the land of the rising sun

came back from 6 days in the land of the rising sun, the first time that we ventured on our own in that country. there had always been an invisible wall holding us back from going it alone; perhaps it was the language barrier and the intimidating culture. what may seem like natural to us may be taboo to the tradition-filled country. however, what we needed and craved for this time around was some space, a slow-down in pace and a little breathing creche. the relatively safe country with wonderful food and organised transportation was just our ticket for a break.

it was a refreshing change, from the hurried pace of tour itinenaries, the get-down-shoot-go-back-to-the-bus style of group vacations. after so many times of visiting japan, this was the first that we had a more realistic and down-to-earth interaction with the local people. their culture, their people, their tradition emphasises heavily on outward appearance. consumer products are beautifully packaged for marketing, their youth dressed stylishly, even at the price of wearing hot sweaty boots in the dead of a hot spring day and high feet-crunching heels in a vast universal studio theme park. their manners abundant in the face of interaction with others. no one passes another in the hallway without at the very least a greeting for a good day. enter a restaurant, and staffs will be shouting long almost melodious lines of welcome at you, eventhough you cannot catch even one single word of what was uttered. for all i know, they could be saying, 'what? one more customer? we are busy as hell. please come back later'. well, still, they are saying it in a very nice and welcoming manner. women bow to their men when they get the bill for food, salespeople come over the counter to personally deliver your purchase to you and some even walk you to the door. i have yet to see a black sulking face in the land of the arigatos.

looking at the facade of what appears to be a common dwelling, they do not strive to be outlandish or different. they do not hang decorations or what-have-yous in the door of their house so that they will be able to tell their door apart from their neighbours during their drunken stupor. the evil character in ali baba story will have a hard time telling apart whose door is whose door. they are exactly the same. they do not strive to be different, instead they try their best to conform. perhaps when the door is opened, when one walks inside their houses can we see where they express their uniqueness. i did not have such an opportunity this time around but i can remember very vaguely when i did umpteenth years ago. the house that i visited did not appear to be any different from those i have seen in japanese movies. how, i wonder then, do they attempt to express their distinctness?

i love all japanese food, perhaps not so much their sickeningly sweet worcestershire sauce, which can be found on all things ranging from okonomiyaki to takoyaki but after 6 days of ramen, udon, katsu curry and not much else, i am a little tired of it all. perhaps the problem lies in that we do not recognise any other food than that which we already often have. we do not know how to order their more homely normal food. their japanese menus are nothing more than bean sprout wordings to me, and so we always end up ordering what we know, which in this foreign country, isn't much.

still, i like japan. a country that keeps its very best for themselves. a country that appear to be safe and transportation reliable. a country that show their very good side to strangers and is at the very least very polite. but to stay there for an extended period of time, it seems to be a little tiring. i wouldn't say malaysia is best, not even close but japan is a country that is most wonderful - for vacation.