Japan

Japan, Japan, Japan...it was everything I expected it to be, and nothing I expected it to be, if that makes any sense at all. Where to start? How about the people, since they were the most memorable. They were so nice, polite, generous, welcoming, and understanding. We must have asked over 200 people for directions to various locations, and everyone was more than happy to assist us, often walking us to our subway or location we wanted to go, even if it was in the compete opposite direction from the way they were going. Not only were they nice to us, but to eachother as well. Such a polite society. For example, they STAND on one side of the escalator, allowing those in a hurry, to walk passed on the other side. Everyone had cell phones, but I never heard one ring while in public. They form single file lines for the simpliest of events, including subways. I never saw someone steal, cut in line, cheat, or litter. The city was unbelievably clean, which suprised the hell out of me because garbage cans were far and few between. One day, while waiting for a subway, I witnessed a woman, who was very sick, vomit on the floor. By the time I had taken a second look, there were five women pulling napkins from their purses, cleaning the sick women, and cleaning the vomit on the floor. Talk about a communal society. Lovely people the Japanese. I am very glad I experienced them for five days, as my ignorant pre-self had a distaste for them back in America, and thought of them as rude, selfish, and annoying. I think Americans would be better off if they acted in some ways like the Japanese. In Japan, they sell beer in vending machines, of course the machine does not ID, so how do they keep undersage children from purchasing the alcohol. They don't. These people respect the laws with intensity. They don't drink until they legally can. Of course, I speak for all Japanese, and I don't know if this is true for all of them, but from my experience, this all held true.The first day we took a train from Yokohama to Tokyo was absolutely huge, and the people great for such a large city. We went to a Sumo match while there, which was very interesting to see. Unlike other sporting events, though publicized, the event contained no advertising. Perhaps because it is such an ancient and cultural sport. While leaving the stadium, we walked behind some wrestles and watched how citizens approached them, bowing and extending their hands to them, asking them to take a picture. The wrestlers are like celebrities in Japan. Next we went to Asakusa, the oldest district in Tokyo. We visited some Buddhist temples and passed through the crowded streets lined with little shops filled with fans, Japanese robes, and other small trinket items. The Shibuya district in Tokyo, is like Time Square on steriods. At any time of the day, between early morning to late night, one could witness hundreds and hundreds of people wandering and crossing the streets. After Tokyo, we took a two hour bullet train to Kyoto, home of the Japanese Geishas. These small city was very culturally Japanese. We walked around and visited many temples, with Monks praying inside. We then went farther south to Kobe, where we were to meet the ship. Jesse (my roommate on the ship) and I walked all over the city. We visited Tower Records where I purchased a Japanese CD and a Rolling Stone magazine in Japanese. We then ate at a little local Sushi place. We were the only non-Japanese there, and everything there was in Japanese. The people comforted us with a warm smile and a gesture that told us to sit down. We ordered what we saw being made by Sushi chefs across the glass, had a few bottles of Sake, Japanese rice wine (to kill all the parasites we has ingested of course) and were on our way. Walking down the street, we passed by a little shop that contained about twenty little picture booths, like the ones we used to see in Fred Meyer and other big department stores as well as the malls. These are VERY popular among Japanese girls. We couldn't operate the machines, so a group of girls helped us through everything, then proceeded to take the photos with us. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and made for some great memories and photos.