I just wrapped up my incredible trip into the island nation of Japan. I learned so much about their culture (both positive and negative). I traveled to Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto over the course of five days with very little sleep. It was definitely a shocking series of events.
Day 1 (Kobe):
Kobe, Japan is a coastal city that lies in front of Mount Rokko. It has a population of 1.5 million people. Our day in Kobe had a very common theme: Food. We were late to the port due to heavy storms throughout the Pacific (another story for another day) but ended up leaving the port in the afternoon. We did a restaurant hop all over the city trying the most foreign foods we could find. The highlight was definitely getting my hands on real Kobe beef which is infamous for its taste plus an additional live octopus.
My stay in Kobe was delicious.
Day 2 (Osaka to Tokyo):
Osaka is a city next to Kobe that is just as big if not bigger. We spent our economic field class there.We got to tour the Bank of Japan, speak to the US-Japananese consulate, and visit the Japanese stock exchange.The Bank of Japan was very interesting. We learned how they produce and exchange their currency. The consulate was definitely the highlight. We were able to witness the official executive order to the US Embassy in Japan to back out of the TPP which was awesome. The Japanese stock exchange was extremely docile and quiet which speaks to the attitude of its people. That night my friends and I took a Shinkansen (high speed train) to Tokyo where I got to see the Shibuya Crossing. We got to experience the local nightlife as well.
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| Shibuya Crossing |
Tokyo was every bit as large and bright as Manhattan. Shibuya Crossing is just as magnificent as Times Square. This day was fun because I got the opportunity to travel around Tokyo on my own. I had to meet up with my group at the airBNB we were staying at which was across town. As you could imagine, traveling across a city as large as NYC without being able to speak the language or even read their alphabet, was a little challenging. Thanks to the kind locals i managed to transverse the entire city in only two hours. Ill take what I can get. Afterwards I explored a bit, ran into a shrine, and accidentally ate Whale (I thought it was beef) . That night my friends and I met with a Japanese businessman for dinner and drinks. We had Korean BBQ that was quiet a treat by itself. We tried Ox tongue, Chicken Cartilage, Cow's Heart, and Cow intestines. The Cow Heart was actually pretty damn good. We ended up staying up late to visit the famous fish market in Tokyo. We got a really good experience because we accidentally wandered into the actual fish market and not the touristy tuna auction. We spent an hour there before the workers realized we weren't supposed to be there and kicked us out. Definitely my favorite day of the trip!
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| Tokyo Fish Market |
After a late night in Tokyo and the fish market, we took a morning train to Kyoto. Kyoto is the traditional culture capital of Japan. I was sleeping on the train to Kyoto when destiny woke me up to find Mount Fuji right outside my train window. It was incredible. Kyoto was my favorite city in Japan. We visited Buddhist and Shintoist shrines and went to dinner at this hibachi restaurant (so good). I got to drink with some locals and talk about life in Kyoto which was really interesting. Kyoto was an awesome city.
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| Traditional Japan- Kyoto |
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| Mount Fuji |
Just a travel day. Only thing to note was the McDonalds we had was fire (Awesome). We head back into the stormy Pacific tonight and have been told its gonna be a rocky one!
While Japan was an absolutely incredible experience I do feel like I would be doing a disservice to this blog if I do not talk about the negatives i experienced so please allow me to grieve for a moment. There was two major issues I had with Japan.
1) Obvious Racism - Japan is not a multicultural country so they are not used to seeing people of different backgrounds on their street. I'd say 70% were happy to help us and loved talking to us to hear our experiences but the other 30% would pretty direct in their racism. I was turned away at least 2-3 times to the sound of "no whites" or "no foreigners". I would take a seat on the train and before I could talk to the Japanese citizen next to me they would get up and move seats. It didn't ruin my experience but it was kinda glaring. Just an interesting experience. It didn't really bother me but it was sad to see people try to excuse it in our post-port discussion.
2) This is more subject to debate but the Japanese are very socialist socially and economically. They are also ranked the #1 most unsatisfied country in the world according to the Japanese businessman I met with. They don't show a lot of emotion because they believe it affects the people around them which is considerate I guess but I don't think its worth living life like a mannequin. They're not allowed to dress a certain way or they get shamed for it. They won't listen to music in their cars or talk about movies/art/etc. in public. It certainly has its benefits. They don't have trash cans and its extremely socially unacceptable to litter so their cities are very clean. However I don't think that the price of losing personal expression is worth it. Its just a shock coming from a city (Atlanta) that is so heavily culturally involved about being who you are. To me the music you listen to, the movies you watch, the clothes you wear, etc. help define who you are but to the Japanese it is unacceptable to try and branch out from the socially norm.
Japan was an incredibly interesting country. I could not remotely put everything I learned into this one blog post. I am very grateful for the opportunity to see Japan in its glory. The majority of the people were outstanding and tried to explain to me why they do the things they do. Ill never forget my experiences here!
Arigato Japan,
Maxwell
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| The Sumo Championship trophy and me in the ring! |
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