Once I had hit the road again, the bug had infected me and I was quickly on my next trip. This time the destination was Japan. I had always wanted to go to Japan to experience their unique culture and now I was actually going. So many people were excited for me when I told them that I was going. There is something that is magical about Japan. I was told that I would find the Japanese culture such a unique culture that would stand out compared to most of the other cultures that I have visited. I didn’t think I would notice the intricacies of their culture being there for such a short time. There were a few things that I did notice:
1. The most sterile culture I’ve ever visited even down to the toilets. We were fascinated by the toilets. At first a daunting experience of using one – I admit that in the arrivals hall in the airport, there was a choice of a regular toilet and a “singing/spraying toilet,” I chose the normal one. It took awhile to figure out what the pictures all meant and they weren’t consistent from toilet to toilet. But truly in Japan, there is no such thing as a dirty toilet. Even in the busiest McDonald’s! The most sterile experience was opening a bathroom door which triggered the toilet lid to rise. There are always wipes near a toilet to sanitize the seat. Trust me, you want to sit on these seats because they are heated. Then you can opt for a silent toilet or one that makes noise. There are two types of sprays. One for the bottom and one for women. There is a temperature control and an intensity control for the spray. I just have to fine the toilet that air dries you after the spray.
2. When we arrived in Tokyo and were figuring out how to get into town, we were stopped by a local film crew who wanted to ask questions about why we were visiting Japan and what we were planning on doing. These questions seemed tame enough…until they got personal. We were asked if we were married and none of us were. Then we were asked if we had boyfriends which again the answer was no. Then we were asked if we were lonely. OK? Then the best question was were we going to look for boys in all the cities that we were visiting? We were a bit worried how all of this was going to be edited on their show.
3. Plastic Food. There were no worries about not understanding menus because most restaurants had plastic models of the dishes in their display cases. There is this industry that exists in Japan to make life-like plastic food of every possible dish you can think of.
4. The most polite culture I’ve ever met. I’ve heard that native English speakers say thank you a lot compared to other cultures. We are not nearly as thankful as the Japanese. When buying items in a store, thank you might be said more than 5 times. In the trains, we were amazed at how the staff would always bow when entering and exiting a car. If you ask for help, they will go out of their way to find the answer. When you thank them in the end, you can end up in endless head nodding as they nod in response to your head nod and then you feel somehow obligated to nod back.
5. Onsens. These are the natural hot springs that are around Japan. There are onsen towns where you go just to experience the hot springs. This is culturally a very unique experience. We went to Kinosaki which sounded amazing, a town where you walk around in robes and sandals from hot spring to hot spring. However, I hadn’t read all the information properly about this cultural experience when I suggested it for our itinerary. I never realized that you go completely naked. There were 4 of us travelling together. We were all, let’s say, modest about our bodies and weren’t quite sure how to enjoy the onsens without having to be seen by our friends and see our friends. The Japanese ladies must have been laughing at us as they saw us accidently drenching our miniscule towels as we tried logistically to lift them as we entered the water trying to keep everything hidden. The Japanese ladies would stay together and chat and meanwhile we were all in different corners of the onsen.
Marcia's Travels 