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Part 9: April 2008
| Part 8: March 2008 |
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We arrived in Nagoya a bit later than I'd originally planned thanks to that lunch break. It's a pretty big city, a bit like Tokyo in spots. It also has a surprisingly extensive subway system, almost on same level as Tokyo's (the other cities I've been to with subways have very limited routes). By the time we got checked into our hotel there wasn't really time to do much more than walk around the city a bit and look in some shops. On that note, underground malls seem to be pretty popular here.
The meeting place for the tours is Toyota Kaikan, a museum/showroom of Toyota stuff. While waiting for the English tour to start, I got to watch them demonstrate a couple of things like a horn playing robot (nifty but not the most useful type of robot you could build) and this concept vehicle. Said vehicle runs really quietly, appears to have great handling, and even transforms into a high speed mode.
We toured one of Toyota's nearby plants where they make about 1700 cars a day (seven different models, for both Japan and abroad, on only two assembly lines). Did you know it takes about 21 hours and 30,000 parts to make a Toyota car? Trivia aside, we got to see the welding and assembly areas of the factory and it made for a pretty interesting tour. The area with all the robotic arms welding the frames together was probably the neatest. Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed inside the factory so you'll just have to use your imagination.
It was a fairly long tour plus it took a while to get back to Nagoya after that so there was only time for one more stop, Nagoya castle. Unfortunately, most of the original structure was burned down during the bombings in WWII so the current building is a reconstruction set on the original foundation. The inside contains art and exhibits about the history and construction of the original castle along with a observation deck so you can get a nice view of Nagoya. The castle is also surrounded by a nice park with lots of flowers, some street performers, and the like.
After finishing up there my mom and I walked around a bit more than headed back to the hotel.
From Geku, my mom and I caught a bus to Naiku, which is the better of the two by far. Here's me at the entrance to the grounds. Although Naiku itself is in a forest, the grounds have some nice gardens and the scenery is great. Here's the shrine itself. Kinda far out but you're not allowed to take pictures inside the fenced in area (you can't even get all that close to the main building). And one last picture from the garden, check out the falling cherry petals.
Right outside of the grounds of Naiku is Oharai, a large shopping street area lined with old buildings. It reminded me a lot of the old shopping streets in Kawagoe, but Oharai is a lot bigger. There were lots of souvenir type shops, restaurants, and snack stands. Instead of having a real lunch, my mom and I just grabbed different snacks as we walked. If you're ever there, I highly recommend the chestnut pastry things. It was a fun area to walk around and the food was great.
After that it was back to the train station to grab a short train to our next stop. Although I spotted an interesting sign along the way. Remind me never to go there for a haircut, I'd much rather stick with humans.
Ten minutes on the train brought us to a small seaside town, home to the famous Meoto Iwa, or Wedded Rocks. I'm not quite sure of the story behind them but it's a Shinto thing of some sort. There's a Shinto shrine there too with a whole lot of frog statues scattered around, but Meoto Iwa is mostly just a really popular photo spot.
There were a few other sights in the area (for example an area famous for pearl diving and an Edo theme park similar to the one I went to near Nikko (Nikko Edo Mura), but we decided to get back to Nagoya so we wouldn't be out really late.
Anyway, the first stop was Inuyamajo, one of Japan's oldest original castles (as in, it never had to be rebuilt). It's over four hundred years old, pretty neat to walk through, and gives some great views from the top. English speakers can also borrow free headsets (there's a 1000 yen deposit but you get it back when the headset is returned) for an interesting audio tour of the castle and grounds.
After exploring the castle and taking a leisurely walk back to the train station, we caught a bus for our other destination, Meiji Mura. The Meiji period of Japanese history ran from the mid 1800's through the early 1900's, starting shortly after the US forcibly ended Japan's self imposed isolation from the rest of the world. It was marked by rapid technological development and an influx of Western ideas and styles.
Meiji Mura is a huge outdoor museum containing over 60 original Meiji era buildings that were brought there from all over Japan (and a few from overseas as well). The buildings originally served many diverse purposes and cover all sorts of different architectural styles. Each building has a sign explaining its original use and location and you can go inside and walk through nearly all of them. Most of the interiors are filled with either recreations of the original furnishings or museum displays (mostly about things related to the building's original purpose) but some have been transformed into restaurants, shops, and various other attractions (I got to feel my way through a pitch dark maze in one). Some of the buildings really didn't look like places you'd expect to find in Japan. The setting and arrangement of the buildings was very well done. There were five different sections to Meiji Mura and the buildings were all put in fitting spots (some right near other buildings, others off by themselves). Some were a bit plain but many had pretty interesting designs (Note: the building on the right in that pic wasn't designed that way, most of the original structure was destroyed in a earthquake before it was moved to the museum; looks neat as is though), especially this this one (which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). In summary, Meiji Mura is a very interesting place to explore, has a ton of things to see, and is great for photos.
And that was it for the day, aside from the trip back to Nagoya of course.
The Nakasendo trail is a hiking trail connecting old post towns in the mountains. The entire trail is really long but the most popular segment connects the towns of Magome and Tsumago. Here's a map of the whole thing (though I think the trail might continue off one or both sides of it). I traced the section my mom and I did in red and circled and numbered our three major stopping points along the way, which I'll refer to in more detail later.
Anyway, as I previously said, the most popular part of the trail is between Magome and Tsumago, both old post towns. It's around 8 km between the two though the trail itself isn't all that strenuous. Depending on the shape you're in and how fast or slow you want to go (I'd recommend not rushing, there's some great scenery), I'd say it'd take anywhere from 1 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours to complete (most likely not counting whatever time you spend looking around in the towns themselves).
To start, we took a train to Nakatsugawa then got a bus to Magome (number 1 on the map). The trail starts out winding uphill through Magome, which is a great old town with lots of shops, restaurants, and the like. In Japan, places like that are always fun to walk though. Just about when there trail leaves Magome you can get a good view of the mountains. The scenery on the Nakasendo trail is really diverse. We passed through forests, fields, bamboo groves, and a collection of tiny little towns. There were a couple of waterfalls along the way too. To make things easy for hikers, there's signs at nearly every intersection so it's easy to stay on the trail (there were only a couple of slightly confusing spots) and there's rest rooms spaced along the entire length. Some of those small towns have restaurants and/or vending machines too, really convenient. It took my mom and I around 2 1/2 hours at a moderate pace (including a lunch break) to reach Tsumago (number 2 on the map). Tsumago was another neat old post town and, much like Magome, featured a street lined with old buildings selling local crafts, food, etc.
Now that's where most people stop, take a short bus ride to Nagiso, and get a train to where ever. But, as my mom and I soon discovered, the trail didn't stop there. And, since it skirted Nagiso on the way, and we'd made good time and weren't all that tired, we decided to continue on and walk to the train station, adding another 3.5 km to the 8 we'd already covered. Once again, the scenery was very nice and pretty diverse, though a bit less so as we drew closer to Nagiso (number 3 on the map). Unlike Magome and Tsumago, Nagiso isn't a post town and lacks their looks and atmosphere. But it does have a train station so it marked the end of our journey for the day.
Though, had we wanted to continue, we could have. We'd only covered about half (if that) of what was shown on that map and there were at least two more post towns further on. I had some doubts about this whole day plan at first but I'm glad we did it. The weather was perfect, it was a good trail with lots to see, and the post towns were fun to walk through. All in all it made for a very enjoyable day. If you like hiking or at least really long walks I'd definitely recommend it.
Later that night we also swung by a shopping arcade in Nagoya to try out a vegetarian Chinese restaurant my mom had been wanting to go to. Wasn't bad actually, though I think meat would have made it better.
My mom and I caught an early train and dropped our suitcases off at our hotel then immediately headed out to start touring. I had three stops planned for the day. First up was Tofukuji Shrine, famous for its huge gate and collection of rock gardens (each done in a completely different style). Though I thought the big dragon painted on the ceiling was pretty cool too.
Once we'd finished looking around there, we took the train to the next stop to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine. But we weren't just there to see the shrine, and neither were most of the other visitors, for that matter. The big draw is the 4 km trail that leads up and around the mountain behind the shrine. So what's so special about this trail? First off, see that gate in the last pic? That type of gate is called a torii gate and there's usually one or two on the path to just about every Shinto shrine. And that 4 km trail? It's lined with torii gates. Lots and lots and lots of torii gates. There's thousands of the things in many different sizes and styles. Along the way there's also a whole bunch of small shrines where people can leave little gates they bought and wrote prayers on. There's also a bunch of kitsune statues (fox spirits from Japanese mythology) and rest stops/noodle restaurants. The local specialty is kitsune soba/udon, Japanese noodles with tofu skin. We got some for lunch, which were pretty good.
The final stop of the day was Uji, a town (like Tokyo, Kyoto is divided up into many smaller cities and towns) famous for its green tea. There was a nice shopping street featuring matcha (green tea) everything (sweets of all kinds, ice cream, soba, tea cups, pots, etc, etc, etc, and, of course, the tea itself) which we walked through but our real destination was Byodoin. Aside from having a nice garden with plenty of sakura (cherry) blossoms, it's got the Phoenix Pavilion. Sure it's a neat building and it's filled with old paintings and Buddha statues, but what's really impressive is that it's nearly 1000 years old. Yeah, I'm serious. And it never had to be rebuilt, that's the original structure. I never thought wood could last that long... There was a nice little museum there with artifacts and details about the history of the pavilion too.
It turned out to be a really good day to visit Uji since they happened to be having their local cherry blossom festival, which we stumbled on as we were leaving Byodoin. There was a nice long sakura tree filled area along the river lined with all the usual matsuri (festival) booths (carnival games, food, local crafts, etc). We took a stroll through it, snacking on a whole bunch of different stuff along the way, and checking out all the pottery for sale. Definitely a pleasant surprise addition to the day.
There's a bunch of smaller temples up the mountain behind Daigoji and my mom hadn't had enough of hiking yet so we started up. Soon after, it began to rain. Wasn't bad at first but after a bit it got pretty heavy. Not the best time for a hike to be sure but it wouldn't have been too bad...if my mom had brought her umbrella. I had mine (which I always keep in my backpack) but she'd left hers at the hotel and my umbrella is really only big enough for one person. We traded it back and forth for a bit and tried to share but we both got pretty wet. Despite that, we walked all the way to the top of the mountain (we'd gone so far that we didn't really want to turn around) before heading down.
At this point, we decided that it'd probably be a good idea to go back to the hotel and get the other umbrella. But if we went right away we'd have to do some backtracking to get to our next destination (which would also require buying extra train and subway tickets) and we'd have to go near the hotel later anyway so we decided to wait and headed to Nijo Castle instead. Unfortunately, the castle itself was burned down by a lightning strike a couple hundred years ago but the palace and gardens were still in good shape. The palace and castle were originally built by one of the Shoguns as a snub to the Emperor, who had no real power at the time, so it's pretty impressive. We walked all through the large main palace (there's an inner one too, but it's only open to the public a few times a year). Between the building itself, carvings, and wall paintings, it was pretty cool. Unfortunately, no one is allowed to take pictures inside.
After that it was back to the hotel. My mom had gotten the worst of the rain and didn't really want to go out any more so she decided to stay inside for the rest of the day. But I wasn't going to let the rain stop me so I went out and caught a bus to Sanjusangendo. It's the longest temple in Japan, and it needs to be since it's home to a 1000 life sized statues of Kannon (a Buddhist deity) plus a giant statue of Kannon (very similar to the three giant gold Buddha in that one shrine in Nikko, but I think this one is slightly bigger) and statues of all 28 guardian deities (each with a Japanese and English sign explaining their role and history). The sheer amount of statues made the whole place a tad overwhelming but certainly worth seeing. I'd show you...but once again, no pictures allowed inside.
My last stop for the day was Kiyomizudera, yet another temple. It's the hanging deck that makes this one famous but with two pagodas, several temple buildings, a small garden, and a fairly nice shopping street leading up to it, it's kinda got all the main scenic temple stuff represented pretty well so it's a good place to visit. I also ran into a pair of geisha girls posing for photos while I was there. Not sure if they were real geisha or just girls who like to cosplay (dress up in costume) but it's a nice photo either way (and, considering that Kyoto does have a geisha district, there's a chance that they're the real thing).
Supper that night was at a Japanese buffet, which was as interesting as it is unusual (the only buffets I've seen in Japan before have been Indian and American).
The Walk of Philosophy eventually led us to our next destination, Ginkakuji. Check out the path to the entrance. Despite being called "the silver pavilion" it's not actually covered with silver, although it was originally supposed to be. The pavilion itself was being repaired while we were there so we couldn't get a very good look at it but that wasn't so bad since the place is still worth seeing for its stone garden (believe it or not but they re-rake that every day) and it's excellent regular garden, which uses quite a lot of moss (some of which is very important moss, which I suppose means it's the most useful for gardening). We also tried ume (Japanese plum) tea while we there. Some people seemed to really like it but it was way too sour for me.
My mom was flipping through the tour book over lunch so we changed the schedule a little and skipped the next place I had planned, heading instead to Chionin, a very large shrine which features the largest shrine bell in Japan (they say it takes seventeen people to ring it at New Years). And, though I dislike clandestinely taking pictures of people, this one was a bit too good to pass up.
After that we walked to a part of Kyoto called Gion and looked around there a bit, but we'll be going back there on Thursday so I'll wait and talk about it then.
We spent the first part of the day in Okayama, a small city with a couple of nice places to see. But before I talk about those...take a look at this sign. I'm thinking they didn't have enough room to say "Rolled Sandwiches", but some things really don't abbreviate well. One interesting thing about Okayama, they seem to really like the story of Momotaro there (Momotaro is a Japanese fairy tale). There's a lot of related statues around the city, souvenir stuff, signs, etc. Maybe it was supposed to take place in the area.
After the train ride, walking to Okayama Castle was a nice change of pace. Also known as the "crow castle" because of the black storm boards covering much of it, it's a reconstruction of the original castle. The inside has been turned into a museum detailing the history of the castle from its creation through Perry's arrival and beyond. There's even some items said to have been given as gifts by Perry. Fairly interesting stuff. You could also dress up in traditional clothing and get your picture taken for no additional cost so that was cool.
Right across the river from Okayama Castle is Korakoen, said to be one of the three best landscape gardens in Japan. We took a slow stroll though it. It's certainly the biggest garden I've been to so far and had lots of different areas. We were also there at the perfect time to catch the cherry blossoms. Not too surprisingly, it seems to be a pretty popular wedding spot and my mom snuck this picture of a Japanese woman in a traditional bridal outfit.
Once we'd finished seeing the garden we headed back to the train station (though we did stop at a pretty nice kaiten zushi place along the way) and took the shinkansen a little ways back towards Kyoto to the city of Hemeji. There's a few good things to see in and around Hemeji (including the area where they filmed parts of The Last Samurai) but the main attraction is Hemeji Castle. It was never destroyed so that's the original castle. Even better, many of the surrounding buildings are intact as well. We got to walk through a pretty large chunk of the wall and gardens, and peek into places like the storage building, well house, and more. Of course, we also got to walk all through the castle and climb up to the top. There's even a shrine up there. Here's a good view that includes a lot of the castle courtyard and the like.
Thought about trying to see some more of the things in Hemeji but time would have been kinda tight so instead we checked out the shops (lots and lots of shops) before heading back to Kyoto. Oh, speaking of the shops, file this under really poorly named shops. Though it does make sense when you think about it...
Since the weather forecast wasn't looking so good, my Mom and I spent some time the previous evening thinking about what to do if it rained. My original plan involved spending most of the day in an area called Arashiyama but there was a lot of outdoor stuff involved so heavy rain would have been a problem.
Regardless of the weather, I was determined to at least see the first stop on my original plan, Kinkakuji. Known as the gold pavilion, it was originally a rich man's country home before being turned into a temple after his death. Before you ask, that's real gold leaf. It's a very pretty building and it's surrounded by a nice, though not spectacular, garden. And, luckily, it hadn't started to rain yet. I'm glad I went but the place was really crowded.
Once we'd finished up there my mom and I headed towards one of Kyoto's downtown areas. The eventual goal being to find a museum my mom wanted to see and then wander around the nearby shopping arcade a bit until it was time for us to head to Gion (more on that later). We couldn't get a direct bus to where we were headed so we got off at the closest stop, planning to walk the rest of the way. That walk carried us right past the Kyoto Imperial Palace, a place which wasn't on my tour list since tickets required some sort of advanced registration. But, in a great stroke of luck, this just happened to be part of a special four day period each year when the palace is open to everyone free of charge.
That was too good an opportunity to pass up so we headed in. While I liked the palace at Nijo Castle a bit better, the Imperial Palace is pretty cool too. We couldn't go in any of the buildings but you could look inside at some points and they had figures set up to give you an idea of what the place might have been like when the Emperor lived there (the Emperor and family have lived in Tokyo ever since the mid 1800's). Here's a look at the audience chamber through one of the inner gates, here's the Emperor's throne, and here's another scene they had set up. There was also a garden and a lot of those painted gold sliding doors I like (but haven't really been able to photo anywhere else). Sorry about the post and wires in that picture, but it was really the best angle I could get.
It started raining mid way through our exploration of the palace but we both had umbrellas this time so it wasn't a big problem. Continuing on, we managed to find my mom's museum, which was an old sake brewery (sake is traditional Japanese rice wine), and took a tour where we learned all about how sake is made. The tour was all in Japanese but I was able to follow along moderately well some of the time and they had an English pamphlet too. The whole thing was fairly interesting, though I could have done without the sake tasting at the end. Nothing against sake, I just don't like alcohol in general no matter what form it's in (hate the taste and have no real desire to get drunk so I see no point in drinking it).
After that we walked around a large shopping arcade for a bit and then walked to Gion, which has lots of nice old timey buildings if you explore the alleys a bit. As I previously mentioned, we stopped there Tuesday as well, looked around, and ended up getting tickets for a show (which is why we went back there now). A long time ago Gion was the city's main "pleasure" district and was home to many prostitutes and geisha. Now a lot of people think that geisha are prostitutes, but that's not really correct. Some were, but what geisha were and still are really supposed to represent is the ideal traditional Japanese woman. They're highly trained performers, skilled in many traditional Japanese arts (music, dance, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, etc).
Gion still has geisha and, while it's rare for anyone other than wealthy and well connected Japanese people to be able to arrange for a private performance, there are some shows that allow everyone a glimpse of the geishas' skills. And every April there's a special performance for one month only. It's been performed for the past 138 years and is comprised of selected scenes from The Tale of Genji (an ancient Japanese novel). That's what were were there to see. The tickets sell out fast (both the advanced reservation ones and the same day sale standing room only ones) and we were lucky to get a pair without having to try our luck in line. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't take any pictures or movies during the show. There were geisha playing music and singing while others danced, acting out the scenes. They were very good and had some of the most graceful and fluid movement I've ever seen. Cool to watch, even though I couldn't understand much of the old fashioned Japanese being used in the songs.
After that it was back to the shopping arcade to look around a bit more and grab supper. And I'm really only mentioning this so I can show off another weird sign, this one for a restaurant.
Most of the big sights in Nara are inside Nara Park, a massive park full of temples, shrines, museums, and lots of tame deer. And when I say tame deer, I mean really tame deer. They're more or less the town's pets and they have free run of the park. They're very used to people so they don't spook easily and most will let you walk right up and pet them (though a few may shy away at first). Nearly every snack stand and souvenir shop in the park sells packs of crackers you can buy to feed the deer. And, while the deer will normally just sit/stand or walk around doing whatever it is deer do, they can get rather aggressive if they see that you've got food. So, if you want to feed the deer, prepare to be swarmed, nudged, and pushed. They may also try and nibble on your clothes or any other loose objects you've got. Actually, I was surprised that I didn't see any trying to steal crackers from the stores, but they seemed content to just hang out in the area and wait for someone to buy the crackers for them. He's a picture of me feeding the deer.
As I said before, there's a lot of stuff in the park but the most popular sight by far is the enormous Todaiji Temple. It's home to the largest seated Buddha in Japan (yep, even larger than the more famous one in Kamakura) along with a few other gigantic statues. Even though I'm rather tired of seeing Buddha statues in general (seen so many of them), the colossal scale of everything at Todaiji made it pretty cool. We continued on, making large loop through the park, and saw lots of other stuff like a giant bell, a shrine full of lanterns, and some pretty ponds (one of which was full of turtles, which were fun to watch).
After that we walked around Naramachi, a part of town with a bunch of little shops and some old buildings scattered about the back streets and alleys, and ate at really good noodle place in a nearby shopping arcade. Their specialty was something I'd never seen before. Interesting isn't it? It's a pouch made of tofu skin and stuffed with udon noddles.
Since we were making good time, we went back to Nara Park for a bit so I could check out the Nara National Museum. The section filled with Buddha statues left me with a serious feeling of deja vu but the section of 3000 year old bronze pots from China and the special exhibit of old artwork from Europe and Asia that dealt with winged horses and similar creatures (Pegasus, griffons, etc) were interesting.
So there was the service and then we all hung out and talked for a while. After we finished my mom and I headed to a nearby hotel. After dropping off our stuff I headed out to take one last trip to Akihabara and got some kaiten zushi while I was there.
The flight was long, really long. But I'm used to air travel (been flying all over the place since I was a kid). It's really not so bad as long as you have something to do. The only really interesting thing about flying from Japan to the US is that, because of the time difference, you actually arrive earlier than you left, which is kinda neat.
Random Japan Comment: Bathrooms
Ok, this one is a little weird but I suppose it's fairly important if you're going to Japan. But you can probably guess why I put this one off for so long. So yeah, useful things to know about bathrooms in Japan. First off, bathrooms in many homes, hotels, and some stores and restaurants, have sets of "bathroom slippers" at the entrance. In bathrooms like that, you're supposed to take off your normal shoes or slippers, leave them there, and wear the bathroom slippers while you're in the bathroom. Simple enough.
Next up, bathtubs and showers. First off, unlike bathrooms in most countries, in Japan the bathtub and shower are often in one room and the toilet is in another. Sometimes there's a separate area for the sink as well. Also, bathtubs are typically pretty deep and are meant to be used similarly to onsen, which I've already covered. Namely, you wash yourself (water, soap, shampoo) and rinse off completely before entering the bath, which is mainly for soaking. Although, if you've got your own bathroom, I suppose you can do whatever you want. Finally, in some bathrooms the shower isn't in the tub itself, rather the entire room is a shower, with a drain in the floor and everything.
Now for the toilets. There's a few kinds of toilets in Japan. Some are just like US toilets, others are fancier, including things like built in sinks, heated seats, ambient noise, and more. Then there's the traditional Japanese style toilets (my dad took this photo, I never had any desire to photograph a toilet). They're basically flat on the ground and tend to catch visitors to Japan by surprise. And, uh, yeah... They're more common in older places but wherever you go in Japan you'll probably run into some at one point or another. And, as long as I'm talking about it, urinals are the same as in the US.
One last thing I should mention while I'm on the subject is public rest rooms First off, keep an eye out for the occasional (though fairly uncommon) unisex rest room. They've got locks, but not everyone uses them. Aside from the different types of toilets, there's one more thing that's kinda important to keep in mind. Not entirely sure why but in Japan they don't go to the same lengths to ensure privacy in rest room as they do in the US, especially for men. Some men's rest rooms are fairly open, as in people could glance in fairly easily if they wanted to (or by accident for that matter). In addition, in busy places such as train stations they typically don't close the rest rooms while they're being cleaned and it's pretty common to have a woman cleaning the men's rest room while it's in use (though I don't think there's ever any men cleaning women's rest rooms). Seems that women need their privacy but it's no big deal if a woman sees a man in the rest room...definitely weird. The whole thing can take some getting used to no matter what gender you are.
Random Japan Comment: The Little Things
Sure there's lots of big differences between the US and Japan, but there's lots of small stuff as well. For example, how exit signs in Japan are green and how most hotel rooms require you to put your key in a slot of some sort in order to turn on the lights. There's also stuff like slurping your noodles (instead of eating them quietly) and drinking your soup. And that's just scratching the surface. I could keep going for a while but it's really more fun to discover them yourself.
Today will be the official end to my Japan coverage. Talk about a massive project. Eight months, a whole lot of write ups on places I went, things I saw, and Japan in general, plus nearly 600 photos (and that's just the ones that made it on the web site, I've got about four times that sitting on my hard drive). I hope you've enjoyed reading about my travels and experiences and that you've learned a bit about Japan. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end so let's get on with it.
Random Japan Comment: Things I Noticed Most After Returning Home
People kept telling me that I'd have this big reverse cultural shock of sorts upon returning to the US. I kinda doubted it since, regardless of my time in Japan, I've lived in the US most of my life and know what to expect here. And I was right, there wasn't anything really shocking. But here's a few things that particularly stuck out to me upon returning to the US.
Not to sound rude, but there's a lot of people in the US who are at least a little overweight. You also have a decent amount of muscular guys (not super muscular per say, but at least a little bulked up). In Japan, nearly everyone has a rather skinny to average build. Of course there's also the fact that practically everyone in Japan is Japanese (or at least Asian) while the US features a much more diverse mix of races, but I was always expecting that so it was no real surprise.
Another one of the things I noticed very soon after returning to the US was that, now that I was back in an English speaking country, I could actually understand everything that was being said around me. However, that was quickly followed by another realization... In most cases I'd rather not know what people are saying.
I've also noticed that I developed a habit of doing a slight bow (Japanese style) when thanking someone, be it a store clerk or a person giving me a compliment. Very useful while in Japan, slightly out of place here. I'll have to work on that.
Japan Wrap Up
So, how do I feel now that my big Japan adventure is finished? I'm glad I did it. Sure it was strange and a bit scarey at first but I improved my Japanese a bit, got a see and do a ton of stuff, and learned much more about Japan and the Japanese people and culture than I would have on a simple vacation.
Overall, I like Japan. I like it a lot. There's several aspects about the country and culture that I like a whole lot better than the US (the cleanliness, politeness, pride in their country, etc). And I know I'm never going to find such great sushi places around here, or anything that can compare to Akihabara. On the other hand though, there's some things about the Japanese country and culture I really dislike (the overwork ethic, always going with the group, tiny poorly heated apartments, etc) and some stuff I love that you just can't get in Japan (like a good pizza).
There were some rough spots during my stay but I enjoyed it a lot and I'd recommend a year long ALT job to anyone with a serious interest in Japan (at least assuming they made it through the first part of my So You Want to Teach English in Japan... guide without having second thoughts). And, while I'm not sure if I'd ever really want to live and work in Japan on a long term basis, I'm looking forward to going back when I get the chance.
Today marks one year since I left Japan after completing my eight month teaching contract. So, how do I feel about things now that I've had plenty of time to get back into my old life? First off, I still look back very fondly on my time in Japan. Well, aside from the tiny freezing apartment, but that's not a part of my whole Japan experience that I spend much time thinking about. It's hard to believe how much I saw and did in those eight months
I'm certainly glad to have all the familiar US amenities again like a decent sized apartment, a full kitchen, central heating and air conditioning, plenty of English media, and a wide variety of food. It's great to see my family more often as well, though there's plenty of things from Japan I miss. For example, shopping just isn't as much fun here. I miss the hustle and bustle and the fun of searching through all the little stores in the Japanese shopping districts. I miss being able to get around easily on trains (though I really like having a car again as well). I miss the food (though there's some pretty good Japanese restaurants in Phoenix). I miss how clean and safe it was. And I miss having a cool new area to visit and explore every weekend.
That said, I'm glad I left when I did. If I'd renewed my teaching contract for another year I probably wouldn't have been able to see my grandpa once last time before he died and my mom would have likely been overwhelmed if I hadn't been there to help when my other grandparents moved to Colorado. Not to mention that, though teaching was fun, it's not what I want to do as a career. It's good to be actively pursuing game design again.
Back when I left, I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to live in Japan again, or if I'd work for a Japanese game company if given the chance. Now I definitely want to go back to Japan, hopefully soon. Still not entirely sure if I really want to live there again or just have a good vacation every so often. However, if given the chance I would most likely accept a position at a Japanese game company. In fact, I plan to monitor a few sites and include a bunch of Japanese game companies next time I send out a batch of job applications. While I still dislike the typical Japanese work schedule (way too many hours every day), most of my favorite game developers are based in Japan and a couple years at one would look great on a resume. A couple more years in Japan would probably also get my Japanese fairly fluent and help me decide for sure just how much time I want to spend there in the future. I still can't imagine myself living there on a more or less permanent basis (I think two or three years tops would probably do it if I do get another job there) but I also feel like a quick vacation every couple of years wouldn't be enough either... My time in Japan just felt so different and exciting than my average days in the US. Though I'm sure that feeling would go away eventually.
So, aside from the whole experience (and all the game and anime figurines and soundtracks), what did I get out of my time in Japan? I have a much better knowledge of the Japanese language and culture than I did before, which can be a lot more useful than you'd think. Just like lots of Japanese people had strange misconceptions about the US, there's plenty of people here who have misconceptions about Japan. And spending a large amount of time in another culture makes you more conscious of different cultures in general. I also have a much greater knowledge of Japanese food (handy at restaurants and when cooking) and I developed a liking for various types of Japanese tea. Not to mention that I still have a habit of doing a little nod / bow when greeting and thanking people...
And let's not discount the experience. Though it was at times scary and uncomfortable, the good parts of my trip far outweighed the bad. I'll always remember the things I learned, places I saw, and people I met. Japan isn't a perfect place by any means, but there's a lot to love about it. And, whether I'm going for two weeks or two years, I hope I don't have to wait too much longer before returning.
Josiah's Japan Travelogue #2: 2011
Part 1
Misc Other Stuff
Takesumi Supreme Review