We arrived in Japan 18 days ago. Our itinerary took us to Kyoto, Koya San, Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima and we wrote these lines from within a futon in Takayama, in the Japanese Alps. Although we will tell you better and in more detail the places we went and what we did.
In this post we will try to explain our first impressions in the country of the rising sun and the odd curiosity of Japan.
THE JAPANESE
Something strange happens here: in Japan, foreigners are the Japanese. We explain: we took 176 photos a minute 'ohhh look at that poster that beautiful', 'ohhh look at that tree that beautiful', 'ohhh look at that plastic plate that beautiful' ... the Japanese, the real ones, look at us as if we were crazy ! Now we understand why when they travel to Europe they spend the whole day camera in hand immortalizing every moment: our worlds are super different and everything seems exotic, weird and incredible.
THE OLD
Adorable They have been one of the surprises of the trip. If you sit on a bench near a Japanese old man you will almost certainly start talking to you! Even in Japanese, haha. In Osaka we met a man with a passion for origami and he started to create a peacock and a dragonfly with some pieces of paper that he took out of his pocket right there, and finally ended up giving us: wonderful!
The elders, those who lived through the crudest moments of modern Japanese history, are paradoxically those who always have a smile ready and who speak English better and better!
YOUNG
They pass almost entirely from tourists. It is difficult to start a conversation or even exchange a smile with a Japanese of our age. Perhaps this blockage is due to his shyness (or insecurity due to his level of English ?!) but it is one of the things that surprises us most, especially coming from Malaysia where meeting people is very easy and where, as soon as you cross your eyes With someone, the smile fair begins!
THE BATHROOMS
No no no, one of the best discoveries in the world: the warm toilet and the trickle of water that cleans you at the end of the task. How can we say that we live in a first world country if smart waters have not arrived yet! I want an intelligent water that does not make me suffer more in the cold winter mornings when supporting my butt in its cold plastice is a real torture!
TRADITION AND MODERNITY
It is one of the things that most clashes and likes in Japan: the perfect integration of the old-traditional with the modern-modern. The traditional part (temples, rituals, castles, kimonos, monasteries ...) is the one that made us most in love, although having not yet known Tokyo, the modern may have just finished off shortly.
FOOD
Obviously we love it, how not! Katzudon, yakisoba, takoyaki, tempura, gyudon, ramen, sushi, sashimi ... we are not missing 'na de na'. In Kyoto we even did a cooking course to prepare Japanese dishes once we return home (if our parents dare to eat something made with our little hands!). And in Kobe, our couchsurfing hosts, Kentaro and Satoko, taught us how to prepare okonomyaki: Gordon Ramsy would be proud of us!
PRICES
Our biggest fear was that Japan was not - at all - a country suitable for backpacking pockets. Obviously, the more generous your budget, the more opportunities you have to live a trip in the country of the rising sun, but we realized that you can travel through Japan in a low cost way. The accommodations are expensive (but you can always do couchsurfing!), The transports are expensive (there are much cheaper alternatives to the JR Pass, and we even encourage you to take a hitchhiking ride!) And the food is accessible (you can eat a lot -quite cheap).
HANAMI
How lucky we were to coincide with the sakura (cherry blossoms), it is certainly one of the most beautiful seasons of the year and to enjoy the hanami (look at the cherry blossoms) is something we will never forget. We were struck by the importance that the Japanese give to this celebration and how they go out in mass to the parks in groups to picnics under the cherry trees.
THE MASKS
But not the carnival ones, no no, we mean those that 70% of the population has! We thought it was a matter of pollution but our friend Yukiko told us that most people take them because of the allergy to pollens! Time of sakura, time of masks.
VENDING MACHINES
Ice cream, noodles ... but above all drinks: in each street, in each corner, we find one of these machines. Dying dehydrated in Japan is mission impossible! Prices range from ¥ 70 to ¥ 180.
SENTO & ONSEN
Public toilets (where you have to bathe rigorously naked) are an experience (Rober is already encouraged!). There are two types: onsen, when the water used in the baths comes directly from nature and has beneficial properties, and the sento, where the water is not of volcanic origin but of the tap.
HAIR BABIES
Be careful to get close to baby strollers: you could get a surprise. If you don't believe us ... look:
IRASSHAIMASE
You will hear this expression thousands of times a day: it is the Japanese way of welcoming you in a restaurant / shop / supermarket. At first Rober thought they said 'washing machineeee' but no, what they shout is 'irasshaimaseee'.
RYOKAN
It is not the lowest cost accommodation in Japan although (at least) one night you have to try it. Sleeping in a traditional accommodation (or in a shukubo, a Buddhist monastery) is an incredible experience: the rice paper doors, the thousands of details, sleeping on a futon, the well-kept Japanese garden ... ohh how wonderful!
FREE TEA AND WATER
In the restaurants they give water and free tea: isn't it wonderful? After the toilet is the other thing we would import without hesitation to Spain!
FORTUNE
The Japanese believe a lot in luck. In each temple you will find little machines where you can get tickets from luck (or from bad luck!), Yes… for the price of 10 ¥. If the little billet tells you that you are lucky, well, you can rest easy. If instead he tells you that the luck that awaits you is not at all good you can always counteract it by tying the piece of paper on one of the strings that they put for this purpose (do not worry that you will find it easily since there are a few more unlucky ones there! ).
In the temples you can also see hundreds of oracles, amulets and talismans left by the pilgrims (although it gives us the impression that, in the end, the real lucky ones are the monks, there is little to all the money they raise!).
These are a few, but there are many other curiosities of Japan that have shocked us, such as:
- There are many more women dressed in kimonos than we expected, especially in Kyoto.
- The Japanese are super detailed, ceremonious and organized.
- There are sushi restaurants at 100 ¥ (2 pieces for € 80 cents!).
- Something negative is that, unlike the rest of Asia, street food is scarce and quite expensive.
- The Japanese spend a lot of cream, makeup and beauty products (and there are also rare suuuuper products, which deserve a separate post).
- There are many types of kit kat (citrus, green tea, red beans, cheescake, strawberry, apple, wasabi ...).
- Uhhh we almost forgot about the pachinko: crowded rooms - and noise - where the rock used to play the little machines leaving a fortune in many cases ... This also deserves a whole post!
Obviously we have been so short in Japan that all this is just the first impressions. What this country made clear to us is that we would need many, many years to begin to understand its culture. This trip is being one of the best we ever did!
