360 in 365 – Joachim voyage autour du monde

Some things about Japan, and some more pictures.

Japan is nice, but it’s far away. It’s also somewhat expensive. I spent in two weeks as much as I spent in two month in SE Asia… and I spent twice what I expected I would. Even though I stayed 8 nights at some friends places.

But it’s nice. Japan has a character I didn’t really see anywhere else in SE Asia, a very specific character, very original. China or Thailand, or even the Philippines all have a specific and original character, but less so, and it gets less and less specific the more they are westernized. Cultural and social pollution from the Western world is very heavy in Asia, but Japan has protected itself against that : the dichotomy between Japanese authenticity and what the West brought are a constant source of enlightenment. Girls who go pray to the Shrine wearking a Kimono like her mother and grandmother are again seen on the sunday in one of these ultra-modern culture and shopping areas, wearing baroque outfits and cat ears. And she’ll still be cute. Japanese culture has kept its specificity, while adapting to what the West could bring. Japan, more than any country in Asia, shows this contrast between tradition and modernity. Since 1945, Japan plays the West’s game with its own rules, and, right now, is somewhat winning.

What does it mean? It means that Japan’s nice, but it’s complicated.

Complicated for the language, for example. Language is the main factor in communicating with the locals. I didn’t have any problem in South East Asia, but I became very self-conscious of the fact that I only knew 5 words of Japanese. In SE Asia, you can always find somebody who speaks a few words of english. In Japan, nobody speaks english almost, and if you don’t speak Japanese, some locals won’t even aknowledge you. Shyness for some, xenophobia for the others perhaps, there’s lots of explanations but they don’t really help when you’re trying to have an information in a restaurant, like, “should I be worried if I eat Fugu and the taste’s slightly off?”. You have to add a linguistic investment to the financial investment if you want to really enjoy the county. And if you have friends there, who can speak the language, it’s more better…

Be well, what I’m writing is lots of clichés and lieux communs. Everything has already been said about Japan, and everything’s contrary has also been said so yeah I won’t be really original with you.

What some know about Japan are just Sushis and Mangas. Everybody’s asking me if I ate lots of sushis during my stay there : No. Japanese cuisine is so rich that I had sushis only twice, once at the fish market in Tokyo and once when i risked my life for delicious Fugu in Osaka. But, well, I also had some delicious Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, in Osaka and in Narita, and ramens too, and udon and teppanyaki and it was so good, and it’s real japanese food that you can’t really enjoy anywhere else because they don’t do it right.

Concerning mangas, well, I’ll just say that there’s no giant robot running around Tokyo. Yet.

So yeah, I don’t really know what more I could say, I don’t have any more words. It was great and tiring and a little bit already familiar but not so much. I discovered I want to rediscover Japan, one day.

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