Amy and I just got back from a 2 week trip to Japan, and I thought I would take some time and write down a few details about our trip, as well as some impressions about Japanese culture.
Please keep in mind that what I write about below is not a detailed study, but rather my impressions .
First of all I would like to say that we had a great time. We stayed in a traditional Japanese Inn (Ryokan), which ends up saving you some money over a regular western style hotel. You basically get a small room with a futon to sleep on, and there is a shared bathroom and shower on each floor, as well as a shared social room on the first floor. All things being equal we probably would have preferred to stay in a western style hotel, but since the Ryokans are a lot cheaper, and reasonably comfortable, it makes sense to stay there.
Tokyo is a big city. It’s population is 12 million or so, and if you consider the population of the surrounding areas, it is more like 18 million. Absolutely packed! Just crossing the street in a busy area was like trying to navigate the crowd at a Michigan football game. While you certainly could have a car or take a taxi, most people take the train and subway system, which can basically get you just about anywhere you want to go (even out to the suburbs) as long as you don’t mind walking a bit (or a lot in some cases).
Speaking of walking, we did a ton of it. You have to walk to the train station, traverse the stations (which are in many cases are huge and involve many stair cases), and then you have to walk to your destination once you get off the train. You basically have to have everything that you will need for the day with you when you leave in the morning, which for us meant hauling around martial arts uniforms and equipment all day. Did I mention that it is typically extremely hot and humid? So hot and humid that you would be dripping sweat just standing around. By the end of the trip it cooled down, but it also rained everyday. Either way we wound up being soaking wet by the end of the day.
Millions of people use the trains everyday, and depending on what time it is, you can really get packed into those train cars. However, regardless of how crowded it is, everything is very clean, and you never really feel unsafe. Amazingly enough there isn’t a lot of pushing and shoving. It’s sort of like a bunch of ants running around. If you are walking around and want to step out of the way (for whatever reason), don’t blink, because sure enough someone (or multiple someones) will likely be where you wanted to be. In other words there isn’t really a good place to get out of the way.
One of the benefits of all of the walking is that it is pretty unusual to see a fat Japanese person. Most people are really skinny. I’m sure that has something to do with their diet as well. I’ve always heard that the is one of the fattest countries in the world, and Michigan one of the fattest states, but it doesn’t never really sunk in until I went to .
It’s interesting to me that in one of the world’s biggest cities, a lot of the shops and restaurants are incredibly small. We would consider a lot of them not much more than hallways or closets. The first few days we were there all of the places we went to eat seated no more than a dozen people. While I am told that they have some big, multi-floor grocery stores, but the ones I saw were really small, and seemed to specialize in vegetables, or fish, etc.
The restaurants and stores aren’t the only things that are small. A lot of the streets are incredibly narrow. A lot of people drive scooters or bicycles to get around. You also see a lot of those really small Japanese cars, though there are also a fair number of regular sized cars (saw a lot of BMW’s). Houses and apartments are also really small, and expensive. I’m told that it is not uncommon for people to get 100 year mortgages for real estate in Tokyo, since that is the only way they can afford to buy anything.
Surprisingly enough, the food we had was really good. My favorite was ramen noodles and fried rice. However we also had some really good Chinese food, Indian food, and yakitory (chicken sticks). While I don’t especially care for fish (especially raw fish), even some of the sushi was good.
One of the main reasons that we went over there was to do some martial arts training. We basically trained just about every day that we possibly could, with one exception. We got to do some Jujutsu, Gojo Ryu, Aikido, Iaido, and Jinken Ryu. We also got to pick up a bunch of Iaido swords for ourselves, and for our friends back in the states. Because we ordered a bunch we got a really good deal, not to mention being able to check out the merchandise before we bought it.
We stopped at a sword museum and got to see some really incredible swords. If you aren’t familiar with Japanese swords, there are the best swords in the world and are of great cultural importance to the Japanese. The pricing for a real deal Japanese sword starts around $5000. An antique sword is probably going to be 10, 20, 30 thousand or more. We stopped by a couple of sword shops, and managed to find a sword that was long enough for me (unusual since Japanese people aren’t that big). The price? $16,000 and 400+ years old. I really wanted it, but didn’t get it. Maybe some day.
I’ve always heard that the Japanese are on the cutting edge of technology, but that doesn’t appear to always be the case. For instance, their economy is largely cash based. There are plenty of stores and restaurants that don’t take credit cards, which is unusual in the States. It was kind of a pain in the ass for us because that meant we had to bring a bunch of travelers checks and figure out how to cash them. Turns out that the only place that would cash them was the Japanese post office. I ended up coming back with a pocket full of yen, so I’m going to have to go through the hassle of finding someone to cash them in around here. Ugh.
Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now. I’m watching Michigan whoop up on Notre Dame, so I think I’ll get back to that. If I think of anything else later I’ll make another entry.
