In Praise of Japan

If you haven’t read Paul’s posts below and looked at his beautiful pictures (he just posted some more last night); you really should. He’s written three posts now on our trip to Japan, and I haven’t written one.

I haven’t written because I didn’t really know where to start. It was a surprise trip, and we had a bit of struggle getting out of Korea. (I now have three pages of voided stamps in my passport from the Koreans.) In that sense, it was a relief just to be able to leave the country. Neither one of us would say that we’re unhappy here, but every time we’ve left the county, I think we both feel as though an enormous weight has been lifted. In part, because of my visa troubles, and, in part because of the rudeness we encounter here.

But this isn’t about Korea; it’s about Japan. And Japan was amazing. There were a lot of evergreens, so even in winter the country looked green and warm. The first day we went to Miyajima, one of the ‘three most beautiful’ places in Japan. It kind of set the pace for the trip. Miyajima is an island of mountains – long, shapely mountains that look like dragons curled up on each other. And so richly green! Every site we visited was warm (in appearance only) and green, pristinely manicured and poised for tourists. At every site, they would have English brochures ready before we bought our tickets. At Matsushima, a guide came running after us in order to give us a free tour in English. If we had to take our shoes off, they had ‘large size’ sandals ready for Paul (he refused them at one place, thinking he could just walk around in his socks; he took them after he realized it would be too cold. What was remarkable was that the people offering didn’t tell him it would be too cold, but they looked very sad for him.)

This kindness extended everywhere. People smiled at each other and bowed. They would duck out of each other’s pictures. At Himeji Castle, Paul stopped to take a few pictures near a boy and his grandfather. The grandfather quickly pulled the boy out of the way. When Paul was finished, we thanked him, and the grandfather commented on Paul’s camera and told us to have a nice day at the castle. When we were lost in Kyoto, a woman walked several blocks with us to help us find our way. Neither one of these experiences is particularly remarkable, except to say that they were the rule rather than the exception.

It’s the cleanest place I’ve ever been – not just Miyajima or any of their other parks, temples, or castles – but every single street. The cleanliness probably stuck out a bit more after living in Korea and spending time in developing nations like Vietnam and Cambodia. I remember the one time I saw trash on the ground – the one time in our whole trip. But it wasn’t just the absence of trash that made Japan feel clean: it was that the streets and sidewalks had obviously been cleaned and swept on a regular basis, the trees were pruned and cared for, at one site we even saw workers brushing the moss on the ground. These are people who are concerned not simply about appearance of their place, but about the health and well-being of the place itself. Cars were quieter and emitted less fumes. We walked through the busiest sections of Tokyo, and the air was still cleaner than anything else I’ve experienced since I left Vermont.

Clearly, one of the most important parts of any trip is the food. I was excited about visiting Japan just for the sushi. But here I have to gush again: everything was so fresh! I’m not particularly fond of the sticky Asian rices (unless covered in some kind of sauce), but the rice in Japan was so fresh it was like eating something purer than air. I know this all sounds ridiculous, and perhaps it is, but something should be said for the dedication the Japanese have to fresh food. I think it’s the first vacation we’ve been on together where we didn’t both gain five pounds. We ate meals from 7-11 that were head and shoulders better than anything else I’ve had in Asia. And, of course, we ate sushi until we couldn’t eat any more.

That’s my glowing blog about Japan for now. Perhaps later I’ll write a bit more details about the places we visited.