Japan is a place that has tangentially been in my life since childhood. I took karate classes for about 9 years (yes, I have a black belt), anime has always hovered at the periphery of my interests, and Kurosawa is one of my favorite directors. Along with these, the concept of ‘toilets with control panels’, and the pictures I’ve seen of both the serene Japanese countryside and of twinkling, effervescent, neon-stuffed cityscapes have all fused together into one giant “Japan is pretty fucking awesome”. If there was one place that held the biggest risk of being a disappointment when compared to the expectations that have grown in my head, it was definitely Japan.
So. What happened, you might ask? Was it like every other city, where the truth of reality brought you crashing down to the cracked and grimy concrete of the sidewalk? Was it another Chiang Mai, an illusion violently violated by the sheer flatness of existence? Short answer, no. Japan is pretty awesome. Long answer, definitely no. Japan is pretty fucking awesome.
Japanese cities are unlike any other that we visited. They have a blend of European and Asian influences and the product of that is something that isn’t quite either. It’s a thin layer of modernity on a very old and idiosyncratic culture. The cities lack the chaos and disarray of Southeast Asia and China (spoiler alert, we went to China, oops that was too late) but they don’t quite have the classical and historical feel of European cities. They are a type unto themselves, making the experience of walking down Japanese streets a unique one on our trip. Just compare the massive urban expanse of Tokyo (that is scaled down significantly by it’s incredibly efficient public transportation) to the cozy and friendly mountain town of Takayama to the healed scar of Hiroshima. There is an almost endless variety in Japan wrapped around and infused with a strong sense of Asian-but-really-Japanese.
Instead of waxing on about Japan in an attempt to wear out my thesaurus (just kidding, who even owns a thesaurus these days), I’m going to post a bunch of pics from each place we went. Enjoy.
Tokyo
Hiroshima
Miyajima
