 1

Took up space and I never wore it. But I’m sure it was happy to make the trip and not be left out.

Umbrella – 1

WHOA. Glad I brought it since it rained about half the time we were in Japan. You can rent or buy or borrow umbrellas from different places, but it’s nice to have a small one you can put in your bag or something like that. Mine got a ton of use and is probably ready to be retired.

Ties – 2

Probably only needed one, but two was okay – didn’t take up any space, so no big deal.

Watch – 1

Needed it for all the early wake-ups and meetings and departures and such. It was good that I brought my digital watch, too, instead of my useless dress-up watch, so I could set alarms and keep up-to-date on time back in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.

Digital Camera – 1

This was huge (unfortunately, literally). My camera weighs somewhere around 7,000 pounds, so I would recommend getting a nice small one that you can put in your pocket and not have to lug around all over Japan. The good thing, however, about my camera is that it had a battery charger, so I didn’t have to keep buying batteries like a lot of people did. Plus, I bought a 128mb memory stick for my camera, and setting it at the lowest setting (the pics still look good up to 4x6 or 8x10, so that was fine for me), I ended up with over 600 pictures.

Laptop – 1

This was nice to have so that I could keep up on my journals and reflections and other entries. At times, it was not fun to lug around, but it helped me keep up on things. Plus, for my group’s presentation at the end of the trip, a computer (not mine, sadly) really helped us come up with our project.

Japanese-English Translation Book – 1

Oh yeah. This helped, but not as big a deal as I thought it would be. It certainly helped during the family get together for certain words that we were both confused on, but it wasn’t a total necessity – most people knew much (much) more English than I did Japanese, so things worked out pretty well.

Business Cards – 250

Ouch. I paid over $50 for these babies (partly because I waited so long to order them) and used them hardly at all. They came in handy for handing out to other FMFers and to my classes at the elementary and junior high schools, but other than that, I only handed out about five to actual Japanese teachers or people I met. I’ll admit that it was good to have them for those five occasions, but for the money I spent on them and the fact that I didn’t use many of them, they seemed to be a bit of a waste. Again, they were good for the few times I used them, but I hardly ever used them. Now I’ve got about 150 cheesy business cards to hang on to or throw at people as weapons. We’ll see which plan gets used more.

Pens – 3

Good for the flight to S.F., but pens were being handed out like … like … well, like pens, so I didn’t need to bring more than one.

Pencils –2

Ditto.

Passport – 1

Uh … yes, this was important.

Toiletries – 1

Brought more than I needed. Didn’t need to bring any shampoo or soap. Basically, you’re in a hotel room the whole time, so they provide all the major things you need. The only thing I needed to bring more of was solution for my contacts. I ran out and had to buy some more while I was in Japan. Although, maybe that was good – you can buy whatever you need in one of their many 7-11’s or Circle K’s or such.

Contacts – 2

Took an extra pair just in case. Didn’t need it, but took up very little room, so it was no big deal.

Clothes Pins – 8

Should have brought more since I did laundry a bunch of times.

String – 1

This was to be used with the clothes pins, but every hotel I went to had it’s own string supplied, so this wasn’t necessary.

Adapters – 2

Essential in order to plug in and recharge my laptop and camera.

Duffle Bag – 1

Definitely needed this. I didn’t think I’d buy so much stuff or get so many gifts from so many people, so I needed this to try and pack as much back as I could.

Laundry Soap – 1

Didn’t need this, especially since it spilled all over my suitcase. NICE! I just used the soap in the hotel, and that was fine … at least no one complained of my stinkyness ... to my knowledge, at least.

Wet Ones – 4

Wasted money. I’m not even sure why I brought these. They were cancelled out by the fact that most places provided you with hot-towels to clean you up.