The Land of the Rising Sun

This is a long one. Bear with me.

Before any trip, I research what major attractions I should take the time to experience while I’m in the city. The list of recommendations for Tokyo was enormous, and I knew I couldn't do everything. Because this was my first time traveling alone, I decided to do something a bit different. Instead of cramming in as many sights as possible (my usual plan of attack for big cities), I wanted to do memorable activities. I signed up for a day-long tour to Mount Fuji and Hakone, a hands on cooking class, and a temple/beach walk with a company that organizes informal tours for foreigners living in Tokyo. Unfortunately, due to a stupid alarm mistake, I missed the beach walk. The cooking class was absolutely AMAZING, and I’ll be doing an entirely separate post on it later this month. Mount Fuji was cloudy, so I didn't get many good pictures, but I learned more about Japan in that day than I did the rest of my trip.

No one wants to hear boring step by step details of what I did, so I’ll put a bunch of pictures with captions, then finish this post with my overall impression of Japan. How’s that sound? It sucks? Too bad. This is my blog.

Capsule hotel my first night. The beds are essentially boxes with 3
inches of padding to sleep on. Cheap and a very cool experience. 

Tako yaki = octopus balls. Too much dough, not enough octopus.

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Very touristy, but pretty.

Another temple in Asakusa

5 story pagoda in Asakusa

Tokyo Skytree, the tallest building in Tokyo. Didn't get to go up, as a reservation was required, but the huge mall built around it was great fun

Kabuki-za theater in Ginza. I saw a Kabuki show here and was very impressed
(kabuki is traditional Japanese theater. Men only, very exaggerated and bizarre costumes).

Ginza is the glitzy shopping district of Tokyo, where every other building is an expensive brand name

A photo of a photo of Mount Fuji. I was not so luck as to get a great view

At the fifth station of Mt Fuji, with the mountain behind me
(I believe the white building is a hotel)

Mt Fuji candy. Lava candy, on the left, is sugar that looks like lava.
On the right, crispy rice cookie shaped like the mountain

Lake Ashi, as seen from a river cruise

Cable car ride to the top of Mt Hakone

Mt Hakone, active volcano. Really windy and a mild sulfur smell due to the volcanic gasses 

Kurotamago = black egg. Eggs boiled in the volcanic hot springs turn black from the iron and minerals
that are in the water. It's said that eating one will make you live 7 years longer.

What kind of 90s kid would I be if I didn't go to the Pokemon center?

Amazing park next to the Pokemon Center. Completely calm and separated from the hectic feel of the city

Yet another illustration of the coexistence of the old and new

Meiji Shrine, one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan. This is called a Torii, a gate that marks
 the entrance to a Shinto shrine. It cleanses the souls of those who walk through it.

Sake barrels at the shrine. Sake is offered to the shrine as it is considered to bring good luck on the donor

Me at Gonpachi restaurant in Nishiabuza, the restaurant that inspired my favorite scene in Kill Bill.

For a bit of a break, I spent a day at Tokyo DisneySea. The shows
were incredible and unlike anything I've seen at any amusement park

It was interesting to compare my experiences there with my time in Korea.  I've included pronounced differences below:

• Japan is so freaking clean. I've traveled quite a bit and genuinely can’t recall a city being as clean as Tokyo, which is astounding considering just how many people live there! There was no trash on the ground, no pockets of sewage smell, or people spitting on the street. Korea is full of those three things, and it’s incredibly unpleasant. The sound of an ahjeosshi hacking a loogie next to you on the sidewalk is gag-inducing.

• Nobody stared at me! This may have been the first time in 7 months that I didn’t constantly feel as if I was on display. It was so exciting! In Korea, being stared at is a common experience for a foreigner. Old men and women will literally walk to within 6 inches of your person and slowly circle, looking you up and down as if you’re being sold at a market. It’s typically more subtle (quick glances away when you look up on the subway is most common, with a side of this), but it does happen. In Japan, however, I only noticed a handful of people looking my way, and that was when I was struggling to use a kanzashi (decorative Japanese hair stick). Heck, I would have stared at me too, flailing about with my hair frizzing out everywhere.

• Order is king. Koreans are not known for their patience, and that unfortunately bleeds over into aspects of everyday life. Most notably, walking down the street and waiting for public transportation. Sidewalks are just constant danger zones. As someone that walks very quickly, the tendency of Koreans to meander and zig zag as if strolling through a frickin empty meadow is intensely frustrating. Mr Bean knows what I'm talking about. The 20-somethings like to walk in rows 4 people wide, older women with pushcarts expect everyone to move out of their way, scooters navigate through crowds at terrifying speeds, and I look like the weirdo speed-walking around people. When I see an opening to finally pass a crowd but there’s another group converging, it feels like the scene in ‘Empire Strikes Back’, when the Millennium Falcon is escaping the space slug’s mouth on the asteroid. Once I've reached the glorious freedom of open sidewalk I’m struck with the desire to high-five Harrison Ford. But I digress. Tokyo was very orderly, with everyone walking at a brisk pace and adhering strictly to the ‘stand on the left, pass on the right’ rule. I already miss it.

• Strangers left me alone. In Korea, it’s very common for foreigners to be approached by people wanting to practice their English. Sometimes they’re men looking for a date, women who want to know how you did your hair, or mothers pushing their kids to say hello. I’m usually approached by middle aged men who smell a little too much of soju. But Japanese people left me completely alone. I wasn’t approached once, which I had mixed feelings about. It would have been nice to make a new friend, but when I travel alone I tend to be very paranoid and distrustful of new people. Wouldn’t exactly make for a good first impression.

• The food was quite different. I've been a big fan of sushi since my sister introduced me to it in high school, but have never really experienced any other kind of Japanese food. While in Tokyo, I had sushi, soba noodles, ramen, and lots of other things I don't remember the names of. What my general takeaway was that I prefer Korean food. Most of the flavors were very muted, just hovering over the point of bland. There was no spicy factor excluding the separate wasabi added to sushi and soba dishes. Korean food is full of spicy hot food, dishes with an acidic bite of vinegar, or the sweet savory-ness of meat marinades. I found myself dreaming of naeng myeon and dweggi kalbi. mmmm

• Many people wore traditional kimonos. The kimono in Japan is very similar to the hanbok of Korea. Both are intricate, heavy, expensive, and absolutely beautiful (I very much want to get one of my own). Walking around in Korea, I’ve only seen women wearing hanbok a handful of times. For formal occasions, sure, but never just walking around a market or grocery store. While I was in Japan, I was really blown away by how frequently I saw kimonos! I’d go so far as to say 5% of the women I saw in Tokyo were wearing kimonos, and maybe 1% of men.
  
   Those may seem like small numbers on paper, but imagine a busy subway platform, just a sea of black and white business attire. Then you pick out the dots of bright purple, red, and deep blue of kimonos in the crowd. The picture practically paints itself.

On the note of traditional dress, it brings me to an important observation of Japan and of Asia (at least in my experiences thus far): the organic combination of the traditional and the modern. I feel like Korea has the concept down pretty well, as a brief walk in any city will have you stumbling upon a historical gate, hanbok shop, or museum/gallery of some sort. But in Japan, that feeling is much more pronounced, more easily illustrated by the architecture of the buildings, the beautiful parks, and the almost refined way people carry themselves. The New-Englander in me admires the stoicism and subtle elegance of Japan. I felt at ease there, maybe more so than I do here in Korea.

That’s the note I want to end on. I love Korea, but can really see myself loving Japan too. Perhaps another visit or two is in order J

안녕!