Lost on foreign land
Currently back in another airport on my way back to Vancouver, where I left you last. The memories of Japan are still very fresh in my mind, but that being said I’m still having trouble putting my thoughts together for this blog. Japan isn’t somthing I can even begin to encapsulate in a short blog. I feel like it deserves a 1000 page hard cover book. Sadly I didn’t have enough time to explore and immerse myself in the Japanese culture to attempt such a feat. I’ll do my best to give you my view of how I experienced Japan.
Winning ticket
Most of my stay was in the downtown area of Ginza and surrounding areas. My initial thoughts were that it seemed like Chicago or New York. I say that cause the western lifestyle is very prevalent and a lot of what I saw ws big high end shops. I felt like I was walking in a much cleaner michicagan Avenue. Streets were filled with lights and huge displays of advertisements. There was definitely no shortage of shopping malls within a few blocks of each other. Lamborghini’s and skylines roamed the streets, you’ll even see a bunch of Toyota centuries around. I included a link to this car because it’s only available in japan.
Nissan skyline
Speaking of cars and again this is only my view and I’m basing this off of what I saw. I paid my brother $1 for every car he found that was either a beater or dirty and throughout our entire trip I only paid him $2. Out of the thousands of cars we only saw 2 dirty cars and that was pushing it to be honest. It was just barely dirty probably from a longer trip or somthing. The car wash bills in japan must be through the rough. I don’t know why this is somthing I payed attention to but it was. Every car was immaculate no matter the age. Cement trucks, dump trucks, everything looked like it was unused or freshly washed. I guess this attention to detail and cleanliness was my first peak into the Japanese culture.
It wasn't only the cars that were clean but the city streets were immaculate. I was eating food on the street and literally felt bad when i dropped some crumbs on the ground. Odd thing about it is i didn't see any city garbage cans around. It could be that i wasn't looking hard enough or maybe they have some space age trash cans that i couldn't tell were trash cans? Either way i decided to just pocket any bit of trash i had and throw it away when i got back to my hotel. I mentioned this to my uncle now that i'm back in Washington and he explained that this is the culture in Japan. Cleanliness is a reflection of themselves. Cab drivers for example maintain their cars because customers are king and they want to give them the best experience they can.
Respect is another quality that is on another level in Japan. When i said the customer is king in Japan, I mean this in a very serious way. Japanese people will treat you with the utmost respect and make sure you're happy and satisfied. There wasn't a single restaurant or store that i went to where every customer was greeted by shouting “irasshai-mase" and "arigato" as soon as you walk out.
Like i said earlier, Japan is too much for one blog post. All the photos in this blog were from my phone and i'll be developing and scanning rolls i shot during my travel as soon as i get home to Chicago. So for now enjoy these photos. Japan Part 2 coming soon.