Japan Travelogue Part... let's pretend it's not the first one...
Dearest People,
Am on the Shinkansen from Osaka back to Tokyo as I write. I don’t have wifi, but I brought my computer, so we are all very lucky.
I have had a wonderful time in Japan so far. It is a crazy place, full of clichés about Japan. The japanese people have an extremely funny attitude to foreigners, swinging wildly between starey fascination, determined (possibly disapproving) ignoringdom, admiration, mild disgust for American uncouthness, and an assumption that westerners must all want to eat doughnuts and hamburgers ALL THE TIME and have zero knowledge of japan. I thought that coming here, my obsessive enjoyment of Japanese food would render me more accessible. Sadly, it merely marks me out as more of a freak: “WHAT!? Using chopsticks!? BOTH chopsticks with ONE HAND!??”
More than one kindly person offered to put my noodles on a plate. Because bowls are far too Japanese to handle, conceptually. I actually felt quite bad for not being as ‘western’ as I should have been - knowing the names of food, for example. They were all “here, we eat ‘su-shi’ this ‘raw fish’. And I would say, ah. Yes. I like. I eat it often. Sashimi is good. And they would go “Law fish! Fish that is not cooked! On rice!” And I would go. Um, yes. I like… To which the inevitable response would be a cartoon double-take and “WHAAAAA!???” noise. Occasionally an awed cartoon O-mouth face and solemn “whaaa!” noise when I did something truly outrageous. Like saying arigato or drinking tea.
They are happy to talk about how Japan is a ‘safety country’, and how Americans all carry guns - a few people told me to be careful about going to America, because they are very violent there. You get complete awkward silence if you mention suicide statistics/train jumpers etc. Except ex-pats, who talk about it all the time.
I enjoyed Kyoto, which is very beautiful, and full of cool history -I wish I had shelled out for a tour, because I only had my guidebook and some googling to go by, and my guidebook turned out to be pretty shakey on actually telling you how to GET anywhere from anywhere else. Apparently, according to the Japanese people I spoke to Kyoto is very historical and ‘real japan’ (they stressed this so much that I got the impression that they all feel a bit guilty for not all still wearing wooden Geta on their feet and composing exquisite Haiku next to the river over Sake cups in Cherryblossom season) but a bit snobby according to those in the know. I was not trying to break in to general acceptance and initiation into the deepest secrets of the Ikebana schools, so it passed me by.
Kobe was notably friendlier than anywhere else I’ve been. They pride themselves on their foreigners, and have a ‘museum of multiculturalism’. It includes some intensely funny/terrible 18/1900’s racist cartoons of non-japanese people. Tokyo is busy and people kind of mostly ignore you. Train etiquette is intense private contemplation or straight-to-sleep in a little huddle. I think by necessity stricter in Tokyo than in Osaka, where they are more laid back and do insane maverick things like cross the road on red when there are no cars coming, and eat in public. EAT! In PUBLIC!
Beautiful things are everywhere, but there are also huge numbers of ugly streets and industrial towns. The sense of beauty seems therefore not to be a guiding principle of life in general. Certain things are beautiful - gardens, tea bowls, trees, cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, Calligraphy, Fans, Geisha, temples. That is their purpose. Other things could never be beautiful, because these define beauty. Perhaps I am being unfair, but I can’t think of any other way to explain the complete disjunct between this highly highly developed aesthetic, and really unnecessarily ugly streetscapes. Possible alternative unfair explanation is that the aesthetic sensibility is a matter of traditional reconstruction of elements authoritatively confirmed ‘beautiful’, and not a matter of ‘sense’.
There is not very much public space - few benches or places to (eg) sit outdoors. People, particularly in Tokyo subways, (which seem to make up 80% of actively used space in the city) are very much withdrawn form interaction with those around them. Eyes down at all times, in a very determined way - or falling asleep or listening to ipods or reading manga or playing on gameboys or phones. Which people do in Sydney as well, but there’s more of a cocoon feel about it here. Trains are eerily silent of any human noise. I assume private homes must be beautiful places of refuge from everything else, because there’s not much public fun. Except on weekends, when kids are everywhere, being lovingly tucked into their big puffy winter coats and determinedly climbing the subway stairs in that hilarious unbalanced overstepping way that little chumpy-legged babies do. Everyone loves babies. Weekend vibe is much more relaxed.
I think there are many bitter ex-pats here. Particularly in Tokyo. Jenny Alpern says that 80-90% of westerners living here can’t read kanji to an ‘adult’ level. Ie, the newspaper, or any books. Which is a pretty intense handicap, and would make me depressed too. Anyone who set up any kind of centralised translation service here for menus, museums, television guides could make a mint. There are only a few around and a still untapped massive market of Kanji things without even Romanji renderings, which Japanese speakers without Kanji could access.
Other things - before I have to dash off.
I had the joy in Kyoto of seeing a chinese tour bus called the “red express”.
I had tea every day.
I did not have sushi every day. Only twice. :_( Both times it was good, though.)
In part this reticence was due to my trauma at the Tsukiji fish markets, which was an icy cold arena, filled with inch deep blood-water, and things being violently dismembered by electric blade saws, scythes on poles and machetes, sometimes while still alive. Also, the narrow pathways between writhing fish-masses were in constant jeopardy from these mad-max style driven quasi forklifts, with an angry driver standing behind a wheel about a meter wide, wildly swerving the blunt steel front around corners in an attempt to kill you. These guys were angry freezing cold men, who had been up since 2am killing things in the icy dark and were not in the mood to slow down for dumb dawdling gaijin tourists in the way of their deathtrap-fishforklift-cars.
I bought an apple at a fruit shop for 300 yen. It was not the most expensive apple there. You can get good Udon for 320. Something is wrong with this picture.
I had Japanese baths. They are very hot and very big and have other people in them. Etiquette is good though; even in little villages where everyone stared in the street, they did not stare in the bath. At least while I was looking. I would have felt (more) self-conscious.
I had lunch with Jenny’s housewife students (twice!) I feel this is a rare experience for a foreigner, as housewives here are very specific in their circles. They were very interested in everything about my life, and wanted to see photos of everything. They think Henry is ‘very manly’. They think I look very grown up compared with their children, which I fear is a eupemism for premature aging, given the general freakishly youthful looks of Japanese oldsters I have encountered.
So long.
Xxx
Sleeping on the train. It was like a magical soporific drug.
Am on the Shinkansen from Osaka back to Tokyo as I write. I don’t have wifi, but I brought my computer, so we are all very lucky.
I have had a wonderful time in Japan so far. It is a crazy place, full of clichés about Japan. The japanese people have an extremely funny attitude to foreigners, swinging wildly between starey fascination, determined (possibly disapproving) ignoringdom, admiration, mild disgust for American uncouthness, and an assumption that westerners must all want to eat doughnuts and hamburgers ALL THE TIME and have zero knowledge of japan. I thought that coming here, my obsessive enjoyment of Japanese food would render me more accessible. Sadly, it merely marks me out as more of a freak: “WHAT!? Using chopsticks!? BOTH chopsticks with ONE HAND!??”
More than one kindly person offered to put my noodles on a plate. Because bowls are far too Japanese to handle, conceptually. I actually felt quite bad for not being as ‘western’ as I should have been - knowing the names of food, for example. They were all “here, we eat ‘su-shi’ this ‘raw fish’. And I would say, ah. Yes. I like. I eat it often. Sashimi is good. And they would go “Law fish! Fish that is not cooked! On rice!” And I would go. Um, yes. I like… To which the inevitable response would be a cartoon double-take and “WHAAAAA!???” noise. Occasionally an awed cartoon O-mouth face and solemn “whaaa!” noise when I did something truly outrageous. Like saying arigato or drinking tea.
They are happy to talk about how Japan is a ‘safety country’, and how Americans all carry guns - a few people told me to be careful about going to America, because they are very violent there. You get complete awkward silence if you mention suicide statistics/train jumpers etc. Except ex-pats, who talk about it all the time.
I enjoyed Kyoto, which is very beautiful, and full of cool history -I wish I had shelled out for a tour, because I only had my guidebook and some googling to go by, and my guidebook turned out to be pretty shakey on actually telling you how to GET anywhere from anywhere else. Apparently, according to the Japanese people I spoke to Kyoto is very historical and ‘real japan’ (they stressed this so much that I got the impression that they all feel a bit guilty for not all still wearing wooden Geta on their feet and composing exquisite Haiku next to the river over Sake cups in Cherryblossom season) but a bit snobby according to those in the know. I was not trying to break in to general acceptance and initiation into the deepest secrets of the Ikebana schools, so it passed me by.
Kobe was notably friendlier than anywhere else I’ve been. They pride themselves on their foreigners, and have a ‘museum of multiculturalism’. It includes some intensely funny/terrible 18/1900’s racist cartoons of non-japanese people. Tokyo is busy and people kind of mostly ignore you. Train etiquette is intense private contemplation or straight-to-sleep in a little huddle. I think by necessity stricter in Tokyo than in Osaka, where they are more laid back and do insane maverick things like cross the road on red when there are no cars coming, and eat in public. EAT! In PUBLIC!
Beautiful things are everywhere, but there are also huge numbers of ugly streets and industrial towns. The sense of beauty seems therefore not to be a guiding principle of life in general. Certain things are beautiful - gardens, tea bowls, trees, cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, Calligraphy, Fans, Geisha, temples. That is their purpose. Other things could never be beautiful, because these define beauty. Perhaps I am being unfair, but I can’t think of any other way to explain the complete disjunct between this highly highly developed aesthetic, and really unnecessarily ugly streetscapes. Possible alternative unfair explanation is that the aesthetic sensibility is a matter of traditional reconstruction of elements authoritatively confirmed ‘beautiful’, and not a matter of ‘sense’.
There is not very much public space - few benches or places to (eg) sit outdoors. People, particularly in Tokyo subways, (which seem to make up 80% of actively used space in the city) are very much withdrawn form interaction with those around them. Eyes down at all times, in a very determined way - or falling asleep or listening to ipods or reading manga or playing on gameboys or phones. Which people do in Sydney as well, but there’s more of a cocoon feel about it here. Trains are eerily silent of any human noise. I assume private homes must be beautiful places of refuge from everything else, because there’s not much public fun. Except on weekends, when kids are everywhere, being lovingly tucked into their big puffy winter coats and determinedly climbing the subway stairs in that hilarious unbalanced overstepping way that little chumpy-legged babies do. Everyone loves babies. Weekend vibe is much more relaxed.
I think there are many bitter ex-pats here. Particularly in Tokyo. Jenny Alpern says that 80-90% of westerners living here can’t read kanji to an ‘adult’ level. Ie, the newspaper, or any books. Which is a pretty intense handicap, and would make me depressed too. Anyone who set up any kind of centralised translation service here for menus, museums, television guides could make a mint. There are only a few around and a still untapped massive market of Kanji things without even Romanji renderings, which Japanese speakers without Kanji could access.
Other things - before I have to dash off.
I had the joy in Kyoto of seeing a chinese tour bus called the “red express”.
I had tea every day.
I did not have sushi every day. Only twice. :_( Both times it was good, though.)
In part this reticence was due to my trauma at the Tsukiji fish markets, which was an icy cold arena, filled with inch deep blood-water, and things being violently dismembered by electric blade saws, scythes on poles and machetes, sometimes while still alive. Also, the narrow pathways between writhing fish-masses were in constant jeopardy from these mad-max style driven quasi forklifts, with an angry driver standing behind a wheel about a meter wide, wildly swerving the blunt steel front around corners in an attempt to kill you. These guys were angry freezing cold men, who had been up since 2am killing things in the icy dark and were not in the mood to slow down for dumb dawdling gaijin tourists in the way of their deathtrap-fishforklift-cars.
I bought an apple at a fruit shop for 300 yen. It was not the most expensive apple there. You can get good Udon for 320. Something is wrong with this picture.
I had Japanese baths. They are very hot and very big and have other people in them. Etiquette is good though; even in little villages where everyone stared in the street, they did not stare in the bath. At least while I was looking. I would have felt (more) self-conscious.
I had lunch with Jenny’s housewife students (twice!) I feel this is a rare experience for a foreigner, as housewives here are very specific in their circles. They were very interested in everything about my life, and wanted to see photos of everything. They think Henry is ‘very manly’. They think I look very grown up compared with their children, which I fear is a eupemism for premature aging, given the general freakishly youthful looks of Japanese oldsters I have encountered.
So long.
Xxx
Sleeping on the train. It was like a magical soporific drug.